Chapter Three
Ashton
Sadie comes back looking sicker than she did when she bolted for the ladies’ room. Mandy scoots out of the booth to let her back in, but she doesn’t budge. She doesn’t meet my eyes, either. I have no clue why she pulled that stunt under the table, but I’m still hard as fuck over it, not to mention confused.
“I had too much, guys,” Sadie says. “I’m gonna take a cab home.”
“Like hell you are.” I stand and shoot her a glare. “I’ll drop you guys off on my way home.” Unlike the two of them, I haven’t been drinking.
Willing my dick to settle down, I exit the booth and hand them their coats. The nights in Douglas Falls, Oregon are getting chillier as the leaves change colors, and Sadie is drunk enough to forget her jacket. The last thing I want is for her to get sick.
After they shrug into their jackets, and I settle our tab, I herd my sister and Sadie toward the entrance of the club. Mandy leads the way, winding a path between the tables and dancing bodies. I take Sadie’s hand and pull her along behind me. The place is overcrowded, and I don’t want to risk losing her in the throng of people in her current state of fucked-up.
“Party Monster” by The Weeknd blares through the speakers, the bass vibrating under our feet. Glancing over my shoulder, I take in Sadie’s appearance. Wild red locks riot around her flushed face, and she’s focusing on the dirty floor while we move through the club. I don’t have to see her eyes to know they’re the sexiest hue of jade I’ve ever seen.
And that little black dress. She failed to button up her jacket, and damn, she was out for blood tonight when she dragged that low cut scrap of fabric over her body. Has she always had such a sexy-as-fuck rack?
I don’t even have to answer that question. I’ve known for a while what a knockout Sadie has become.
My Sadie.
I want to grill her and find out what she’s thinking, but she and my sister share an apartment, so there’s no chance for us to work this shit out until tomorrow after Mandy leaves for her weekend job tatting skin. Sadie, no doubt, will be hungover in bed. I plan to attack then and hopefully get some damn answers.
She can’t just pull this shit and pretend it didn’t happen.
She had her lips wrapped around my cock like they belonged there. And damn it to hell because it felt right. Aiming my gaze forward again, I almost groan out loud at the thought of shoving back into her mouth to finish the job. It’s been a long time since a woman made me this hot over a blow job, and the fact that it was interrupted is only making it worse.
Fucking hell, this is Sadie, I remind myself. She’s not some faceless chick I picked up for a night of no-strings-attached sex.
It’s Sadie.
I don’t know how many times I’ll have to repeat that in my mind before it sticks.
Lord knows I’ve wanted her for a long time. But Sadie has always been and will always be out of my league. She’s off-limits. Sweet, sexy, and sincere. Too innocent to subject to my depraved ways. I can only imagine what her reaction would be if she ever found out what I’m like in bed.
The red would never leave her flawless, pale cheeks. Both sets of cheeks, because I’d spank her ass for putting me through this torture.
As we step onto the sidewalk outside the club, Sadie stumbles into me.
“Sorry,” she slurs as the chilly wind whips her auburn hair around her shoulders.
The sidewalk is wet with rain, and I’m worried she’ll slip and fall. Hoisting her over my shoulder, I lead the way to my car, Mandy steady on her feet at my side. She didn’t have nearly as much to drink as Sadie did.
“I’ve never seen her this smashed,” Mandy says, watching me buckle Sadie into the front seat of my Honda.
“Me neither.” I grit my teeth, not liking her behavior one bit. I’m tempted to take her home and spank her ass anyway, to hell with the consequences. Tomorrow, we can hash out the impulsive actions and desires—her tempting lips around my dick, and my twitchy hand unleashing retribution onto her bottom.
But fifteen minutes later, I tuck her drunken body into her bed and hightail it out of their apartment before I get myself into serious trouble. I’m almost home when my cell buzzes from the center console. I glance at the screen and spy the name of the girl I dated briefly in high school.
The girl I was stupid enough to hook up with again a few weeks ago.
Corinne Kaldwell is sexy and willing and the perfect example of a bad idea because I’m starting to suspect she wants more than I can give her. That still doesn’t stop me from hitting the brake hard and making an abrupt turn down a tree-lined street.
Because I need an outlet for this rampant desire raging through my blood, compliments of my sister’s best friend.
Fuck.
I backtrack several blocks, all the while questioning the wisdom of this unplanned side trip. Neat rows of residential houses with perfect lawns give way to the bustle of college living. People litter the sidewalk, coming and going from cafes and bars. Friday nights don’t end until closing time, and for those looking to party all night, there are numerous frat parties going on down the road. I pass one such party, throbbing bass spilling out the two-story house, and realize that Corinne might not even be home. She could have called from anywhere.
But the last thing I’m in the mood for is a damn party.
Truth be told, I’m in the mood for one thing and one thing only, and it doesn’t involve Corinne. Yet here I am, wheeling the car into the parking lot of her apartment complex. It’s pouring rain by the time I climb the stairs and head toward her door, and I’m relieved to see light shining through the gap in the living room curtains. She answers in sporty gray sweats and a pink T-shirt. Makeup free, she’s far from dressed up, with her blond hair pulled back in a long ponytail.
I’ve always been partial to blondes, with the exception of one redhead who has the power to make me crazy.
“Hi,” Corinne says before opening the door wider and gesturing for me to come inside.
“Tearing up the town tonight, I see.”
She responds to my teasing grin with one of her own. “Got a test on Monday.”
“Look at you,” I say, reaching out and twirling her ponytail, “staying home to study like a good girl.”
Long, dark lashes flutter over her deep brown eyes. “I’m just finishing up for the night. I was hoping we could…if you want to, I mean?” Swallowing hard, she aims her gaze at my feet.
I make her nervous—the kind of nervous that’s a red flag for what I already know.
This is more than sex to her.
Walking away should be a no-brainer. A necessity of self-preservation. It’s the reason I distanced myself from Corinne a couple of weeks ago.
And I don’t want to hurt her. I never set out to hurt anyone, but I’m not a saint either. What I am is upfront.
“If I fuck you,” I say, letting go of her hair, “that’s all it’ll be. I need to know you’re okay with that.”
“I’m okay with that.” Her voice softens. “I just want you.”
I grab her by the back of her neck and pull her closer. “You know how I want it.”
Heat flushes her cheeks, and something flashes in her eyes, but it comes and goes too fast to put my finger on it. “I do know, Ashton.”
Of course, she does. She’s known about my ways since high school. Though looking back, I had no business touching her, considering she’s two years younger.
But she’s not young and innocent anymore. My hand loosens from around her neck, trails down her spine, slaps her cotton-clad ass. I step back and issue a command with nothing more than the heat in my gaze.
As she heads toward her bedroom, I follow, noting the self-satisfied smile she tosses over her shoulder along the way. I’ll spank her ass for that alone. We enter the tidy space in which she sleeps. One window, curtains drawn back to reveal the night through rain-splattered glass. Corinne moves to close the curtains.
“Leave them open.”
Her hand pauses, fingers itching to shut out the possibility of prying eyes. She glances at me once more, hesitation lining her face, and I stand my ground.
Waiting.
Because she knows what to do.
Facing me fully, she gives the window her backside and grips the hem of her top before shedding her clothes without modesty. Getting naked in front of me isn’t a novelty. I point to the desk tucked against a wall, and she bends over the hard surface, sticking her ass out the way she knows I like. I pull the tie from her hair and admire how her blond locks splay across her back.
“Spread ‘em wider,” I say, nudging the backs of her ankles with my foot as I unzip.
She parts her legs in invitation, but more importantly, total surrender. “I’ve missed this,” she moans, grasping the edges of the desk with both hands. “I need you to fuck me.”
“I’ll fuck you when I’m ready. First, tell me why you’re home cramming on a Friday night. Were you procrastinating, Corinne?”
“Y-yes.”
I bring my palm down on her right cheek with a satisfying smack. “Shameful. You know better.” I smack her other cheek, using more force this time, and she flinches.
But she doesn’t tell me to stop.
This girl lives to take my punishments. She’ll do anything to get me thrusting between her thighs, and nothing turns me on more than a red ass. I smack her flesh for several minutes, growing harder with every flinch and gasp. A dip of my fingers into her sex confirms what I already know.
She’s drenched as fuck.
“God, Ashton. I’m dying here.” With a long, needy moan, she pushes her ass into my waiting palms, silently begging me to take her.
I roll on a condom and nudge her opening, on the cusp of entering her, and that’s when I falter.
That’s when I see the flaming shade of auburn instead of blond. The memory of Sadie’s mouth on me is too potent. Too shattering. Too fucking distracting.
What the hell? My dick has never been so hard and ready to go, but it has nothing to do with the woman spread out in front of me, more than willing. For the first time ever, I can’t muster the will to fuck.
Sadie has totally messed with my head, and she’s going to explain. She’s going to pay for this.
“I can’t do this right now,” I say, removing the condom. It’s one thing to fuck a woman with no strings attached, but it’s another to do it while wishing she were someone else.
Letting out a ragged breath, I step away from Corinne and push both hands through my hair as the foolish, confused organ in my chest plays an erratic drumline.
Corinne stands to face me, her features pinched in disappointment. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No. It’s not you.”
“What the hell is it then?”
“I’m too fucked in the head right now. I shouldn’t have come here.” Zipping up my pants, I flee her apartment and escape into the downpour.