Page 23 of Coastal Runaway

I pushed my interaction with Luke to the back of my head, and joined them on the dance floor. I was here to have fun, not to get flustered by a particularly grumpy East Coast boy with striking blue eyes.

I felt free, shimmying my hips to the music and dancing with my sister, her latest suitor pasted behind her. A familiar pair of hands slowly grabbed onto my hips. I glanced up to find Sinclair staring down at me with a seductive smile.

This was fun. Familiar. Safe.

I backed up, removing the distance between us and started grinding my ass on him to the beat of the music.

After a while, Maeve and the baseball boy left to find a dark corner, leaving me alone with Sinclair. His hands rounded my hips, climbing further up my middle. He leaned down until his lips touched where my neck met my collarbone. This muscular, successful football player was completely wrapped around me and it should have elicited a spark and pooled wetness between my legs.

But instead I was drier than the Sahara Desert. One handshake with Luke had me walking away flustered, but this beautiful man was begging for my attention and I felt nothing.

Maybe I was broken.

Frustrated with myself, I danced harder with Sinclair to try to convince myself that I was feeling a spark. That I felt anything at all.

“Baby, you’re driving me insane right now.” He whispered in my ear while copping a feel of my boob. I giggled and leaned into his teasing.

“Maybe we should find a corner then?” I replied and slid my hand into his, leading him to the wall lined with couples making out.

His mouth was instantly on mine as he pushed me up against the wall, hands roaming freely over my ass. I kissed him back to distract myself from the feeling that this wasn’t right—that it wasn’t what I wanted.

After a few minutes of aggressively making out, in open view of the party, Sinclair pushed his hand up and under my crop top. I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand out from under my shirt. Sinclair detached himself from my mouth and looked at me, confused. I felt increasingly uncomfortable under his stare.

“What’s wrong?” He asked with his hips still pinning me to the wall.

“Nothing, I just don’t think I am feeling up to this tonight.” I felt panic rising within me.

“What do you mean you’re not feeling this? You shoved your ass against my dick and suggested we come over here. Now you want to leave me with blue balls?” He spat the words in my face, “Don’t be a tease, Keegan, I thought we had an understanding.”

“What understanding is that, Patrick?” I retorted. I pushed his body off of mine, popped my hip out and crossed my arms in front of my chest, defiance rearing its ugly head.

With a sleazy smile, he said, “Don’t act stupid, baby, you know the deal. We have a mutual understanding about what this always is.” Coming back into my space, he placed his hands on my hips with more force than I was comfortable with, “Let’s have some fun tonight like we always do.”

I tried to move out of his grasp, but he just held on tighter, “Let me go, I said no.” I snapped.

“You know you want it, come on.”.

I reared back to give him a piece of my mind when I noticed a commotion in my peripheral vision. Suddenly Sinclair was yanked away, and a tall familiar set of broad shoulders stood in front of me, blocking my view. `

“I’m pretty sure she said no.”

Luke shoved Sinclair further back.

“Who the fuck even are you, bro?” Sinclair snarled, “this doesn’t concern you.”

Luke calmly shook his head and said, “Keegan’s safety always concerns me.”

Sinclair’s laugh was sinister, “oh, I get it, the little slut puts out for you too, huh? Trust me, her pussy isn’t that good, but by all means, I’ll pass the torch happily.”

I could feel the heat radiating off Luke’s body as he wound his fist back and punched Sinclair in the nose with so much force that it caused the jock to crumble to the ground with a yelp. Nolan came running up and grabbed Luke. He pinned his arms in place with a bear hug and tried to drag him away before he could jump on top of Sinclair and really go to town on him. Luke kept lunging towards Sinclair, fighting out of Nolans hold on him.

Not wanting to see how the rest of this unfolded, I turned and headed towards the front door. Once outside, I walked until I was halfway down the street. I was gasping for air but I couldn’t seem to fill my lungs.

Luke came to your rescue.

You stupid girl.

Always weak and in need of saving.