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“But we have to put on a good show, don’t we? Make your parents believe we’re together. We already know your stalker doesn’t like you having a boyfriend, so we needed to make it official.”
Charlie didn’t argue right away. Her eyes fell to my chest when I pressed my bottom half against her harder, and she let out the softest sigh I’d ever heard.
The hand on the wall near her shoulder dropped to her hip, swiping up beneath her shirt and gripping her there. Such soft skin. At least she wasn’t wearing an ugly grandma sweater today… and there was no ex-boyfriend in sight. My kind of day.
“No one’s watching,” Charlie whispered. “We don’t need to pretend when it’s just you and me.”
My breathing came out hard. “Are you sure? Who knows when he’s watching. I think we should be better safe than sorry, don’t you?” Having Charlie caught between my body and the wall… let’s just say certain ideas flitted in my head, ideas that made lower parts of me twitch and ache.
Couldn’t get too hard though, because walking out of this house with a hard-on was the last thing I should do, given how much her father didn’t like me.
“I—” She blinked, acting as though her eyelids had gotten heavy. “I don’t think so.” But even as she said it, she bit her bottom lip, as if trying to tempt me further.
I dropped my other arm from the wall, taking that hand to her neck and angling her head back. “Do you want me to leave, Charlie? Do you really want me to go?” I could feel her swallow against my hand, not to mention her pulse.
Her heart was beating so fucking fast, and her skin was so fucking warm.
She breathed out a single word, “No.” Her body squirmed against mine somewhat, and I’d be the worst liar in the world if I said it didn’t feel good. When she whispered another word, I wished we were somewhere else, somewhere more private, where her parents couldn’t barge in at any time: “Stay.”
I wanted to kiss her. Fuck, I wanted to kiss her so bad, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to stop. The last thing I’d want to do would be to rejoin her parents and her sister outside. No, I’d want to take her in my arms, carry her up the stairs, and lay her down on her bed. We’d recreate my dream—only it’d be real and feel even better. If I kissed her, I’d need to make this girl mine.
And that… that was a thought, a need I shouldn’t have, because she wasn’t my type. She was too young. She was too good for someone as vile and vicious as me. I had blood on my hands, so much more blood than she could ever comprehend.
It was the most difficult thing I’d ever had to do, but I pulled myself away from her, dropping my hands to my sides.
“Great,” I said as I gave her a smile. “Now let’s get back out there before your parents start to think we’re getting in a quickie.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she threw me a mortified look. “I can’t believe you’d say that.” Charlie sounded less breathless now, more like herself, and she stormed past me to return to the party.
I know, I know. A quickie. Come on. As if I’d let our first time be a quickie.
Chapter Twenty – Charlie
My parents didn’t really warm up to Brett. Er, Ian. Tyler and Claire seemed to like him, and my mom was nice, but my dad? Let’s just say he didn’t bother to hide how displeased he was that Brett was my boyfriend.
We’d just eaten, and I’d taken Brett’s and my plate inside the house. Claire followed with her and Tyler’s plate. I scraped any leftover food into the garbage and then loaded them into the dishwasher, and all the while my sister watched me.
She was going to say something. I knew it. Now that we were alone, she was going to say something about Brett.
“Are you happy with him?” Claire’s first question startled me, and I froze near the open dishwasher. She did the same thing as me—scrape then load—and it was only after the dishes were away that she shut the dishwasher and brought her amber eyes to me. “Are you? It’s always so hard to tell with you.”
“Um, yeah. I’m happy with him. I… I like him a lot.”
Claire came to lean on the counter beside me, studying me all the while. “If you are, that’s all that matters. Dad is being kind of a jerk, but he’s right to be a little suspicious. Older men who chase after young girls are usually creeps.”
“He’s not a creep,” I defended Brett without realizing what I was doing. But it was true. Brett didn’t want me because of my age or what I looked like. Hell, how many times had he told me that I wasn’t his type in every way? He just didn’t know what personal space was, and today I was a little confused about everything thanks to that stupid dream.
A sex dream about a serial killer. I needed help.
“That’s good. I just…” Claire’s brows furrowed. “You never really dated before Zak, and that breakup fucked you up for a long time. I don’t want Ian taking advantage of you, Charlie.”
I had to process what she was saying, mostly because she’d never said anything like that to me before. Like she actually cared. “He’s not. I’m not with him because he’s older. He’s just… he’s—”
“You don’t have to explain anything to me. I just want you to be happy and safe.” She lowered her voice to say, “Please tell me he’s not the one I took those pills for.” The look on my face must’ve told her enough, because she went on, “Charlie! What the hell? You shouldn’t be mixed up with someone like that!”
I couldn’t even remember the lie I’d told her as to why my friend had needed the pills, so I said, “It’s not what you think, I swear, Claire. He’s… he’s just had a rough time lately. We kind of—” I paused and sighed. “—we found each other when we were both pretty low. I help him be better, and he makes me happy.”
Well, that was a lie. He made me annoyed, infuriated, and exasperated a whole lot more than he made me happy, but my sister didn’t need to know that.
