On The Rebound (Steinbeck U #1) - L.A. Cotton Page 0,61

best shot, Messiah.” Damn, those words again.

The challenge.

She was so different.

Harder.

Sassy.

Distant in a way I didn’t like.

My Calli had always been so soft and kind and warm.

But we weren’t the same people. The old Calli wouldn’t have been able to deal with the new Zach. So this was perfect. We could both fuck away our frustrations and then go our separate ways.

This wasn’t a reunion; it was an exorcism. A chance to finally purge myself of Calliope James once and for all.

I planned to fuck her so hard she never forgot me. And then I planned to walk away, for good.

I faltered. Only for a second, but it was enough for Calli to frown. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Her voice was all sultry and ragged.

Dropping a knee to the mattress, I crawled over her small delicate body. Her skin felt like silk and I had to smother another moan.

Jesus, this girl.

This infuriating, treacherous, foolhardy girl.

Why did she always feel so fucking good?

Nestling between her legs, I let my dick slide through her wetness, bumping her clit. She let out a throaty moan, and I watched in awe as Calli unraveled for me.

“What do you want, sweet pea?” I gently grabbed her throat, forcing her to look at me.

“You,” she whispered, the word piercing my heart. “I want you, Zach.”

“Your wish is my command.” I slammed into her, making us both cry out. Calli hitched her legs around my waist, letting me drive deeper… Harder… Faster.

There was nothing slow and soft about this. I wasn’t making love to her, I was fucking the very soul from her body. I wanted her to hurt, to make her feel my anger, to force her to experience the pain and frustration I felt every second of every day.

But most of all, I wanted to fuck her out of my system.

“More...” she rasped, nipping my jaw. “I need more, Zach.”

Sliding my hands under her ass, I changed the angle.

“I can feel you everywhere.” Calli whimpered as I lay siege to her body. My mouth trailed hot wet kisses down the slope of her neck and along her collarbone, sucking and biting. I wanted to mark her. That way, when the sun came up, she would have no choice but to remember this moment.

She stared up at me, her lips parted, and skin flushed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For whatever I did to hurt you. I’m sorry.”

Fuck.

Fuck!

I buried my face in the crook of her neck, trying to ignore the word ringing in my ears.

Sorry. She was sorry.

It didn’t change anything, and yet, it changed everything.

The familiar tingle at the base of my spine spread through me as I chased the calm after the storm. Calli clutched onto my shoulders, crying my name over and over as she clenched around me, finding her own release. I followed, coming hard and fast inside her.

We lay there quietly, lost in the moment... the memories.

I’d been with a lot of girls. Faceless girls I used to work off some of the tension that lived inside me. But none of them came close to affecting me the way Calli did.

Even now, after everything that had happened to us, she still brought me to my fucking knees, and I hated it.

I hated her.

It wasn’t just an emotion I felt, it was something that lived inside me like a disease. Festering and spreading, turning everything good left inside me to poison.

Reluctantly, I rolled off her, flopping onto my back.

“I should probably clean up,” she whispered, uncertainty creeping into her voice.

Calli disappeared. A couple of minutes later, the bed dipped, and she slid in beside me.

“I’m sorry,” I said thickly, “about your mom.”

“I’m sorry about Declan.”

Her words made me flinch. I didn’t want her sympathy. I didn’t want anything from her except this.

“I should go,” I said.

“Okay… Unless you want to stay?”

My eyes flicked to hers and she gave me a timid smile. “No pressure. It’s just nice not to feel so alone sometimes, ya know?”

Fuck.

Her honesty gutted me.

She got it, I realized that now. Calli knew how it felt to feel completely alone in the world. Except, she was alone. And I was surrounded by people who wanted to know me and never would.

“Yeah.” I swallowed over the giant fucking lump in my throat. “I can stay for a little while longer.”

She didn’t ask for more. She didn’t ask for anything.

Calli let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes. I couldn’t imagine how she felt after losing her mom. The