Red Nights - Shari J. Ryan Page 0,32

point. I probably won’t be able to put up with you for that long.” I know he’s teasing. But ugh. Damn him and that smile.

I throw my arms around his neck and crash my lips into his. His body tightens, maybe from surprise, but it takes less than a second for him to relax. He strips me of my control, pushing me up against the brick wall, his body heavy against mine. Even with the rain sloshing between us, his hands find my cheeks. His tongue sweeps across my lips.

I’ve changed my mind.

I’ll bring him upstairs.

I don’t give a shit what Aspen does. I want him. I need him to keep making me forget.

“Come up,” I say in almost nothing but a breathless whisper.

He bites down on his bottom lip, appears to think about my offer, then shakes his head in this seductive slow motion, making this moment painfully enjoyable. “Not tonight,” he says, placing a small kiss on the tip of my nose. His hand is clutched around my waist and everything within me hurts and aches for him. “Good night, Blondie-locks.” He turns and leaves in the rain, and I watch him go.

It has been a good night. A very good night, actually.

And it all ends when I get upstairs and hear someone having his way with Aspen in her bedroom.

CHAPTER SEVEN

I SWEEP ALL OF ASPEN’S mail off of the couch. I’m annoyed now, tired and drunk. I can’t listen to this all night, especially now that Hayes has left me with my lips tingling…not to mention the other parts of my body that are tingling, too.

Hopefully the walls between our bedrooms are soundproof. I can hear way too much out here.

Stumbling into my bedroom, I grab my shorts and a t-shirt out of my bag and drag myself into the bathroom. I find towels dropped in the middle of the floor, a pile of clothes, Aspen’s thong…and a condom wrapper. The steam is still fresh on the mirror. I feel like I can almost smell what just happened in here.

The sounds of a man grunting and the bed hitting the wall are even louder in the bathroom, which gives me no hope for the spare bedroom. I shove my toothbrush in my mouth, turning the water all the way up wishing for it to drown out some of the noise, but it’s my main focus now, and I can hardly hear the water. Maybe Mom and Dad’s house wasn’t so bad after all.

The noise stops as I spit my toothpaste into the sink. I hastily pull my clothes off and slip into my pajamas. I do not want to run into one of them in the hall right now. That would make for an awkward encounter. I toss my dirty clothes over my shoulder and tiptoe back into the bedroom.

I take this period of silence as an opportunity to fall asleep, but since sleep is almost like unchartered territory for me now, I lose my chance as the thirty minutes of silence ramps back up into loud, animalistic cries. I’m not sure I understand how anyone has that much energy or stamina. I’d like to say it’s impressive, but I’d rather pound on the wall and tell them to shut the hell up.

But this isn’t my home.

* * *

I think at some point over the past three hours, I must have fallen into that half-asleep, half-awake state where I zone out with my eyes open. I may have been there all night, actually. The sun’s glare, which looks like strobe lights against last night’s beers, are now teasing at the blinds.

I clamber out of my room with my hand plastered against the side of my face, hoping it will dull some of the throbbing. Aspen’s door is wide open and I poke my head in, but she’s not here. Next stop, the bathroom, which I find clean. Aspen doesn’t clean, not even for a guest. She’s hiding this. Did she not think I was coming back last night? Technically, I should have been home three hours earlier than I was, but still. I don’t get it.

I snag my phone off the coffee table, looking to see if I have any texts or missed calls. Nothing. I open the messaging app, furious, finding Tanner’s name blaring at me.

Holy shit. No way.

They wouldn’t have…

Why else would she have cleaned up all evidence this morning? Why else would they have been talking to each other for the past week? No.