after school. I’m at Valen’s house, working on a project.”
“Okay. So, I’m assuming you won’t be home for dinner then?”
“They invited me to eat here if that’s okay.”
“Sure,” she says after a pause. “Just have Valen bring you home by ten.”
The sudden smell of smoke hits my nostrils and I freeze, inhaling deeper.
“Shayne?”
“Hmm?” I stand, trying to figure out where it’s coming from.
“Ten o’clock?”
I spin around, dropping the phone with a scream when I see a figure shrouded in darkness against the back wall. My heart stalls then starts again when I realize it’s Thayer. I can barely make out his form, sitting on an old stool, one ankle resting on his bent knee, but I know it’s him.
“Shayne?” I hear my mom’s concerned voice float from the speaker, and I quickly bend down to pick my phone back up.
“Sorry, dropped my phone. I gotta go, okay? Dinner’s ready.”
I end the call before she can respond, holding my palm to my racing heart. “Jesus Christ, Thayer. Are you trying to kill me?” The insensitive words fall out of my mouth before I can take them back, but if it offends him, he doesn’t show it.
He stands, taking another drag of his cigarette. The cherry burns brighter when he inhales, and tendrils of smoke curl through the air in front of him. He flicks it to the ground, stomping it out with his foot before he stalks toward me. “So it’s not just me then?” he asks, stopping when there are mere inches between us.
“What?” I ask, eyebrows pinching together.
“You lied to your mom just now. Fuck knows how many times you’ve lied to me.”
“I haven’t lied to you.”
He closes the distance between us, towering over me, then pinches a strand of my hair between two fingers. He muses, rubbing the strands between his fingers.
“Why do you still come here, Shayne?”
My eyes dart to my notebook on the couch and he follows my gaze, zeroing in on it. We both lunge at the same time, but he’s faster. I jump on his back, his front flush with the couch, but he holds the notebook out of my reach and rolls over beneath me. Suddenly, I’m straddling him, breathing heavy, and I can feel him between my legs. My eyes snap up to his. Thayer’s nostrils flare, eyes narrowing into slits.
I swallow hard, leaning forward to reach for the notebook again, but he releases it, letting it fall to the ground with a loud smack. Hovering over him, I glance back down, seeing those dark eyes bore into mine. I don’t know what possesses me to do it, but I shift my hips, grinding against him to assuage the ache between my thighs. He bites down on his lip, pulling those two silver balls between his teeth, then hooks an arm around my waist, and before I know what’s happening, he’s flipping me onto my back and sliding in between my legs.
“Is this what you want?” he asks, bracing one hand on the arm of the couch above my head as he flexes his hips. I gasp, feeling his need pressing into me. He does it again and a moan slips free, my thighs falling open. “Fuck, Shayne.” His voice is raspy and tortured and I know he’s feeling it, too. That need that’s always there, right below the surface. I thought it would be gone now—feared it would be—with everything considered.
Our bodies do the talking as we start to move against each other. His mouth is so close to mine and we’re both breathing ragged, our lips brushing with each movement. His right hand kneads my chest through my shirt, and I gasp, feeling pain mixed with pleasure shooting straight to my groin.
“Do it again,” I all but beg. “Gently.”
Thayer only hesitates for a second before he loses the fight and circles his finger around my nipple, following the outline of the piercing. “Yeah, you’re not so innocent, are you, baby?” he teases. The throbbing between my legs intensifies and my mouth falls open as he repeats the motion to the other side. My hands fly to his shoulders, needing something to hold on to, but he captures both my wrists in his left hand, pinning them above my head.
“Yes,” I breathe, rocking into him as my inhibitions fly out the window along with my pride. I shouldn’t let him touch me like this after the things he’s said and done, but here I am practically pleading for it.