Bad Impressions (Revive Me #1) (4 page)

My towel loosened around me from my sudden movement and I clutched it quickly to shield my boobs from his view. Although it was dark, there was still enough light for him to clearly see whether I was naked or not.

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes drawn right there.
Typical man.

“Do you mind?”

He hesitated, which was a shock in itself. Brad never hesitated. He was always so sure of himself.

He folded his arms across his chest and refused to avert his eyes so I could fix my towel.
What an asshole. Fine. He wants to play, we’ll play. He’s not gonna get one over on me this time. I’m in control now. I’m different now.

I released my grip on the towel. It slid from my body and pooled on the beige carpet at my feet.

It was in that moment, as his gaze slid slowly over my naked body, that I realized I hadn’t thought it through properly. I felt exposed and ill at ease. Completely uncomfortable. But I resisted my innate reaction to quickly cover up.

I wanted
him
to feel like I did. I wanted payback anyway I could get it.
I
wanted to be in control for once.

And judging by the strained look in his eyes, the stiff set of his jaw and the rest of his body, I was.

Good. Deal with that.

“Five seconds, Soph,” he ground out roughly.

“Excuse me?” I asked with a cool innocence.

He took a step towards me and the hungry, predatory look in his eyes almost made me lose my nerve. “You have five seconds to put some clothes on.”

“Or?” I challenged, sounding bolder than I felt. When it came to sex, Brad operated in a whole other league. But I just couldn’t bring myself to back down.

“Or…” he growled, taking another step closer, “….I’m gonna take what you’re offering and have you on your back on that fucking bed.”

I raised my eyebrows, challenging him. He’d blown me off enough for me to feel confident in calling his bluff and maintaining the upper hand in our battle of wills. Was he really going to suddenly snap and change his mind just because I was standing naked in front of him?

A second later, I got my answer.

He lunged at me.

Oh shit!

His lips met mine roughly, taking me in a harsh, bruising kiss, stealing away my ability to breathe.

His left hand fisted in my hair and his right grasped my hip, jerking me flush against him.

The kiss was frantic and wild.

And in that moment, I no longer cared that he’d taken over control once again; that he’d won our standoff. I could barely recall what we’d been fighting about.

All I could do was feel. His hands and mouth on me. His jean-clad erection grinding hard and demandingly against my bare pussy.

His tongue prodded between my lips, urging me to grant him access. I didn’t protest.

A loud moan slipped from me as he slowed the pace and his tongue caressed mine. It was so incredibly erotic and sensual that I relaxed into it so completely that my knees almost buckled.

He felt it and snaked his arm around my waist.

Before I knew it, I was on my back on the bed with him looming over me.

His hand slipped between my legs, lingering there for a moment, before he slid a finger into my pussy in an easy glide.

It felt so incredible having him inside me again that I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.

He pulled back from our kiss, eyeing me for my reaction as he held his finger there inside me, unmoving. He was torturing me. I knew why. He wanted what he had last time. He wanted me to beg.

“Brad,” I gasped, tugging on the lapels of his leather jacket. “Please.”

He smirked and a second later his finger came alive, pumping inside me hard and fast.

“Mmm…you’re so wet for me, Soph.”

“Oh God!” I screamed as he teased my clit with his thumb.

I slid my hand down to his jeans and cupped his dick through them. He jerked at my touch. A low rumble came from his throat.

His hand left me suddenly and he sat up straddling me.

“You sure?” he asked, concern playing on his face.

I couldn’t actually believe he was offering me a way out. He was sweating and panting and so damn hard. How the hell would he be able to stop if that’s what I’d suddenly decided? But, the look in his eyes told me that he
would
stop…for me. If I needed him to.

But I didn’t.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

He smiled and cupped my face, kissing my lips long and lingeringly, before trailing his hands slowly down my body. My neck, my shoulders, my breasts. Lower and lower. His eyes followed, drinking in every inch of me.

When he reached my left side, I winced in pain.

He noticed right away.
Oh no.

Crap.
I should’ve known he would. The first time we’d been together, he’d been so incredibly attentive. And that night he’d been drunk. Now he was sober.

He touched the same spot again, this time with a little more pressure. I couldn’t help it; I winced again.

“I can’t see in this light,” he muttered, climbing off the bed.

“Brad, what are you doing? We were—”

“You’re hurt,” he cut in.

“No, it’s nothing. Just a bruise. It’s almost gone.”

But it was too late.

He flipped on the main light switch and it flooded the room with an almost-blinding yellow tinted light. He climbed back onto the bed and choked out a gasp.

The look in his eyes scared me.

Pure unadulterated fury.

His gaze swept from my side to the bruises on my upper arms.

And then he touched the faint remnant of another bruise beside my left eye. I jerked away.

“Stop!” I cried, hastily gathering the duvet to shield myself from his invasive gaze. It was awkward and embarrassing.

“How did I not see this earlier?” he asked, gesturing to my eye.

“Makeup.”

“Tell me what happened,” he barked at me.

“He…he grabbed me. I got hit and I fell.”

He didn’t say anything for several moments. He just stared at me, studying me closely. Studying the bruises. I knew what was coming.

He was gonna lose it.

He was the last person who I ever wanted to know about this, given his family history. I was so stupid. I should’ve thought about the risk before I’d challenged him. Just…whenever I was around him…he had a crazy ability to make me lose myself. To make me stop thinking about the consequences of anything. When it came to Brad I was always right in the moment with him, never seeing anything beyond it.
Shit.

“Jake did this?”

He knew his name?

“Sophie!”

“Yes! Okay? Yes!”

“How many times?”

“Brad—”

“How many times?” he snapped.

“Once! Once is one time too many.”

He finally looked me in the eye.

I’d just recited the phrase he’d taught me when I was a teenager. It was his warning to me about guys. It was something he and his mom had learned from the ordeal with his awful father.

His expression softened then and he settled beside me on the bed.

He wrapped his arm around me. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to
you
, Soph,” he murmured sadly into my hair.

“It’s over now,” I assured him.

“You swear to me?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I swear it.”

“Good.” He pulled away and scrubbed his hand over his face in distress. “Fucking hell.”

“You can’t tell Ollie. Please, Brad.”

He looked at me. “Soph, don’t you think we’re already keeping enough shit from him?”

“I know, but…he’ll lose it.”

“And you don’t think
I
will?”

“I know
you’ll
at least listen to me.”

He grunted a response.

A long extended silence fell between us as we both got lost in our own thoughts.

“There’s something I need to tell you, Brad. That night when we…you know? Well, I—”

The front door slammed downstairs, startling both of us.

A second later, Ollie’s voice called out, “Hey, Soph! I managed to get off early! Where you at?”

Brad cursed and scrambled off the bed.

I snatched up my pajamas and hurriedly slipped them on.

I’d just managed it when Ollie burst into the room a few moments later.
God, do the men in my life not understand the concept of privacy?
It was then that I realized Brad wasn’t in my room. He’d gone?
What the hell?

“You okay?” Ollie asked, eyeing me curiously.

“Yeah. Why?” I answered, trying not to sound as breathless and freaked out as I was.

“You just look…flustered, or something. You sure you’re okay?”

“She’s just embarrassed,” Brad’s voice came from behind him suddenly.

Ollie spun around in surprise. “Shit, I didn’t know you were here.”

I could hear the suspicion in his tone.
Oh my God.
If one of us didn’t do something, he was gonna find out.

Brad held up his hand. There was a box of unopened tampons there. “She called me with a bit of an emergency situation.”

Ollie looked to me for my confirmation.

I nodded, blushing with unbelievable embarrassment.
Dammit, Brad.
“Yeah.”

“Right. Okay then,” Ollie said, clearly embarrassed as well. He turned to Brad and slapped his shoulder. “Thanks, man.”

“Sure,” Brad said with a nod.

“You wanna stick around and hang out?”

Brad shook his head. “Nah, I’m gonna head home. I’m pulling a double shift tomorrow.”

“All right,” Ollie said. “Soph, I’m gonna order pizza. Any preference?”

“No, you know me. I’m good with anything.”
Just go. Please, just go.

My prayers were answered when he smiled and took off, heading back down the stairs.

Brad blew out a breath. He threw me the tampon box and mouthed, “
Sorry”.

Before I could respond, he took off without another word.

Chapter 4

~Brad~

Last night was inexcusable.

I’d completely lost control.

What the hell had she been thinking? Standing there naked in front of me like that? Looking at me with those
come-fuck-me
eyes of hers?

She was different now. I’d been so sure she was going to back down from my challenge and put her damn clothes back on.

But she hadn’t. She’d just stood there daring me. Daring a man who had already been hanging by such a thin sliver of self-control as it was. I hadn’t stood a chance. My dick had been hard the moment I’d burst into her room and seen her there in nothing but a damn towel.

I’d snapped big time.

And it was a fucking wakeup call having Ollie almost catch us like that.

I’d been an absolute idiot. Out of my mind.

There was something about that woman that just pulled me in. She made me lose control whenever I got too close. I’d never wanted anyone the way I wanted her. I wanted to do so many things to that hot little body of hers. But it didn’t stop there. It was much more than that. I wanted the whole fucking package. I wanted to stake my claim on her. Make her mine.

I knew I was just kidding myself. It could never happen. There were so many reasons.

The worst one by far was that she was Ollie’s little sister. Going there even once, let alone almost twice with what’d happened last night, was a hell of a betrayal. I was a complete dick for doing it.

But it wasn’t the only reason. Like I’d told her the other night: she was better than Marsden, better than all of us. She didn’t belong here. She needed to get out again and spread her wings. And I couldn’t hold her back from that. Being with me would end up doing that to her. It would keep her rooted to this place.

I’d known it that night we’d been together. The way she’d looked at me then. It had been more than sex to her. And I…fuck it…it had for me too. So, I’d done what I’d had to: I’d blown her off. Better a short period of hurt than a lifetime of regret for her.

She’d called me a coward the other day, but she had no idea how hard it’d been for me to walk away like that. With the way I felt about her, it’d been one of the hardest things I’d ever done.

After last night, it was damn clear that it had to be that way from now on. I couldn’t slip up again with her. I was poison to her. The darkness swallowing her light. She deserved better. And I wasn’t the guy to give that to her.

It hadn’t helped matters that it’d been so fucking long since I’d got my dick wet. I needed to take the edge off and soon. I needed to rein in my control and I couldn’t do that with a permanent fucking hard on.