Come to Me Recklessly (6 page)

He gripped her by her bare thigh, her shorts so short every inch of her long legs was exposed, and he pulled her flush against his body.

He wore jeans and a tight, tight tee, it clinging perfectly to the span of his wide chest, every defined muscle flexing below the thin dark gray fabric. Bold, colorful ink curled out from under one shirtsleeve, and another black tattoo was stamped on the inside of the opposite forearm. He was lean but strong, taller than any man had the right to be, the power of his presence imposing and enough to steal every breath of air from my lungs.

He dipped down and burrowed his face in her neck, his black hair wild and mussed, sticking up in every direction. She squealed and drove her fingers into it, tugging on the length as he bent her back, kissing her up and down.

My heart squeezed so tight I could feel it splintering, disintegrating into dust.

Coming here hadn’t just been foolish.

It was reckless, plain and simple.

Still I stared, unable to look away from the man who had meant everything to me. One I should hate and blame, for the way I let myself give up and give in. But I knew I was crumbling only because I couldn’t stand to see him this way, wrapped up in another woman’s arms, when every
whole
part of me wanted that girl to be me.

How sick was that?

My mouth went dry when he suddenly stilled, the corded muscles of his tanned arms rippling as he slowly lifted his head as if he sensed my presence. His green eyes met mine, widening with shock, before they flashed with something dark and fierce. Then his face twisted in arrogance, those green eyes narrowing as if he knew he had me trapped.

Just like he had that night.

I was helpless to look away, and he held me captive as he went back to work on her neck, his mouth at her jaw and at her chin. The entire time he never released me from the prison of his contemptuous glare.

It was the
wrecked
pieces of me that were wise, ones that already knew Christopher Moore had the power to destroy me. He’d done it before, and by the way he was looking at me now, I knew he’d gladly to do it again.

Not because he wanted me. But because he wanted to play with me. Like he’d done all those years ago. I’d believed him – that he loved me and cared about me, that he cared about my brother – that he hadn’t just been seducing me into becoming an unsuspecting pawn in his sick, twisted game.

It didn’t take me long to realize that’s exactly what I was.

It took everything I had to compose myself. I steadied my feet and shaking hands, but there was nothing I could do about my bleeding heart. Thankfully it was safe and hidden away, in a place I’d no longer allow him to see.

I lifted my chin in nonchalance, as if seeing him meant nothing at all, all the while praying to God my legs were strong enough to carry me out back so I could give Aly and Jared my thanks, grab my purse, and go on my way.

Because really? All I wanted was to run.

But I wouldn’t be giving Christopher that satisfaction.

I wound around him and the girl, who’d just come to recognize that Christopher wasn’t giving her his full attention because his eyes were pinned on me. I smirked a little, catching her surprise, and immediately felt bad because this girl probably had no idea what an asshole he was.

She probably was just as naive as I had been.

I stepped outside, where the night had taken hold, a few bright stars breaking through the glow of the city lights, Aly and her family and friends still completely relaxed and enjoying each other.

“There you are,” Aly said with a casual smile, before her eyebrows creased together when she caught the expression on my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yep, perfect,” I lied, grabbing my purse from where I’d tucked it under the chair when I first arrived. “But it’s getting late, so I’d better get home.” I looked between her and Jared. “Thank you so much for inviting me. It really was great catching up with you.”

My attention jumped around the tables at the people who I’d been foolish enough to somehow think of as friends. Of course Christopher would snuff that out, too.

“It was nice to meet you all.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” went up as a chorus, and I wound back around the table, leaned in close to Aly, and brushed my fingers through her daughter’s soft hair.

Aly frowned and I gave her the best smile I could manage, hoping she understood how much I truly appreciated her and hoped for her happiness.

I knew I wouldn’t see them again.

Then I turned and rushed to the sliding glass door. I went to duck inside, when my path was obstructed by an imposing figure at the doorway, the man a full foot taller than my five foot four. I didn’t want to look up, but I couldn’t stop myself from being drawn, and his warm breath washed over my face.

Chills cascaded in a dizzying wave down my spine, before the venom in his voice lifted the hairs at the nape of my neck, the words cold and deathly quiet. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

Lost in the searing anger blazing in his green eyes, I stammered for an answer. “I… I…”

I swallowed hard and he leaned in closer, his nose brushing mine, and I was suddenly drowning in everything Christopher Moore – the way he smelled, clean, like a breath of the morning’s freshest air, but still something else entirely intoxicating, like sex and lust and everything I’d ever wanted but knew I shouldn’t have.

My thoughts went fuzzy as I got lost in it, before that wicked voice snapped me back. “Stay away from my family.” Like a caress, he trailed his finger along the line of my jaw, lifting a line of goose bumps in its wake, before he hooked it under my chin, bringing his mouth a centimeter from mine.

There was no stopping the way my lips parted on instinct, as if they’d forever been waiting for his. His heat spread across my face, and I felt myself leaning forward.

“And stay the fuck away from me.”

Stunned, I stared, my mouth gaping open with offended shock and my body reeling from the need he’d spun up in me.

Aly’s frantic voice penetrated from behind. “Christopher, what are you doing here?” The metal legs of her chair screeched as she pushed it back to stand. “You said you weren’t coming.”

I grasped for clarity, berating myself for my stupidity, for my foolish reaction. That’s all I’d been since the second I’d spotted Aly in that store. Foolish.

What in the hell is wrong with me?
 

Christopher jerked his attention up and outside, and I took the opportunity to push around him, a shock of breath wheezing into my burning lungs when I was freed from his hold. The girl he was with stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed over her chest, looking pissed off, as if I had ruined her entire evening.

I wanted to laugh in her face, because she had no clue.

Shouldering by her, I ran for the door, fumbled with the lock, and threw it open. Outside, beneath the summer’s night, I grasped my head, gasping as I fought back angry, broken tears.

When it came to Christopher, foolish was all I’d ever been.

Just a foolish, foolish girl.

And I swore I would never be her again.

I cringed, my shoulders held up protectively against my ears, wishing I could hide. I ducked farther into the safety of my locker as I dug around for my math book. Of course, I already knew exactly where it was, but I was delaying, doing everything I could to ignore the taunts Jasmine hurled my way.

She edged in close to my back and leaned over my shoulder, the caustic smell of her thick perfume making me recoil. Jasmine laughed, obviously thinking it was her face all up in mine that had me shrinking away.

Anger burned deep in my spirit, a feeling I despised, but one I’d been experiencing more and more lately.

“Aren’t you praying hard enough, Sam? Is that why your brother is sick?” she taunted. Jasmine glanced behind her to the pack of snarling girls staring me down, all of them at the beck and call of their vicious ringleader. “Maybe the little prude isn’t as innocent as she leads us all to believe,” she said to incite her little crowd.

The Bitch Brigade laughed and threw in their own jeers.

I wanted to spit in her face. Maybe wrap my hands around her neck. Worse yet, I wanted to wish my brother’s sickness on this girl instead. But I kept my mouth pressed tight, holding in all the harsh, evil words I wanted to set free.

My parents taught me never to match this kind of provocation, warning that people would always judge me for who I was.

The pastor’s daughter.

It was something I had discounted, never believing my parents’ caution, until Jasmine and her crew had somehow set their sights on me toward the end of last year. Every day it got worse and worse, as if the insults they slung were never enough. Or maybe it was just that I never gave them the satisfaction they craved.

Jasmine grabbed me by the shoulder, her fingers digging painfully into my skin. She jerked me around and pushed me back up against my metal locker. It rattled behind me.

My eyes went wide as they all closed in on me, and fear slithered under the surface of my skin. I’d never been frightened of them before, but there was something on Jasmine’s face that told me maybe I should be.

Because it was filled with pure hatred. A hatred I had neither earned nor understood.

“Prissy bitch… such a little cock tease, prancing around here like you’re God’s gift to the earth.”

The shake of my head was flustered, confused. I’d never come close to
teasing
anyone. People rarely even talked to me or gave me a second glance. For the most part I was invisible… until word had spread about my brother, and for a fraction of a moment, I’d become the center of attention, as unwelcome as it’d been.

That’s what this is about?
 

“You’re pathetic.” I whispered my anger around my dried tongue.

That flicker of fear grew stronger when Jasmine edged in closer, but I didn’t care. I wouldn’t stand silent and listen to them slander my brother, my family, even if it spurred Jasmine on.

I could take it.

A loud crash of metal caused me to scream, and the lockers shook with the force of the bash that came just above my head. Pinching my eyes, I waited for a lance of pain, for the strike to register on my face, but none came. Slowly my eyes flickered open to find Jasmine stumbling back when she met with the face of Christopher Moore, who had wedged himself between me and the girl who’d taken it upon herself to make my life a living hell.

“Don’t you have something better to do? I heard the entire basketball team is in the locker room. They should be expecting you. Or have you already grown bored of the taste of sweaty dick in your mouth?” His taunt was just as thick as the one Jasmine had used on me.

“Fuck you,” she slurred, clenching her fists at her sides, her hands extending lower than the scrap of a skirt she wore. “You didn’t seem to mind when it was your dick.”

Jasmine had a reputation. I knew all about it. The worst part was Christopher Moore had one, too.

Like her words didn’t even faze him, Christopher glanced over his shoulder at me. “You okay?”

I tried my best to catch my breath and clear my head, but his expression muddied my thoughts all up again. The dread I’d felt in the face-off with Jasmine had transformed into a wave of dizziness that started in my unsettled belly and swirled all the way up to spin my head.

Christopher Moore was talking to
me
.

He frowned, still guarding me, but twisting enough so that his torso was facing me, concern strewn all over his gorgeous face. “Did this bitch hurt you?” he demanded.

I swallowed, searching for words that were all locked up in my tightened throat. Spastic and jerky, I shook my head. A shock of embarrassment rushed to my face, splashing crimson all over my pale skin. “No,” I whispered low when he continued to stare me down, waiting for an answer.

“What the hell do you care?” Jasmine had regained her composure, all the haughty bitchiness back in full force.

Because just like Christopher had called her, she was exactly that.

A bitch.

Jasmine tossed her hip to the side, going for a sexy, seductive pose that made me want to hurl.

A voice rumbled from the side. “He obviously cares nothing about you, Jasmine, so why don’t you be on your way.”

I tore my attention from where it was fixated on Christopher to the origin of the voice.

Jared Holt.

Here I was, surrounded by two guys who commanded attention wherever they went, Christopher Moore and Jared Holt. I couldn’t tell which of them was better-looking. Any of the girls at the school would have died to have either one of them.

But there was something about Christopher’s dark hair and the overt mirth and tease that gleamed bright in his emerald eyes that just about brought me to my knees. He was gorgeous. Beautiful. And a little bit terrifying. He was trouble with a capital
T
.

And I didn’t do trouble.

Jasmine ignored Jared and instead backed an inch away, glaring at Christopher. “You’re an asshole.”

Christopher edged in closer to my side. As if he was taking up
my
side.

My head reeled again.

“Yeah?” His nose curled with distaste. “And I can smell your nasty cunt from over here.”

My eyes went wide with shock. I couldn’t believe he’d just used the C-word. That was the dirtiest of dirty words. But it just rolled off his tongue as if he used it all the time.

He probably did.

My skin zinged when he gathered me up close, tucking me under his arm to shield me from the stifling hostility radiating from Jasmine.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he whispered, moving to shuffle me toward the school’s outdoor hallway.

With his arm slung over my shoulder, he shifted enough to look back, lifted his free hand high in the air to flip Jasmine off. “Stupid bitch,” he shouted out, before he turned and whisked me away.

I shook my head, staring at my feet as I rushed to keep up with Christopher’s long, confident stride, trying to make sense of what had just gone down. I blinked and attempted to slow down, whispering the words from my raw throat. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

Christopher scoffed, still taking up his protective stance at my side. “Yeah, I did.”

“Why?” I couldn’t stop the question from escaping my mouth. It was a genuine question with an answer I wasn’t sure I could really understand.

Christopher just shrugged. “Because I’m tired of watching that rabid bitch treat everyone around her like shit.” He glanced at me, all that bold arrogance playing around his face, but something serious blanketed his eyes. “And I sure as hell am not gonna stand around and watch her messing with you.”

The nerves rolling around in my stomach got confused with the attraction I’d always felt toward him.

But that attraction had always been from afar.

“Come on… let’s grab some lunch. I’ve worked up an appetite putting Jasmine in her place.” Christopher tossed me a casual wink and turned me toward the cafeteria.

Overwhelmed by it all, I allowed my wary feet to drag me to a standstill. “You don’t even know me.”

A step ahead, Christopher stopped when he realized I was no longer at his side, his pivot slow as he turned to face me. His expression pinned me to the sidewalk and left me without breath, the sudden burning intensity of his green eyes branding me.

He erased almost all the ground between us, swallowing up the personal boundaries I had so firmly set in place. Everything lit inside of me. Places that I’d had no idea existed flamed to life in front of this beautiful boy.

Cocking his head to the side, he captured my dumbfounded gaze. “I know your name is Samantha Schultz. I know you sit one row over and two seats in front of me in English literature because I can’t stop watching you.”

He lifted his hand, the pads of his fingertips fluttering along my jaw. A flash of nerves pebbled my oversensitive skin. He hooked his finger under my chin, bringing his lips a fraction from mine.

“And I know you have the prettiest mouth I’ve ever seen.”