Fear Me (30 page)

I left Keiran downstairs and peeled off my sweaty clothes, checking the temperature of the water before stepping inside. Our match was stuck in my head along with his everything he’d said. Did I want him to take the decision away? I still hadn’t accepted the reality of losing our deal and what it meant.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back to run water through my hair when I heard the curtain slide back. I opened my eyes and found Keiran in the shower with me.

“I – what – you…” I lost the ability to talk when I noticed that he was naked.

The shower suddenly seemed tiny as he crowded my space and pushed up against me. My back was against the wall and his erection was pressing against my stomach.

“You got something you want to say?” He was daring me to protest even though he won the bet fair. I shook my head but thought seriously about kneeing him. “Good girl.”

He reached above my head to grab the shampoo and squirted some into his hands before lathering it into my hair. I tried to keep my eyes off the erection that moved with him, slapping my skin.

His fingers felt wonderful massaging my scalp. I reluctantly closed my eyes to enjoy it. I swayed toward him, feeling like I was floating on cloud nine and mistakenly grabbed his waist. I immediately withdrew my hand but he caught it, bringing it back.

“You can touch me anywhere you want.” His eyes were half-closed when he whispered those words.

His rod was thick and swollen and ready. Even though he had been in me many times already it wasn’t any less intimidating.

I chewed on my lip nervously as I reached to touch him. His fingers paused in my hair a split second before he resumed massaging my scalp and relaxing me at the same time.

A drop of clear fluid leaked from the tip running down the length and I swallowed and blushed when I realized where my thoughts had wanted to take me. I wanted to be on my knees taking him in my mouth.

“Does it hurt?” I looked up at him while wrapping my hand around his length, squeezing lightly to see if more would escape.

“Yes,” he answered his voice deep and low.

“Show me how to make it better.”

He watched me closely as he wrapped his hand over mine covering it completely. Together we massaged his length with a pumping motion. Our breathing grew heavier as we stared into each other’s eyes, lost in the moment.

Our speed quickened and soon his body was jerking and his low moans turned into deep groans. I stood on my toes to bring our mouths closer, wanting our lips to touch. We breathed each other in, his scent driving me wild.

“Baby…fuck.”

I felt his hot release on my stomach as he gripped me, pulling me closer to his body. We stood there silently, the water cascading over our bodies as we used each other for strength. Once our breathing was under control, we quickly showered and dressed before heading back to school.

* * *

I was panicking. The entire ride back to school and throughout the rest of the day, I constantly thought about what it could mean for Keiran and I to actually be
friends
.
Fucking hell.

“Dude, you’ve been staring at her with stars in your eyes or some shit. Spill. Was she good?” I heard Keenan pitiful excuse for a whisper and began humming to myself.

We were in fifth period now. I still sat with Willow and Sheldon although we were now in the row directly in front of the guys. It was the only way Keiran would allow me to sit elsewhere. Already his possessiveness was getting out of hand. I don’t think possessive is the correct word for him. Maybe crazy or psychotic.

Earlier today, a guy made the mistake of telling me my ass looked nice in my jeans. Luckily Dash was with us and pulled Keiran off the guy before any real damage was done. I didn’t know how to handle the look in his eyes so I remained silent while he led me to class before leaving for his.

Keiran saving me from Trevor’s assault was one thing. But the Keiran from a couple hours ago was an entirely different animal. I hoped I didn’t make a mistake by accepting his friendship even if it was for revenge. I was beginning to think Willow could have been right about it not being worth the risk.

“Shut up, Keenan,” he barked.

“Lake. Hey Lake,” Keenan called, clearly ignoring the warning in his tone.

I warily turned in my seat to face him. “Yes?”

“What did you do to my cousin? He looks love struck, girl.” His grin threw me off since he was supposed to hate me.

“Um, I don’t know, but he gives a great shampoo.” I winked at Keiran and turned back around. Dash and Keenan taunted Keiran endlessly to my delight. My phone vibrated after a few minutes and I checked it.

K:
You’re going to pay for that.

Lake:
Moi? What did I do?

K:
I can’t wait to make u CUM again

Lake:
We never agreed to any of that

K:
Too late. That was the hottest shower I’ve ever had.

I squeezed my thighs together to assuage the need.

K:
You’re squirming again…

Lake
: Maybe I’ll make u wait…

K:
Maybe I’ll make u beg 4 it…

Lake:
Oh yeah?

K:
Yeah…

I made a big show of tossing my phone in my backpack and heard his chuckle behind me. Willow and Sheldon looked at me curiously. I shrugged absently and focused on taking notes.

When class ended, I walked with Willow and Sheldon to the door, ready to go home. Just as I was walking out, I felt a tug on my bag. Keiran turned me around and immediately planted a deep kiss on my lips, shocking everyone around us. When he finally came up for air he glared down at me. “Where are you going?”

“I rode with Willow.”

“So?”

“So…I’m going home with her.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“I’m telling you.” The look that passed over his face would have scared me before but I held my ground. He jaw clenched and then he released me.

“I’ll be over later.” With that he walked off and left me standing there with Willow, whose bottom lip was touching the ground.

“Lake, what the hell just happened?” she shrieked. I looked around and noticed the many eyes that were still on me.

“Not here. I grabbed her and rushed for the exit, wanting away from the prying eyes. I saw Keiran in the parking lot next to his car, surrounded by a ton of people. He spotted me as soon as we cleared the door and watched as we headed for Willow’s car. Just as I opened her car door he mouthed ‘behave’ and turned back around.

* * *

Willow shot me accusing looks the entire ride home and continued to glare at me once we got to her house. I felt like a bad child that got caught stealing cookies out the jar. “So can I say my piece or are you going to continue accusing me?”

“I didn’t say anything,” she pouted. I rolled my eyes and started cleaning up her room, when I got tired of having a staring contest. I picked up a pair of her jeans and found
Pepé
sleeping under them.

“Willow why is
Pepé
out of his house?” We called it a house because she was convinced
Pepé
disliked the word cage.
Yeah that was all Willow.

“I don’t know…he escaped?”

“Willow your mom will have a fit if she knew he was left out.”

“He has a soul! He doesn’t belong in a cage!”
Here we go.
I turned on her speakers to avoid another animal rights speech. “I’ve got a date with Derek Ryan tonight,” she blurted.

“Dash still not talking to you?”

“No. Who cares anyway?”

“Willow –”

“Nope. Not going there. He has a fiancée, remember?”

“Do you even know if that’s really true? You know how girls like that are. They’re self-serving. They think the world belongs to them.”

“He didn’t deny it either.”

“You asked him? When?”

“He snuck in Sunday night when my parents were sleep.”

“What did he say?”

“What do guys like that always say?” He told me his
relationship
with Rosalyn had nothing to do with our
thing
.” She let out a humorless laugh. “I asked him was I supposed to be his mistress or something and he just shrugged and said we were friends who fuck and there was nothing to talk about.”

“Oh Willow.” I sat down on the bed next to her and hugged her.

“You know what the worst part is about this fuckery?”

“What?”

“I let Dash throw away my favorite vibrator! It was special.” I laughed at her silliness. I was happy that she didn’t let Dash break her because her spirit was amazing. “So you still plan to go after Keiran and Dash, huh?”

The way she asked instantly had me turning around to face her. “I won’t go after Dash if you don’t want me to…” She shrugged and stared down at the floor.

“Willow?”

“I don’t want you to go after either of them.”

“Look, I don’t even know what I’m going to do. I just know I need to find out if he killed that girl.”

“Why?” She finally met my gaze again but she looked truly angry now. “You don’t even know her.”

“But she’s an innocent little girl.”

“How do you know that? Really, Lake. How? All you have is picture. So you found a locket in his closet that looks like hers. That doesn’t mean he did it.”

“Willow…”

“I know how it sounds, damn it! I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I promise, I’ll be careful,” I reassured her.

“Yeah well…promises are made to be broken.”

Sheldon came over an hour later with news that Anya had a bounty on my head. Apparently word spread that Keiran and I were a couple now and that I stole her man. “I wouldn’t worry about Anya, she is all talk. Keiran won’t let anyone touch you anyway.”

“I’m not worried about her. Keiran and I are just friends anyway.”

“Sure, babe.”

“Lake, I have to agree,” Willow chimed. “That kiss earlier didn’t look friendly. It was hot.”

“We just have an agreement. A truce of sorts.” A truce that was a half lie but would get me what I needed. There was no way Keiran was getting away with this.

“Uh huh and how did this agreement come about?” Sheldon asked.

“We played basketball.” They gave me a weird look and I ran down everything that happened starting with English. I didn’t however tell them about our impromptu shower.

“He totally hustled you, Lake.”

“What do you mean? It was a fair game.”

“Come on. You saw Keiran play. He used your curiosity and made the odds sound good enough that you couldn’t resist.”

“You got played,” Willow added.

“And if I know Keiran, he is after more than friendship.”

“I know. He made it pretty clear he wants sex.”

“Are you sure you know what giving it up to Keiran will lead to?” Sheldon asked.

“An orgasm?” I laughed.

“Lake, Keiran is playing for keeps.”

“He has had to fuck almost every girl at Bainbridge and then some. Does he
keep
all of them?”

“Of course not. And he isn’t as big of a man whore as you may think. He’s too calculating. Most of what he does has a purpose.”

“Like his sudden interest in me?”

“Have you been listening? It’s always been there.”

I didn’t understand why everyone was so convinced that Keiran has always wanted me. He has done everything in his power to convince everyone that I was an undesirable waste of space. I’ve never once been on a date because of him. I didn’t go to parties. I didn’t hang out. Up until now I had one friend. No matter how much I hid in the past, he found me. I ran and he chased. I couldn’t escape him. It was as if my pain fueled him.

This year was supposed to be about getting through and breaking away with the hope that I would never see him again. Now I was being told that the past was a lie. It felt very real to me because I still carried the scars. After his last play on my sanity, the scars ran deeper than ever before.

I guess I still haven’t gotten away from wearing my emotions on my face because Sheldon quickly changed the subject. “Willow what are you doing to my brother? He’s been snapping and growling at everyone. My dad put him in a chokehold when he snapped at mom. It was awesome.”

“I took your advice. I showed him I was serious.”

“I never doubted you were serious. I’m wondering though if you’re sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“You want him, so what’s the deal?”

“He’s engaged?”

“Oh that.” She shrugged and answered, “He’s not engaged.”

“Sheldon, don’t lie for him.”

“He’s not. There was talk between our fathers about Rosalyn and Dash marrying, but that was more like matchmaker bullshit. At least for my dad it was. He called the idea off when Dash told him he wasn’t interested. Rosalyn’s dad, however, has it in his head that they made an agreement. We all know he’s just after money. His finances are failing and our family is richer, so they want to marry into the family. “

“Are you talking about an arranged marriage? Who does that?” I interrupted. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Our families are old money so they follow a lot of old traditions and customs. My dad is more realistic and believes in marrying for love. Besides he would never make us do what we wouldn’t want to; to a point anyway.”

“What point is that?” Willow asked.

“Dash and dad got into an argument Sunday night about what school Dash would attend. He wants Dash at a more promising school so he can take over the family business.”

“Dash doesn’t want to take over?”

“He wants to. He just wants to do it his own way. Anyway the argument escalated and he disappeared for a few hours.”

“He came here Sunday night around nine but he was only here for a few minutes. I asked him about Rosalyn and he took off.” Willow repeated the conversation to Sheldon who wasn’t surprised.

“He didn’t mean it, Willow. He was already pissed and looking for someone to take it out on. Dash is crazy about you. He told me there was no one like you.”