Naked 2 : BAD (8 page)

“I don’t want you to kill for me. I’m okay.”

“Are you?” he said. “Are you really?”

She nodded. “I am now,” she said softly.

And then he was kissing her. His hands moved from her shoulders to cupping her face, as he gently touched his lips to hers.

Elijah’s lips were the softest she’d ever felt. They were like velvet, soft and warm and insistent, but not overly aggressive. He seemed to be happy to kiss her gently at first, as his hands caressed her cheeks and then one hand moved to the back of her head.

The kiss suddenly got more intense, as he pulled her closer to him. The night around her felt completely beautifully, and she told herself she would remember this moment forever and ever, until the day she died and beyond.

He broke away for a moment, looking at her.

She smiled. “I’ve been waiting for that,” she told him.

His mouth twitched into a slight grin. “You have, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“What else have you been waiting for?”

She licked her lips. “I can’t say right now.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Both.”

He laughed and then leaned in and began kissing her again, this time with more emphasis. His tongue entered her mouth and she could taste mint, and her body shuddered with the sensation of him against her, feeling his skin and knowing he wanted her.

She wouldn’t have thought it was possible that she might want him sexually, might be begging for him to do so much more to her, not so soon after what Jayson had done to her.

But the truth was, she did. Her body was responding, everything inside her was responding, not caring what she’d been through or any of her doubts and concerns.

Her body seemed to demand so much more than just a mere kiss.

Everything felt tight and ready, waiting like a coiled spring, and all it needed was for Elijah to turn the key and…

She moaned as his tongue slowly worked its way in and out of her mouth and she ran her hands down the length of his chest, to his rock hard abdomen.

It only occurred to her that they were standing in the street when she heard the car pulling up behind them and felt the headlights illuminating them. She turned towards the blinding light.

“Oh, sorry,” she yelled, backing out of the road, towards the curb.

Jayson moved with her.

The car slowly crept forward a few feet, but it wasn’t going very fast. As the headlights dimmed from her vision, Caelyn suddenly realized whose car it was.

“Oh, shit,” she said under her breath.

Jayson looked at her. “What? What is it?”

“My parents,” she said. Her stomach clenched with dread.

The car stopped again and the door opened. Her father got out first, and it was clear he’d gotten dressed hastily. He was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, and his hair was a mess. He squinted warily at Elijah. “Kindly step away from my daughter,” he said loudly, his voice gravelly with tension.

Jayson glanced at Caelyn, then put his hands up and took a few steps back. “Hey, I’m not here to cause trouble, Sir. I’m just—“

“You’re just what?” he said, and Caelyn put her hands over her mouth. She’d never seen her father like this. He was completely furious.

“I just came here as Caelyn’s friend,” Elijah said.

“You’re her new friend?” Her father laughed bitterly. “That’s wonderful. Sure, I’m relieved.”

“You should be relieved,” Elijah retorted. “I’m looking out for her.”

“I’m not interested in anything you have to say,” her dad replied, then looked at Caelyn. “Caelyn, come on.” He motioned her toward the car.

“Dad, it’s okay. Elijah’s my friend, and he’s perfectly nice. Nothing bad is happening,” she said, trying desperately not to let the whole thing get worse than it already was. “Just go back home, I’ll be in in a few minutes.”

Her father shook his head. “No.” His voice rose. “No. No.” He shook his head again. “Do you know how worried we are? Do you know what your behavior is doing to your mother? Do you stop to think for a minute about anybody but yourself?”

He was practically screaming now.

Elijah stepped between them. “Now just calm down,” he said. “This is getting way too intense. Caelyn didn’t do anything wrong. We were only talking.”

Her father glared at Elijah. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to,” he said.

“But I’m not getting way too intense. I’m this young girl’s father. That means if I decide that she needs to come home then she needs to come home. I’m not leaving her to stand out on a dark street with some punk—“

“Dad, please,” Caelyn said.

Elijah laughed and turned his back on her father, shaking his head. “Forget it, I can’t talk to this guy.”

“Elijah, don’t listen to him,” she said. “He’s only upset and worried.”

“No, Elijah, do please listen to me,” her father said. “You best get in your damn truck parked in front of the house I own, and drive back to wherever the hell you came from.”

“Dad, what are you doing?” Caelyn cried. “Stop it!”

Now Caelyn’s mother got out of the car. She was wearing a robe and she yanked it tightly around herself. Her hair was pulled back and she looked completely spent. “Get in the car, right now,” she said.

“No,” Caelyn replied. “I’m an adult.”

“Then start acting like one. Adults don’t run away to Florida. Adults don’t steal cars and sneak out of the house at night to go necking with some strange boy in the middle of the neighborhood!”

Caelyn almost laughed at the term “necking,” but she held back.

Elijah shook his head again, the smirk obvious on his face.

Caelyn’s mother turned to him. “You think this is funny?”

He glanced at her. “No, ma’am,” he replied, but his tone wasn’t all that respectful.

“It’s not funny. This is our daughter. And she has a boyfriend, you know.”

Elijah’s smirk disappeared. He looked at Caelyn. “What? Boyfriend?”

“That’s right. I don’t know what she’s told you, but she’s seeing a wonderful young man at her college. I wonder what Jayson would think if he knew what you were doing behind his back, Caelyn.”

Caelyn hung her head. “Mom, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Elijah folded his arms. “Maybe I’m crazy, but I’m pretty sure Caelyn isn’t seeing Jayson anymore.”

Her mother’s face was stark white, her pupils as big as coals in her eyes. “Is he telling the truth? Did you lie to me about Jayson?”

“Mom, why do you care so much about Jayson?” Caelyn yelled.

Her mother drew back. She looked around nervously. “Lower your voice. The neighbors—“

“Oh, fuck the neighbors!” Caelyn yelled. “The only reason you think Jayson is so great is because you know he has a rich, powerful family and he goes to Cambridge,”

Caelyn continued, barely getting the words out, she was so enraged.

“That’s not true,” her mother said.

“It is true. You assumed he was good and so did I, but he wasn’t good. He’s fucking evil! He’s disgusting, and Elijah is nice and kind and you assume the worst because of the way he dresses and the car he drives—“

“Why is Jayson evil? What are you talking about?” her dad said.

She turned to Elijah and buried her face against his chest, sobbing. She was so angry and hurt and sickened by everything. She felt his strong, powerful arms encircling her, holding her.

“What is she going on about?” her mother said, and her voice was choked with disbelief.

“Listen,” Elijah said, still holding Caelyn. “Your daughter’s been through a lot, and I guess she hasn’t told you about it yet.”

“And she told you?”

“Yeah, she did.”

“That’s absurd,” Caelyn’s mother replied. “Please let go of her now.”

“Maybe she should’ve told you what that great guy Jason did to her,” Elijah spat.

“Maybe you all would have been a lot nicer to her. Then again, maybe not.”

“What did he do? Is anyone going to answer us?”

“It’s not my place,” Elijah said.

Caelyn spun around, looking at her parents. “Jayson raped me. Okay? Now do you get it?”

Her mother’s face grew even paler, if that was possible. She stuttered. “That makes no sense. Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you pretend everything was fine between you two?”

“Because, I didn’t want to deal with you. I didn’t think I could trust you.”

“Well I can’t say I feel differently about you,” her mother replied. “So far, all you’ve done is lie to us. How do I know this isn’t yet another lie?”

Caelyn was about to respond, but Elijah stepped out in front of her. “Excuse me, but what you said just now was an absolute crock of shit.”

Suddenly, Caelyn’s father let out a strangled yell and attacked Elijah, throwing punches with both arms. Elijah moved easily out of the way of her dad’s clumsy attempts to hit him, ducking and weaving. Her father tried to grab hold of him and Elijah deftly moved aside again, which caused her father to fall forward onto his knees.

Just then, the front door to a nearby house opened wide and a voice yelled out at them. “I’m going to call the police if you don’t stop whatever it is you’re doing out there!”

Caelyn’s mother was helping her father to his feet.

Elijah put his hands up once more. “That’s enough for me. I’m going.” He started walking away. “I’ll call you, Caelyn,” he told her.

“No you won’t,” her mother screeched at him. “Do not call her ever again! We won’t let her speak to you! You’re a vicious, nasty punk!”

“Mom, stop it,” Caelyn said, for what felt like the millionth time.

“I will not stop it.”

Elijah was getting further and further away now, presumably heading back to his truck. She hated to see him go. It was like a knife in her heart. He’d once again tried to stand up for her, only to be cut down for his attempt.

Caelyn’s dad was brushing off his pants. “God damned punk.”

“That boy is bad news,” her mother said. “What a piece of work.”

Caelyn stared off into the distance as Elijah faded into the blackness of the night.

She was empty inside.

“Get in the car, Caelyn. Now,” her mother said, pointing.

Caelyn felt beaten down. She had no energy left to expend on fighting. Slowly, she walked back to their car, even though their house was only a minute or two walk away.

She would get inside the car, be driven home, and then they would say whatever they wanted to her.

She wouldn’t fight. She was sick of fighting, sick of losing.

Caelyn’s parents got in front, and then she opened the back door. She was about to get inside, when a pair of headlights came around the bend in the road. Caelyn stood there and watched the headlights as the car approached.

It was Elijah’s pickup truck. Part of her was intending to just stand there and watch him go. But another part of her had other ideas.

Suddenly, without even thinking about it, she sprang away from her parents’ car and waved at him.

He slowed and then brought the car to a quick halt, his window rolling down as she came over to him.

“Wait a second, Elijah,” she said, breathless.

He smiled softly at her. “I couldn’t stick around because I can’t risk getting arrested again,” he told her. “But I’ll call you.”

“No,” she said. “You won’t call me.”

His eyebrows rose. “Why not?”

“Because,” she said, “I’m coming with you.”

The look on his face was almost comical. “I’m not sure you know what you’re getting into.”

“I don’t care,” she replied. “I only know what I want.” And then she was running around to the passenger side door and getting in.

“You sure?” he asked, that slight grin returning to his face once more.

“One hundred percent.”

“Okay,” he sighed, giving her a sidelong glance as she slid into the seat beside him and closed her door. “I guess this is really happening.”

“Scared?” she asked him.

He laughed and then shifted into gear and hit the gas. The pickup burned rubber as they sped away from her parents.

“I don’t get scared,” he told her. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

THE END OF BOOK 2 OF NAKED

Book 3 will be coming soon. If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review and let us know. You can find Kelly Favor on Twitter

@kellyfavorbooks.

AND NOW, CONTINUE READING FOR THE FULL

FREE BONUS BOOK FROM LUCY COVINGTON!

Dangerously Damaged (Addicted to You, Book One)

By Lucy Covington

©
2013
.
All Rights Reserved.

LINDSAY

I’d worked ridiculously hard to get into Cambridge University, and so when the guy handing out the orientation packets told me he couldn’t find mine, I had a moment of panic.

“Are you sure?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. “Can you look again?

Lindsay Cramer?”

The boy who’d been assigned the duty of handing out packets began thumbing through the stack again. He was older, probably a senior, with broad shoulders and the kind of smile that spoke of money. In other words, he looked like he belonged here.

Me, on the other hand?

Not so much.

Which is why I was trying to quell my pending panic attack.

What if this had all been a mistake? What if I had turned down Yale and Cornell and Princeton because Cambridge was supposed to be better than all of them and now my acceptance had been some sort of horrible admissions error? Or a joke someone had played on me, and now they were going to –

“Oh, here you are!” the orientation guy said happily. He plucked my packet out of the stack and handed it to me. “It was stuck to the one behind it.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I went took a few steps away and started to open the packet, but he called after me.

“I’m Adam, by the way.”

“Lindsay,” I said, before remembering he obviously already knew that.

“Yeah,” he said. “I know.”

There was no one behind me in line, probably because it was starting to get late.

Orientation packet pick-up was from noon to four, but apparently everyone had decided to get there early, because it was close to three and there was no one around. Of course, there were lots of packets left, which led me to believe that either there were a lot of incoming freshman, or there were a lot of people who hadn’t picked up their packets.