Chapter 1
I stumbled into the wall I couldn't see. I swear it wasn't there a second ago. Maybe I'd had too much to drink… again. Maybe I was just clumsy. Na, had to be the first one because I'm super graceful. Trying not to think is hard, especially when you're trying not to think about something. Whatever you don't want to think about just becomes more persistent. So, that's why I drank too much tonight and the night before and the night before that.
The faint smell of a cologne I couldn't identify wafted towards me, making me scrunch my nose up. I remembered something about the smell. Yes, it was the guy I'd been flirting with. He appeared as if summoned. He was close, right behind me. I tried to turn my head as I leaned against the wall but I could feel my hair brush his face and I swiveled my head back around. He was kind of creepy now and I didn't like the way this was going. Aubrey warned me about this kind of thing over and over and I always blew off her concern because she was overprotective.
I tried to step away but his arm snaked around my stomach and he pulled me back. "Hey!" Liquor took away my coordination and most of my brain was focusing on the danger signal going off in my mind. Yeah, I liked to get to know people. I might even have a bit of a reputation for getting to know them really well, really quickly but this was not what I wanted so I pushed off of him yelping when his arm muscles flexed and he kept me in place. "That hurt, you jerk!" My hands flew down to where he was gripping me and I pulled at his skin but nothing happened. "Let me go!" Instead of freedom I felt his breath close to her ear.
"No," he hissed. "I've wanted you all night." His free hand came up to pull my hair aside and his nose brushed the skin of my neck, causing me to shiver. "You have such energy," he said. The tone of his voice was so different from how it sounded before when we were just talking. I almost couldn't believe it. His tone shifted completely from this smooth calm accented drawl, until it was dark and edged with the growl of a predator.
"Get away from me!" I tried, but no one saw me or heard.
I was alone again. So stupid.
Sometimes I just needed to get out but there was no way to do that without being alone. And here I was now, in the arms of a dangerous strong man. My mind was torn. Should I scream? Should I yell? Should I push him? Should I bite?
There was nothing. Nothing.
I couldn't move, for some reason. I couldn't do anything.
"You'll like me," he said. And I felt myself calm in the moment. I felt, for a moment, that he was right.
"Maybe," I said, drunken now on the thought and feel of him and what could happen. Some men liked to play and it wasn't malicious. Perhaps he was like that?
I did like men, especially handsome men, but usually by now I'd have sent him away if I wasn't feeling his attitude or the way his breath seemed to smell of something I couldn't place or the way his touch seemed to be rough in a purposeful way. There was something about him that wouldn't let me hate him and it was so oddly peculiar that I couldn't even begin to understand it. It was just this feeling really. He spoke and I believed him.
Not long after that he had led me out of the bar and down an alley. He was so strong, he could've easily hoisted me up onto his shoulders and walked me out like it was normal but all he needed was to push me before him and walk. He was behind me but he was leading. For whatever reason, I obeyed him and I somewhat wanted to.
"Here," he said, deliciously. I looked up at him and noticed a strange sparkle in his eye. I hadn't seen it before but it was there now. It filled me up with lust and I felt myself become insanely attracted to him.
"You should leave me alone," I tried defiantly, but I was smiling and I knew it. He could see that. I could feel that I wanted him and he could see that. There was something about this particular man. I wanted him to touch me, to kiss me, to taste me and have me for his own. And it wasn't love, that was clear. From the second the air hit my face outside I was aware that it was lust. Only that sparkle solidified it and made things intense like it was all some popular game.
"You don't want that. I know you don't," he breathed huskily. He reminded me of a beast. You know, if a beast could talk or even come close to making words.
My body slammed hard against the outer brick wall of the bar and I felt his hands so large against my torso as he pushed into me and felt me up without asking. I rarely felt small with men but with him I was minuscule.
"I'm going to love the taste of you," he flirted dangerously. It should've scared me but all I felt was that need for him deep inside. I wanted more than his taste. I wanted his everything.
All he said was that sentence, and, just like that, he pushed into me again until I was trapped between him and the wall. Pleasure rushed me and I felt a sharp stinging pain on my neck. It wasn't sharp enough to dull out that feeling of sudden ecstasy from his kiss, but I did feel a sting and it was prominent like a needle or a tight and forceful pinch.
Was he kissing me? Was this love?
Strange and disoriented, I felt my eyes close as my will to respond simply drained.
"What are you…"
I couldn't finish the sentence.
My eyes drifted to a close.
And that's all I remember….