Bad Romance Read online

  And I did.

  My whole body jerked and his mouth covered mine in a smoldering kiss that sent my mind going dark. Little stars danced across my closed lids as his tongue commanded my mouth. He nudged at my tongue, brushed against the roof of my mouth, and owned me.

  And the bad part. The real shitty part of this whole situation was not that he got me to come. It was that he did own me, and I wanted to be owned by him. I just hoped he didn’t shatter me into a million tiny pieces when he was done with me.

  I felt the wall move behind me and the moist heat of his mouth was gone. I let out a breath and allowed my eyes to slide open. He was smiling down at me and that gaze he gave me wasn’t a look of triumph like I feared I would see. Oh, no. It was a look of contentment. As if he had weathered the storm and all for this moment.

  I was in awe.

  A sea of people parted around us as I just stared up at him like a dumb fool. I was knocked from my swooning by Todd, who had locked on my arm as he passed me and finally got himself between me and Dax. I was spun around and lost my balance. I fell back into Todd’s chest and he righted me. He mumbled a sorry before I was roughly pulled to the side by Dax. This little game of tug o’war went on until we got to the moving floor portion of the line. I was waiting. Todd had me at this point. But not for long. Just as I stepped forward like a dazed zombie onto the moving floor, my feet left the ground and I was swept in against Dax, who got me into a doombuggy and onto his lap. I heard Todd curse and Dax released a real laugh. It boomed through the little dark buggy and settled into me. The whole last series of minutes were a daze.

  “Did you all just play tug o’war with me?”

  Dax had that lopsided grin that made me want to get naked and spread for him. It was a special talent to be able to do something like that with just an off-centered tilt of the lips.

  “I believe we did, sweetness. And it looks like I win.” He leaned forward and I braced myself for another one of his kisses.

  “No lap sitting!”

  I yelped and turned to look at an annoyed cast member glaring at me. I carefully slid off Dax’s lap and onto the bench next to him. I swallowed hard and tried to focus on the ride around us.

  “We have a lot to talk about, Clara. It would seem that you have been deceiving me this whole time.” His deep voice was against my ear. It was the only way he was going to be heard over the loud soundtrack of the ride.

  His warm hand was on my thigh and I tried to get some space. God, I needed space from this man so bad or I was going to end up falling victim to him again.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” I looked up at him. I fought to steel my features and it must’ve worked because he smirked at me.

  “I underestimated you, honey.”

  I turned away from him and that was a bad idea. He snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. With my back against his side, I was vulnerable as he toyed with my neck, his tongue and teeth working my body into a frenzy. I was too hot, too confused, too everything in that moment. He was mumbling naughty things against my ear. Telling me all the things he would do to me once he got me home and finally alone.

  “After all this time. I was a fucking idiot to think you wouldn’t figure it out.”

  “I didn’t at first,” I confessed.

  I sealed my lips after that.

  “Keep going, Clara. Tell me how you have been naughty this whole time,” he purred against my ear.

  I was breathing hard. He was working one nipple into a painfully sharp point that seemed to shoot right to my cunt. Fuck, no man had ever made me feel this way. We coasted through the graveyard and curved around the corner. The mirrors signaled that I needed to make my escape now or I wasn’t making an escape at all. I started to get distance when our doombuggies swung towards the mirrors and he righted us to look straight ahead. I saw Todd next to us—glaring. Shannon was with Cat, Cat looking confused and Shannon had this look of pure worry on her face when her gaze met mine. The moment the safety bar went up Dax moved to exit. In his moment of distraction that had his back turned to me I used it. I ran and didn’t stop until I made it past the turnstyle and out of the stifling confines of the attraction.

  I could hear Dax shouting my name. He wasn’t far behind. But I didn’t look back. I had the keys to the car in the tiny shoulder bag. I was the one that offered to take it to hold money and the keys. I would make it to the car and call Shannon. I was just to the exit to Frontierland when arms wrapped around my waist and I was snapped off my feet. I squealed but people around me laughed like they were watching a boy and girl play with one another in Disneyland. I tried to squeal again, making my point that this was no game when I was shoved into the deep corner behind the pin trading store.

  “Dax, let me—” I didn’t get far with my protest. His mouth was over mine again and he was kissing the protest right out of me.

  My fingers clawed at the front of his shirt and pulled him closer. I found my inner wild child and kissed him back hard and fierce, the way I’d seen girls in movies do. How I’d always wished I’d done before Dax had disappeared from my life.

  Dax was the first to pull away. “Fuck, Clara baby.” He pressed his forehead against mine. We were both panting and fighting for control.

  “We need to talk,” he demanded. Suddenly that panting was gone and he was all firm control.

  “I’m not ready, Dax. I need to think. Please, let me think.”

  “Why? So you can think up another escape plan? Fat fucking chance of me letting that happen.”

  I wanted to cry and laugh all at once.

  But I didn’t get a chance when Shannon finally caught up to us. She was wedged between Dax and me and glaring at us both.

  “This is fucking enough, Dax. I’m taking my girl home. If you want you can follow. But not here!”

  Shannon grabbed my hand and pulled me away from him. He didn’t follow. Something in my chest tightened at that. I watched him get swallowed up by the crowd as Todd came up to his side to watch me being dragged away by my well meaning best friend.

  I couldn’t stop the breathless pain in my chest the further I got from him.

  I was so totally screwed.

  Chapter Twelve

  Todd

  Fuck.

  She’s hiding from me again.

  I sat in the Starbuck’s in downtown Claremont and glared out the window. I watched the cars driving slowly through the streets and took slow sips of my black cup of coffee. I could’ve made this fucking drink in my house, but I was so fucking sick of watching the house next door waiting for Clara to come out. She was watching me too; I could feel it. She planned her days out perfectly. She didn’t cross my path, I didn’t glimpse her leaving and I knew she had to be leaving the house goddamned early because I woke up at six in the fucking morning without fail.

  Goddamn her to hell.

  I scared her.

  And I liked it.

  I threw her whole life off balance.

  But it was only fair because she did the same thing to me.

  I was ready to tell her all of it. The whole fucked-up story that was my life from the moment I left her. Why my heart was black. Why I couldn’t love her the way she deserved but that I didn’t care. She was mine. I would be damned if I let another guy make her fly like that.

  My cock got so hard I moaned and tried to muffle it with another gulp from my rapidly cooling coffee.

  “Lookie who we have here.”

  I didn’t muffle my groan this time. I didn’t even turn around. I waited for the tsunami that was Tamara to fill up my vision. I just took another gulp of my coffee and grimaced. Cold coffee was fucking disgusting.

  “You been missing in action. It’s the Clara girl, isn’t it?”

  I still didn’t answer. I was hoping if I ignored her she would disappear.

  “Whatever. I was going to tell you, she’s over at A Shop Called Quest.”

  That got my fucking attention.

  “
What?” I barked at her.

  She smirked, lifted a finger and wiggled it in the direction of the comic book store down the street. I couldn’t see it from here but I knew which she was talking about. I turned bleary eyes on her. “How the fuck do you know she’s there?”

  With a very dramatic sigh, she sat at the table next to me. “Because I just came from I Like Pie and saw her go in. Actually, I’ve seen her go in every day for the last week. She’s hiding from you, isn’t she?”

  I grunted and tossed my cold coffee into the trash bin. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my shorts.

  “Why you helping me?”

  She shrugged and her smug grin dropped. Suddenly this vulnerable expression crossed over her face and I was taken aback. I’d only seen this cold-hearted bitch with Tamara. Could it be that she wasn’t the bitch she showed everyone? She stood up and looked up at me, matching my gaze.

  “I know I’m a bitch. I was raised to be a bitch. I was playing a really good part until I realized that posting that video was probably the shittest thing I could’ve done to another human being.” She paused and swirled around the straw in her frilly coffee drink. “Let’s just say I owe her.”

  I scoffed and took a step back, pushing against the door. “By ratting out her hidey hole?”

  She shook her head and took a sip. “By giving you to her.” And with that fucking bomb she winked and shoved past me out the door.

  Well, fuck.

  Who would’ve thought?

  Enough wasting time, Trenton. You have a mouse to catch.

  Oh, this would be fun.

  I jogged across the street when traffic cleared and headed down the rows of businesses until I hit the coffee shop that was next door to the comic book shop. I moved quickly down the side alley with rows of tables and chairs with college kids busy on laptops studying and working on homework.

  I gazed in the window and only saw the workers at the front counter. I scanned the room and then looked down. Tucked in the corner in the far back, right under me, she sat. She was reading a comic and looked peaceful. She’d always hid behind walls of books and storyboards that made up these colorful comics. I have to admit, it was the first thing that bonded us. The original Inhumans comics.

  I slipped into the store, careful to mind the bell. The memories of us curled up in her huge closet back in Chicago were fresh in my mind. I sat down next to her quietly. She didn’t notice me. Then I brushed up against her and heat filled her cheeks and goosebumps rose on her flesh.

  My God, how she reacted to me without even realizing it was me.

  She lifted her gaze from the comic, unaware of her reaction. When our eyes locked she let out a strangled sound and started to rise to bolt.

  “No you don’t!”

  I grabbed her wrist and held her down.

  “I’ll scream.”

  “I’ll kiss you.”

  She turned that sexy shade of pink again and her struggles stopped. Clara melted against my side and I pulled her against me. I snatched up the comic from her hands and memories slammed into me.

  Inhumans by Jenkins and Lee.

  “Why are you reading this?”

  “You know why.”

  “I want you to tell me.”

  Silence.

  Fuck, she was the most stubborn woman in the world.

  “You can’t hide forever.”

  “I was doing a fine job of it all week.” She paused. “Who outed me?”

  “Tamara.” I set the comic down next to me and looked down at her. She crossed her arms over her chest and the way she rested her head in the crook of my shoulder belied her whole cool bullshit routine.

  “Of course she did.”

  I crossed my legs in front of me and sighed. I fucking sighed. I was sick of this fucking dance. Shit needed to get real like now. I couldn’t take much more—neither could my dick.

  “We need to have a conversation, Clara. Not in the comic book shop, but at home.”

  “I—” She didn’t finish that sentence.

  “You don’t what?”

  “I don’t trust you, Dax. Not after—”

  Fuck.

  A knot tightened in my chest and I knew guilt. I should’ve never pulled that video bullshit. I mucked up anything we could have and made all this so much fucking harder.

  “I know. I’m gonna fix it.”

  “How?”

  I didn’t answer her. I just got up and brought her with me. I was strong enough to push her around a bit. It was fucking adorable how she allowed me to pick her up and carry her around when I wanted.

  My little mouse.

  Shit.

  Focus, Trenton.

  “We are going home, and while I eat that sweet little pussy of yours, you’re going to tell me exactly what you believe happened when I left. Then, once you come, I’m going to explain what really happened.”

  She glared up at me. But I didn’t miss the heat in her gaze. It flashed and made those bright eyes sparkle with fire. The rage and arousal was a good look on her. Hot as fuck too.

  “Fine. But you’re not eating my pussy while I talk.”

  “Oh, but I am, little mouse. I’m gonna lap up all that cream currently coating the crotch of your panties.”

  There was that flash of heat again and she turned pink. I leaned in when we got to front door of the shop. “Do you get pink like that all over?”

  She sigh. I shit you not, the woman swooned right before my eyes and I laughed and moved past her, heading back to her place.

  “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, just so long as you know that.”

  I didn’t look back, but she jogged to catch up to me.

  “I missed you.” I glanced to the side and I could tell by the pained expression on her face that was hard for her to say.

  “Yes, you acted it the last few months. I felt so fucking missed.”

  She slugged my arm with very little heat and smiled. The warmth nearly dropped me to my fucking knees.

  “Do you have to say fuck so much?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  I stopped then. Setting myself in front of her, stopping our forward motion she sucked in a breath when I leaned down and grasped her chin. I tilted her head back to look at me.

  “I’m going to show you why soon enough.”

  And I swear to fucking God. The woman fucking gulped before I turned back around and let her simmer on that factoid of the fucking hour.

  We walked in silence the rest of the way back to her place. I couldn’t go to mine. We would run the risk of too many distractions. Namely Todd. Who was not only giving me the silent treatment, but was attempting to follow Clara and hunt her down also. Too bad for him—I got to her first.

  Clara watched me out of the corner of her eye as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. I came up close behind her. Giving her breathing room would only allow her an edge. I would have the edge here. If I was going to make my move and get her back—I had to always have the edge. She was nearly panting as she attempted to dodge around the main room, then in the kitchen where she pulled two bottled waters out of the fridge. She set mine on the countertop and twisted around. She got the center island between us. Clever girl.

  But I was better.

  I snatched up the water and circled around. I went to the back window and took a long drink. I was famished after the shit cold coffee I’d been attempting to enjoy at the Starbucks.

  “I thought we came to explain—” She paused when I turned around to face her. Her eyes went wide and she lifted the water and drank down half of it.

  There was no more barrier between us and I was going to take full advantage of that. Clara turned to the side to set down the bottle and I moved in on her. I used my brute force and my body to slam her into the island. She let out one of those mousey little squeals and it shot blood right to my dick and it was hard.

  She was like a dick witch.<
br />
  Every time she made a whimpering little peep, I was ready to fuck the living shit out of her.

  God, how I wanted to bottom out in that creamy little cunt of hers. It would be so fucking tight. I could feel it. The ghost of it teased me as I remembered my fingers inside her, the way that silky heat clenched as she came for me. And she would come for me again.

  “Dax—please,” she whimpered.

  God, the whimper did it for me. I caged her in with my body. She trembled and squirmed against me. I nuzzled against her neck as my hands moved. They slid up and down her arms, and then my hips slammed against hers. She sucked in a breath as she crashed against the island before I cupped her big, juicy tits in my palms. Her nipples were sharp little points. Yep, I did it for her too.

  “Go with it, baby.” I let my nose run down the curve of her neck. “That’s it, melt for me.” She thrust back against me. My cock was so hard now I swear it was going to carry the tattoo of my pants if it kept this up without getting inside her. My hands made their way down her front, moving towards her jean shorts. I flicked the button open, then the hiss of the zipper filled the quiet room. Along with her heavy breathing.

  “I made you a promise.” I shoved her shorts down her legs. I stopped them at her knees and kicked her legs open until she was stuck like that. With one powerful shove I had her torso flat against the island top. I could feel the growl rolling around as I peeled the silk panties from her, slowly exposing her ass, then her pink little cunt.

  “Wet, baby, so very wet.”

  I got down in a crouch behind her and without warning I thrust a finger inside her. She rose on her tip toes, trying to escape me.

  “Oh no you don’t.” I used my free hand to control her hips and she cried out as I thrust up inside her. “Start talking. What is your side of your fucked-up story?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Clara

  How in the hell was I supposed to talk with his fingers doing—that inside me?