“I…”
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
She shook herself and glared up at me as if coming out of a trance.
“What the fuck, Cole? I don’t want to touch you and I certainly don’t want you to touch me.”
She shoved me then. I let go of her hands. Before she had a chance to disappear from my space, I leant down, my mouth brushing along the shell of her ear, making sure that was the only place my body touched hers.
“Liar.”
“Excuse me?”
“I called you a liar. You can fool the whole fucking world, but not me. I see right through you. You think I know nothing about you, but I know a whole lot more than you’ll ever realise. Mark my words, Meredith, you’ll be back for more of what you think you don’t want sooner rather than later.”
I took several steps back, watching her try to regain her composure after what I’d said.
“You think you’re so fucking smart, huh? Let me make one thing very clear, Cole Carter, I will never want anything from you so take your delusional bullshit elsewhere.”
And with that, she ripped open my door and stormed out of my room. I rocked back on my heels and smiled. No doubt she’d been stewing over every word I said when she was alone, wondering what the hell I meant. Then she’d be back to find out.
And I’d be waiting.
Chapter Six
I swear to god that boy was the devil sent to drag me down into the depths of hell. The moment I escaped from his room with my heart pounding and my body trembling with feelings I didn’t understand nor want to, I ran headlong into Cole’s dad. He steadied me with two hands on my shoulders. When I looked up at Rory, I almost flinched. Given what just happened with his son, seeing those damning hazel eyes had me pressing a hand to my chest.
“Running somewhere?”
“Away from Cole,” I blurted out without thinking.
Mouth, shut the fuck up!
Rory’s eyes grew concerned as he dropped his hands.
“What did he do?”
“N… nothing.”
In reality, Cole hadn’t done anything other than taunt me. I’d been the one to touch him. Something I severely regretted.
But do you? Didn’t you like the way he felt against your palms?
“Nothing? That doesn’t sound like Cole.”
I shook my head. As if I wanted to admit to his dad, Cole had flooded my veins with violent arousal just by talking to me. Something I didn’t understand in the slightest.
And yet you just admitted it to yourself. That’s why you’re flustered.
“It was a misunderstanding. Nothing serious… I… uh… should find Raphi.”
Rory eyed me for a long moment. He didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. He knew his son had done something to me. I wasn’t about to enlighten him, considering this was the first time I’d met the man. Also, I still felt pretty intimidated by him. He radiated this air of danger.
“He’s in the living room.”
“Um, thank you.”
I ducked by him and hurried away, not wanting to prolong the encounter. Didn’t stop me glancing back to find Rory watching me. Then he turned and knocked on Cole’s door. I hoped his son would not say a word about what just happened between us.
I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks, wanting to be away from this house and Cole Carter. That fucking boy. I had no idea what he thought he was playing at. I’d never met a cockier and more arrogant sixteen-year-old in my life. He acted like I should just accept everything he said without question.
Fuck you, Cole. I don’t want you.
My body had other ideas. My fingers tingled as if they were still planted on his solid chest. My skin thrummed in anticipation of his hands all over it. And the less said about what was going on between my thighs, the better.
How the hell did he know I was a virgin? Who had found that out and told him? He told me my secret was safe but I didn’t believe a word coming out of that boy’s mouth. How could I trust someone who’d dragged me into his bedroom and pinned me against his door like I was a ragdoll or a toy for his amusement?
And why did it turn me on?
Shoving all of those thoughts well away from my brain so I didn’t have to think about the whys and hows of my body’s reaction to Cole, I made it to the living room and found Raphi alone in there with the TV on.
“Hey,” I said, trying to keep my voice level and even.
He looked back at me over the top of the sofa. His brow furrowed when he took in my appearance.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes… what are we doing now?”
“Well, we can watch TV or I can show you our games room.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Games room?”
“Uhuh, used to be our playroom when we were kids. Duke’s probably in there and he might let you play co-op with him or something.”
I had wanted to go home but maybe I needed the distraction. Home would only be filled with silence.
“What about you?”
Raphi grinned.
“We could persuade him to play Mario Kart.”
“Oh, you are so on.”
Raphi got up and led me through the house towards the back. We entered a big room with a huge flatscreen TV, a couple of old school arcade games resting along the wall and Duke sat on the large sofa with a controller in his hand.
“What do you two want?” he asked when he spied us lingering in the doorway.
“Want to play us at Mario Kart?”
Duke eyed us for all of two more seconds before he lugged himself off the sofa.
“Oh, go on then, I bet I’ll kick both your arses.”
Raphi and I took our seats and Duke got everything set up. For the next hour, the three of us were completely fixated on trying to outmatch each other. I almost didn’t notice when Cole arrived. Except for the fact, my skin prickled at his mere presence. And I was not expecting him to plant himself between me and Raphi on the sofa.
Why are you here? I don’t want you near me after what you did earlier.
“You here to ruin our fun?” Duke asked.
“No,” Cole muttered and grabbed the last controller off the coffee table.
“You better not throw that at the screen like the last time you lost.”
Cole glared at his brother.
“I won’t.”
Cole looked at me, his eyes burning into my flesh like he could see right through me. The smirk gracing his lips made me want to smack it off his face. I refrained and looked away, hoping neither Raphi nor Duke noticed their brother’s interest in me. Whatever the hell that interest was.
You have a good idea of what he wants, Meredith. Don’t lie to yourself.
Duke set up a new game and for the first race, nothing untoward happened. Before we started the second one, Cole shifted closer to me until our thighs met. I could’ve sworn my face was on fire, but I attempted to ignore him. Duke and Raphi had both leant forward in their seats, their eyes intent on the screen. When Cole leant over to me, his breath disturbing my hair, I shivered and tried not to react any further.