13

13

KADE

FLASHBACK 2

“Slow the fuck down!” my stepbrother Jason bellows, reaching his hands out to slam his palms on the dashboard. “Why am I teaching you to drive if you’re not going to listen to a word I say? We’ve been at this for six months!”

I tut and shake my head. “I’m doing thirty, you dramatic bastard.”

“On a roundabout,” he replies, huffing and sitting back in his chair. He puts down his window, airing himself. “Fuck. I might message Giana and tell her I might not make dinner tonight.”

“And then she’ll come for me. Keep your dog on her leash.”

He smacks my arm, and I burst out laughing. “You’re not ten years old anymore. I can beat your ass with my eyes closed.”

“I’d love to see you try.”

“I’ll just tell Aria you’re smoking joints in her pool house.”

I roll my eyes. “Could you be any more like your dad?”

He scoffs. “I think you’re too like your dad.”

I narrow my eyes at my big brother. Step, but still my brother. We always take the piss out of each other, so we’re used to the dad slander and the occasional brawl.

Ewan is sound. He’s basically another dad for me and Luciella.

“I’m going to intentionally crash,” I tell him, and his eyes go wide. I cut him off before he can speak. “And I’m going to unclip your seat belt right before we hit a tree.” I press down on the accelerator. “Unless you say you’re sorry.”

He pales when I speed up, not looking at the empty street, keeping my eyes on him.

Adrenaline courses through me as I go over the speed limit, and I know there’s a bend coming up on the road.

“Shit. Okay. Okay!” Jason blows out a breath and mutters, “I’m sorry.”

I smile and slow down, turning up the music. “Pussy.”

He wipes the sweat from his face. “Shut up, you impulsive psycho. Do another parallel park.”

He’s been teaching me to drive for months. Ever since I got my provisional and passed my theory, we’ve been going out when he finishes work if his girlfriend doesn’t have plans with him.

“I think I’m going to ask Giana to move in with me,” my brother says as I reverse into his chosen spot, do a three-point turn, then head towards Loch Lomond. “We’ve been together for years. Surely we’re ready for that step, right?”

I raise a shoulder. “You’re asking a guy who doesn’t understand that shit.”

“Oh yeah, the frigid virgin. Got it.”

I exhale. “Anyway,” I begin, wetting my lips and wondering if I should mention her name. Would he give a shit if I kissed my sister’s best friend? Is that even a bad thing? “See how you weren’t able to come camping…” I stop, knowing he’s going to laugh at me when I say it was my first kiss. He knows I’m a virgin, that’s about it. “We all played dares.”

Jason grimaces. “Glad I didn’t go. Was Luciella there?”

“She left five minutes in.”

He nods. “Good.”

I might not give a shit what she does, but he’s the protective big brother that I should be. Though sometimes he’s a controlling prick and wants to wrap her up in cotton wool and keep her away from all men in the world.

“I was dared to… to k-kiss someone.” I swallow, annoyed with myself for stuttering. “I did kiss someone.”

“Right,” Jason replies, confused. “Is that a big thing?”

“It was the first time I’d ever done it.”

With a disbelieving sound, he tilts his head. “You’re eighteen, dude. The fuck have you been doing?”

I shrug. “I’ve not been interested.”

He crosses his arms. “Do you fancy her?”

Don’t laugh, but I haven’t done this before. The best eight words I’ve ever heard in my eighteen years of walking this earth.

“Yep.”

He slaps my shoulder and I tense, only relaxing when he pulls it away. “Well, at least the little bro is off the mark. Did you bone her?”

I laugh. “No one says bone, Jason. Old bastard.”

“I’m twenty-nine, you dick.”

I sigh. “Well Stacey—”

“Woah. Wait. You kissed Stacey? Does she not hate your guts?”

I huff, pulling up at the manor gates and waiting for security to open them. “Yes.”

Jason blows out a breath. “Good luck with that.”

I know. I’m going to need it. Because when I get into this house, I’m going to have to hide in my room. Luciella is having an indoor pool party with her friends. As much as I’ve witnessed Stacey in a swimsuit countless of times, I don’t think I’d handle seeing her now, knowing what it feels like to kiss her.

And I’m going to do it again.

Luciella is going to fucking hate me.

Keep going, Stacey had said to me in the tent, while in my lap with her tongue down my throat, and I fully intend to keep fucking doing so.

“We’re out of ice!” Tylar exclaims. “Stacey, it’s your run.”

When she nods and gets out of the pool, I avert my eyes. Seeing her wet body will only make my fascination worse. I already screenshotted and cropped a picture Tylar posted on social media an hour ago before my friends forced me to come down here.

All those years of teasing her have finally come back to bite my ass. It’s typical that the first girl I’m interested in turns out to be the one I’ve bullied since I was fifteen. My friends helped by targeting Tylar and Luciella, but my sole purpose was to make Stacey’s life hell.

For absolutely no reason.

I’ve lost count of how many times she’s given me the middle finger, shoved me and called me a fucking asshole.

All deserved of course.

Her breathy voice is in my head, and I tighten my grip on my bottle of beer. It’s like a fucking mantra, constantly drawing me in, begging me to act on my impulses. I’m back in that damn tent again, with her in my lap.

Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going.

I want to keep going.

Fuck it.

No one asks me where I’m going as I leave the pool room, water dripping onto the carpets as I make my way to the kitchen. The staff glare at me, but I ignore them. I don’t bother putting on a top.

I just need to get this off my chest.

Kiss her. At least finish the kiss. Then I can forget this thirst for more.

I’m telling myself I’m going for a snack, and it’s sort of true – the snack being a five-foot-four tattooed aerialist with delicious curves, toned from exercising, who’s badly singing along to “Wrecking Ball” as it echoes throughout the manor.

She has no idea I’m leaning against the doorframe as she belts out each word.

She’s a terrible singer.

Well, not everyone can be perfect. But Jesus, she could wake up a dead person with that horrendous voice.

Her bikini – a tiny black thing – hugs her body. It’s fucking imprinting on my mind as she moves around, slamming cupboards, still singing along as the song hits the chorus. She searches the freezer, then the chest freezer in the corner, none the wiser that I’m here.

She won’t find ice in here, but I’ll let her continue.

It’s a delightful view.

My hooded gaze shamefully drops to her ass as she stretches up to reach the top cupboard, groaning when she fails.

“The ice is in the walk-in freezer down in the basement,” I tell her, smirking when she jumps in surprise and spins around.

“Fucking hell, Kade!” She presses her palm to her extremely naked and wet chest. “I think my heart just exploded.”

I chuckle then stop myself. I don’t laugh in front of people I don’t feel comfortable with. And she’s the last person in the world who could make me feel comfortable. She makes me dizzy and crazy and fucking nervous.

Instead, I blink and push off the doorframe, walking until I’m in the centre of the kitchen. “That would be a heart rupture, and it’s more common a few days to weeks after a heart attack.”

“It was a figure of speech, asshole,” she retorts, and I can’t stop myself laughing.

She slams the freezer shut, placing her hands on her hips. Hips that I’ve held in my palms. Hips that I want to hold again.

She wets her lips, and my gaze falls to her mouth.

Fuck.

All I’ve been picturing is Stacey since that night, and it’s starting to piss me off.

She did this to me, so she can fucking fix it.

“What do you want?” she asks, crossing her arms. “If you’re here to tease me about kissing you and how bad I was at it, don’t bother. I’m in no mood for your bullshit tonight, Kade.”

The way she throws out my name has anxiety prickling at my skin. I want to just come straight out and say I have to kiss her again, but instead, I stupidly reply, “Ice.”

Her brows furrow. “Ice? You’re drinking bottles of beer. Why would you need ice?”

Fuck. Okay, think, Kade, you stupid bastard.

“You were taking too long,” I say, leaning my elbow on the island counter. “And you were looking in the wrong place.”

“Whatever.”

Before she can head to the stairs that lead to the basement, I side-step to block her. “Wait.”

She tries to hide it, but I definitely just saw her looking at my body. It’s still wet from the water, as is hers.

She gulps and takes a step back. “What?”

“The kiss…” I have no idea what the fuck I’m doing or saying or thinking. I’m certain my hands are shaking. “What did you think of it?”

I’m a tit – an embarrassing fucking tit. Why don’t I tell her that I chugged one off while thinking about her not even twelve hours ago while I’m at it?

She shrugs, not giving a fuck. At least she isn’t laughing at me. “I had high expectations given how full of shit you are, but I’ve had better.”

The fuck she has.

“Liar. I was your first kiss,” I reply, imagining myself grabbing her face and pressing my mouth to hers. Imagining being the key word. Because I’m too much of a fucking pussy to actually do it. “And you were mine.”

“See, that I struggle to believe. If you need an excuse for how crap it was, don’t beat yourself up too much. I know you were disgusted by the dare as much as I was.”

I shouldn’t be hurt by her comment, but I am. “I wasn’t disgusted.”

She quirks a brow.

I lose patience and slowly advance towards her. Even though she seems to be acting cocky and unaffected by all this, I know her pulse is hammering in her neck. I’m close enough to see the skin fluttering at the side of her throat.

I want to pull that area between my teeth.

“Do you want me to prove I’m not disgusted by it?”

No idea where that came from, but the words have already left my lips. I actually said that. Me. Kade Mitchell. Just asked Stacey Rhodes if she wants me to prove I’m not disgusted by the kiss. By… implying I kiss her again? I don’t know.

“Freckles?” I push, seeing her bad-girl image falter as she starts to chew on her lip nervously.

I move closer, feeling warm from my inner panic, and she blurts out, “I’m wet.”

I tilt my head. “That’s very forward of you. Not sure if you know this, but so am I.”

My hair is wet, just like hers. Little drops keep trailing down her body, and they’re fucking with my head.

She stays quiet, but I can see the rage in her eyes. It makes her even hotter.

“You told me to keep going,” I point out, my own pulse racing as I take another step, eliminating even more distance between us. “Or are you going to lie about that as well? We both know neither of us were disgusted.”

Her eyes sparkle, her throat working as I rest my trembling hands on the counter on each side of her.

Stacey lifts her chin. “It was a dare.”

The corner of my mouth curls. “Then I dare you to kiss me again.”

“Your sister might walk in,” she says shakily, and her gaze flicks to the door then to the back entrance. No staff. No people. Just us.

My sister won’t walk in. She’s a lazy bitch, and the kitchen is too far away for her. Anyway, Base will be distracting her with his flirting. He’s probably shoved her in the pool by now.

Drops of water roll down her chest, and I try not to watch as they soak into the swell of her breasts. “Then she better walk back out.”

“She’d kill me.”

We’re both teetering on the edge of this pull, the rope tightening only to loosen again, neither of us making the move, and fuck do I want her to, because I have no idea what I’ll do if she denies me. I’ll go to kiss her and knock teeth or hurt her.

Come on, Kade, I say to myself. She wants to. Just fucking kiss her and ignore how much you’re freaking the fuck out.

“I highly doubt she’d kill you.”

She scoffs. “Um, are you joking? Didn’t you see how mad she got because we were dared?”

“I honestly don’t give a shit,” I say, my lungs burning with pressure. “I’m going to kiss you, and then we’re going to go back to the party, alright?”

Her gaze drops to my mouth then moves back up to meet mine. “Why do you want to kiss me?”

“Because I liked it,” I admit easily, and her eyes widen. “So I need another taste, Freckles,” I say in a low tone, my hands itching to touch her, to run through her hair and tug it until her head falls back, giving me enough access to devour her throat. “Then I’ll leave you alone.”

All she says is, “Fine.”

My chest rises and falls, matching hers. “Fine,” I repeat, fingers flexing on the counter beside her.

I swallow and count to three, but I don’t bend down to capture her lips. This girl has been my obsession for too long, and ever since that night in the tent, I haven’t been able to think about anything else. It’s wrong, and as much as I don’t want to be like my dad, I think I might be.

Who gets this way after one kiss?

Was he this way with my mum?

Am I going to be doomed to pine after this girl forever?

I knock aside all those thoughts as she says, “But…” I watch as she glances at the door again. “Lu…”

She’s worried we’ll get caught. That’s a good thing, right? She wants me to kiss her. I think. I honestly don’t give a shit if my sister walks in. She can fuck off and stay out of this. Whatever this is.

Keep going.

I grab her jaw between my thumb and fingers, and lower my head, my nose nudging hers. “You told me to keep going.”

“I… I did,” she breathes.

My thumb strokes across her chin and the swell of her soft bottom lip. “Will I?”

A few moments pass, and something claws inside my chest, until she finally whispers, “Yes.”

Instead of going for her lips, I press my mouth to her jaw, and revel in the taste of her skin as I trail kisses along her jawline. Feeling her breath hitch, I nip at her, dragging my lips to the erratic pulse on her neck I haven’t been able to stop looking at.

I flinch a little when her palm slides up my naked chest, the muscles pulling taut under her gentle touch. She tries to draw back like she did that night in the tent, and my free hand captures her wrist to hold her there.

Touch is repulsive and unnecessary. I barely hug my own mother. A person openly wanting to touch and cuddle and feel makes my skin crawl. I’ve always been this way, but when Stacey touches me, even if it’s just a hand on my chest or shoulder, it feels different.

Not repulsive at all. But it’s still foreign to me. Unknown. Yet I want to explore it more. I press her palm to my chest, and I don’t let it go.

She must think I’m a weirdo, but I like her touch.

I like how she tastes.

I like the way her breathing stutters as I kiss her neck.

I suck the skin of her throat, bringing it between my teeth. The sound she makes causes me to falter. I’ve never done this before. Never kissed a girl’s neck while releasing her jaw to grab her hair and tilting her head to the side, giving me more access. I don’t know how I even know how to do this. I just… do it.

My eyes screw shut as she brushes her fingers through my hair, the feeling far too intimate and invasive. She catches on and rests her palms on my shoulders as I keep devouring her throat.

A slow rock song is playing now, but all I can hear is her. She whimpers, arching her back as I suck on her skin, and I’m certain I hear my name whispered like a fucking prayer.

I straighten, cup her face between my hands and press my lips to hers properly.

Breathless, we both fall into the kiss, her fingers digging into my shoulders while I lower my hands to her hips, gripping them as she parts her lips, allowing me to run my tongue against hers.

This is the same, yet different.

Before, we had to do it. This time, we’re doing it off our own backs. I’m deepening the kiss and pressing her into the counter harder because I want to. She’s sucking my bottom lip into her mouth and biting it because she wants to.

She doesn’t taste like alcohol. A fruity drink, but definitely no alcohol. I accidentally groan as she sucks on my tongue, and without thinking, I grab the back of her thighs and lift her onto the counter.

We’re kissing again, deeper, her legs parting so I can stand between them until she locks her ankles behind my back, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“We need to be careful,” she says against my mouth, still running her tongue against mine. “Anyone.” Another brush of her tongue. “Can walk in.”

Her bare skin beneath my hands is heated and soft and addictive, and if it was acceptable, I’d kiss her thighs and suck on the flesh until I left permanent marks. I’d lick all the way up to her…

No. That’s too far.If I don’t stop, I might scare her off.

I pull away first, shoving my hand down my swim shorts to cover how hard I am. “You forgot the ice, Freckles.”

She slips off the counter. To my own pleasure, she smiles as she bites her lip, the same one I had between my teeth. “Show me where it is.”

I grin as I follow her out of the kitchen, watching her ass from behind.

I lied when I said I’d leave her alone. She’s feeding into my obsession, and it’s only going to get worse. This is only the beginning.