13. Daisy

THIRTEEN

DAISY

Kye was so close to me now that I could feel the heat rolling off of him. I still couldn't understand what was happening. We were fake dating, using each other for outings and meetings, but then here we were. He had invited me back here tonight and seemed content sitting by me.

He did not seem all that interested in making out, though. The guy had been a statue when I kissed him, and I almost died of embarrassment.

I kept throwing myself at him, and he kept kindly reminding me he wasn't interested.

But then he was asking me to hang out more and sitting as close as he could without touching me.

Although now his hand was up against mine, and I was trying to figure out if that was on purpose or not.

I thought Kye would be uninterested or way too interested. This strange middle ground was confusing.

"Having fun yet?" he asked before taking a swig of his drink. He seemed so relaxed and calm. It was such a difference to the guy I always saw stalking around school and parties.

"I really can't believe you are all so nice," I said quietly. "And you would fight your friends before letting them get away with being an ass to me?"

"Absolutely. Honestly, though, I would fight for a lot less," he said with a smirk.

"I don't believe it. The fighting friends part. Obviously you're happy to fight."

"Do you think none of us have ever got into a fistfight? These guys would kill me if I was honestly rude to the girls." He shook his head and looked around, his eyes falling on Ransom.

"Alright, honest question for you all. If I was mean to any one of the girls, would you hit me?" Kye asked.

A round of yes's echoed, but Chase spoke up.

"I don't think it's the guys you need to worry about hitting you, though. If you insult one of them, I'm pretty sure they all take it personally."

"All vipers," Fox said to me. "And they will go for the throat."

I looked at each of the girls, each one smiling and laughing. None of them looked particularly scary, but they weren't disagreeing.

"Obviously, her ex-boyfriend's friends were assholes. I'm just trying to prove my point that while we can be assholes, she is fine here."

"You're more than fine here," Ash said. "These guys love us. They aren't going to be mean to you in any way."

"Come on," Kye said, his arm moving to rest on the bench behind me. He still wasn't touching me, but it felt close enough. "Just relax. You don't have to keep up any appearances here."

I was supposed to relax with him this close? The guy who had both beat a guy up in front of me and drove nearly an hour to come pick me up when I needed him.

"Fake dating appearances or all appearances?" I asked.

"All the fake appearances. Including the I'm a perfect prom queen appearance you seem to think you have to do."

"You're one to talk. You are sitting awfully close for someone who doesn't need to keep up appearances on fake dating me."

He shrugged. "Maybe I just want to? If I want to sit close, I sit close. Do you need me to move?"

"No. Do you always just do whatever you want?"

"I mean, yeah, do you not?"

"No. Not at all. Not even a little. There are rules and expectations. Won't your friends think something else is going on?"

"I'm sure they are thinking a lot."

"And you don't care? They know this isn't real."

"I don't think you understand how little I care about what other people think. Call me self-centered, but I don't spend my days thinking about how other people see me. You shouldn't either. Obviously, I care about what my friends think to some extent, but what I do is none of their business. And when you leave with me tonight, that is none of their business, and when you spend the night at my place, that is still none of their business. I don't know why you think everything and anything needs to not only be on display, but talked about to everyone. That is not how I do things."

"I guess with Dean, it had to be. He told his friends every detail, shared every intimate thing he could, and then it was just ammunition to use against me when they needed it." I looked at the fire, and then back at him, my eyebrows furrowing hard. "Did you say I'm staying at your apartment tonight?"

"Yeah? I wasn't planning on bringing you back to your dad's after you've been drinking. I assumed that was obvious."

"I mean, I would prefer not to because he's like a drug-sniffing dog if I have alcohol on my breath, but I didn't actually think you would want me to stay over."

"I don't really care. I have a couch to sleep on or a big enough bed," he said, the words a normal conversation for him, but it made my stomach flip.

It wasn't like I went to bed with a lot of people, but I didn't usually go to bed with guys who seemed so uninterested in me.

"If you want to leave now instead, I can take you home."

"No, I'm alright. I would rather stay."

"Whatever you want. I'm just saying be yourself and do whatever the fuck you want to do when you're with me. No judgment, no anger over it, nothing."

"Interesting. If that's the case, I would like another drink," I said with a smile. He laughed, the deep sound hitting me again and making a shiver run down my spine.

I went to stand, but he pulled me back down, his fingers clamped down on my wrist.

"Ransom, toss me a drink," he said.

Everyone froze, turning to us and looking at Kye's hand holding onto me and pulling me back down.

They didn't say a word, their eyes locked on us, until Kye finally dropped my wrist.

"The drink?" he asked, nodding to Ransom.

They all snapped out of it, going back to their conversations, but still glancing our way.

So much for doing what I wanted. If they thought Kye touching my wrist made them freak out like that, I was pretty sure crawling into his lap to kiss him again was off-limits.

The ride to his apartment wasn't far, and I was surprised when we pulled up to a four-story brick building.

"Isn't this the old firehouse?" I asked.

"Yeah. It was a long time ago. We converted the entire place into apartments for all of us."

"Oh. How did I not know that?"

"I mean, it's not a secret, but I don't exactly go around telling people where we all live. I think you can imagine why after the other night."

"I guess that does make sense," I said, watching as a garage door opened and he pulled inside.

My stomach clenched, nervous about walking into Kye's apartment. I wasn't sure what to expect from what the place looked like, and I definitely wasn't sure what to expect from him still.

We got out, and I turned to the door.

"Not that one," he said, his hand moving to my lower back. His fingers pressed against me, turning me to the door on the left. I sucked in a breath, holding it until his hand fell away.

One touch on my lower back and I was ready to throw myself at him again.

We made it up the three flights to his apartment, and he waved me inside, shutting the door and immediately started to throw his stuff on the counter.

"Do you want something to drink?"

"Yes, some water would be great. I don't drink a lot, so even those three cocktails have me preparing for a hangover."

He handed me a cup and headed to the bathroom as he pulled off his shoes and shirt.

"Get comfortable however you want. TV, remote, food, bed." He pointed out each item as though I couldn't find a TV or fridge in a studio apartment.

I sat back on the bed, looking around. It was all dark. The walls painted a deep blue and nothing bright laying anywhere, but it was comfortable. It was like a little cave, the dark, soft blankets only making it cozier.

"I like your apartment. Even if the only decorations seem to be trophies and pictures of car things."

I heard the shower turn on, surprised that the door was still partially open. He seemed to hesitate about everything sexual, and I wasn't sure if this was some sort of invitation from him.

"I don't really need to decorate more. What am I going to get? Those little signs with sayings on them, throw pillows? I don't need any of that stuff. I want my bed, a comfortable couch, a nice TV, and enough food to not go hungry," he said, walking out of the bathroom a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Wow, I'm getting the picture come to life," I said. He flashed a smile and then it really was the picture come to life, down to the dimples that seemed to emerge when he was really smiling.

And it was so much better in person.

"Daze," he said, stopping me as I headed into the bathroom. "Here." He threw me a t-shirt. "It should cover everything for you."

"Oh, thanks." I went in, cleaning up and changing before coming out to a dark room, the TV on and lighting everything up enough to see.

Kye was already in bed, one arm stretched behind him as he clicked through what to watch.

"Are you naked?"

He jumped, seemingly not hearing me come out.

"Completely."

"Are you?—"

"Kidding? Yes." He pulled back the covers, revealing shorts on but no shirt.

"Oh, okay."

"Glad to know the horror that you would think if I was, though," he said, still laughing.

"No, I just… Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect right now."

"Expect? Do you think I am planning a sneak attack or something? We are watching a movie and going to bed. You can sleep here or on the couch. Both are reasonably comfortable."

"But that's the only reason you invited me over? To sleep?"

"You keep saying these things and it's making me wonder if you want me to try to sleep with you. I told you, it was less awkward than dropping you off half drunk to your dad. Although, now that I say it that way, that would be a funnier plan. His face if me, of all people, brought you to the door drunk. What a missed opportunity."

"That would be the farthest thing from funny. Somehow, I would be grounded again, even if it is legal for me to drink," I said, as he landed on a scary movie. "No, no chance that I'm watching that. I'll be terrified."

"It's hardly a scary movie. It's one of the lesser scary movies, and you will have me here all night. I won't let any monsters get to you."

"If I get scared, I'm turning it off."

"Fine." He clicked play, putting us in darkness for seconds before opening right to a scary scene.

"Kye," I groaned, rolling into him, burying my head into the pillow.

"Daze," he said, mocking my tone.

"So we are literally watching a scary movie and going to sleep? You aren't making any move on me?"

"You seem to really think this is all me manipulating you to sleep together? I don't want to sleep with you, Daisy."

"Ouch," I said, shrinking back into the blankets.

He groaned. "I just mean that I wasn't trying to get you over here to fuck you. I just thought we would sleep. You don't have to feel like this is a game or trick or something."

I stayed snuggled back in the pillows, pulling the blanket higher up on my chest.

"Wow. You know, if you had told me two weeks ago that Kye likes to cuddle and sleep and not try to have sex with the half-naked girl in his bed, I would have bet everything that you were lying. This is the weirdest night of my life. You are the weirdest man I've ever met. "

"Funny enough, I have never cuddled and I rarely, if I ever at all, have half-naked girls in my bed, so two weeks ago, you would have been correct. And really, I gotta keep you on your toes."

"It's working. And what does all that mean? You don't have girls over?"

"Nothing. We can talk about it later."

We laid like that for another twenty minutes, Kye seeming very content with our position and the movie because he still hadn't made a move on me.

And it wasn't fair that it was turning me on more. The voice in my head screamed at him to touch me. My body felt like a magnet, a constant buzzing demanding that I touch him.

I finally couldn't hold it back.

"Are you really not going to touch me at all?"

"You…want me to?" He seemed so surprised, and I wasn't sure why. How was this not a standard night for him? I pictured him as a womanizer, and now here he was, acting like me wanting more was a surprise.

"I mean, yeah?"

He was laughing now. "Does this mean you're making a move on me?"

"No," I said. "I mean, I just wanted you to make a move on me ."

"And you're entitled to get everything you want?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I don't want it still."

"We're not sleeping together."

"But does that mean everything is off the table, then?"

"I guess I didn't think that far ahead. I didn't think you would be expecting anything else."

"I honestly don't see what the issue is if we sleep together."

"The issue is that would make a bigger mess of this fake dating thing," he said, rolling to face me more.

"How? I can handle sleeping together and still fake date."

He rolled his eyes, but he still reached out, his hand only an inch from my arm now. "I can tell you that we sure as hell aren't making this decision when you've had alcohol and you're all horny."

I grabbed his hand, setting it on my hip, and closing my eyes. It was somehow everything I needed while making the need for him worse. He might be somewhat right because I was a little drunk and horny.

"No sex, Daze," he murmured.

"Fine," I growled, laying back. "Does that mean everything is completely off the table?"

"Are you trying to ask me nicely to get you off?" he asked, the confusion genuine.

"Yes, please, " I begged. "I've been staring at you for days, wondering why you weren't ripping my clothes off and wanting to rip yours off. I'll take anything at this point."

His eyebrows furrowed as he looked me over. "What do you want me to do, exactly?" His hand moved from my hip, the light touch of his fingers moving over my stomach and thighs. I shivered, but the gentle movement wasn't enough.

"Keep going," I whispered. His hand hesitated, and I grabbed it, pulling it further between my thighs.

He took over, running down until he ran along my wetness, and I arched into him. He groaned, moving over me again.

"Do you want me to get you off?" I asked, trying to sound sweeter.

"No. I want you to lie here, not touch me, and you get off," he said. He was near me, but he wasn't against me, the few inches still between us feeling like we were still too far from each other. His hand pressed between my legs, his fingers pushing against me slightly.

He kicked back the blankets and moved over top of me. Two strong arms caged me in, the dark shadows casting over him, turning him back into the Kye that I didn't know. The one that was scary and dangerous and unpredictable.

I gasped again as he shifted his body and pushed his fingers into me with one hard thrust. "I like you over top of me. I feel like I have a wild animal over me, ready to do my bidding and make me cum," I said, smiling now.

"And you like that control? You want me on a leash?"

"Not a leash necessarily. More like cage you here on the bed so that I'm the only option you have to let out whatever this is. I like knowing someone like you would turn all that reckless energy onto me, onto pleasing me." I moaned. "I can only imagine what it would feel like if you let it all loose to fuck me. Every reckless thing you do, every wild, dangerous thing, I want to feel that on my body."

His head dropped, his teeth running along my neck. "You are filthy," he muttered. He pushed another finger into me harder now and my eyes flew open at the fullness.

"Maybe I do need a leash for you. I think I am suddenly the prey," I said.

"You need to stop talking like that before I lose my mind."

"Now that only makes me want to talk more." I ran my hands up his arms and down his chest to his stomach, reaching into his pants and wrapping my hands around his cock.

"Oh, wow," I said. "Now I'm not so sure I want you to go feral and fuck me. That is a little intimidating."

" Stop talking about me fucking you as you're touching my dick."

Watching Kye come undone with my touch was powerful. A power that I suddenly craved. Every part of his self control seemed to be unraveling and I couldn't let myself stop it.

I tightened my grip, sliding up the length of him.

"Daisy," he said, dropping his head with a groan.

With a growl, he pulled away, getting up onto his knees in between my legs. My mouth fell open at the sight and for a moment, I thought he was really going to break and actually have sex with me.

His fingers moved back, teasing slow circles around my clit. "I know you don't actually want that, and I know you don't want to ruin the facade you have. I will not be doing that and I'm sure as fuck not doing it after you've been drinking." His own hand wrapped around his cock, moving over the length as he pushed his fingers into me. "I'll still get you off, though."

His fingers sped up, pushing into me harder as his hand around his cock moved faster. I had never experienced anything like it.

"This might be the hottest thing I've ever seen," I said, moving my hand down to rub my clit as his fingers fucked me. "I thought I wanted all that power on me, but I like this, too. Did you have to do that because of me?" I asked, panting.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "Fuck," he murmured, but I couldn't care what it was about. Every part of me tightened, the orgasm crashing over me. I knew I yelled out his name again, and he said something else, but I was lost. Everything went black for a few seconds before I could feel again. His fingers slowed and pulled out of me.

My chest heaved, the orgasm wracking my body until I couldn't move.

"Fuck, Daisy," he said, moving off the bed to go into the bathroom and coming back to clean me up.

"What?"

"You are more of a handful than I anticipated."

"I could say the same about you. My hand was definitely full," I said, laughing.

His mouth fell open with a smile. "Who would have thought my little Daisy flower was fucking dirtier and hornier than me? No one would have ever guessed." He grabbed another pair of shorts and climbed back into bed.

"I am not."

"You just begged me to fuck you and when I didn't, you got off to me, getting off to you. You're filthy. Just admit it."

"No."

He laid down a little closer this time, but didn't touch me more, and didn't seem to want me to touch him again.

"Come on, admit it to me. Admit that you like all those dirty thoughts you have about me and are dying to fuck me." He laughed, enjoying this way too much now.

"Fine. Fine, maybe I am. But it's ridiculous, you're right. After I wake up, my thoughts will be a lot more clear."

"Good girl. Get some sleep."

"Did you just praise me for saying that I won't want to sleep with you in the morning?"

"Yes." He leaned in, kissing my head. "I've always been expecting the perfect prom queen that wouldn't dream of touching someone as dangerous or dirty as me, so the fact that she is already coming back means you were just hot and bothered tonight and you'll keep yourself at a distance from me still. Go to sleep."

"Does that mean we can sleep together?"

"Yes, sleep."

"You know what I meant."

"No, that means that our plan is working out just fine as is and can end soon enough without a problem. Now, please. Go. To. Sleep."

I laid there awake longer, hearing Kye's breathing turn deeper, and I knew he was sleeping now.

He was right. The plan was working. Everyone thought we were dating. Sometimes I even felt like we were. He had been right. Keeping sex out of this really did make it easier.

The problem was, even without the sex, I was already craving his touch.