Chapter 8

Riley

It's been a week since we left camp. Seven days since I felt Reign's lips on mine and came on his fingers and his tongue. He hadn't been joking about curbing an appetite for the rest of our time at camp. I felt like if I wasn't playing hockey, I was under Reign, over Reign or on my knees for Reign. Because yes, I was trying to curb my hunger for him as well. It was like we were both trying to get the other out of our systems with the harsh kisses, the caresses against naked skin and multiple orgasms. It wasn't really working. The more I had of Reign, the more I wanted him. Until the last night when it all came crashing down.

"Fuck this pussy gets so wet for me, doesn't it? I think you like being my little puck-slut, Riles." He groans against my bare chest, his lips pulling at my hardened nipple, while he sinks two fingers into my core. My hips lift into his palm and my eyes slam shut at the dirty words he says. I never want to know where he learned to talk like that but it works. I know how wet I get for him.

"Please, Reign," I moan aloud, my inner muscles squeezing around his fingers while chasing the orgasm he's holding just out of my reach.

I glance up and our eyes meet. His mirror mine, full of heat and hunger. He drops his lips to mine. "I don't think I'll be able to let this go between us. When we leave tomorrow, I'm going to be dropping by your house daily to hook up."

Somehow I manage to scoff while his fingers still pump in and out, creating magic between my thighs. "I thought the point of this was to get it out of our systems."

He pulls back, biting his lip and looking down to where his fingers disappear. His tongue runs over his bottom lip where his teeth just were. "Maybe if we fucked it out of our systems it would work. As much as I like eating your delicious pussy and making you fall apart around my fingers, it's also a form of tortuous foreplay."

My body stiffens and that orgasm I was so close to having crests and dies slowly. I can't have sex with Reign. I can't let him find out I'm a virgin, not that he couldn't expect as much with how every male in our town stays away from me. If I lose my virginity to Reign, it will be over; he will take it as a challenge won. And once he has fucked me out of his system, I don't know how I'll feel about it. It's just my virginity, it doesn't make me who I am, but it sure as shit feels too personal to give to someone who hated me a week ago. And it's Reign.

I use my arms to push him away as hard as I can. Reign comes up to his knees, his fingers falling from between my legs. His eyes widen in surprise. I roll mine in response, all the heat in my body cooling. I make a tsking noise with my tongue and scramble off the bed. "Geez Thorn, what a tempting offer for the first time. At hockey camp in a dingy little utility cabin."

He seems stunned as I start putting on my clothes, not bothering to give him the time of day. I slip my shoes on and make it to the door before he finally reacts. Reign's arm shoots out, grabbing me by the waist, turning my body to his and pinning us to the door. My angry eyes land on his icy blue ones, now clouded with confusion.

"What the hell just happened right now, Riles?"

I glance over his shoulder, desperate for him to not see the inner conflict my body and my brain are having. "Nothing. You offered to fuck me in the cabin and I politely declined. Now I'm going back to my bunk to sleep."

"Babe, you know I like the chase, but I don't think we want your whole camp to know." He jokes and my insides flare with anger.

I place a hand on his chest and push against him, putting some distance between his body and mine. "There is nothing to know. We messed around, it's out of my system, and tomorrow we go back to our respective places and lives."

His eyes harden in almost disbelief. "You're over it? It's out of your system?"

I nod my head. "Yup."

I can feel Reign's chest rise and fall with the breaths he's taking. His eyes continue searching mine for a sign that I lied. "What if it's not out of my system? I don't know if it will ever be."

"That sounds like a you problem, Thorn," I challenge, my brow rising. It takes all my willpower not to let my stupid heart soak in his words. What does that mean? That he would want to keep seeing me? But it would all be for sex though, because Reign Thorn has made it very clear to everyone that he hates me.

This time his face shutters and up slides the cold, malicious mask I'm used to. The guy who has zero fucks to give and thinks of me as gum under his shoe. He backs away from me, nodding his head. Reign reaches around me and grabs the door knob. "See you around then Con-man," he says, walking out the door, without even bothering to look at me again.

I watch Reign's naked back from the open doorway as he walks farther and farther away from me. My eyes fill with tears and a sinking feeling I haven't had in years fills my chest. A sense of shame lingers along with the taste of fear. What if Reign meant it? What if I just lost something that could have been monumental.

That night has plagued me all week. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is the way Reign closed himself off after uttering those words to me. I wish he would have explained. I wish I would have fought more for an answer. But I didn't. And now here we are, a week back in the real world, and his arctic blue eyes are locked on mine across the backyard of the party.

This time he isn't watching me and cataloging all the ways he can tear me down, but with the interest of a predator. My heart races and I have to glance away before my cheeks blush. I haven't forgotten the way Reign's body felt against me or the way his lips skillfully mastered mine. I can't afford to let it cloud my judgment though. Even if he makes my breath hitch in my throat with his backward black baseball hat, his long hair fanning out around the edges.

Instead I glance around at everyone else at the party, checking on a few of my teammates who are here. It's mostly a Public party, named for the kids who go to the public school, but, like always, groups of Saints are gathered around. I purposefully chose not to drink tonight, partly because I can't afford another strike with Coach, and also because I knew Reign would be here. I wanted to be in full control of my senses should he try and start shit or spread anything about our time together.

"What did you do now?" Sam leans over to me and asks in a low voice. Emma hears and the question instantly perks her right up. Her head swivels around the party. Both have been digging for information from me since they witnessed the kiss at the beach between Reign and me. Plus the fact that he came to my cabin twice to find me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I shrug and bring my bottle of water to my lips.

"Riley, Thorn is looking at you like he either wants to murder you or angry fuck you. So what did you do?" Sam clips out her words, her eyes growing bigger by the second.

"Oh, shit." Emma jumps up and comes to stand at my other side. "They're coming this way."

I don't even have to ask who they are. My body can feel the energy shifting around us, knowing Reign is moving closer. I refuse to look up and just keep faking that I'm fine; everything is fine.

"Con-man and her wing-women." Leif's deep voice jokes and I hear the underlying edge in it, meaning they aren't here for a friendly chat.

I finally make myself glance up, looking from Leif to the other minion Carter and finally settling on their leader. Reign is waiting for me. His eyes light up and flicker with something I can't name, but a hint of hostility is there as well.

"Did you come over here to just stare?" I tilt my head and give each of them a glare. I'm not in the mood to mess around tonight. Despite what Reign might think, my insides are still too raw and emotionally strung out. I don't have the fight in me tonight, despite the bravado I'm holding on to.

Reign gives his signature smirk, that dimple in his left cheek ever prominent, while his eyes cut into me. "The coaches are meeting at the town hall tonight. Leif here seems to have accidently ended up with Coach Pipher's keys as well as Coach Stone's keys."

"Why would I care if he has your girls' team's coach's keys?" I ask, and try to ignore the pang of unease of them having our coach's keys.

"Because I might have let it slip to the girls that you took them." He bites the inside of his cheek like it's the funniest thing he's ever said. His eyes burning with sick enjoyment.

"Are they coming here?" I glance around, not wanting the party to be busted or for anyone on my team here to get in trouble.

Leif snickers and Reign shakes his head. "They're waiting for you at the landing. Seems they want to issue their own challenge this time."

"And if I say no?"

Reign clicks his tongue and shrugs his shoulders. "Then both coaches will find their cars in the lake and a crazy rumor running around that you were the one who took the keys."

I clench my teeth. Any and all fuzzy feelings I was feeling for Reign this past week start to dissipate. How did I ever let my guard down around him? All he has done is solidify that I made the right choice not to share more of myself with him than I already did. Still, I hate the way my blood pumps full of adrenaline at the challenge he's laid down. Or rather what he has orchestrated with the Saints' girls' team.

"Fine. I'm in."

Reign's eyes flare wide before darkening to the same color as the night sky. Leif makes a big theatrical show of ushering me, Emma and Sam away from the party and to the front of the house where our cars are. I grab my keys, intending to drive Emma, Sam and myself until I feel the heat of Reign's hand on my arm.

"Oh no, my little puck-slut," he whispers so close to my ear that shivers run over my skin. "You're riding with me."

I glance up and see Emma and Sam getting in a truck with Leif and Carter, both of them wearing grim faces and just a tiny mischievous smile. Well Sam mostly is wearing a smile because she thinks Reign wants more from me than to be sworn enemies.

Reign ushers me over to his car, a very suped up black Nissan GT-R. He opens the passenger door for me and settles me in before closing the door and rounding back to get in the driver seat. I'm instantly frozen, not used to sitting in a car that probably costs four times what my mobile home does. The leather feels cool against my heated skin and when he turns it on, the engine flares to life, creating a subtle vibration. "Into It" by Chasing Atlantic fills the small space and I inwardly sigh. This has been Reign's favorite band for years. He used to obsess about me being their fan too when we were younger. And, of course, because I liked everything Reign did, they were one of my favorites too.

Reign drives onto the main road heading toward the landing. It's an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town that butts up to a sprawling hill and race track. I've never participated in a car race out there, but I know it's often populated with students from All Saints. My phone vibrates in my hand, but I shove it in my pocket.

Reign glances over at me, his gaze so intense I can feel my skin burning from the attention. "I figured it out, you know."

I side-eye him. "Figured out what? How to handle a puck correctly?"

"Trying to sidetrack me won't work this time, Riles." He reaches over, his fingers pinching my chin and turning my head. He's wearing a wolfish smile, his eyes darting from mine to the road.

"It didn't make sense to me at first. I knew you loved what we were doing. Every time you came, I had to shove my hand over your mouth so you wouldn't wake anyone. You got on your knees pretty quick too, sucking my cock like a pro by the end of the week."

"I don't really understand your point here, Thorn." I manage to grit out, while pushing my thighs together, hoping he won't notice how his words are affecting me.

"You said what a tempting offer for the first time. In my mind you were just talking about our first time and it seemed ridiculous given I ate your pussy for the first time in the sand, but whatever, I was going to let you have your moment. But you messed up, Riley."

We pull into an empty parking space at the landing and a crowd is already forming by the hill in front of us. Reign parks so no one can see us through the windshield, but that does nothing to calm the erratic beating of my heart.

"Want to know how you messed up?"

I let myself turn to fully look at him. His eyes are smoldering and he smiles faintly, taking off his hat and running his hand through his hair. "Fine. Stubborn as ever I see. You went back to ignoring me. You left without saying anything and you've been avoiding me all week."

"How is that messing up? Didn't we agree that it was out of our systems and we would go back to our respective lives?" I argue, feeling my neck heating up, my pulse still firing.

Reign's hand reaches forward, sliding along my neck, his thumb brushing over that spot where my pulse is. "You went cold and distant, which is what you do when you're keeping something from me. So I thought it over again, and I replayed your words in my brain when it clicked. You didn't say our first time. You said a first time. And since you haven't dated anyone in the past few years–"

"I could have hooked up with someone without it getting back to you, Reign. I could have driven outside of this forsaken town and hooked up with a college guy," I cut him off. But all my words seem to do is drive him a little crazier.

Reign's eyes go almost pitch black, and his hold around my neck tightens. "I know you, Riley. I know you almost better than I know myself. You'd never settle for a hookup or a quickie in some dickhead's dorm room. This right here..." His thumb runs along my pulse point again. "It always beats harder when you're feeling intimidated or nervous. I almost forgot it was doing it that night as well. I didn't forget how tight your cunt was around my fingers either, or how you gasped when I slid two fingers inside. I was stretching you, wasn't I, babe?"

"Reign." I manage to say his name, almost pleading that he doesn't say the words out loud. How much worse will my life get if he knows.

His eyes flare. "You're a virgin."

The words sound harsh in the space between us, but it could also be the gravely way he says it. Like it's an impossible notion. Like it's the greatest thing he's ever discovered. My eyes close and I breathe deep, trying to keep tears from leaking. I'm so screwed.

"So what?" I let my gaze return to his.

"So now I know what would really be enough to get you out of my system. Because you aren't, Riles. Not by a long shot. All I do is think about you. So much that I feel like I'm going insane. I saw you the minute you got to the party tonight, you know. I watched you try to ignore me. Ignore the pull between us and it made me angry. Before Leif came to me with the keys, I was this close to throwing you over my shoulder and finding the nearest bed to lay you out on."

"How charming." My voice is full of snark even while my insides are gooey for him. I've seriously hit a new level of depravity that this is turning me on. I can't let him finish. I tear out of his hold and throw open my door.

Outside the car the chilled September air blows my hair and cools my heated face. I start booking it across the lot, needing the distance between myself and Reign. I hear him curse behind me while he jogs to catch up. His legs are longer than mine and it doesn't take much. Reign's hand grips my arm and he pulls me to a stop, turning my body toward his.

"Not here. Everyone is watching."

His eyes scan the crowd behind us and his nostrils flare. "I don't give a fuck about them or what they think."

"I do!" I almost scream and yank my arm. "You made your choice about me a long time ago, Reign. Remember? I can't date anyone else because of your ban and you're right I'm not down to hook up just to lose my virginity. So yes, I am still as pure as snow. But fuck you for thinking that I'll just give it to you so you can fuck me out of your system."

I yank again and this time I slide out of his grasp, fully intending on putting as much distance between us as possible. It doesn't work though because Reign's arms band around my waist, my feet leaving the ground while he turns my body in his grasp.

"Are you a caveman now?" I growl out the words, but all it earns me is a smirk. My arms are banded behind my back, and once again I'm at his mercy.

"What part of you not being out of my system did you miss? Or the fact that maybe I don't want you out of my system. But yeah, you are right, Riles, you will give your cherry to me. I'm going to enjoy seeing your blood all over my cock and knowing that I took what has always been mine. Because you have always been mine, Riley."

His words cause heat to build in my stomach and spread up through my chest. It feels wrong and right at the same time, but I can't help but think this is all just a challenge to him now that we've upped the ante. I've tried to be soft for Reign before and all it got me was harsh words and years of rivalry. My brain speeds up looking for an out in this situation. Thankfully we're saved when Leif jogs over to us. His brows shoot to his hairline when he sees how closely Reign is holding me.

"Ah, we're on a time crunch here, guys."

I shrug off Reign's hold, putting some distance between us. "Let's go."

I walk fast and determined to the clearing where everyone is waiting and probably wondering what the hell is happening. I can feel Reign and Leif behind me, a dark shadow right on my heels. When we reach the group, I stand next to Emma and Sam, both of whom are eyeing me. Emma clutches my hand in hers. We're faced off against our team's greatest rivals. Quinn, who is captain of the girls' Saints' team and a few of her minions. Her lips turn up in disgust at me, but I stare her down, refusing to appear weak. I may not have set up this challenge but I am not backing down from it either.

"I'm here, Quinny. What is it that you want to tell me?Quinn hates when I call her that, just like she really hates everything else in life. Her eyes narrow on me. "Since you thought you were so clever with taking our coach's keys, we decided to make it more interesting." Her finger points behind her and for the first time I notice the two cars sitting at the top of the hill. Coaches' cars.

"How did you–"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Conrad. Clearly you underestimated the skills of the girls you wanted to fuck with."

My eyes slide to Reign who is still glaring at me icily now, as per his usual in these situations. At least Leif has the decency to look somewhat sheepish as if this wasn't part of his brilliant plan. We just went from stolen keys to grand theft auto.

"What's the plan?"

Quinn steps forward sneering. "Two drivers take the car of the opposite team's coach. Down the hill and through town square. Last person to park back in the lot by the time the meeting is over loses. You're down to ten minutes."

"I know you don't like to get messy, Quinn, it's not your style. You're more of a pin it on the other person type player. So who's driving from All Saints?" It takes fifteen minutes to get to the town square from here. My head tilts, my eyes moving from a fuming Quinn to her little friends with matching expressions. Quinn opens her mouth to argue, but Reign intervenes instead.

"I am."

I can't even look at him right now. It shouldn't surprise me as this was part of his brain child. It just goes to show that Reign and I will always have too much bitterness between us with our history. My heart hammers in my chest as I turn to him. My gaze running from his white sneakers up his distressed jeans, to the torn t-shirt he wears as a tank top, to settle on his face. I step toward him and his eyebrows bunch. A smile plays on my lips when it dawns on me how I can make both my problems tonight disappear. My feet move so I'm standing right in front of him. My head tilts back and whatever he sees in my eyes makes his own spark.

"How about throwing a favor, you could say, into this mess?"

Reign shakes his head like he knows what I'm about to say. "You think you can handle more?"

I shrug. "We're wasting time, so what do you say, Thorn? Care to make it interesting for both of us?"

His eyes become liquid ice. "Name it."

"I win the race, you get my v-card. You win, and your teammate does." My eyes slant to where Leif is standing. This is a fucking bold move, and I know Reign thinks I won't go through with it. "You know I always follow through on my favors."

The muscle in Reign's jaw ticks and murder crosses his features. He thinks he knows me so well, and he does. Reign is the only one who knows me better than I know myself after years of being friends to years of just always being in each other's space. He sometimes forgets though that I know him just as well. Reign never backs out of a favor. He also never likes to lose.

People keep chattering around us, so I know they haven't heard the favor I just threw in. Except maybe Emma who gasps a little and Leif whose face heats up. We do need a witness after all.

"Deal," Reign grits out between his clenched teeth and I smile victoriously. I think I might have killed all the birds with a few different stones.