Page 29 of The Wallflower
Seb snorts. “Of fucking course no one made it to the cabin. Who do you think I am?”
Through a mouthful of pancakes, I say, “Is that how you got the black eye?”
Aries snorts, and Lee hides his smile behind his coffee mug. Seb merely rolls his eyes, choosing not to go into the specifics on how he obtained such a bruise, and we go over some more details from the event. It seems everything went to plan, which is a miracle in and of itself. We usually get one or two assholes who complain they didn’t get the girl they wanted or one girl who complains about how someone was too rough with her. Every year, it’s something.
Once we wrap things up, I finish my breakfast and head back upstairs. When I step into my room, I freeze. The sound of running water from my bathroom greets me. Weird, I didn't leave the water running this morning. Suspicion leads me across the room, and I shove the bathroom door open to find a petite brunette standing under the spray, her hair wound up on top of her head.
She bats her wet lashes at me once she notices my presence. “Oh, good. I’ve been waiting for you. Want to join me?”
I hold the shower door and give her a slow look. “Where did you come from?”
“Lee invited me.”
“Well then you should probably be showering in Lee’s room and not mine.”
She lathers her tits with soap and slides her hand down to her pussy. Whatever she’s trying to do, it’s not working. “What, no… I only spent the night because I wanted to see you. I looked everywhere for you at The Hunt. Were you even there?”
Was I even there?I give her a once-over. I don't see a single bruise or scratch on her. One of the pretenders, then. I keep my disgust contained to a slight curl of my lip.
“You have five minutes to finish whatever the fuck it is you’re doing and leave my room, or I’ll drag you out of here by your hair.”
“But I thought you’d want some company. Are you rejecting me?” The huff in her voice makes me laugh. Oh god, the audacity. How could someone possibly not want her?
“Four fucking minutes,” I warn and walk out of the room, slamming the door behind me. It isn’t like me to turn down free pussy, but I’m only interested in one person right now, and I’m saving every inch for her.
CHAPTER 10
BEL
I rollover in bed and get a front-face view of my dirt-caked nails. Last night, I wobbled, mostly naked, all the way back to my car. It was dangerous as hell to drive without my glasses since the psycho didn’t give them back to me, but thankfully, I made it. And no animals or people decided to jump out at me. It didn't take long to get home, with the heat cranked to the max so I could thaw.
My body is one big ache. Plus, there's an ache downtherethat's new and makes my cheeks heat every time I think about it. My exhale comes out choppy, and reality hits me. What thehellhappened last night? If it wasn't for my body covered in bruises and dirt, I’d say it was all a fever dream... A hallucination. What kind of person hunts someone down in the woods and then fucks them like an animal?
What kind of person wantsmore?
At the same time, I'm still scared. I don't know why, but some part of me thinks Drew won’t be happy with just our little encounter in the woods. He'll want more. He's relentless and spoiled, and rich assholes like himalwayswant more. He also probably doesn't hear the word no very often. I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t forget his touch. His words. Tears burnat the back of my eyes, and I’m overcome with emotion. I cup my face in my hands and let the hot tears slide down into my palms.
After a five-minute mini-pity party, I swipe hard at my cheeks and scrub my skin to bring myself back. People have sexallthe time. It'snotimportant; itdoesn'tmatter. It doesn'tmatterthat I feel degraded and abused. That I feel ashamed of how my body responded to him. I can’t even blame him, not entirely. It’s not like I stopped him. I didn’t even tell him no.
I shove the covers off my legs and slowly shift to the edge of the bed. I need a damn shower, some food, and then I want to spend the rest of the day trying to forget what happened last night, preferably with a pint of ice cream and a sappy movie.
I blink my eyes, attempting to clear the blurriness, but that won’t happen without my fucking glasses. Ugh, what the hell am I going to do? Then it hits me. I have another pair of glasses somewhere in here. I lean over and pull open my bedside drawer, digging inside for the prescription sunglasses with the cracked lens. It’s not an ideal solution, but I can get my glasses back later if I can bring myself to go hunt him down… Maybe I can send Jackie instead. She seemed to like him well enough to drag me out to the event in the first place.
I lumber out to the living room and find Jackie sitting at the table, earbuds in, chowing down on a bowl of Coco Pops. When I stop at the table and lean against the surface, she pulls out her earbuds and looks me over with a slight cringe. "Uh...did you have fun last night?" From what I can see, she doesn't have any bruises, while I can feel my own with each step I take.
"I wouldn't sayfunexactly." I swallow hard and move to grab a bowl. But then I catch sight of my nails again and decide I have to scrub my hands before I can pour my breakfast. Five minutes later, I sit down beside Jack who decides then to stand and head to the sink. So much for having breakfast together.
"I have a date in a few minutes. One of the guys from the event last night. We're going to study." Even though her back is to me, her tone tells me she just wiggled her eyebrows as she said the word "study."
I scoop up some cereal and shove it into my mouth, chewing slowly to give myself a moment to come up with something to say. I don't want to rain on her parade right now, but mine's been flooded, and I’m not in the mood to discuss what happened last night.
After a moment, I just offer a halfhearted, "Cool," and continue eating.
She turns to face me after setting her bowl on the drying rack. "How was Drew? I know he was looking for you last night. I’m assuming from your disheveled look that he found you."
The mention of his name almost makes me choke on the sugary cereal. I clear my throat and keep my eyes on the darkening milk in my bowl. "Uh...yeah, he found me, eventually."
"What happened? I've heard so many things about him." Her eyes widen meaningfully on the wordthings.