BAD WICKED TWISTED: A Briarcrest Academy Box Set (106 page)

I shivered. “Yes, here.”
Anywhere
. I let out a sharp moan as he lined up behind me and slid in, my wetness and the angle helping him go deeper than he’d been last night. He stirred around inside me and then started a slow pumping. I bent my head to watch as our bodies melded. His hands were busy too, ravaging my body, spreading me and touching me in taboo places I’d never dreamed, his fingers knowing just the right thing, just the perfect touch to make me whimper with need. He stoked my desire, he built it up and up, igniting me until I wanted to scream.

“Never like this before, V. Never,” he growled as he held on to my hips and pumped, his tempo speeding up.

Sensation built. Fire burned.
I loved.

Fireworks went off in my head, and I called his name when I went over. His own body tightened and swelled, the friction the perfect balance of pleasure and pain. He roared, the noise reverberating against my skin as he bent over and buried his face in my neck.

Our hearts beat in sync, nature hummed, and the world was
right
.

Panting, I gazed back at him and realized that fear had chased me for too long when all I needed to do was be brave.
Just this one time
.

“I love you,” I whispered. “Sebastian, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

With every molecule, every atom, every tiny piece of me. Insanely. Madly. Completely. The truth was, he’d sparked life in me the day I saw him move in, and I’d tried to harden my heart against love, but in the end my dad’s sacrifice had been too loud to stifle. Sebastian’s pull toward me had been too strong, his connection too visceral.

I held on to the chains, chest heaving as he withdrew and took several of his own deep breaths. Finally, he came around to face me, unclasped my hands from the chains and gathered me in his arms. “Thank you, V.” And then he kissed me. Sweetly.

Oh.

We dressed and walked hand-in-hand back to the blanket where he got a fire going. As the seconds stretched into minutes, and he didn’t comment on my confession, my shoulders tightened and cement settled in my stomach.

“Do you have anything to say about what I said to you earlier?” I asked a bit later as we packed up our backpacks for the trip back down the mountain. I tried to keep my voice light, but I was hurting.

He paused, a muscle working in his cheek, as if what he was about to say was difficult. “No.”

And I saw that we were done. Our
night
was over.

WE RODE BACK down the canyon the next day, a more subdued bunch than the day before. Spider and Mila seemed out of sorts, and Sebastian was unusually quiet. Both he and Spider had ridden off ahead of us to get back to the stables—something about calling Harry to check on the latest. It hurt to see him so distant. My body still vibrated at the memory of how he’d taken me.

No regrets
, I told myself.

Mila rode up next to me, her glare on Spider’s horse as it turned the bend ahead of us.

Ouch. Someone else was in the doghouse this morning. “Everything okay between you and Spider?”

She squirmed in her saddle. “We had this huge argument last night about Dovey—that’s his first love from BA.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“It’s funny, I knew him in high school, but was never attracted to him. Mostly because I was intimidated by his bleached-out hair and tats. He even dressed all Goth with chains and piercings. But the one person he loved was Dovey Beckham, and she broke him.”

“Yikes, she sounds like a bitch. Will I get to meet her at the reunion?”

Mila nodded. “She isn’t, though. She’s sweet and worked hard to hang in there with all the rich girls at BA. Anyway, in the end, when her adoptive mother got sick, she chose Cuba to be with—the guy who’d broken her heart the year before. Spider was left out.” Her shoulders drooped. “It’s just, we’re complete opposites. His tattoos alone should scare me, but I want
him
. Am I crazy?”

“Something in you is drawn to him … you can’t control that. Maybe you’d like Geoff? I can always set you up?”

She let out a squeak. “Oh God, Spider hates him.” Her eyes flicked to me. “Oops, sorry. He was your fiancé at one time, so he must have some good points.”

“He’s a good guy. I think Spider and Sebastian brought out the worst in him.”

She studied me. “Getting off the subject of me, either wildcats were mating last night outside the cabin, or you got lucky.”

I gripped the reins. “I told him I loved him, and he—he just clammed up.”

Her eyes hardened. “Tate men are notoriously pig-headed. I suggest you play dirty if you want him, V. Of course, I gladly volunteer my services to make him jealous or pick you out a sexy outfit …” She snapped her fingers. “Wait, there’s this butt model you should meet. He was an extra on the set when we filmed one of the music videos. Anyway, his name is Baxter, and he’s likely gay—aren’t all the hot ones?—but who really cares about that when his bum is tight enough to bounce a quarter off of? He’s an ex-football player from Iowa and as country as a Blake Shelton song. He’d make some great eye candy. Want me to call him?” She fished out her phone from her saddlebag and wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“Does he like to dance?” I hadn’t danced since my prep school dances.

Her eyes glowed. “Can he dance?
Can he dance?
Hello? He was
in
a video. He’s got moves like Jagger.”

“I don’t know. It seems childish to flaunt a guy in front of Sebastian.”

She flicked her reins at me. “Shut the feck up. Hasn’t he rubbed your nose in his and Blair’s affair? Make him pay, V, make him pay. For all womankind. Plus, you need the cheering up—and maybe I do too. We’ll show those two pinheads that rode off and left us that all we need is each other. Girl Power.” She clapped, and even though my heart ached, I laughed. Mila might look as prim as a schoolgirl out on a field trip, but inside she had the heart of a beast
.

“For two thousand dollars, I could get a sex-swing installed. But V was the only one I wanted to use it with.”

—Sebastian Tate

“THAT’S AWESOME, LEO. I can’t wait to see the new digs when I get to Dallas in September,” I said to my cell as I strolled with Spider and Vilma Lopez, a journalist from
Rock Indie Today
. We just finished the photo shoot and were headed to Rio’s in Beverly Hills for our lunch interview.

Leo chuckled. “Yeah, it’s bigger than the Taj Mahal. Nora’s got a giant office for her clothing line business, and I ended up with the smaller one—of course. We’ve got a huge theatre room, an Olypmic-sized pool—even Gabby’s room is unbelievable.” He paused. “This is probably boring as shit to you. You’re the one with all the excitement … gearing up for a movie role, working on the new album—”

“No, I do want to hear about it.” Plus, I didn’t want to tell him that I didn’t get the part.

“Yeah?”

He loved talking about his family, and I grinned even though he couldn’t see me. “Spill the beans, man. Tell it all.”

He settled in, his deep voice describing life at Chez Tate. “Nora went over the top with the nursery. She had this artist come out and paint these constellations and unicorns on the wall—it’s fairytale land in her room. I’ll be upfront with you—Gabby is spoiled rotten. She gets whatever she wants between me and Nora and Aunt Portia. I mean, she’s one, but she runs the house.”

I laughed, and we chatted a bit more until he put Nora on.

“How’s this V chick doing? I hope she’s ready for questions, because I want to know all about the girl that Lion Boy is bringing home. Frankly, I’m shocked you’d even bring her back to BA and around all those crazy people we went to high school—”

“About that. I’m not sure if she’s coming.” We hadn’t talked in the three days, not since the camping trip. I cleared my throat. “She’s—I don’t know—it’s weird right now.”

She got quiet and I could imagine her standing in her new house, narrowed eyes, trying to suss me out from two thousand miles away. A notorious people watcher, she had a big brain, and her favorite pastime was figuring out what made people tick.

She said, “I’m hearing some uncertainty in your voice. What’s going on? Do I need to come to LA and kick some girl’s ass? Or are
you
the one with the problem? Hmmm, come on, you can tell your stepmom.”

I groaned. “Just because you’re married to the man who raised me does not make me your stepson. Just
ewwww
.” I paused. “But back to V—we got physical and things are off.”

“Which is code for you had sex, and now you don’t know how to handle it,” she said. “Typical.”

I didn’t want to get into this. “Just put Gabby on, will you?”

She laughed. “Fine, avoid the issue—just like your brother—although I have trained him in the past few years to talk about his feelings …” she trailed off and I heard muffled laughter and then silence.

“Nora?”

I could hear rustling sounds—and then sighs.

“Are you getting busy with Leo while I’m on the phone with you?” I called out.

From next to me, Spider did a lewd gesture with his hands and Vilma’s eyebrows went up. Meh. It was Leo and Nora and they were known to be lusty.

“Nora, I’m hanging up if you don’t say anything.”

Her disembodied voice came through. “Okay.
Enough
. Stop kissing me there, Leo.” She giggled.

I shook my head. “Get a damn room and put Gabby on.”

“Okay, okay, here she is,” Nora said, and I heard Gabby breathing into the phone. I went into
crazy uncle mode
, as Spider called it, and started in with some baby talk and then sang the “Superman” song for her. It was our thing. We passed people on the street who stared, but it didn’t slow me down. I pictured her in Nora’s arms, clutching the phone to her head, her blue eyes—which were just like mine and Leo’s—as big as saucers as she hung on to my every word.

I said my goodbyes when we were led to our table at the Rio. We settled in and ordered drinks. I got a beer and Spider ordered a double shot of Jack.

Vilma began her interview as we ate. A pretty Latino with long dark hair and nice curves, Spider’s eyes kept drifting over her assets. Thinking of Mila, I barely resisted the urge to kick him under the table,

“Our tag line for the cover is going to be
The Best in Indie
.” Vilma said. “It’s quite an honor for the Vital Rejects to be on the list, and I just wanted to say that when this story came across my desk, I got giddy. Your music is one of my personal favorites. Can you tell me what’s in store for the band next? Is it true there’s a movie in the works?” she asked us.

Uh, no.

I cleared my throat. “We’re working in the studio on a new album. We don’t have definite tour dates yet, but they are coming. As far as movie rumors, we’ve not signed any deals.” In fact, I’d been toying with the idea of ditching Harry and looking for other representation.

She scribbled in her notebook and then looked back up. “And the question everyone wants to know is are you still dating Blair Storm? You haven’t been seen in public since the
Hollywood Insider
ran photos of you with a dark-haired girl. Can you tell me more about who this girl is and is she someone special?”