Her green eyes are dark as she stares up at me. Her scent fills my nose and the sight of her sinking her teeth into her bottom lip does something to me it really shouldn’t.
I remember all too well what it was like to kiss her, the way she matched me move for move as our hate and lust collided. I remember exactly how she tastes and how fucking wild it made me.
Aside from her heaving chest, she’s stock still beneath me for long, tense seconds as I fight an internal battle with myself.
“Ash?” she finally breathes. “How much farther do we have to go?”
Her question is like a bucket of ice water over me.
“About eight hours?”
“Eight hours?” she echoes, sitting up so fast her head collides with mine, making stars appear in my vision.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, pulling back, still without the chips I came for but now with a blinding pain above my left eyebrow.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she murmurs, pressing her palm to her own head to ease the burn.
“Whatever,” I grumble, climbing from the car and slamming the door behind me. Walking around the back, I drop my hands to the trunk and lower my head.
What the fuck is wrong with me right now?
I need to remember that this is all her fault. I shouldn’t be looking at her like she can take all the pain away, make me forget the reason we’re heading back to Seattle.
“Fuck,” I bark, slamming my hand down on the trunk so hard it stings.
Why did I think this was a good idea?
Turning my back on the car, I rest my ass against it and shove my hands into my pockets as I try to shut everything out.
I have no idea how long I stand there trying to get my head on straight, but by the time I pull the driver’s door open once more, I find Ruby sitting in the passenger seat with the bag of chips I wanted in her lap.
“You okay?” she whispers as I silently lower myself to the seat and rest my head back.
“No, not even a little bit.”
“Y-you want these?” She holds the bag out for me, and I look at it. Part of me is grateful that she’s here and that I’m not alone, but the other part wishes no one was witnessing me teetering on the edge of losing control like I am right now.
“Maybe in a bit.”
Sitting forward, I start the car and wait for the GPS to wake up.
“Wow, just how fast were you driving?” she asks, noting just how much time I’ve managed to knock off while she was sleeping.
“Speed limit, obviously.”
“Sure, whatever you say. Want me to take over?”
“In a bit. Right now, I need something else to focus on,” I admit.
“Something else?” she asks.
Turning to look at her, I can’t help the smirk that pulls at my lips as I stare down at hers.
“Yeah, something else.”
My fingers tighten on the wheel in an attempt to stop me from reaching for her. She’s so close, it would be so easy. I already know she would submit, just like she has every other time I’ve touched her.
She sucks in a breath, but despite the fact I know she wants to, she can’t rip her eyes away from me.
Doing us both a favor, I twist back to look out the windshield and get myself ready to eat up some more miles on our road trip.
I stop for gas at the next station, but I don’t allow Ruby to take over the driving. I need to do something to expel some of the pent-up energy inside me the closer we get to Seattle. It’s either I drive, or I need to find something to break a sweat, and right now, we don’t have time for me to hit the gym, and we really shouldn’t be even considering the other option that might help.
“Our parents are in Seattle,” she says, interrupting my less than innocent thoughts about how we could make use of the back seat of my dad’s car.
“Great.”
“I’ll tell them that we should be at the hotel in—”
“You’re not going to the hotel,” I bark, my grip on the wheel tightening until my knuckles turn white.
“Uh... why not? Where am I going?”
I look over at her as she stares at me like I’ve lost my mind—which to be fair, I probably have.
“You’re coming with me.”
“Why? You hate me. Just drop me at the hotel and you can go do your thing.”
“You’re right.”
She breathes a sigh of relief at my words but I don’t think she’s thinking the same thing as me.
“I do hate you.”
She gasps, proving me right.
“And I’m not dropping you at any fucking hotel. You’re staying with me.”
“W-why?”
“Do you ever just do as you’re told without an argument?”
“Before you stormed into my life I did, often.”
“So you’re just a pain in my ass.”
“I wouldn’t be if you’d let me go.”
“That’s not happening. You might want to get used to it.”
Her lips part to respond but she must decide against arguing this time because she closes them again in favor of staring out of the window at the passing scenery.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take over?” she asks again a few hours later.
“No, we’re nearly there and you clearly drive too slow.”
“I do not.” I look over at her with a raised brow. “I just follow the speed limit, unlike some people.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t really want to spend longer in here than absolutely necessary.”
“I can only agree with that. The company isn’t exactly... friendly.”
“I took you for pizza,” I argue.
“Oh yeah, because pizza fixes everything,” she mutters, much to my amusement.
“Are you hungry?” I ask, as my stomach grumbles once again.
“Yeah.”
“We’ll stop once more than we’re not resting until Seattle.”
“Fine. The sooner we’re there, the better.”
“Have you been to Seattle before?”
“No. But I’ve seen it on TV.”
“We’re not going to the part of town that’s often shown on TV, little one.”
“Oh.”
“You might regret wanting to get there as fast as possible.”
“Did you grow up in the ghetto?”
“That might be putting it lightly.”
She swallows nervously and I can’t help but smile. I’m glad she’s feeling nervous, it makes my cock hard.
Oh little one, the things I have to show you.
“Nothing is open,” Ruby helpfully points out as we drive through a sleepy little town. Okay, so it’s kinda late, but I was expecting something to be open.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait until the next town.”
“But I really need to pee,” she whines, fidgeting in the seat like she’s been doing for the past thirty minutes.
“You’re just going to have to go outside.”
“Ashton,” she spits, turning my way. “I didn’t want to come on this little road trip, and I really don’t want to pee outside where anything could bite my ass, or more specifically, that you could watch.”