I manage to get us back to our room and lock the door before setting her on her feet. She reaches for my shirt, pushing it up and over my chest, until I can tug it off the rest of the way. Her hands reach for my track pants, yanking them down, so I can step out of them. She backs up and I follow, enjoying having to take my sweatshirt off her. Her knees hit the bed and she falls back. My fingers hook on the sides of her leggings and pull them down in one go. She scoots back and I follow, my lips touch any inch of skin that gets close to them on the way. Her body is chilled against my heated skin when I land on top of her, arms bracketing around her face. Her arms wrap around me, her nails digging into my shoulder blades.
“I love you, too,” Scarlet whispers, her lips grazing across mine. Four little words and I lose all control. My mouth dives down to hers, urging her lips apart, while our tongues battle. I swipe a hand over her front, palming her tit before stopping to pinch her nipple. She gasps into my mouth and her torso arches off the bed. Feeling her against me drives me crazy and all I want is to be inside her, deep and hard. She must feel the same, our minds both lost in the daze and fog that’s enveloping us. She sits up, rolling me over, and straddles my lap. My hands are quick to rid us of all the other barriers between us. Scarlet lifts on her knees, and I line up my dick, before pulling her down my length. A small cry leaves her mouth, her head falls back, and a pink flush makes its way across her tan skin. I tilt my hips up, forcing her even further onto me, and grab her hair in my hand, pulling her gaze to mine. Scarlet’s eyes shine, her cheeks flush, and lips part while she rolls her hips against mine. My heart races, watching her move above me. The feeling is more electric than any trick on my bike or thrill of the crowd. I crave her. I need her. I want her to be mine in every way possible. It’s a chant in my head as I pump into her over and over, while my thumb comes up to play with her clit. It doesn’t take long before her legs tighten, and her pussy strangles my dick while she comes all over me. Her lips fall to mine, teeth clashing, while she screams her release into my mouth. I kiss her through it, not letting either of us up for air, before I let my own release go off inside her.
Our gazes collide, I breathe her in, and a small smile pulls at her lips. Scarlet is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She collapses against my chest. I can feel her heart hammering against my rib cage. My world shifted tonight. I feel like I found a vital piece of my soul, a piece I didn’t know I’d been looking for. I’m determined to fight whatever demons she’s running from. I’ll never let them touch her.
Scarlet
I glance at the picture on my phone one more time before chucking it across the room, and watching it bounce off the wall. My cousin was dancing with Raz at her grandmother’s birthday party last night. Tears spring to my eyes, my chest feels like a boulder is laying on top of me, and I’m pinned down. Hate and fear battle over my insides. He’s going back on his word, pushing me to take action. That disgusting snake of a man is in my cousin’s life because of my father, because of me.
It’s been two months since Trent and I argued in New York, since I told him I loved him, and decided to take down my father, once and for all. My father is forcing my hand now. My time is running out, because he’s decided he’s done waiting. I don’t have any information to give him. Trent is too good. He’s not some criminal or junkie that I was led to believe. I can’t keep lying to him either, pretending to be some girl that I’m not. I haven’t been sleeping, I can’t eat or keep food down. Every second of every day, I’m waiting for my father to make good on his threats or worse, for Trent to discover who I am.
The worst mistake I made was throwing out the card for the detective who stopped me in Detroit. I’m finally at my breaking point. I can’t let my cousin be married to that scum bag. They changed Evita’s phone number and blocked my number from calling her, a power trip by my father, or I would warn her. I have no friends back home to try and get a message to her. For the first time since I left, I realize how isolated I’ve been made by him, by myself, by the entourage I’d grown up around and just assumed they’d watch out for me. Out of pure survival instinct, I finally gave my father a solution.
For the third time today, I feel my stomach contract painfully, before bile rises in the back of my throat. I rush to the bathroom and manage to make it to the toilet. I have nothing left in me, and every heaving motion only causes my brain to throb and my eyes to lose vision. When I’m done, I manage to crawl back into the bedroom and sprawl on the floor next to the discarded phone. Sobbing, I pick up the phone. The screen is cracked but still working.
Father: Send me the address for where he’ll be. I like this plan, Mija.
Father: It’s almost poetic he’ll be back there when we take from him.
Father: Do not forget the side you’re on, Scarlet. I’d hate for Evita to end up dead too because of you.
Four days. I only have four days left with Trent. We’re in Los Angeles for the finals of the season this week. After the last race on Friday, the plan is to head to Araminta for the wedding of two of his friends from high school. I finally created a plan that gives my father what he wants while also being the only way I know Trent can live. My sobs echo in the empty room. I can’t pretend any longer. I can’t do this for four more days. I love him. My heart is breaking in my chest. He’s going to hate me one day. I had to do it, though. I will be the monster in his story as long he stays alive. Loving him never meant happily ever after.
I force myself to watch the footage being aired by the local news networks. I make myself stand and accept what I’ve done to protect my cousin and ultimately myself. I ruined his life to save another. I ran like a coward before he could suspect anything. I hid, while an anonymous tip was given to the Araminta PD, who got a warrant and searched the home Trent had been renting. I sanctioned for the pounds of weed, cocaine and pills that were stashed throughout the home and the guns that were buried in the back yard. Criminally, it is enough to arrest him and possibly charge him. I’m hoping against hope right now that someone, somewhere, will look at this and find that it was too clean, too set-up, and Trent will be free. AfterHours is already reportedly withdrawing his sponsorship and that is also on me.
My eyes fall to the boxes on the bed and a shiver runs through me. One day I hope I can explain. One day I hope he’ll look at me the same as he did that day in the ocean, in my mother’s hometown. Eyes flashing, I walk over to the mirror and pull the bright, red lipstick from my clutch and apply it heavily to my lips. I glance down and take in the shimmering black top, cut with a deep V in the front, and the black leather pants, before I step into a pair of black heels.
“Bring the car around,” I tell Luis, my new driver, before shoving the cell phone into my clutch.
Luis drives me to the strip of clubs lining the downtown LA area. My gaze lands on Viper’s Den, a new bar in the area, which also has a reputation for its involvement in criminal activity, before sending the location to Evita. She shows up ten minutes later, her face somber, the fading red blemish by her lip, finally fading.
“You see the news?” she asks when she reaches me. I nod, while she signals the bartender for a drink. “I can’t believe how this is ending.”