Grinning back at her, I decide that she’s more than okay to handle herself, and I leave her to get her skank on. She didn’t give me the save me eyes, and if I’m not fast enough, I’ll probably end up witnessing the whole deed right here in the middle of the track.
Chapter 19
BRIELLE
Making my way back to our deserted corner on the outskirts of the track, I feel a familiar set of eyes lingering on my body, and I let out a frustrated groan. Nerves spike in my chest, and I’m immediately on guard, every part of me desperately trying to shut out the feelings I’ve been trying to smother for the past two days.
“Stop being such a fucking creep, Tanner. I know you’re there,” I say, turning to face the thick bushland and searching through it until my gaze finally settles on him. He’s leaning up against a large tree with his hands deep in his pockets, staring intently and making something die inside of me.
“Why are you here?” he questions, that deep, husky tone rocking right through me as the rest of the people enjoy the party, completely oblivious to the pain pressing against my chest.
Determined not to back down or scurry away in fear, I hold my head high, not allowing him to crush me like he did two nights ago. “Trust me, if I knew you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have come.”
He doesn’t respond, just keeps staring at me through those dark, hard eyes. Frustration claims me and I scoff, shaking my head. “You’re wasting my time. Is there something you need? Because if you’re just going to stand there and stare at me like a fucking moron, then you can kindly fuck off.”
No response.
Turning my back to watch the party around me, I grab my bottle of water and take a hasty sip, determined to ignore him, but when a shiver sails down my spine and goosebumps spread over my skin, I know he’s moved closer—a lot closer.
I feel his breath on my neck just moments before his big hands circle my waist. One of them sweeps low around my body as the other trails up my ribs and over the curve of my breast until it settles loosely around the base of my throat. His lips move to the side of my neck, and I hear him breathe me in, his body moving in tight against mine.
“Whatever you think you’re going to get from me, you can think again, asshole. I’m not hanging around for you to fuck with.”
“Mmhmm,” he murmurs just as his lips press down against my skin.
Every tiny brain cell inside me demands to push him away, to tell him to fuck off, or in the very least, send a fist hurtling toward his balls. Who does he think he is coming at me like this? Touching me? Putting his lips on me? No, absolutely not. I won’t be some pathetic toy he gets to kick around.
My hand falls to his on my waist, and I yank it off before spinning and shoving him hard, sending him back a step. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I demand, rage boiling in my narrowed stare. “You want an easy fuck, then go and pick one of those girls who’ve been throwing themselves at you for the last hour. I’m done with your games. They were fun while they lasted but dealing with the whiplash that comes from a guy who can’t figure out what the fuck he wants is exhausting.”
Tanner’s eyes darken and the desire pooling in them makes me catch my breath. He moves back into me, his hand curling around the base of my throat, his thumb gently roaming over my skin. He stares down at me, his eyes holding me captive. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he growls. “I know exactly what I want.”
I swallow hard, my heart screaming in fear. “Don’t do this,” I warn him, terrified of the way he so effortlessly draws me in when both of us know that this isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to hurt me, and the longer this goes on, the harder I’m going to fall.
He drags me back into the darkness of the thick trees and I go willingly, blindly following the devil as a shiver rushes down my spine. My fingers tingle and my core clenches with the anticipation of being lost in the dark with him, all alone.
Tanner moves me until my back is flat against a tree and he inches closer, his arm propped up on the tree above my head, caging me in as his wicked, lethal stare locks onto mine. My hand slips up the front of his shirt and braces against his chest, the feel of his bare skin against mine doing things to me that I’m not nearly ready for. I feel the rapid beat of his heart against my palm, and I spread my fingers, my chest heaving with quick, gasping pants. “You need to walk away.”
Tanner leans in even closer, his hand at my waist trailing down my body, passing my hip, and sailing right down my thigh, sending goosebumps over every inch of skin he claims. His dark, intense eyes bore into mine, holding me captive. “You and I both know that’s not what you want.”
Oh, holy fuck.
Breathe, Brielle. Breathe, damn it.
His voice is deep and full of barely-concealed restraint. It’s as though he’s barely holding himself back, barely keeping in control, and that thought alone makes my heart thunder erratically in my chest, so heavy that if he moves just an inch closer and presses his wide chest up against mine, he’s bound to feel it.
I swallow hard, unable to look away. He holds me captive, my body, my heart, my mind. At this moment, everything I am belongs to him. Whatever he wants from me, it’s his to take. “You’ve gone out of your way to make me hate you. You want me to despise you, and it worked, I despise everything you are. This is only going to confuse things.”
“Maybe I want to confuse things.”
“When is this going to end? Haven’t you fucked with me enough?”
“Not even close.”
“What more do you want from me?” I whisper, his intoxicating scent breaking me down. “You’ve already hurt me. Consider me thoroughly played, or does this not end until you’ve gotten something out of it too? You want me on my knees? You want me to bend over? You want me to give myself over to you completely, fall madly in love with you until you’re the center of my world? When will it be enough for you?”
His eyes linger on mine, and I see the truth shining through them. He has no fucking idea. He doesn’t know what he wants from me, doesn’t know just how much will be enough.
His body moves in even closer, and I crave him more, his lips barely a breath away. “You don’t want this, otherwise you wouldn’t have pushed me away.”
“Don’t I?” he rumbles, his tone dropping even lower, desire thick in his voice. “You said so yourself, every time I walk into a room, you’re right there, searching for me just as I am you.”
I shake my head. “That was before.”
He goes on as though I didn’t even speak. “When I’m close, your breath catches, and when I touch you …” he says, pausing as his fingers slowly begin moving back up my thigh, making me clench.
He sees my reaction to his touch and a smugness flashes in his eyes, knowing just how right he is. “Don’t lie to me, Killjoy. You want this, maybe even more than I do. You might hate me, you might even despise me, and I deserve that, but it doesn’t change the fact that you still want me.”
I shake my head, unable to think clearly as his fingers continue moving further up. “You’ve got me all wrong,” I tell him. “I’m not the one searching you out in the middle of the night. I see you, Tanner, watching me through my window, your eyes blazing with desperation every time I walk by. You just can’t admit it to yourself. You’re a man obsessed, and it kills you that you haven’t had a taste.”