Page 86 of Let the Game Begin

“Do you like my tattoo?” I asked. She startled at the low, hoarse sound of my voice. She pushed some sweaty hair off her forehead and curled into the fetal position, exposing her small breasts, which I couldn’t help but linger on.

I couldn’t even stand myself anymore. I was acting like a boy struggling with his first teenage crush. How much T and A had I seen in my life? How many women had I used? I couldn’t count them. Yet her body felt new tome, an unexplored territory, an unexpected gift, waiting to be unwrapped. Selene was the Neverland I had always dreamed about. The place I fantasized about escaping to for a better life than the one I had.

“I like them both,” she murmured and pointed at the one on my right bicep. I’d gotten it when I was sixteen; it extended up to my shoulder and symbolized powerful qualities that I hoped to reflect. I was weirdly pleased by the idea that Selene liked my tattoos.

“Do you think you’ll get any more?” she asked.

I loved tattoos and had thought about getting a lot more in various spots on my body, but hold on…

What the hell was I doing? What the hell were we doing?

Small talk?

Since when did I exchange chitchat with a woman after sex? I creased up my forehead, and Selene must have noticed my puzzled expression because she planted her hands on the mattress and pushed up her torso. I immediately copied her.

“What the fuck,” I whispered to myself, recognizing just how absurd everything that was happening was—everything that I was doing.

I didn’t want a relationship. I wasn’t the kind of man from whom anyone could expect sentimentality and that kind of shit, but clearly I had chosen the wrong girl to toy with. I was a deeply troubled man, and Babygirl didn’t even have the first idea of the kind of clusterfuck I had in my head. And yet, inexplicably, despite all the women I could have had, I found myself between Selene’s legs more and more often.

Selene wasn’t even my type. I liked blonds, the bolder and more shameless the better. She, on the other hand, was naive, inexperienced, and—most importantly—auburn-haired.

“What’s wrong with you now?” She muttered in confusion. I scrubbed a hand over my face and got off the bed. I retrieved my boxers and pulled them on. I could feel her eyes on me the whole time. Specifically, on my ass, which tensed with every movement. I turned and caught her staring at me, spellbound. She immediately looked away, focusing on her own bare legs.

“I need to leave. That’s what’s wrong with me,” I snapped nervily, making her flinch. This wasn’t her fault, not at all. But it wasn’t my fault, either.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked, clearly in the hopes of understanding my mood swings. Good luck to her, because I didn’t understand them myself.

I bent down and felt around my jeans pockets for my pack of Winstons; I was in exceptional need of a smoke. Then I remembered that I’d left them in my room.

“Shut up, Selene!” I raised my voice, scaring her. I didn’t need her peppering me with questions. I didn’t know the answers any better than she did. This situation was getting to be too much for me. It was all getting to be too much.

“Where do you get off?” She jumped off the bed and walked around it, coming right at me. She faced me, her small, slender body completely naked. I smirked down at her from my lofty height.

Did she think she was going to intimidate me?

“What do you think you’re doing? Huh, Tinkerbell?” I advanced on her until her smell was right under my nose. She smelled like sex and likeme.

Selene raised her chin in challenge to me. She was little, but she really did have a tiger’s ferocity.

“Talking. You know… That thing you’re so afraid to do? Because you only feel like a man when you’re screwing something.” She skewered me, narrowing her blue eyes. Her hair was messed up, her cheekbones still pink, and her lips were swollen. She had my cum drying on her back and my finger marks on her hips. She looked well-fucked indeed, and it only made her more enticing.

She followed my gaze and saw what I was looking at. I brushed my fingers over the purpling bruises that speckled her pale skin. Then, without warning, I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to me, taking a handful of her auburn hair.

“And what about you? Don’t you feel like a woman when I want you? When I fuck you like an animal? I know you do, just like I know you’ll never admit it,” I whispered, close to her full lips.

She ground her teeth and said nothing. Her large eyes were full of challenge, telling me the war had only begun. “If you give me something of yourself, I’ll do whatever you want,” she murmured under her breath. Irecalled the dumb compromise she had suggested while I was working out in the gym. Once again, I couldn’t understand how she failed to see me for the vile thing that I was.

“What do you want?” I didn’t let go of her silky hair, but I was trying not to hurt her.

“Talking,” she said again, swallowing hard. I looked at her full lips, and I wanted to kiss her and toss her back on the bed.

“Talking,” I echoed thoughtfully, holding her stare. “And I suppose you think you have something to teach me? From all your vast experience, eh?” I asked, amused as I breathed in her pleasing smell.

Selene considered my question for a few moments before replying firmly. “Yes. How to listen to your soul.”

21

Neil