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THE LION AND THE GAZELLE

Hugh

DECEMBER 18, 2003

“H UGHIE, CAN WE TALK?” WERE THE FIRST WORDS P IERCE SAID TO ME SINCE THE night I caught him in my bed, with his dick inside my girl.

“You have a lot of fucking nerve coming over here,” I replied as I sat on the bench in the changing room and yanked off my boots. Having endured an intense two-hour training session in the pissing rain, I was in no mood for this conversation. Instead, I inclined my head to the other side of the changing room, where his shit was stored. “I suggest you go back over there before I ram these studs up your hole.”

“It’s important , lad,” he pushed, continuing to hover near me like an annoying blue bottle. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”

Ignoring him, I peeled off my drenched socks before stripping off the rest of my kit and grabbing my towel. When I stood up to head for a shower and saw him follow me, I swung around and glared. “Follow me in there and you won’t be coming back out.”

Prick .

Storming into the shower stalls, I slammed my palm on the chrome knob and stood directly under the scalding-hot water, trying to warm up from the winter cold and cool down from my traitorous teammate all at once.

I spent longer in the shower than usual, almost thirty minutes, with the hope that he’d be gone by the time I came back out.

Unfortunately, when I returned to the changing room Pierce was the only person still there, clad in his uniform and with a dopey expression on his face.

At least he had the common sense to sit on the opposite side of the room this time .

Gripping the towel around my hips, I stalked past him, moving straight for my spot. “What are you lurking around for? Looking for tips? Trying to see how your dick measures up to mine now?”

“I need to talk to you about Lizzie,” he decided to start with, which was a bad fucking move.

“Read the room, asshole,” I snapped, dropping my towel and reaching for a fresh pair of jocks in my bag. “I’m not interested in what’s happening between ya, so just walk away.”

“But you’re still interested in her well-being, aren’t ya?” he snapped back. “Or do you not give a shit about her anymore?”

Every muscle in my body locked up with tension and I had to take a few steadying breaths to calm down.

He had some nerve bringing her up to me.

Forcing myself to take the high road and not react, I continued to ignore him while I dressed.

“Listen, Hughie, I’m sorry, okay,” he sighed, sounding both remorseful and frustrated. “For what I did. It was bad form on my account. I fucked up, lad. I get that now.”

Yeah, I bet he did.

“If you expect me to forgive you for sleeping with my girlfriend of over four years , then you’re fucking delusional,” I reminded him. “The best you can hope for is my tolerance, and you’re cutting it fine at that.”

“Lad, we’ve been friends since we were four,” he tried to plead. “Surely we can get past this.”

“The fact that you’re bringing up how long we’ve known each other only attests to how few fucks you gave about our friendship.”

“Hughie, come on, lad…”

“You intentionally destroyed my four-year relationship with the girl I’ve been best friends with for almost as long as we’ve known each other.” I shook my head in disgust. “The girl you saw me with every day for the past decade. So save your excuses for someone gullible enough to believe them.”

“She’s not spotless in this, either,” he shot back in his pitiful attempt to throw Liz under the bus for all of it. “She was the one in the relationship, not me.”

“True,” I agreed in a level tone. “And because of that, she’s no longer in that relationship.”

“I didn’t think she’d do it,” he finally admitted, getting to the heart of the truth. “She always seemed so obsessed with you. I was only half messing when I chanced my arm with her that night.”

And she was in the throes of mania .

“And you thought it would be somehow amusing to see if you could break us up?” I tossed back. “Or was it jealousy that got the better of you that night?”

“Probably both.”

My brows shot up. “Well, at least you’re an honest degenerate prick.”

“Yeah,” he muttered under his breath.

“Are we done here?” I asked then.

“Listen, I really think you should talk to her,” he had the nerve to request. “She was crying at Creano’s party, and she hasn’t shown up to school all week.”

“Christ.” I chuckled humorlessly. “You are something else, do ya know that?”

“She’s… There’s something wrong with that girl,” he continued to blurt. “And I am really fucking out of my depth.” I could hear the concern in his tone as he ranted. “I think she’s having a breakdown or something over the guilt.”

The guilt .

“Bitten off more than you can chew, did ya?” I couldn’t resist taunting him. “Yeah, I thought that might happen.”

“Hughie, come on, lad, this isn’t easy for me, either,” he snapped. “Having to come to her ex for help.”

“I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire, asshole,” I replied, toeing on my runners. “So you forget about me helping you.”

“Then help her,” he urged. “I know you love her.”

“You know I love her ,” I repeated, having heard just about all I could take. “You know I love her,” I roared, swinging around to glare at him. “If you know I love her so much, then why the fuck would you, my friend since primary school, fuck her in my bed?”

“I already told you that I took it too far!”

“No,” I snarled, unwilling to let it go once he’d opened the door. “Taking it too far would’ve been kissing her!” My chest was heaving, and I wasn’t sure if I had the ability to not kill this prick. “What you did was taking it to another fucking planet!”

“I was drunk, Hughie,” he groaned, flinching. “I messed up. I’m holding my hands up to it.”

“And what’s your excuse every other time you’ve put your dick in her?” I demanded, seething. “Well? Have you been drunk for the past forty-eight days, too? Or are you going to use the jealousy card again? Or were you just fucking my girl because she’s vulnerable, and you’re a piece of shit!”

“I didn’t know she was this vulnerable.”

“Maybe, but you knew she was mine .”

“Hughie, come on, lad.”

“What the fuck do you want from me?”

“Just go see her or something,” he muttered, rubbing his jaw. “Make sure she’s okay.”

“Why don’t you go see her,” I snapped back, feeling too damn much, “and leave me the hell out of it?”

“I’ve been calling her, but she won’t pick up,” he snapped. “She’ll pick up for you, though. She hasn’t been to school in a week, and I know you care.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me get this straight.” I narrowed my eyes in disgust. “You want me to call my ex, who cheated on me with you , because she’ll answer my calls instead of yours ?”

“Sounds about right,” Pierce muttered, reddening.

My adrenaline was pumping right along with my testosterone, and I could barely restrain myself from the raw, primal urge to rip this prick’s head off and put him in his place.

“You know why that is, don’t ya?” I said in an eerily cold tone, fully embracing the masculine superiority I had over this prick. “It’s because she’s mine.” Smirking, I prowled toward him like he was a gazelle and I was a lion. “And it doesn’t matter how many times she lets you in her bed, she’ll never want you more than she wants me .”

“Oh yeah? Well, she seemed to want me an awful lot more than you that night.” Pierce took the bait and snapped, all riled up now. “In fact, if I recall right, she was complaining about how you weren’t doing it for her.”

“You think because you scratched an itch for her, you’re better than me?” Instead of losing it, like he expected me to, I smirked. “You dumb shit. If I wanted to fuck her, I could do it right now, but the difference between the two of us is that I don’t take advantage of vulnerable girls. Because I’m a man, asshole, and you’re a boy.”

“Hughie, relax.” His eyes flashed with panic. “Just keep the head, lad.”

“Do you know what you are to her, Pierce?” I asked, walking until we were chest to chest, squaring up to each other, with me taking the win in the height department by a good four inches. “All you are to that girl is my piss-poor replacement.”

His body thrummed with tension, and he balled his hands into fists.

“You want to throw down?” I arched a brow. “Go for it.”

To be fair to him, he thought about it for a good five seconds before cowering away. “I’m not fighting you again, lad.”

“Wise decision,” I replied moments before my hand shot out and gripped his throat. “Now, you listen.” Slamming him roughly against the wall at his back, I leaned in close and hissed, “You’re going to stay out of my face, and I’m going to stay out of yours. You don’t talk to me unless it’s on the pitch or class-assignment related. You keep your hands off her when I’m around, and if I hear a single word of her private business or anything she says or does in your presence getting around school, I will take it as a personal attack on me, ya hear?”

“Ye…ah,” he strangled out, turning red.

“You keep your goddamn mouth shut about her being vulnerable or any of it,” I threatened. “Because if you ruin her reputation, I will bury you.”

I didn’t plan to get off at Liz’s stop after school today, but when the bus driver pulled in, that’s exactly what happened—much to Gibs’s and Feely’s disgust. Pierce had planted a seed of worry inside of me, and it had continued to fester all day until I’d driven myself half-demented with worry.

Too late to turn back, I made my way up the familiar gravel entrance in the pissing rain until I reached her house.

I was surprised when I found Liz sitting on the front step of her house, but what surprised me more was the fact that she was wearing her uniform even though she hadn’t been to school all week.

“Hugh.” Her eyes lit up when she noticed me approach and she quickly jumped to her feet. “What are you doing here?”

“Your boyfriend sent me.” I kept walking until I reached her. “He wants you to answer his calls.”

Her entire expression fell, and a full-body shudder racked through her. “He is not my boyfriend.”

I couldn’t deny the immense pleasure I felt at her reaction, but I hid it well. “Well, whatever you want to refer to him as wants you to answer his calls.”

“You’re the only one whose calls I’m answering,” she replied, looking up at me with big, lonesome eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah.” I had to clear my throat to keep the emotion out of my voice. “Why are you sitting in the rain?”

She shrugged her slim shoulders. “My body was burning up.”

“Are you sick?”

“Nope.” She shook her head, and it caused droplets of rain to sprinkle. “Just horny.”

Jesus .

“What’s with the uniform?” I asked, steering the conversation to safer waters. “You haven’t been in school all week.”

“Because I’ve been tired,” she admitted, pulling on her drenched sleeves. “And I can’t sleep no matter what I do.” Shrugging, she pointed toward the meadow and said, “I’ve been hiding out in the fields all week during school hours, hoping my dad doesn’t catch me.”

“You should tell Pierce that,” I forced myself to say, even though it nearly killed me to do it. “He’s, ah, he’s worried about you.”

“I don’t want to talk to him,” she squeezed out, looking up at me with a guilty expression. “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“You just feel that way today,” I sighed. “Because you’re off your meds.”

“I’m afraid to go back on them,” she admitted then, giving me the first glimpse of the real her in months. “I’m afraid to remember everything.”

“Liz.” My heart cracked. “Flipping in and out of reality is no way to live.”

“I know.” Tears filled her eyes. “But it’s better than living without you.”

I wanted to go to her.

Despite everything, I wanted to pull her into my arms.

Because I was so damn deeply in love with this girl that it physically hurt to stand here and not hold her.

“I love you,” she sniffled, using her shoulder to wipe her cheek. “No matter what.”

“I love you, too.” I couldn’t stop myself from responding. And I clearly loved her no matter what because my feelings still stood despite the cheating and heartbreak.

“Do you want to come inside?”

I shook my head. “I can’t do that, Liz.”

“It’s pouring rain,” she reminded me, pointing to the dark-clouded sky. “I won’t try any funny business.”

Yeah, for now . “And what if you change your mind?”

“Then you can leave.” She pushed her front door open and stepped inside. “Please?”

I knew I shouldn’t.

It was a trap.

A bad fucking idea.

But I found myself following her inside.

Despite the red flags shooting up, I walked up the familiar staircase, eyes glued to her ass that she was intentionally swishing in my face as she walked ahead of me.

When she reached the landing, she did a strange, little shimmy past her sister’s door, straining her body as far away from it as humanly possible, before hurrying into her room.

“Where are your parents?” I asked, following her inside the room that had been like my own for years. “Are they out for the day?”

“I’m not sure,” she replied, peeling off her drenched school jumper as she moved straight for her bed. “We’re not exactly on talking terms at the moment.”

My brows shot up. “Even Catherine?”

“Dad doesn’t let me get within a ten-foot radius of Mam,” she explained with a sigh. “He thinks I’m dangerous.”

“You’re not dangerous,” I replied, walking over to her bed and sitting down without even thinking about it. Fuck . “You’re sick. There’s a difference.”

“Why aren’t you shouting at me?” she asked, sitting cross-legged on her bed, facing me. “Why are you so nice?”

“I’m not the shouting type,” I reminded her. “Well, not usually at least.”

“But I deserve it,” she squeezed out, gaze cast downwards. “And this hurts because I know what I’ve lost.”

I wanted to tell her that she hadn’t lost me, but I would be a liar.

“I want you to be healthy,” I said instead. “It’s important to me, Liz.”

“You’re important to me,” she breathed, sidling closer until I could feel her hot breath against my ear. “You’re everything to me.”

And there it was .

The sudden shift in mood .

“No touching,” I warned when her hand landed on my thigh. “If you do that again, I’m leaving.”

“Really?”

“Really, Liz.”

“Fine.” Reluctantly, she placed her hand on her lap. “Happy now?”

No, because I wanted her hands on me. “Peachy.”

“Do you miss me, Hugh?” she asked, eyes growing darker the longer she looked at me. “Like I miss you?”

“You know I miss you,” I replied, not bothering to lie. There was no point. She held every piece of my mangled heart. I figured she might as well take the last sliver of my pride while she was at it. “It kills me to see you with him.”

“I don’t want him.” Her voice took on a sultry tone. “I’ve never wanted him.”

“And yet here we are.” I shook my head in frustration. “You fucked him, but you fucked me harder.”

“Do you want to take your clothes off?” she asked then, shamelessly raking me over with her eyes. “You’re soaked to the skin. You might get sick.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Frustration etched her features. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”

“Nope.” I smirked. “I have my virtue to protect.”

“I don’t know why I did it,” she repeated for what had to be the hundredth time in a matter of months. “I’m not even attracted to him.” She touched me again, trailing her finger down my throat, and this time I didn’t have the strength to stop her. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted inside me.”

Jesus Christ.

“I could fuck you,” I admitted, feeling both bitter and turned on. “Right here. Just once. For closure. But that would only make it worse for you.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” she said, pressing her cheek to mine and inhaling deeply. “You’re all I want.”

“It would, because once you’ve had me, you’ll never get over me,” I whispered in her ear, deciding to turn the tables on her for once, and then enjoying when she shivered in response. “It’ll be game over for you, Liz, and then what?”

“Then we’ll keep doing it,” she moaned, rubbing herself against me. “Forever.”

This was a bad idea, and I needed to stop.

Just… not yet .

“Not a chance, baby,” I growled, nuzzling her cheek with mine. “You threw away forever with me for temporary with him.”

“Let me make it up to you.” Peppering my neck with kisses, she reached between my thighs and palmed my rapidly growing erection. “Let me make it right.”

“I’m not putting my dick where’s he’s been,” I groaned, unable to stop my hips from arching into her touch. “You need to stop.”

“But you love when I make you cum,” she teased, tormenting me with her skilled fingers. “I’ll give you anything you want.”

“All I wanted was fidelity.”

“And all I wanted was you inside me.” She groaned in frustration. “You’re still all I want.”

“And I still want fidelity,” I replied in a guff tone. “But that dream’s gone clean out the window, hasn’t it?”

“Hugh,” she groaned in a pleading tone, flopping back on her pillow. “Stop torturing me.”

Fuck, she looked incredible sprawled out on her bed, with flushed cheeks and her skirt hitched around her hips.

“Fine.” Releasing a frustrated moan, she parted her thighs, spreading herself completely open, giving me an up-close-and-personal view of her white thong. “If you won’t touch me, I’ll do it myself.”

I had no fucking clue what to say to that, but then she pushed the fabric of her thong to one side, and I quickly lost all ability to speak.

Tracing her slit with her fingers, she slowly pushed two inside her, while she thumbed for her clit.

Holy fuck.

I need to leave .

I need to turn away .

Why the hell am I still staring?

“It’s okay,” Liz whispered, eyes flicking to mine. “I want you to watch me.”

Moaning softly, she kept her eyes on me the entire time.

Jesus Christ .

I couldn’t have looked away if I’d wanted to—and I definitely did not want to look away.

In this moment, I could think of nothing but this girl and her perfect pussy.

I knew how she felt.

I’d had my fingers and tongue inside her on countless occasions.

My dick strained against the constraints of my jocks, desperate to have its turn.

The more flushed she grew, the louder her moans became, and the closer I moved. “Touch me.”

I shook my head, fucking hating myself for denying myself.

“It’s okay,” she coaxed. “It can be our secret.”

I shook my head again, while my hips gyrated of their own damn accord.

“If you won’t touch me, then touch yourself,” she breathed in the sexiest fucking voice I’d ever heard.

Holy fuck!

“Show me, baby.”

Fuck, I lost my head when she called me baby .

A pained groan escaped me as my gaze roamed shamelessly over her.

“Show me that big dick.”

A momentary blip in sanity had me unsnapping the button on my school trousers and quickly unzipping.

“Mm,” she moaned, rocking her hips into her hand. “Take it out.”

Reckless, I did just that.

Fisting my shaft, I quickly worked myself over, while she fucked herself in front of me.

“Come here,” she ordered breathlessly, patting the part of the mattress between her legs before resuming rubbing her clit. “I want to see.”

Stripping off from the waist down, I knelt between her legs with my dick in my hands.

This was madness.

I was a fucking eejit.

But it would take an earthquake to force me away from her in this moment.

Licking her lips, she flicked her hooded gaze up to me. “Fuck yourself like how you want to fuck me.”

Jesus .

Losing all self-control, I went to town on myself, pulling on my dick so furiously that I could feel my balls tighten up faster than usual.

I wasn’t unfamiliar with getting myself off, but getting off to the visual of a naked girl beneath me was sending me over the edge way too fucking quickly.

“I’m coming,” she cried out, and then her thighs jerked and spasmed, rubbing off my outer thighs and causing me to spill all over her.

Chest heaving, I released with a pained groan, unable to angle my aim away from her face because she was too fucking close.

Mortified, I froze on my knees between her legs, looking at the mess I’d made of her.

Instead of complaining and telling me to fuck off, Liz pulled up on her elbows, smirked, and then traced her tongue over her bottom lip tasting me.

Holy fuck!

I’d never seen anything so sexy in my entire life.

And then she reached up from between her legs and held her index finger in front of my mouth. “Open your mouth.”

Momentarily losing my ability to form a coherent thought, I did exactly what she told me to and parted my lips.

She slowly pushed her finger into my mouth. “Suck.”

Keeping my eyes locked on hers, I did as she asked.

“Taste me.”

I was and she was even better than I remembered.

“See?” Slowly withdrawing her finger, she pulled up on her knees, chest flush with mine, and smiled. “And we didn’t even break any rules.”

I choked out a breath, chest still heaving. “What the fuck did we just…”

“Don’t worry, brave knight.” She pressed a finger to my lips and winked. “Your virtue is still intact.”

With that, she climbed off the bed and moved for the bathroom, leaving me alone to reel in my guilt.