Page 7 of Vicious Little Snakes

Her voice is barely above a whisper. “Yes, loser.”

Without thought, I begin to play with the ends of her hair. “Liar.”

Soft strands slide between my fingertips just above the slope of her right breast. I shouldn’t touch her like this. Not that Kai would care. They aren’t exclusive, but it’s still a dick move. An even bigger dick move is that she’d rather be in whatever-the-fuck kind of relationship she’s in with Kai than give me the time of day.

“Your hair’s soft,” I say idly, forgetting why we’re standing here.

Caroline rolls her eyes as her chest lowers, releasing the breath she’s been holding. “That’s not a secret.”

“I know.”

Am I making her nervous? Before I can ask, she answers the thought by snapping her teeth at my fingers. I laugh but don’t move. The joke’s on her. I’d let her bite me if she wanted to.

Caroline smooths her hair over her shoulder, removing it from my grasp, stopping my fun.

I raise my brows in question, and she raises hers back.

“Just spit it out already because you won’t leave me alone until I listen.”

I’m drunkenly mesmerized by her lips, wondering how soft they’d be against mine. I almost feel guilty, seeing as I’ve been flirting my ass off with Donovan, but I’m too drunk to think about that right now.

I should stop fucking with Caroline. I’m a dick. Maybe I’m that guy who can’t get over a loss? I mean, I’m a human boy—we tend to fixate on the pussy we don’t get. And like I said, immature prick.

My weight shifts unsteadily to the left, so I grab her waist to anchor myself and her body tenses.

“If you fall, I’m leaving you in the dirt.”

I take another pull off the bottle, grinning, knowing that she would. Nah, it’s not about winning. Caroline has this power over me, and it fucks with my head and my life. It makes me do dumb shit, like use Donovan against her.

“If I do, I’ll take you with me, and then I’ll finally get you all dirty.”

She swallows, pressing her lips together, and I keep staring at her skin, wishing I could bruise her neck with kisses, then wrap a hand around it while she comes.

“Are you going to tell me, or what?” she huffs.

Somewhere between thinking about how her eyes almost look violet in this light and fucking her raw, my head makes one more dumbass decision tumble out of my mouth.

“I promised back in the day that I’d never let you replace her. Did I ever tell you that? But the thing is, Carebear, I didn’t think about her once that whole week.”

Caroline looks up, unreadable. Her small palms come to lay against my chest, and for a brief moment, the urge to kiss her almost kills me. But she pushes me away.

“One whole week? Generous. My memories are different.” I don’t miss that she rubs the scar on the side of her wrist. “Also. Why do I care about this?”

Shut the fuck up, Liam. Now.

“No reason, just drunk talk.”

A speaker someone’s brought outside begins blasting music, busting our bubble. I stumble backward, grinning from ear to ear, recognizing the song, and spread my arms.

“This song reminds me of you, Carebear. You’re like peppermint candy, and well, I wouldn’t mind helping you smell like the sex part—”

My hand finds the wall of the shower as the other grips my cock. I’m hard. “Fucking Caroline.” I groan.

But that’s my problem—I want to fuck Caroline.

She never took me up on the offer that night, opting to hang all over Kai and ignore me. Later, I got so drunk that I semi-fucked my best friend. Not my finest moment but just another skeleton in the closet for me. I seem to have an endless supply of bad decisions surrounding the girls I know.

Tugging upwards, I moan and then push back into my hand. My fingers are curling against the stone shower wall, trying to hold my ground as my mouth falls open. This is what always happens when I let myself think about Caroline for too long.