Page 95 of Vying Girls

‘I’ll ruin you,’ I say sombrely. ‘Maybe not today, but someday. It’s just what happens, what I’ve done to every fucking girlfriend I’ve ever had.’

‘They just weren’t right for you. Maybe you really believe all that, and maybe it became a self-fulfilling prophecy, but that’s not going to happen anymore, and do you know why? Because our souls are the same colour. They match, Haz. I mean, shit, look at me. I’m hardly into that love and light bullshit. My mind’s a dark fucking place. I doubt my lovability all the time. I’ve seen evidence to the contrary too. Plenty of.’ She gives a breathless chuckle. ‘Nic still dishes that out on the daily. We’re way more similar than you think, you’d soon see that if you gave this a chance. And yeah, maybe it sounds toxic, two broken people coming together to make some kind of a whole or something, but everything about us is justright.I know it is, even if you don’t just yet.’ She smiles, giving my head a little shake. ‘You don’t scare me, Harriet.’

‘No? I should. I’m the fuckingdevil.’

‘No. You’re not. You’re just someone who needs lots and lots of love. And honestly, so am I, so maybe we can be that for each other. Undo my top.’

‘What?’

‘Just undo it.’

She curls her hands around the pole behind her, giving herself over to me. The buttons on her top are tiny. I fumble with them for a moment before yanking the fabric down with an impatient grunt. Tilda gasps.

I look at her for guidance.

She nods downwards. ‘Look at it. Take off the film.’

I get my blunt nail under a corner and pull it down. Then I stare, dumbly, unable to believe what I’m fucking seeing.

It’s my name on her tit. Big, block letters, a spindly serpent coiled around them, its tongue licking right where I want to put my own.

‘I’m not going anywhere, Haz. Not anywhere. Not unless you’re going too.’

I stare at the letters until they blur, the black soup in my mind clearing for just a second. Tilda’s chest rises and falls steadily, giving the snake the illusion of movement.

‘Show me,’ I rasp roughly, fingers tightening on her hips. ‘Show me how you love.’

‘No. You showme.’

I raise my eyes, spotting a goading, irresistible, wholly tender smirk in her own. In the next breath, I have her slammed against the sign pole, a palm cushioning her head from the cold metal, kissing her without mercy.

She whimpers against my lips, her breath stuttering with the force of me on her. I can’t ease up, don’t care if she can’t breathe. Because I can’t either. I bite her lips, my chest feeling hollow like there’s no air in there at all.

She puts her arms around me, but I seize her wrists, twining her fingers back around the pole. Her chest juts out with the position, my eyes drawn back to the bandage on her chest. I want to peel it back, trace the design with my tongue, my teeth, tasting the metallic tang of her maimed flesh.

Instead, I apply the same to her throat, the lobes of her ears, her collarbones. She’s slack against the pole, only her hips pushing forward. She wants me so fucking bad, her wordless begging making me feral.

Taking a step back, I undo my belt. She follows the movement with her eyes, a keenness wicking away the glaze in them. Igather the leather so it forms a loop. She thinks I’m going to hit her with it. I toy with it, going along with the pretence until I’m too impatient. Getting the belt around her and the pole, I tighten it until she grunts, threading the eyelet.

She’s trapped now. A witch at the stake, taking the punishment for my sins.

She looks up and down the road uneasily. Yeah, she’d be fucked if I left her here. Not sure what would be worse, someone finding her or someone never finding her.

Calmer now, I undo the button on her jeans, the zip lowering with asnickin the still air.

‘You’ve got to stop with the fucking skinny jeans,’ I grunt, struggling to pull them down.

‘They’re stretchy,’ she protests weakly.

‘They’re fucking vile.’

‘Elly never has a problem.’

I look up, grinning at the teasing glint in her eyes. Taking her by the throat, I push her chin up so she meets my eyes. ‘I’m not Elly, princess. This is gonna be different.’

‘Good,’ she whispers. ‘I want whatever you are.’

I release her neck. ‘Say that again afterwards.’