Page 18 of Wicked Ends (Hellions of Hade Harbor #4)

Arianna

I stared at the diner’s menu, but the words were swimming. I was drunk. Good and proper. I was going to feel like hell tomorrow, but right now, I didn’t care.

“Man, I need to get you some water and go pee.” Kenna slid along the vinyl booth.

She’d come by my classroom after work and cajoled me to go out for drinks to celebrate my first few days on the job. I’d easily agreed, desperately wanting to avoid going back to the motel and worrying about Marcus and my future in Hade Harbor.

I nodded and waved a hand at the huge duffel bag on the seat beside me.

“Okay. I’ll read this department material while you’re gone.” I swayed toward the pile of folders I’d been carting around all night.

Kenna sat back down. “Um, no. Don’t take any schoolwork out right now. You’re way too wasted for that. How did you even get so drunk? We shared the same bottle of wine at dinner.”

I laughed. “I don’t usually drink… it’s not safe.”

“Not safe?” Kenna repeated.

“You don’t know who is watching… waiting.” Missing keys and doors that didn’t lock were never far away.

Kenna’s face creased, and regret broke through my muddled mind. I didn’t want to make her sad.

“Go to the bathroom… and you’re right, I need more water.” I pushed my loose hair back and summoned a smile I hoped made me look sober.

She nodded, biting her lip, and got up. “Try and finish your sandwich,” she directed me, then headed off.

I swayed in the booth, resting my head back against the vinyl. This was dumb. Why had I gotten drunk?

Because you have no normal coping mechanisms and are terrible at dealing with the unknown.

“Thanks, Doctor,” I muttered to the clinical voice speaking in my head, pointing out all my flaws.

“Thanks who?” someone with a deep voice asked.

I opened my eyes to find Marcus dropping heavy bags to the floor and sliding into the opposite side of the booth. In my drunken stupor, it seemed like he couldn’t be real. Why would he be real? He was shockingly handsome, tall, and athletic, and just… bitable, really.

I was clearly still that level of drunk where filter and reason were long-lost, because I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at him. He looked damn good, and he knew it. No, I didn’t just smile, I beamed.

He smirked back and leaned forward to grab my sandwich. “Are you eating this?”

I shook my head. I’d forced down half and I was done. He took a huge bite, ravenous as a wolf. I’d never seen someone eat so fast.

My face must have reflected my surprise.

“What? I’m a growing boy, remember?” he teased me.

“You can’t be here,” I realized aloud.

“Why not?”

“People will see,” I mumbled.

Marcus shrugged. “Not my problem. I’m not the one embarrassed to be seen with you.”

I let out a laugh. “You should be. I’m the one who’s in the wrong… too old, your teacher, too—everything,” I bit out. I stopped short of pointing out the differences in our hotness levels, but only just.

“Stop talking shit about my new professor. I won’t hear it. I don’t allow it.” He sighed and stretched his neck, making it crack. He seemed tired.

“How was your game? You’re on the Hellions, right?”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Been finding out about me? That’s cute, but you can come ask me yourself, Ari. No need to beat around the bush. Just agree to my terms…”

“Your terms are ridiculous, like you,” I chuckled. It suddenly seemed so fucking funny that this gorgeous, talented hockey player would be so hell-bent on fucking with me.

“Gorgeous and talented? Stop, you’re making me blush,” Marcus teased.

I stared at him, my drunken brain struggling to catch up. Wait, had I said that out loud?

“I like you without a filter, birthday girl… honesty suits you, as does dropping that prim and proper act you’ve got going on at school.”

“Prim and proper?” I repeated in a squeak.

Marcus nodded. “All upright and morally spotless… the way you talk in class and move… it’s all so careful and restrained. No one has any idea what you’re really like, when everything else is stripped away. Except me. As it should be.”

“What are you even saying?” I spat out, confused by his words.

“I’m saying don’t go lowering your guard or getting drunk around anyone else. This side of you is our secret. You only share it with me.”

I sighed. “There you go, being ridiculous again. Seriously, what is it going to take to make you quit it? It’s bullying, just so you know.”

Marcus’ mouth quirked at my lecturing tone, but he didn’t skip a beat when he answered. “I fuck you again, tonight, and I’ll reconsider what I need from you to forget any of this ever happened.”

His knee pressed against mine under the table. Heat washed through my body, burning me up inside.

“You seriously want us to…” Desire crashed into me. “I know you’re popular, everyone says so. You’re not hard up—so why force someone to sleep with you? I’m sure half a dozen beautiful hockey fans would do whatever you asked them to.”

“Jealous, beautiful? Maybe I’m bored of women dropping to their knees for me… maybe I want a little fight.” He raised a rakish eyebrow at me.

“That’s…” Even drunk, I knew better than to say what I really thought.

That’s hot, God help me.

“That’s fucked up,” I managed instead.

He laughed and shrugged. “That’s me, beautiful.

I don’t pretend to be anything else. Take it or leave it…

but I think you’re going to take it.” He shifted forward in his seat, his voice lowering to a whisper.

“Every single drop. And moreover, you’re going to beg for it.

Now, tell me where you’re staying, before your friend gets back. ”

His knee pushed between mine, forcing me to open my legs wider.

God, I was wet. I could feel my panties clinging to my pussy.

Just his filthy words and proximity were doing it for me.

And God help me if it didn’t feel good to be wanted by a man like Marcus.

A guy who could have anyone. It was heady, addictive.

It made me forget myself, and I liked that a lot. But still…

“What? No way. I’m not enabling this madness,” I said. “If you’re going to drive me insane and ruin my life, at the very least, you should work for it.”

Marcus chuckled. His hand snaked under the table and cupped my knee, rubbing soft circles with his thumb.

“Assigning me homework, Professor? Or is it a test?” he asked.

Kenna appeared in the distance, walking in our direction, glass of water in hand.

Marcus followed my gaze and stood. “Understood.” His voice was playful and determined.

I had a feeling I’d sealed my fate, but there was no time to argue with Kenna about to reach us. He stepped away, but not before bending down to murmur in my ear.

“And FYI, Ari… that wasn’t a no. I’ll see you later.”

“Who was that?” Kenna sat and pushed the glass of water toward me. She had just missed catching Marcus’ face, thank God.

“Just some guy,” I said.

Kenna smiled. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you getting hit on.”

“Hardly. I’m living out of a motel with zero water pressure and have put on twenty pounds in a year. It’s not my best look.” I sighed. “And honestly, it’s fine. It’s better this way.”

“Are you telling me that guy wasn’t hitting on you?” Kenna turned to check out the window. “Who was he? A hockey player?”

“He was asking for directions,” I mumbled, sobering up quickly from the adrenaline of nearly being caught talking to Marcus.

“Yeah, right.” Kenna gave me a disbelieving eyebrow raise.

“I’m serious. I have some kind of built-in man repellent these days. It works like a charm.”

She wrinkled her nose. “What? You’ve been dating, though, right?”

“My last boyfriend was a few years ago. My brother and his friends were experts at running them off.” I shuddered; I couldn’t help it. “It made it hard to date.”

Kenna grew more serious. She knew some about why I’d shown up out of the blue with fake documents, and that my brother was right in the thick of it.

I’d never given her the details, though.

I never wanted to. The memory of the last time I’d seen my brother crashed into me with a sickening thud.

His heavy weight pinning me to the floor, and his hands circling my neck.

Then the smell of blood, thick and warm in the cool night.

I shook my head and tried to dislodge that particularly shitty memory.

Kenna watched me drink water. “It’ll get better, you know. You’re starting again here. It’s all going to be different.”

I nodded. I’d thought so, too, before I’d slept with Marcus the weekend before starting at HHU. If only he’d drop it, then I could really have a fresh start.

Well, then, just sleep with him one more time, a little voice in my head whispered.

He wants a fight… that’s why he’s interested…

don’t give him one. I didn’t trust that voice.

Surely the solution to my problem couldn’t be sleeping with a veritable sex god again…

life just wasn’t that great. No, it had to be my lust sneakily trying to convince me to live out my darkest desires with a man who set my blood on fire. It was a crazy idea… right?

“Shall we go?” Kenna got up from the table.

I followed and swayed. Whoa. I was still tipsy, clearly.

She put an arm around me and grabbed my bags and folders with the other.

“Come on, you’re coming home with me tonight.”

We went outside into the cool air of the parking lot, and Kenna steered me toward her car.

As I sank into the passenger seat, I thought I heard a low growl coming from outside, like the sound of a motorcycle engine turning over. But when I peered out the window, I couldn’t see anything.