Dennis
She looked like a fucking goddess lying there in nothing but her black bra and panties, displaying that smooth, milky skin that went on for miles. My eyes ran down those delicate curves in all the right places.
I needed a minute to calm my racing heart.
“Dennis?” Cassie stared up at me, lust shining in her eyes. I wanted to believe it was more than desire but what a selfish fucker that made me.
“You’re so fucking beautiful it hurts,” I admitted, and a blush slowly worked its way up her neck and into her cheeks. Being on the football team carried weight in Chastity Falls. We were gods. And girls ate it up. But not Cassie. She didn’t care about any of that. If anything, she didn’t like who I was. What my name and position on campus meant. It was refreshing.
It was fucking everything.
Kneeling at the end of the bed, I wrapped my hand around her ankle and tugged her toward me. Cassie shrieked, but the noise morphed into a mewl when I covered her body and rolled my hips into her. Our lips met, and I tried to tell her everything I was too chicken shit to say.
I want you…
I need you…
I…
Cassie hitched her legs around my hips until we were as close as we could be without me sliding inside of her. If I could have stayed there forever, I would have. She calmed my mind. Drowned out all the bullshit with my dad and Jackson and Marcus. People said you made your own destiny, but mine was sealed long before I ever walked the earth. When I was just a twinkle in the old man’s eye. There was no lucky escape for me. But here—in Cassie’s arms—I could pretend. I could imagine a future with her. Marriage. Kids. A white-picket fence, and a Sedan in the driveway. A regular nine-to-five job in an office.
Breaking off the kiss, I pulled back, staring at her. Searching her eyes for a sign Cassie felt it too. This thing between us. Her hand slid up my chest and palmed my cheek. Just that one touch was like a balm to my pained soul.
“Dennis, what is it? Talk to me. I’m right here.”
She knew.
She always knew.
And yet, I couldn’t find the words.
I could never find the words.
So, I did the only thing I could. I moved off her and dragged her panties down her legs. I leaned over and got a condom, rolled it on, and slammed inside of her. Cassie’s moans filled the silence. I was a bastard. The worst kind.
I used her to forget.
To feel.
And everything in between.
Cassie was my absolution, but she was also my affliction. A reminder of everything I could never have, and everything I didn’t want to lose.
“Dennis, more,” she panted my name. Over and over it fell from her lips like a prayer as I eased out and slammed back in, digging my fingers into her hips, anchoring her to me, unwilling to ever let go.
“Hold on,” I demanded, rolling us in one swift move so that Cassie was above me. She smirked and pressed her hands against my chest as she began to ride me in smooth, fluid movements. As she glided up and slid back down, my eyes rolled back with bliss. She fit me like a fucking glove. Nothing—no one—compared to the way Cassie made me feel. It was why I’d had such a hard time walking away. I’d thought one taste would be enough, but I’d been wrong.
So fucking wrong.
No amount of time with her would ever be enough.
The thought sucker-punched me and I gripped her ass, encouraging her to give it to me harder. Faster. I just needed more. Needed her to fuck away the thoughts that plagued my mind.
“Fuck, you feel so good, baby.” I pulled my knees up behind her, tilting my hips, meeting her thrust for thrust.
Cassie tipped her head back, her tits bouncing and begging to be touched. I smoothed a hand around her hip and up her taut stomach. Touching wasn’t enough. I needed to taste. Leaning forward, I captured one of the peaks between my teeth. She yelped and her eyes snapped to mine. I smirked up at her, drawing the soft flesh further into my mouth, feeling the familiar tingle build at the bottom of my spine.
“Oh God, oh God.” The words fell from her lips. Breathy. Needy. And I sucked harder, my other hand kneading her ass, grinding her against me. Pulling us as close as possible.
Without warning, the world shattered around me. I groaned, riding out the waves as I pumped into her. Cassie rocked gently, her body contracting around me as she rode out her own orgasm.
“Come here.” I pulled her down onto me, dropping a kiss to her head. “You are amazing.”
She was so much more.
Cassie Malson was everything.
I just hoped she knew that.
The next couple of weeks dragged ass. If we weren’t hauling weights in the gym, Coach Parker had us running laps or drills. And when we weren’t at football practice, Jackson, me, and the rest of the guys were trying to run things on campus.
Every muscle ached. My eyes burned with exhaustion, and my body hummed with frustration. But most of all I missed Cassie.
Our time together seemed to be less and less lately. We couldn’t catch a fucking break and it was taking its toll. So, when Jackson announced he was going out of town again, I knew what I had to do.
My cell vibrated in my pocket and my mood lifted at the thought of hearing my girl’s sweet voice, but when my eyes fell on the name displayed on the screen, a dark cloud descended.
“Yeah?” I clipped out.
“Son, how’re things up there?”
“The same as the last time you called.”
“Is that anyway to talk to your father?”
My blood boiled, and I pinched the bridge of my nose, resisting the urge to hang up. “What can I do for you, Dad?”
“Just checking in. Making sure things are still on track?”
Of course he was. Because that’s all that mattered to him. Not how this shitstorm was affecting me or how school was going. Just how my links to Marcus would position our family in the future.
“Jackson’s out of town again this weekend,” I said. “I’m handling things while he’s gone.”
“Good. That’s real good, kid.” I could practically hear his slimy grin.
“Yeah, well, it’s my job, right?”
“Damn right it is, son. Keep an ear to the ground and do whatever Donohue needs you to do, got it?”
“Yes, sir.” I flinched, pissed that it had slipped out. I wasn’t a child anymore. He didn’t hold all the power anymore. “I gotta go. I’ll check in soon.”
“Make me proud, Dennis,” were his parting words, and I hung up, pocketing my cell phone as I sucked in a sharp breath. Conversations with Miller Hayes always took their toll. But lately, it felt like the walls were closing in. Before there was only myself to think about. Now there was Cassie. She deserved more. Deserved better than what this life could offer her.
So why the hell hadn’t I ended things yet?
Because I was a selfish son of a bitch that wanted to believe I could have it all. That I could have the life, the girl, and a happy fucking ending.
But I couldn’t.
And my conversation with my old man was testament to that. If he found out I had a distraction in the form of the brown-eyed beauty I couldn’t stop thinking about, he would shit a brick. But I wasn’t ready to give her up.
Not yet.
Refusing to let him ruin my weekend, I located her number and hit the call button.
“Hello?”
“I missed you,” I said, ducking behind the Pauling building out of earshot of the students milling about.
“I missed you too. I’m just packing. Will I get to see you before I leave?”
“Stay.”
“Stay?” she spluttered, and I could picture her cute as fuck expression.
“Yeah. Stay on campus. With me. Just the two of us.”
“We can do that? I thought they closed it down for Thanksgiving?”
“So, we’ll get a room somewhere.”
“But my family are expecting me. I can’t just—”
“Cass, please. Stay. For me.”
Until I’d said the words, I didn’t realize how much I needed this. I needed one moment of normal with her—the girl slowly unravelling my heart. Jackson was out of town. The guys were doing their own thing until they arrived back Saturday for the annual Fallen House Thanksgiving party. It meant three days with no one breathing down my neck.
“You really want me to stay?”
As if she had to ask.
“Yes. Start unpacking, babe. You’re not going anywhere.”
She laughed softly and I could hear her uncertainty. “But what will I tell my parents?”
“Tell them you missed your bus or got mono or have to study for a test. I don’t give a fuck, but you’re not going anywhere, Cassie. I need you.”
More than she would ever know.