Breaking Her (Love is War #2) (9 page)

That's all it took.
 
I knew who he was talking about.

I stopped in my tracks, my entire body going stiff.
 
Reese I had a
particular
problem with.
 
This was not his first offense, or even his third.
 
He had a thing for my girl, a thing that involved him degrading and coveting her both, and I had a major fucking issue with it.
 

"Fucking A I did," one of his greasy buddies answered.
 

"She's such a fucking tease," another one said.
 

"No," Reese replied.
 
"She's no tease.
 
She's been giving it up to Durant since sixth grade, I heard."

From my shoulders to my fists, I felt myself begin to shake.

"No shit?" one asked.

"Doesn't surprise me one bit," the other added.
 

"Yeah, it's the truth," Reese said, like he knew it for a fact.
 
"She's a little nympho, too, man.
 
Can't get enough cock.
 
I heard she'll spread her legs for anybody.
 
There's just one thing you have to do."
 

Fucking triggered.
 

I knew I was about to get myself into trouble, but I'd heard too much.
 
I couldn't walk away.
 

"What?" his friends chimed on cue.
 

"Just take her out back to the dumpster.
 
Makes her feel right at home."

Fucking.
 

Triggered
.

They started laughing and I lost my shit.
 

"She'll let
anyone
plow her if you don't mind a little garbage with your puss . . ." Reese trailed off as he saw me coming at them.
   

The rest was a domino effect of violence.
 
I took the punks out, one by one.
 

"Don't talk about her.
 
If I hear another fucking word come out of your mouth that has anything to do with my girl you will make me have to hurt you."
 
I was spitting each word into his face I was so unrepentantly angry.
 

 
The two cohorts were down, and I was straddling a struggling Reese, one hand holding him in place, the other cocked back for another blow when my friend Nate's voice got through to me.
 

"Coach is coming.
 
Dante, he's coming!
 
Walk away!"

I let my fist fly one last time with relish before I got off him.

The first thing I saw when I walked outside was Scarlett.
 
She was waiting for me, looking edible, living up to every fantasy that every one of those fuckers no doubt had about her on a daily basis.
 

I was a hypocrite.
 
Even if she hadn't been mine, even if she'd been with someone else, I'd have fixated on her, obsessed about her.
   

It was the wildness in her.
 
She could never hide it.
 
Not in her eyes, not in her smile, not in her masses of wavy hair, or her out of this world curves.
 
Every part of her led the mind to the same conclusion—this beautiful creature cannot be tamed.
 

It drove guys out of their minds, I knew firsthand.
 
I'd been mad for her since we were ten years old and she gave me her first conspiratorial grin, the one that told me we'd be giving the world hell.

Adrenaline was still pumping through my system, endorphins going wild, as I approached.
 

Her brows drew together in concern as she saw my face.
 
"Fighting again?"
 
She touched my cheek when we were in reaching distance.
 
"Are you okay?"

"Fine," I said shortly.
 
Reese's words were still echoing through my head, still drawing me back to fight him.
 

"Who was it?" she asked.
 

"No one important," I replied truthfully.
   

"Let's get out of here," she said, taking my hand.
 

"The cabin's ready," I told as her we broke into the woods, moving swiftly along the familiar trail that took us home.
 

She shot me a look.
 
"Are you . . . up for that?
 
Is this really the best time?
 
I can tell you were hit in the face—your cheek is red.
 
Where else are you hurt?"
 

"I'm fine.
 
You can check out my other bruises . . . at the cabin."
 
I grinned at her.
 
She blushed and looked away.

I felt myself getting hard.
   

"Isn't it a long hike?" she asked her feet.
     

It was.
 
The cabin was on Gram's land, that's how I'd found it, but it was deep in the woods.
 
No roads led to it, just one grueling hiking trail.
 
That's why it was so perfect.
 
It was a place that could be ours alone.
 
"About an hour and a half hiking, less if we set a good pace.
 
I'm up for it if you are?"

She chewed on her lip, still blushing.
 
"I'm up for it.
 
It certainly feels like we've waited long enough."
 

We had, and then I'd made us wait longer, finding just the right spot, cleaning it out, stocking it up.
 

The hotels in town were shit, and nowhere else felt private enough for our first real time together.
 

"I just need to grab one thing from Gram's," I explained.
 

"We'll be back before it's dark, won't we?
 
We can't hike back in the dark.
 
Do we have enough time?"
 

"It's a Friday.
 
You
always
stay out late enough for Glenda to pass out and then you leave before she wakes up.
 
Do you really think she's going to notice if you're away for one night?"
 

She looked uncertain.
 
Her grandma terrified her to an unreasonable degree.
 
It made me sick to my stomach to think about.
 
She was so helpless when it came to that hateful woman.
   

"I don't want to rush," I added.
 
And when that wasn't enough, I used the magic word.
 
"Please."
 

"Okay," she agreed instantly.
 
"But if I catch hell for it, I'm blaming you, and letting you deal with my grandma.

"Deal."
 
I didn't hesitate.
 
Her grandma pissed me the hell off, but she didn't scare me.
 

I grabbed the key to the thick padlock I'd put on the cabin door.
 
It was on a key chain, but as we started to leave, an idea struck me.
 

"One sec," I told Scarlett, leaving her by the front door.
 

I found Gram.
 
It didn't even occur to me that she wouldn't have what I needed.
 
"Do you have a gold chain I could borrow?
 
Something sturdy, to hold a key."

She studied me, her controlled face frankly curious.
 
"Is it for you or for Scarlett?"
 

"Either or both," I said cryptically.
 

She smiled.
 
"I'll dig up one.
 
You can have it.
 
You don't need to
borrow
."

When I approached Scarlett again, still waiting by the door, I draped the key on its chain casually around her neck.
 

She fingered it.
 
"What's this?"
 

I smiled, kissing her briefly.
 
"It's the key to our first place together.
 
Hope you like what I've done with the place."
 

She laughed, and I took her hand, pulling her into the kitchen.
 
We put together a backpack full of food, enough for days, though we'd only have one night.
 
There was no telling how hungry I'd be, though, so better safe than sorry.

The walk was long but idyllic.
 
Since we'd be staying overnight, we took our time, stopping at Gram's huge orchard and picking as many apples as we could carry, keeping one out to eat as we walked.
 
I took a big bite, the sound of it echoing through the trees.
 

We grinned at each other as I passed it to her.
 
She took a bite and handed it back.
 

Watching her eat did things to me.
 
Base, primal things.
 
By the time we ate to the core, I was throbbing hard and ready to burst.
 

I took off my backpack, dragged her to the ground, and started kissing her.
 

"You taste like apples," I told her, smiling into her mouth.
 

She smiled back.
 
"Well, gee, I wonder why."
 

"I'll never be able to taste one again without thinking of you.
 
It's impossible.
 
You do this on purpose, don't you?
 
You leave your mark on everything.
 
You love that I'm this obsessed with you."
 

She laughed and laughed.
 
"Well, yes.
 
Of course I do.
 
If I was this obsessed on my own it would be pretty damned depressing."
 

I smiled and kissed her again, then forced myself to climb off her.
 
"Not far to go," I told her.
 
"If you can control yourself for a few more miles we just may make it."
 

She mock glared at me.
 
"Look who's talking."
 
Her eyes shot down to my crotch.
 
"It can't be Mr. Walking Erection calling me out today, can it?"
   

I couldn't stop laughing for a solid five minutes, and she couldn't stop smiling.

On we walked.
     

I meant to make it good for her.
 
To be tender, that first time more than any other.
 
I meant to go soft and slow.
 
I had my mind made up on the matter.
 
Making it good for her was the priority, because I knew that regardless of the pace or the tone, it was sure as hell going to be great for me.
 

I had so many notions on how it was going to be, how it had to be.
 
I'd done so much planning, even down to hard physical labor, thought out every detail to make it memorable for her, to make it perfect.
 

The first thing was the location.
 
I'd found the perfect place, private and remote.
 
I'd cleaned it out, brought fresh linens, every necessity I could think of.

I'd added a new lock and a thick bolt across the door, both of which fit the key around her neck.

I let her do the honors, my adoring eyes on her smiling face all the while.
         

The cabin was just right, I saw by her reaction when we walked in the door.
 
She was delighted, moved, touched almost to tears.

It really wasn't anything fancy.
 
It was instead something thoughtful, which I knew meant much more to her.
 

"It's ours," I told her softly.
 
"Our first home together.
 
Of course it won't be our last."

"It's perfect," she said, throwing herself at me.
 

Fuck.
 
Triggered.
 
The moment our bodies touched in that intimate place, it was like a bottle-rocket shooting off.
 
I couldn't have stopped if I'd wanted to.
 
And I didn't.
 
Oh Lord, I didn't.
 

We started kissing, passionate, open-mouthed, tongues delving as we peeled each other's clothes off, piece by piece.
 

Everything was going right according to plan up until the moment my dick decided it'd had enough.
 

I knew I should've jerked off first.
 

I was on top of her, naked, condom on, a prayer away from being inside of her, still determined to do things right.
 
I was just starting to breach her, my tip barely in, when it happened.
 
It wasn't that I didn't want to take it nice and easy, but I could not stop myself after that.
 
I just snapped, lost complete control of my body, thrusting, rutting, sucking on her tongue, and jackhammering in and out of her like I'd never have another chance at it.
   

And worse even than that, I didn't last thirty seconds.
 

Still, it was the best thirty seconds of my life.
 
Spectacular.
 
Magnificent.
 
Perfection.

"Jesus," I panted into her face when I could finally speak.
 
"I didn't mean to do that.
 
I wanted to go slower the first time."

She pulled my face even closer to hers.
 
Tears were running down her cheeks, but they weren't from pain.
 
"We'll just have to practice more."
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

"I wish I were a girl again, half-savage and hardy, and free."
 

~Emily Brontë