Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (5 page)

In other words Mary better bring a rich and gorgeous
boy, preferably one who drove a luxury car. Maybe Mary should just find a guy who
had no money to take her? Or maybe she should find a guy that everyone that ran
in her parents’ circle would look down on? The image of Alex came to mind, but
not because Mary thought he was less than she was or anyone else. Her parents
would shit bricks if she brought him to Margo’s wedding. He was a Hulk, with
tattoos and an all-around bad boy persona. Yeah, he would so not fit in with
her parents’ friends, but taking him was out of the question. For one thing she
didn’t have the guts to even ask him to go with her, and for another thing even
if she did work up the nerve he would no doubt turn her down. Surely he would
have a party or something to go to during that weekend. He didn’t know her, and
probably just thought she was some goody-two-shoes, in other words the type of
girl he tended to stay away from.

Her mom rattled off a few more wedding details
before she finally got off the phone. Mary tossed the cell back on her bedside
table and stared at her ceiling. It was an older house with fading siding and
in need of a new roof. The inside wasn’t much better, not with the stained
ceilings, brown shag carpet that looked like it was from the seventies, and
yellow tiled bathroom with a matching piss-colored tub. But it was all they
could afford, and Mary called it home. Although her mind kept going on and on
about the conversation she just had with her mother she found her eyes growing
heavy, and before she knew it she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer.

The sound of something buzzing close to her ear had
consciousness slowing claiming Mary. She opened her eyes and blinked a few
times and turned her head to the side. A wince left her when her neck protested
to the sudden movement, and she tried to rub the kink out. Her cell moved
sluggishly across her bedside table, the blue screen lit up with an incoming
call. The temptation to let it go to voicemail was right at the surface,
because if it was her mother again, or God forbid, Margo, she didn’t want to
deal with the hassle. But in the end she reached for the phone because it could
be one of the students she tutored.

 
“Hello?”
Pushing herself up on the bed she glanced at her alarm clock and saw it was
eight. Her quick nap had turned into three hours.

“Mary?” The baritone voice that came through the
receiver instantly had her pulse increasing.

Pushing herself up, she was suddenly very nervous. “Yes?”
She knew who was on the other end because she remembered that voice all too
well. In fact, it had just been playing through her mind as she dreamed of a
very buff football player.

“Um, hey.
This
is Alex.” She didn’t say anything right away, and he cleared his throat, as if
he was nervous. “Alex Sheppard.” Oh God, he thought she didn’t know who he was.
The hesitancy in his voice was almost funny if she hadn’t been feeling it, too.

“I know who you are.” She smiled even though he
couldn’t see her.

“I got your number from Racer.”

“Racer?”
She
racked her brain who that was.

“I mean Adam. Sorry, it’s a stupid nickname for
him.”

“Oh, okay.”
Oh
my God, he actually asked for my number?
A sort of girly giddiness came
over her at that thought.

“Yeah, well he said you offer tutoring, and I was
wondering if you maybe had any openings.”

Her giddiness plummeted, and her shoulders sagged
forward. Of course that was why he would call. Did she actually think he would
reach out to her for something else? Yeah, she stupidly had.

“Oh, well yeah, I offer tutoring.” Rubbing her eyes
with her hand she was tempted to just lie back down, but the grime of the day
felt thick on her skin and a shower sounded heavenly. “I’d have to look at my
schedule and see what openings I have though. What is the subject you need help
with?” Hell, she knew she would clear some time for him, because even if all he
wanted her for was to help him pass a class, she would take it. Besides, he was
really
nice to look at. She had to be
certifiably insane to want to spend time with him, even if it was academically
oriented. Hadn’t she decided he was not for her, and that he was bad news?

“That’s cool.” A long pause settled between them.
“It’s actually Human Sexuality.”

Mary rolled her eyes. Of course that was the class.
She had helped a few other guys with that subject in the past. For some reason
they automatically thought it had to do with getting it on since the word sex
was thrown in there. Yes, that had to do with it, but she had a feeling they
thought they were getting easy credits for a class they would watch porn in.

Mary didn’t bother commenting on that or her
feelings on the whole typical male aspect of his decision to take that class.
“Maybe we can meet up tomorrow and I can let you know what openings I have, and
some other details on the tutoring? We could set up a schedule, too.”

“That sounds good.” A beat of silence passed, and
she could hear some shuffling of papers through the receiver, and then the
sound of something heavy falling.

“Fuck.” His curse was soft but clipped. “Sorry. I
didn’t mean to say that out loud.” Mary found herself smiling. “Maybe we can
meet around lunchtime, like say noon or one? There is that sandwich place on
the corner of High Street that we can meet at. It’s called
Rocko’s
.”

“Yeah, I know where that is. I have a break between
Calculus and Sociology between eleven and noon, if you want to meet then?”

“Yeah, okay.” He cleared his throat again, and Mary
found herself pulling at a stray thread at the hem of her shirt. “All right then.
I guess I’ll see
ya
then. And thanks again for taking
the time and all that.”

They disconnected, and she let herself fall back on
the bed. The shadows from the setting sun washed across her cracked and stained
ceiling in swoops and swirls of patterns. A thought occurred to her, and even
though she should have pushed it aside, she played with it. Her going rate for
tutoring was twenty dollars an hour, but maybe Alex would like to compromise on
all of that, because what she wanted from him had nothing to do with monetary
value.

Chapter
Four

Alex sat at one of the patio tables outside of
Rocko’s
. Although September was technically fall the
weather was still in the high eighties, like it was today. His iced tea sat in
front of him, and the condensation left a ring of moisture on the white paper
tablecloth. His heart raced, and he felt like a fucking pussy for the
excitement inside of him at seeing Mary. Dammit, she was going to tutor him, he
hoped, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t anticipating spending some time
with her.

He couldn’t quite place why he had this sudden,
almost instant infatuation with her, but damn if he could just switch it off.
Usually when he was drawn to a female it was only for a few hours, just enough
time to get her off and shoot his load. But he never had this desire, no, this
need
to want to see a female. It made
him feel irrational, like some kind of teenage girl who couldn’t control her emotions.
Besides, Mary Trellis wasn’t the type of girl he went for, and he had a feeling
she wasn’t into guys like him: ones that partied, obviously failed classes, and
fucked far too many girls to make him seem like a decent guy

Feeling resolution that he would put Mary and
everything that had to do with wanting her out of his head he leaned back in the
white plastic chair. The waitress made the second pass by his table and grinned
down at him. Alex knew that look. It was one of interest, and what better way
to put Mary and her hot little body of his head than by hooking up with a
random chick? Shit, sometimes he even disgusted himself.

“Hey, aren’t you Alex Sheppard?” He leaned forward
and rested his forearms on the wrought iron table. She wore a tight as sin
white t-shirt, and the white bra she wore underneath stood out in stark
contrast. Her nipples were hard, too, and Alex didn’t make it a secret as to
what he was eyeing as he lowered his gaze to her chest.

“Yeah.
What’s your name?” Her cheeks turned a shade of pink, and he knew that she
would be in the bag if he laid it on just a little thicker. She was shy, but
not shy enough that she hadn’t had the balls to talk to him.

She ducked her head and lifted her hand to tuck a
strand of reddish hair behind her ear. “Jessica Locker.” She looked young, but
legal, which made her game. “I just started at OSU, but everyone talks about
you.” Her cheeks turned even redder, and he knew she was embarrassed by what
she just said. “I mean, not that I sit there and talk about you, but well, you
know, everyone knows you’re a really good player, and well, they all talk.”

She rambled on, and he couldn’t help but grin. He
loved the innocent ones, and maybe that made him the biggest asshole alive, but
he’d treat her real good, and then she’d have a nice memory of getting fucked
her freshman year. And that’s what Alex did. He fucked, nothing more, nothing
less. The girls that wanted more didn’t come looking for him, and that was just
how he liked it.

“So, Jessica, you been to a frat party?” She opened
her mouth to answer, but the sound of someone clearing their throat right behind
him had Alex looking over his shoulder. Mary stood there, the little sundress
she wore billowing around her thighs when the wind picked up. Fucking hell she
looked good. The smell of the soap she used filled his nose, and that was all
it took for his dick to get hard.

Weren’t
you supposed to kick the idea of wanting her to the back of your damn mind?
He
couldn’t see her blue eyes because the dark Jackie-O sunglasses shielded them
completely, but he could practically hear the condescending thoughts coming
from her. How much had she heard or seen? For some reason he didn’t want her
thinking of him as this massive partying, fighting man-whore, despite that
being the God’s honest truth of who and what he was.

“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Mary asked, but again
he couldn’t gauge her reaction with those big-ass sunglasses on her face, and
her voice was neutral, bored even.
For some reason that
annoyed him.
Did he want her to be jealous? God, he needed to grow the
fuck up.

“No, I was just talking to Jessica.” The waitress
muttered something unintelligible before turning and leaving them alone. “Here,
have a seat.” He went to stand and help her with the heavy looking bag hanging
from her shoulder, but she already had it on the ground and was pulling out her
seat. Alex sat back down, and a strange sort of uncomfortable silence passed
between them. “So, uh, about the tutoring,” he said to break up the awkwardness.
She took off her sunglasses, and her eyes seemed insanely vibrant in the
afternoon light.

“Let me grab my schedule, and I’ll let you know what
days I have
open
.” She bent to the side and started
riffling in her bag. The front of her dress gaped open, and he could see the
lacy edge of her bra and the sloped mound of her breasts slightly spilling
forward. His dick grew even harder, and he shifted in his seat. He cleared his
throat when she straightened, and she gave him a strange look. “You okay?”

“Yeah.
I’m
good.
So those days?”
He spoke too quickly, and his
voice had cracked at the end, like he was going through puberty or some shit. Her
eyebrows lifted at the urgency in his tone, but he needed a distraction. The longer
she stayed quiet and just stared at him, the more his cock stiffened at the
thought of her full, perfect handful breasts, and the way the wind blew the
tendrils of her dark hair around her face. The long braid she wore hung over
one shoulder, and God did it look good on her, cute even. She set her tablet on
the table and started typing. “I’m not sure what your class
schedule
is, or how long you need to be tutored, so we should probably figure
that out first.”

Alex knew he might as well come clean about the
whole probation thing, because he honestly didn’t know what kind of time it was
going to take to get him to pass his mid-term. He was flunking that class, and
unless she was a miracle worker, or took the test for him, he was fucking
screwed.

“Okay, here is the thing.” He scrubbed a hand over
his head, and then leaned forward, bringing his face an inch closer to hers. “I
need to ace this class in order to come off of probation. My average fell below
the restrictions for me to play.” She stared at him for several seconds before
speaking.

“I figured it must be pretty bad since you didn’t
say anything when I saw you at Adam’s house.” She smiled, and he felt himself
return the gesture. “So, what days are you free, and we will start there.”

He rattled off the days he had no class, and the hours
he was free on the days he did. She wrote everything down, and when he was
finished she lifted her eyes to meet his.

“Okay, so I guess you want to pass pretty badly?” He
cocked a brow in response. “Okay, I get it.” She looked down at her tablet and
typed something into the calendar. “I can fit you in Friday, and we can set up
a routine. Maybe three days a week, and at least an hour each session? They can
be in the evening since that seems to be when we both have the extra time.” She
continued to stare at her tablet and bit her bottom lip. Alex was transfixed at
the sight of her straight, white teeth pulling at the red, full flesh.