Page 60 of Playing Pretend

“I don’t care,” I replied quickly.

Caleb pursed his lips. “You care, and so do I. I wouldn’t hurt you that way.”

I swallowed, and diverted my gaze, only to be surprised when Caleb lifted my chin with his hand. His strength didn’t waver, despite only carrying the brunt of my weight with one arm.

“I know I hurt you this morning, and I’m sorry, Kadence. I freaked out, and I handled it all wrong.”

I exhaled, my breath colliding with Caleb’s, but didn’t respond. I didn’t want to say that it was all okay, because it wasn’t, and in the long run there was no way to know if Caleb wouldn’t do it again.

“Talk to me,” he pleaded, his voice quiet and imploring. “How can I fix it? I hate that you’re still angry with me.”

“You can’t,” I told him. “What’s done is done, and like you said, it was a mistake. It never should have happened.”

Caleb straightened, his blue eyes penetrating, and somewhat harder than before. He leaned in, and if it hadn’t been for the wall behind my head I would have moved away. Unfortunately, though, I was trapped, and while my mind urged me to ask Caleb to let me go, my body was unwilling to move from my place against the wall, and in Caleb’s arms. I was a walking contradiction on every level, and all because I wanted Caleb when I knew it wasn’t going to do me any good. Nothing good could come from this.

“It wasn’t a mistake.”

Caleb made that statement sound like a promise, one that could easily lead to the obliteration of every hope that was nestled deep between the crevices of my heart—hopes belonging to a foolish seventeen-year-old girl who didn’t know any better. Now though, I did know better, so why was it so difficult to do the right thing and step away?

I opened my mouth, ready to argue, but the idea was stopped in its’ tracks when Caleb captured my mouth with his. I resisted, I swear I did, but not even a bite to his bottom lip stopped him. So I did the next best thing, and slapped him.

Caleb recoiled, and touched his cheek where his flesh reddened, slowly revealing the imprint of my small, but very capable, hand. I expected him to drop me right there, and perhaps even yell, but he once again proved that he was one step ahead.

He lowered his hand, his chest rising slowly, his nostrils flaring. Our eyes stayed locked, but I was very much aware of what his hand was doing. At least I thought I did.

It disappeared from my peripheral, and without warning made contact with my bare butt cheek. I cried out, shocked.

“Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it,” murmured Caleb, the challenge burning bright in his eyes.

“What makes you think I can’t take it,” I retorted, wrapping my hands around Caleb’s thick neck. I pressed my thumbnails into his skin, and dragged them down until I saw the red lines in the wake of my fingers.

Caleb swallowed, and I felt the proof of just how turned on he was between my legs. His fingers slid along my thighs, and I made out a grunt when he discovered that I was no less turned on than he was.

“I have no doubt you can.”

Those were the last coherent words either of us spoke. We became hurried, and almost violent with the urge to rip off each other’s clothes. I’d always wondered what people meant by ‘angry-hate’ sex, and why getting so brutally physical on such an intimate level made it so much more intense.

Now I knew, and God, was it crazy. I clawed at Caleb’s skin, taking pleasure in the way he hissed with gritted teeth, and he responded in kind with several nips to my shoulder, and slaps to my butt. Somewhere I registered that we should stop, that I shouldn’t have allowed it to go that far in the first place, but everything was silenced by the feeling of Caleb’s body taking over mine.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” I breathed out, whimpering when Caleb hit a particular spot. I was close to that edge, the same one Caleb had introduced me to only twenty-four hours ago, and right then I wanted to fall more than I wanted to stop. It was reckless, and the exact opposite of everything I told myself I should do.

“The hell it doesn’t.”

Caleb took ahold of my thigh, and moved my leg so that it was resting over his shoulder. The slight change in position allowed him to penetrate deeper.

“You’re right,” I conceded between breathy moans. I brought my hands up to Caleb’s face, watching with rapt fascination at how his features changed. “But all it means is that we’re going to burn in Hell together.”