Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Four

Corbin

The place is crawling with people.

Everywhere I look, there are groups of people with red plastic cups or drinking from glass bottles, and that’s just on the outside of the place. I can’t imagine how many more are inside.

Hopefully with so many people around, I can avoid the surly asshole, and no one will notice that Corbin is missing.

“You can do this, Averi. No one knows you here. It’s just a party, a chance to just be you. Go make out with a hot guy and have fun.” I tell myself as I take my glasses off, then remove my contacts, putting them in their case. Slipping out of my hoodie and pants, a chill running through me as the cold seeps into my bones. I fold the clothes up, folding the glasses and contacts case into them so they don’t get lost or broken and stuff them beneath the back seat.

I use the rearview mirror to apply the little bit of makeup I brought with me and ignore the cold. I ignore as well, the feeling of my hardened nipples rubbing against the fabric of my shirt as I slide out of the back passenger door so no one will see me exiting the truck all of us guys had come in.

Here goes nothing, I murmur to myself, clenching my fists and then opening them again, forcing myself to relax as I make my way towards the front porch, the beat of the music hitting me from at least 10 feet away.

I can practically see the windows shaking with the vibrations from the bass.

A guy stumbles around the corner, nearly running into me with a cup full of amber liquid, some sloshing over the rim as he sways on unsteady legs.

I reach out a hand, attempting to steady him before he falls over, but I’m distracted as I hear Gentry and a few others from the group of guys that I came with coming around the corner right behind him.

He ends up in a heap on the snow-covered ground at my feet, flailing and laughing at himself as though this is the funnest thing ever.

“Look ma, I’m a snow angel!” he announces as he flaps his arms and legs against the fluffy white powder covering the ground, his laughing voice carrying up from below me, but I can’t be bothered with him right now.

Instead, I’m locked in place, like a deer in headlights as Gentry and Knox stop next to me. Knox is closest to me, the heat from his body a welcome reprieve from the bitter cold but eliciting unwelcome things within my body considering his attitude towards me this evening.

Fidgeting and trying to keep my attention away from the giant prick, I watch as Gentry helps the drunken guy off the ground. Movement to my left draws my attention. Glancing at Knox, meaning for it to be just a quick, two-second glance, turns into me being unable to look away as he licks his lips, his dark eyes trailing over my body with an animalistic look in them.

An almost incoherent groan leaves him when his eyes land on my chest, but I definitely heard it, the sound of it causes a shiver to course through me as my nipples begin to tingle and rub my thighs together as an ache takes up residence between them. I could try to convince myself that my pebbled nipples were from the cold, but the ache between my thighs is one hundred percent due to his eyes locked on parts of my body that I’ve dreamed of him paying very, very close attention to.

The movement must catch his attention because as I stand before him, his gaze breaks away from my chest, climbing higher until I’m staring into his dark, depthless eyes. They dart between both of mine as he takes a step closer, lifting his hand, and brushing his fingers against my cheek.

The touch alone causes me to become breathless, and my head to spin with confusion because the guy standing before me now is not the same person who glared at me the entire way here, and then hauled ass out of the truck as soon as he’d thrown it in park.

“Do I know you?” he leans in, murmuring to where only I can hear as a look of hunger stares back at me.

My heart begins beating faster from how he’s looking at me, after having just started to calm down. Offering him a warm smile and attempting to hide the gamut of emotions bludgeoning my insides as I try to reconcile the two different sides of Knox, I lean in towards him as well.

Our bodies are now fully aligned by our close proximity, as I reply, “My name is Averi,” as he grasps my hip with one of his hands, pulling my body tighter against his, causing me to brace my hand on his muscular chest in order to keep from losing my balance.

“Averi…” he utters my name, and the way it sounds falling from his lips…it’s the accent, I try to convince myself.

Shaking his head as he leans forward, his lips brushing my ear, he sends shockwaves of need spreading throughout my body as he speaks, “Why do I feel like I know you?”

I shiver from the way my body is reacting towards him, wanting to hate that he’s pulled me under his spell so easily considering I might as well have been the scum beneath his size twelve black boots just a half hour ago.

I bite my bottom lip as I try to figure out what to say. The heat in his eyes causes me to say screw it and pull him towards me, our mouths devouring one another as he pulls me so tight against him that I can’t figure out where he ends, and I begin. A shiver racks my body at all of the sensations coursing through me, causing my teeth to chatter.

This seems to bring him back to his senses as he pulls back. “Bloody hell, you’ve got to be freezing your ass off. It’s cold as balls out here. Let’s get you inside and get you warmed up.” He says this as he removes his jacket and drapes it across my shoulders, then wrapping his hand around mine and entwining our fingers, he takes a step towards the massive house. But as I stay locked in place, warring with myself as to whether it’s a good idea to get to know Knox on this level, the resistance causes him to pause and turn back towards me.

“I promise, Angel, I won’t bite,” he says, leaning down, his lips grazing my ear as he speaks, before pulling my ear lobe between his teeth, he uses teeth and tongue to play with the sensitive skin. “Or maybe I will, but I promise that you’ll like it,” he murmurs.

Stunned, all my breath leaves me in a whoosh, my heart rate picking back up as Knox surrounds me: the scent of earth and musk enveloping me, making my head spin and an aching need take up residence between my thighs. As he stands back up, his arms wrapped around my lower back and our bodies aligned, I can feel how turned on he is as I find myself caught in the midst of the Knox effect.

Removing the hand that had been on my lower back, he raises it, tracing his knuckles along my cheek and jawbone until he reaches my lips, his thumb toys with my bottom one. Not thinking, I go to lick my lips and end up running my tongue along the pad of his thumb too. The act causes his pupils to dilate until they have almost completely taken over his dark irises.

A strangled growl sounds from deep within his throat and he whips around and begins wading through the sea of people towards the front of the house, pulling me by the hand along with him.

What the hell am I doing? I think as I follow along behind him.

He was a complete ass towards me and now he’s…he was an ass towards Corbin, not Averi. I have to remember to keep them separate. I may be both, but they both play a different part in my new life.

As Knox shoves his way through the bodies surrounding the front door, I follow closely behind. The hand not entangled with his, is clutching his side—nothing but the feel of hard, defined muscle beneath my hand. I stare in awe at what would be an incredibly spacious interior of the house if it weren’t for the sheer number of people currently filling it.

Knox continues shoving his way through the mass of gyrating bodies as we move from one room to the next, my hand still firmly clasped in his as we bob and weave between partygoers.

After what seems like half an hour, we finally make it to the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?” Knox asks as he grabs a red solo cup and begins pouring some amber liquid from the keg.

“Sure.” I say quietly, nodding my head in confirmation as I watch him fill a second cup from the keg tap, a giddy kind of nervousness coursing through me. I know that drinking is stupid, but I don’t really plan to drink more than the one.

I’m not a complete imbecile, coming here as myself poses a big enough risk as it is, I definitely don’t need to get drunk on top of it and end up saying or doing things that I shouldn’t or that’s even more stupid than what I’m currently doing.

After he hands me my drink, we wade through more bottlenecked bodies until we finally make it to a room with only a few people who are currently making out in a few of the corners.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter