Chapter 24:

Wednesday afternoon

I slept through most of the class lecture; I tried so hard to keep my eyes open. I dozed off until it was over. The notes were still on the board. Maybe it's because I couldn't stop thinking about her. Her soft lips, plump ass, firm grip. I concentrated and wrote it down as fast as I could before he could erase them. "Next week will be the lab assignment. See you all." The professor dismissed us for the day. Finally, class was over. Stretching my arms over my head, I was the fourth to leave the room.

I was right in front of the bookstore. I checked my phone for the hell of it. Nothing. Nothing. It was better this way. I might as well go and get the booklet the professor instructed for the next assignment. Skimming over the shelves, I didn't see it anywhere. "Hey, Beckett!" Ray's voice from across the room called for me. He's wearing a black tank top this time, stomping over his arms puffed up like he wanted to square up. He looked like one of those old cartoon wolves from Looney Tunes. I laughed until we were face to face.

"You cheated, Beckett. I want a rematch," he said fuming. I could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears.

"I'm not in the mood, plus I took all your money. What do you have left?" I scoffed.

"Double or nothing. I'll even give you a second head start until we reach the finish line." He scowled.

"Fuck off, Cordero." I turned and walked off.

"It'll be worth it. Maybe pay off some hospital bills." I stopped in my tracks and stepped up to his face.

"What the fuck did you say?"

"Help your cousin. James, right?" He smirked, I clenched my jaw. What the hell did he know about it? I seethed, squeezing my fist. My dad made sure nothing would be in the headlines. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. "The accident. You and him? You're the reason my brother's in the hospital and I haven't told the police what happened. I could go to the police or we could race again."

"You need to shut the fuck up." I stepped closer, grabbing his shirt by his collar, and breathing through my nose hard.

"Why, you don't want your hot ass girlfriend to find out?" he quipped. I punched him hard enough to lose his balance, falling into a stack of books. I must have. He stood up as fast as he could, tackling me to the ground earning me a punch to my chin. I gut punched him, he screamed in pain. I noticed a crowd surrounding us. Murmuring oohs and curses, but I didn't care. I choked him, he elbowed my stomach. "Shit, fucking bitch!" I pushed him off, he landed on his back. I kicked him, he kicked under my legs and I dropped like a bag of rocks. I crawled and dragged him up to my level.

"What's going on out here!?" An employee with blonde hair queried in anger before I could throttle him. I let go, pushing him away made him stumble backwards.

"Damien?" Olivia came from behind her, scoping out the scene with a confused face and clutching books to her chest.

"Leave before I call security." She pointed to the exit. Ray jogged away and brushed past Olivia. We made eye contact, she opened her mouth but nothing came out. I backed away, not saying another word. The entire time, my hands were shaking, I had no idea what to do, I couldn't breathe. I pulled over, ducking my head against the steering wheel, hitting my head repeatedly.

***

When I came home, the blood from my mouth dripped on my shirt. Ray hit my head from the last punch, my forehead ached. Fuck. I opened the freezer door and slammed it. Ray getting to me set me on edge. Olivia seeing me that way, it's for the best. I heard a hard knock from the front door, ignoring it I slumped my head back on the pillow. Three more knocks came, I groaned getting out of bed. I opened my room door swiftly, hearing the TV on a loud volume. My roommate was nowhere in sight. I literally saw him a minute ago. Shaking my head, I went to the front door. Without checking the peep hole, I opened it. Olivia's hand was raised, ready to knock again. She sighed out in frustration, waving her arms in relief.

"What are you doing here?" I asked gruffly.

"Our paper. It's due soon. And to talk about what happened at the bookstore," she answered, squeezing her hands together. Her hair was down today, a sense of worry on her face, frowning, lips were thinned.

"Ok. Talk." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Can I come in?" She pointed into my space behind me. I moved away so she could, she entered slowly.

"How did you get here?" I spoke, locking both the top and bottom locks.

"The bus," she replied with a shrug. "You didn't come to the group today." She removed the straps off her shoulders but she placed them back on.

"I've talked to Pam already. I told her I had food poisoning." Olivia twisted her mouth to the side, eyes squinting in disgust. "You came to check if I was alive?" I smirked.

"That's not funny," I shook my head. "What the hell was that? With that guy at the bookstore?"

"Fuck him." I stomped off to the kitchen. I grabbed a cup, filled it with whisky that I hid under the sink to distract myself from getting pissed again. I drank it in one gulp. I'll deal with my piss test next week.

"That was the guy from the race, right? Do you know him personally? Were you friends?"

"I'm not friends with assholes" I said gruffly, walking away to my room.

"You're an asshole, you wouldn't be friends with yourself. What if you got arrested?" I heard her footsteps following behind me.

"You're worried about me getting arrested. I'm fine." I spat out. "And I am an asshole, so why are you hanging out with me? Trying to figure me out?" She frowned, it was the most angry I ever seen from her: jaw clenched and wrinkled forehead with fire in her eyes. It was hot, I teased her and said "you don't want to figure me out, Olivia. I'm a piece a shit."

"You don't have to yell at me because you're mad at him or whatever you're going through, talking down on yourself."

"Olivia-" I attempted to shut the door, she pushed the door wide open.

"You think you can push me away because of what you're dealing with. It's not fair to me or others in your life that care about you." She slammed the door behind her, it made a loud bang as it hit the doorframe. I scoffed. Oh so she's pissed.

"And you care?" I chuckled dryly.

"Yes. Of course fucking care." She gave me a hard stare. I licked my dry lips and crossed my arms over my chest. Her gaze softened as she dropped her shoulders. "I know you said you need your space and you pull off this couldn't care less attitude but I can't just not care. I'm probably crossing the line here, I had to come by. You weren't answering any of my calls. I wanted to talk to you, obviously you're not the type to have a conversation and this is cliche what I'm about to say but I wanted to hear your voice. I care. I fucking care. I almost lost my life too, doing something stupid." I had nothing to say when she gave me that look again. What did she do? She huffed, shaking her head, hearing her gulp and backing away from me. "I'll leave, we can write our paper later. Correspond online. We don't have to be close, or friends. I care about my grades too. Not just people." She rolled her eyes, grasping the doorknob to head out.

"Hey, come here." I took a hold of her elbow to stop her tracks. "I don't have a lot of people caring about me. Besides my sister." My parents didn't care, they didn't call. Too busy with work, nothing new. I should let her leave, let her go. Instead I said, "you caring about me is new."

She took a hold of my hand and squeezed it gently. I almost released her grip but I embraced it. She cared about me. Someone I met. I hunched my shoulders, staring right into her eyes. Worried, she nibbled her bottom lip, sucking in all together. I wanted to suck her bottom lip. "You don't mind me holding your hand?" she asked, hearing the tremble in her tone.

"No." A faint smile came across her face. I brushed the back of her hand softly with my thumb, her hand was cold. "Your hands are cold."

"Low iron," she answered. "It runs in my family." She interlocked our fingers, and then went back to cupping them. I rested my forehead against hers. 

"You're very feisty, you know that?" I chuckled.

"Shut up." She chuckled, sucking in both of her lips and moving her face closer. She rubbed her nose against mine. I touched our lips softly, rubbing it with my thumb. "I like it. I'm not used to this."

"Me neither," she said. "We might have to take it slow." I moved in, brushing her mouth with mine like cotton. I was breathing heavily. I bit her bottom lip gently. I was impatient, but a girl like her wanted me to take my time. To make love. I didn't make love. I'm rough. I put pressure. Her face read romance, sweet nothings, cuddles.

She pressed her lips on my jawline with light kisses. Carefully, she moved slower, kissing my neck, grazing her mouth to my chest as if I was fragile. I grabbed the back of her head and planted a hard kiss on her mouth. She embraced me for balance, moaning into my mouth. Squeezing the flesh of her hips, her movement in sync with mine, fingers threading my hair. I pushed her on my bed, with a bounce her tongue ran over mine sensually. The last time we were in my bed, I stopped it. I knew she was nervous. The nerves went out the window the way she was rocking back and forth under me. Was I wrong about romance? She knew me already, I was hard like a rock. I groaned against her mouth, she moaned softly, tongue massaging mine. Her chest was heaving up and down as she watched me. 

"Take off your shirt," I instructed. Her hands delicately reached down to her shirt, stripping off her blouse. Noticing her deep belly button, globes of her big breasts, she was breathtaking. A black simple bra never looked sexier. Not leaving my gaze, she nibbled on her lips. If I blinked, I feared she might disappear. I took my shirt off quickly, her hands moving on my abs, pressing my lips against hers, she gripped my shoulders when our make-out became heavy. My tongue lashing against hers, I gripped one of her breasts and caressed it, brushing over her nipple.

"Damien," she whimpered, sounding like music.

"Say my name again," I said in a rough tone.

"Damien." Dry humping against her pelvis as she arched her back. I reached below, unbuttoning her pants, reaching inside brushing my fingers on her inner thighs.

"Damien," her sweet voice said my name again. She inhaled sharply as I traced my mouth across her neck. Leaving quick kisses against her mouth, she moaned arching her lower back when I licked across her neck. Reaching behind her lower back, I pulled down her pants slowly. Lacy black underwear, beautiful. She was beautiful. Her heavy breathing and hair grabbing indicated for me not to stop. Her skin was cold yet soft against my lips, I kissed my way down to her stomach. When I looked up between her thighs, she was biting on her lip, whimpering and writhing.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"I am," her voice was but a whisper. My fingers gripped her underwear, lowering down to her knees.