I ran then, taking his lovely laugh and sweet words with me. I just didn’t know how to escape them.
Fucking Theodore. He was really going to mess me up if I wasn’t careful.
* * *
Last year, I’d taken online courses at Savage River Community College. Once, Madeline had looked at my syllabus and started hysterically laughing. At the time, I’d wanted to be offended, but I couldn’t really get it up, because my Mads hadn’t had very much cause to laugh anymore. Once she’d calmed herself, she told me I was in for a surprise when I enrolled at Savage U. Like always, Mads had been right. My classes were no joke. The work was backbreaking, and it started right out of the gate. If I hadn’t spent a year with Mads, learning how to take notes, study, and write—things I’d never done in high school—I would have been screwed.
Thursdays in the library with Theo were an indulgence. The hour we read Shakespeare could have been shaved down by half if I’d been on my own. I wasn’t giving them up.
After staying behind to speak with my professor, I was running a few minutes late. Theo was going to claim the chair first, and that wouldn’t do. I liked our battle for the seat far too much.
When I rushed down the aisle to our hidden spot, low voices pulled me to a stop. Theo’s, I recognized. I thought I knew who the other voice belonged to, especially when she called him “The,” which was honestly the worst nickname ever.
Slowly, I stuck my head around the end of the aisle, and yeah, I should have backed away instead. Theo was in our chair, and his pretty, blonde ex had her little ass perched on the arm, her legs nestled against his. I was nosy, so I stayed to watch the horror show before me.
“I don’t understand, The.”
He dug his fingers into the sides of his hair. “There’s nothing to understand. I don’t want to talk to you.”
Frustration poured from him. I had a feeling this wasn’t their first time around this circle.
Bitch sniffled. “But, baby, I still love you, you know? I made a mistake, but so did you. If we talk, I know we can get past it. We can get back to how we were. Remember Sarah and Thomas? Remember?”
Theo’s hands dropped, and for a moment, his eyes went hazy. Whoever Abby was talking about, he obviously remembered, and it affected him. His head jerked in my direction, so I fell back a few steps, behind the cover of the bookshelf.
“Yeah, I remember.” He sounded gritty and tired. I was relieved not to be looking at him. If he’d been wistful or pining, I would have punched someone. Maybe both of them. “I also remember you telling me I had to give up the sport I was deeply committed to in order to keep you. And when I didn’t jump, you walked out on two years of me giving you my everything. That’s why this is done, Abby. That’s why there’s nothing more to talk about.”
“You didn’t give me everything. You didn’t. You had more.” She sniffled again, and this time, a choked sob followed. If she hadn’t been an absolute bitch to me and Luc at the T, I would have felt sorry for her. Now, she was just in my way.
“I need you to do what you do and walk away. Right now.”
“Theo...no…”
“Then I will.”
There was shuffling, books slamming, Abby whining, then footsteps coming my way. Fast. Too fast for me to hide, so I didn’t. Theo charged toward me, and he didn’t look the least bit surprised to find me there. Without a word or pause, he grabbed my arm, dragging me with him.
He shoved me into the unisex bathroom, locked the door behind him, and pushed me into the wall. His mouth was on mine, his hands were tearing at my clothes, his steely length prodding my belly.
“Theo—”
“No,” he barked. “I have to have this with you.”
Fisting my hair, he tugged my head back sharply and took my mouth, kissing me deep and hard. His tongue lashed mine, licking my taste, stealing my protests. And then my shorts were unbuttoned and his hand was between my legs, and I forgot to protest when the pad of his finger met my clit.
“Wet, baby,” he mumbled. “So wet, just how I need you.”
Then my shorts were gone. Theo pinned me to the wall with his hips, the tip of him nudging my entrance. A single heartbeat was all it took for us to go from two to one. He speared his cock deep into me. Once he had me where he wanted me, he took control of my body, how I moved on him, bouncing me up and down his length while driving into me with brutal force. My nails grappled on his shoulders. All I could do was hold on and let him take me.
He covered me with his body, his raging emotions, his mouth, his hands, all of him. I took all he gave, holding on, shutting my brain off, solely focusing on the pleasure between my thighs. If I focused on anything else, like why this was happening, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. So I pushed it all aside, keeping only Theo.
And he gave it to me. Even though he was out of his mind, barely there, he took care of me, rubbing my clit in a perfect rhythm that made my legs tremble and my belly quiver. He shoved my shirt under my chin, took my nipple between his lips, and sucked deep, groaning around my flesh. My head fell against the tile. Anguished moans escaped my throat, echoing around the small room.
My climax spurred Theo on even more. He pounded into me so rough, I couldn’t take a full breath. I knew I’d feel where he’d been and what he’d done tomorrow. He gripped my ass with bruising strength, digging his fingertips in.
I hated and loved the way he handled me in equal measures. I wanted him to stop and for this to never end. This was wrong. And so right. When he buried himself all the way to the deepest part of me, the twin tears trailing down my cheeks were mourning the end and crying out that this ever began.
Theo was breathing heavily. He shoved his face into my neck, kissing my throat like feathers.
And that was when I woke up from my sex-addled stupor. That dose of sweet pissed me off. I slapped him on the chest, then I shoved him hard. Of course, the only movement that got me was him lifting his head to give me a confused look.
“Put me down right fucking now, Theo,” I growled.
He walked me to the counter next to the sink and plopped me on it, but he did not back away, nor did he disengage our bodies. His cock was still sunk deep inside me. He held me tight, so I had no hope of kicking him out of my body.
“What just changed?” he demanded. “One second, we’re both here, breathing hard after what was honestly the hottest experience of my life—and maybe yours too, based on how tight your pussy was strangling me. The next, you’re pissy and telling me to let you go. So, tell me, what changed?”
“Get out of me immediately. I don’t want you inside me anymore.”
He froze, glaring at me. Then he slowly backed away until we were no longer joined.
“No.”
“Okay.”
I winced at the sting he left behind. But he didn’t let me move. He still stood between my open legs, rubbing his palms along my upper thighs.