Bad Intentions: Chapter 17

The water was freezing as it swallowed me whole. It rushed into my open mouth, still frozen in a silent scream, and streamed up my nose. The shock blanked my brain for a long moment.

I was underwater. Someone had pushed me into the pool.

I kicked to the surface, grasping at the lip of the pool until a hard hand closed around my wrist. I was wrenched out of the pool, ungracefully coughing up water and flailing around.

“Jesus! Walk much, Bug? I didn’t know you were such an attention-seeker,” Selena said smugly from the side.

Cayden had hauled me out. He stood holding my arm while I coughed. Eve hovered at my side. Selena’s satisfied titter grated my jangling nerves.

“Not cool,” Marcus muttered at her, and with a hard shove, he launched Selena off the side of the pool and into the water. “I love a little tit for tat.” He was still chuckling as he headed toward the house, leaving a screeching Selena to swim for the ladder by her herself.

“Oh my God, are you okay? You need to change,” Eve worried.

“There are spare clothes in the pool house,” Beckett said lazily, not seeming very bothered that two fully-clothed girls had fallen into his pool.

“She needs a private place to shower,” Eve snapped at him.

Beckett seemed to wake up at her harsh tone. He turned his chiseled face toward her and cocked an eyebrow. There was something vaguely menacing about his demeanor. “Is that right? In that case, she can use my room, if that passes your inspection, Cinderella. Eve knows where it is,” he tossed to me before striding off toward the house.

Eve muttered a curse at my back and tugged me after him. “Come on, let’s go get dry.”

I couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes as we walked through the house. Curious stares followed us, and I wondered what rumor I’d hear about myself on Monday. Probably something like that loser virgin Lillian Williams got wasted at her first party and fell in the pool. That would be a fun one to explain to my dad when he inevitably heard it.

We went upstairs. The top floor was even fancier than the ground level.

“I’m dripping on the wood,” I worried as I squelched along.

“So what? Like Beckett cares. He’s a spoiled, angry rich boy who doesn’t care about anything, especially not hardwood flooring.”

“Okay, you need to tell me what’s going on there,” I mumbled, shivering as we made our way to the end of a long hall and stopped at a door. Eve knocked once before pushing it open. “Don’t think I didn’t notice how you knew your way to Beckett’s bedroom without a second thought.”

“I told you, I’ve cleaned here. Go ahead and shower. I’ll leave clothes on the bed for you.”

“Beckett’s clothes?” I winced.

“Yes, who else’s? Believe me, he has enough to spare.” Eve shoved me into the bathroom. “Now go, you’re looking more and more miserable by the second.”

She had a point. My wet jeans and sneakers felt awful, and I wanted to warm up. I locked the door and switched the shower on, marveling at the luxury of the room. Wow. So, this was what a really nice bathroom was like. It was decked out in white marble veined with gold. All the fixtures were brushed gold to match, and the shower was big enough to fit half the team. Well, big enough for three or four people, anyway. I wondered for a second if Beckett had ever used it to shower with someone else then cringed. Of course he had; he was a hot, rich Ice God. Sometimes even my imagination was a virgin.

I took off my clothes and wringed them out over the sink before diving into the shower. The water was perfect, and the soap and shampoo smelled divine. I luxuriated in it way too long.

After I got out and wrapped a huge towel around my body and another around my hair, I wiped the steam off the mirror to stare at myself. The moment during truth or dare when I’d crawled to Cayden flashed through my mind and I let myself feel it again. A heady excitement that I couldn’t deny. That moment between us had been ten times hotter than my dared kiss with Josh. It was the boldest thing I’d ever done. It had felt wicked in a way I didn’t know what to do with, except that it reaffirmed what I already suspected. Being around Cayden West was dangerous for me. He made me want to break all the rules I’d self-imposed to be the perfect daughter for my sacrificing parents.

My reflection met my eyes. Skin that was too pale and littered with freckles. I liked my eyes, but usually my glasses hid their color and shape. My hair was too long and way too red. When I was a kid and read Anne of Green Gables, I’d never felt so seen. Poor Anne. Poor me. Still, I was healthy and average-looking enough not to be able to complain. You don’t feel average when he looks at you. That was an undeniable truth. My entire life I’d felt plain enough to blend into any crowd or background. I’d gotten used to being invisible. The only place where I wasn’t was in class, and even then, I wasn’t exactly eager to raise my hand, even when I was confident I knew the answer.

When Cayden’s eyes landed on me, I felt seen. For the first time, I wasn’t the background but the focus. That kind of attention was dangerous indeed. It felt like something a girl could get addicted to if she wasn’t careful.

“Did you find something for me to wear that isn’t ten sizes too big?” I called to Eve as I made my way out of the bathroom—then promptly froze.

Cayden leaned against the closed bedroom door, his arms crossed over his chest, and a bunched handful of material in his grip. “No, but you’ll wear it anyway.”

My eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for Eve. An outfit was laid out on the bed. Basketball shorts and one of Beckett’s hockey jerseys.

“Where’s Eve?”

“Asher needed her.”

“She’ll be back in a minute,” I warned, unsure why I felt compelled to tell him that.

He smirked and shook his head slowly. “No. She won’t.”

“Why are you here?”

“I brought you something to wear,” he said lazily, like that was a normal thing for him to do.

“I think Eve has it covered.” I pointed to the outfit on the bed.

Cayden glanced at Beckett’s jersey and shook his head. “You don’t wear his number. I won’t let you.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

His words were delivered with perfect confidence. There was a challenge in his eyes, daring me to disagree. That was Cayden all over. He didn’t hide away from the ugly truth; he simply embraced it. He was daring me to face facts right now, and I didn’t like it one bit. Hiding from reality was my safe space.

“No, I really don’t.” I folded my arms over my chest, clamping my towel in place in case the way I’d tucked it dared to loosen.

He pushed off the door and strode toward me. I was rooted to the spot. There was an instinct to run back into the bathroom and lock the door behind me that was totally uncalled for. Is it really, though? My hindbrain screamed at me to move it, but I couldn’t make my limbs cooperate.

Cayden seemed to read that instinct somewhere on my face, because he was suddenly before me, moving faster than I’d thought possible.

“Liar. We need to talk. You broke the rules.”

He was so damn tall I had to tilt my head right back to look up at him. I wet my lips, suddenly parched. His eyes followed the movement.

“What rules?”

“My rules. I own you, remember? I know your deepest, darkest secrets.” His tone was almost sweet as he reached out and tugged at the towel on my head.

It slid to the side, and my wet hair tumbled free, cool around my bare shoulders.

“According to you, I know yours, too,” I reminded him. Whatever he thought I’d seen that day after the shower was clearly terrible enough that he felt compelled to terrify me into submission. I burned with curiosity to know. If I was being punished for seeing, I wished I’d damn well seen properly, and maybe even taken a photo for prosperity.

He chuckled. “That’s just the tip of iceberg when it comes to deep and dark secrets of mine, Lily. We aren’t even, not even close. Which means…I own your ass and you need to follow my rules.”

I bristled at this tone, even while something hot and wet slid through me. Why was this turning me on so much? Ugh, I was sick in the head.

“And what exactly did I do to break your precious rules?”

“You let someone else touch my things. I don’t share, Lillian.”

“And your things would be?” I asked, though I already knew what his answer would be. A twisted part of me wanted to hear him say it.

“You.”

There it was. It should have annoyed me more than it did, and it certainly shouldn’t have sent a delicious shiver of want through me.

I scoffed. “You mean kissing Josh? You seriously care about that?”

A muscle ticked in Cayden’s jaw.

Disbelief filled me. “You’re not jealous, are you?” An incredulous laugh left me, which turned quickly into a squeak when Cayden closed his hands around my shoulders.

With a hard push, he sent me flying backward. My arms reached for him, a last-ditch attempt to stop my descent, but he merely stepped back and let me fall.

I landed with a harmless bounce on the bed. Asshole. Unfortunately, the action loosened my damn towel. I was scrambling to pull it back closed when Cayden put a knee on the mattress, right between my legs, and paused over me.

“Leave it,” he commanded.

Heat and embarrassment flooded me. One tit was out, and the slit at the bottom of the towel revealed my inner thigh, only inches from Cayden’s knee.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you understand how I own you,” he muttered. He reached up and gripped my chin in a firm hold. “You clearly didn’t get it when I kissed your mouth, or your perfect little tits, so…this is on you.”

He held my chin for a moment longer before releasing it. Holding my eyes with his, he knelt between my legs, his weight on the mattress rolling me toward him, and put a hand on each of my thighs. Gripping them firmly, he pushed them apart. Holy hell. Is he going to…?

I scrambled backward, clumsy in my panic. He grabbed my kicking legs and pinned them in place with his hands. Huge, inescapable hands. Then he pushed them relentlessly apart, exposing every single inch of me. The towel had rucked up to my belly in my struggles. There was absolutely nothing shielding me from Cayden’s eyes. His gaze left mine and slid slowly down my body.

“Don’t. Don’t look,” I warned him, my voice oddly breathless.

“I’m going to do much more than look,” he said, just as hushed.

My skin warmed in the wake of his eyes. I felt the moment his gaze hit my pussy like a caress. “Turn the lights off, then,” I blurted, my panic making my voice shrill.

Cayden tutted. “Not going to happen. I want to see every pretty inch of my property.” His eyes were locked between my legs with scorching intensity.

I couldn’t stand it. I’d never even inspected myself too closely down there, never mind anyone else.

“I knew your untouched cunt would be as pretty as a peach.”

His voice was rough, and his words surprised me.

I leaned up on my elbows, my towel only unwrapping further. “Pretty?”

“Beautiful,” he confirmed and swooped in to press his nose against my folds, sending new embarrassment flooding through me. “Smells just as sweet, too,” he murmured.

“Are you making fun of me?”

“You think I can think about making fun of you when your pussy is right here in front of me, begging to be eaten?”

“Eaten?” The squeak had returned to my voice.

“Devoured…fucked by my mouth.”

I could only stare; his words had stolen all my thoughts. His finger traced my slit. I hadn’t realized that he’d let my legs go. Now I was lying there, splayed open without a single thing holding me in place.

The truth was, I couldn’t have moved even if the entire team burst in.

Attraction and curiosity roared through me.

Cayden looked up at me with his first lick against my cunt. His tongue was sinfully hot, a fleshy probe that promised great things to come.

“I was wrong,” he muttered against my skin. “You put peaches to shame. Now, tell me how it feels and what you like, and be descriptive.” He took a deep breath, his warm exhale scalding my thighs. “I’ve never done this before.”

His stunning confession knocked me back on the bed, my elbows giving way so I could melt onto the mattress. Cayden’s tongue licked a long, wet stripe up the length of my cunt before pushing slickly inside me. I’ve never done this before. How was it possible that a guy like Cayden West hadn’t sampled all the pussy he wanted? He was a star hockey player, and girls threw themselves at him on the regular. There was no way he hadn’t gotten enough action to last a normal guy for a lifetime, despite having just turned eighteen. Was he lying? No, I didn’t think he was. I didn’t know why I was so certain. It didn’t make sense.

Cayden lightly bit the inside of my thigh, pulling my attention back to him sharply.

“Hey!”

“Use your words and tell me what feels good. I’m not stopping until I taste your cum.”

“It feels – good,” I managed to get out.

“Hmmm, well, that’s not going to cut it,” he murmured against me, then wet a finger in his mouth and placed it at my entrance. It was thick as hell, a blunt tip ready to pierce me. “I have to be the best at everything I do, Freckles, don’t you know? Best at hockey and best at eating your cunt.”

“That’s some claim to fame,” I gasped as his finger nudged inside me.

His tongue slid up my slit, settling on my clit. Sure, I’d come by touching my clit the other night in the bathroom, but that touch had felt like a blunt hammer compared to the sinuous curl of Cayden’s tongue. I nearly shot off the bed as he circled my clit and worked his finger inside me.

“Words,” he commanded, and then sucked my entire clit between his lips.

“Ahh! Better than good. Fucking great,” I panted.

I could practically feel his grin on my pussy. “Good girl. Keep going.”

His finger twisted inside me like he was turning a screw, and my toes curled.

“More like that, just like that,” I begged, my hands falling to his head.

His shorn hair bristled beneath my fingers, and I held his face against me, shamelessly moving my pussy on his open mouth and killer tongue.

“Please, Cayden,” I babbled. I couldn’t control my words; they were flowing out of me without thought. There was something freeing about just talking, saying whatever went through my head without overthinking it.

He growled against me. “Say my name like that again. Beg me, again,” he ordered.

“Please, Cayden. I’m going to…” I trailed off, a touch of embarrassment coloring my pleasure. My hips stuttered their rhythm under him as shame licked up my spine. What the hell was I doing? What would my parents think? And why the hell was I thinking of them right now?

Cayden interrupted my spiraling thoughts. “You’re going to come, Freckles, all over my face. You have no choice, remember?”

He thrust his finger harder into me and then added another, stretching me. I was so wet that you could hear his fingers fucking in and out of my slick pussy. He was driving me over the edge, circling my clit, flicking it, teasing it.

I screamed when I came, I was so surprised and blindsided by the feeling. Cayden clamped his entire mouth over my folds, dragging his tongue relentlessly up and down while I tensed and pulsed around his fingers.

“Fuck, that’s tight. That virgin little cunt is gonna hurt the first time I fuck you, but don’t worry, I’ll kiss it better afterward.”

He pulled back as I was still riding the wave of the hardest orgasm I’d ever had…and the very first given to me by someone else.

He pumped his fingers lazily into me, drawing out the pulses until I was grabbing at his hand to make him stop, the sensitivity too much.

“Oh my God, that was…” I trailed off, staring at the ceiling, my mind hazy and blissed out. There was a pleasant absence of thought in my head. The pleasure had driven everything out. There was only feeling left.

“Just the first time we’re going to do that,” Cayden finished for me. His voice was low and tight. He was kneeling between my legs still, and now, he shifted back and stood. “Now, my turn.”

His hands were already on his belt, ruthlessly pulling it free. I stared, drifting slowly back to reality as I watched him loosen his jeans and send them and his boxers sagging to his knees. My eyes went to his cock, hard as hell and flushed red at the tip. It was big. I didn’t have to be experienced to tell that he was bigger than average. Cocky by name and nature, it seemed.

I sat up slowly, gathering my useless towel around me. My eyes were glued to him. He pumped his shaft, his big hand the perfect size to fit him. How would my hand work? I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud until he rumbled a response.

“It’s not your hand I’m fucking, Lily. It’s your mouth. Open up for me.”

I stared up at him. I was close to the edge of the bed now, and the mattress dipped me forward toward his monster cock. It was glistening at the tip and ribbed with heavy veins. Harsh and beautiful at the same time, just like him.

He gave me no time to get nervous as he palmed the back of my head and guided me forward. I barely had time to part my lips before he was pressing inside.

His width forced my jaw open, and I struggled to tuck my teeth behind my lips. He sucked in a breath as I opened my throat and let him push in as far as he could. He was looking down at me, his eyes stormy. A hand gently brushed my hair from my face then settled on the top of my head, holding me in place.

He moved with a groan, pulling out and thrusting back in, the intrusion almost too much to bear. My hands rested on his thighs, and it gave me confidence to know I could push him back if I needed to. Perhaps it was false confidence, given how strong he was compared to me, but it was a comfort anyway.

He tasted musky in a clean, salty way I had never experienced before. The way his hands flexed on my head, and the grunts that left him as he fucked my mouth, made me feel powerful. He might be bigger than me, meaner, stronger, but right now, I had him by the balls.

I opened my legs wide, letting him step closer, emboldened by his obvious satisfaction. My towel had fallen away completely now, and he held my head in both hands and stared down at me, fucking in and out my mouth, his eyes soaking up the sight of my lips stretched around him and my nakedness below. Neither of us had a clue what we were doing. There was nothing shiny, or practiced, or pretty about it, but it was honest.

“You really are a straight-A student, aren’t you, Freckles? That’s why we fit. We both have to be the best at everything we do, and no one could suck my cock like you are, and no one ever will,” he muttered. “You’re perfect. My perfect girl.”

I hummed low in my throat, his words making me squirm with embarrassment and heat. I liked it when he spoke like that to me. I felt hot all over.

When he came, the heat of his cum hit the back of my throat in ropes. I swallowed around his thickness as he pumped his load in my mouth. His cock pulsed on my tongue, and his balls were drawn up tight. I swallowed as much as I could until he pulled out and lifted me by my arms. His mouth mashed into mine, uncontrolled and hungry as hell, and the taste of our combined cum mixed on my tongue. He kissed me until I panted for breath, dizzy.

“Wear my jersey. I want to see my number emblazoned on your back, like a goddamn owner’s tag,” he muttered against my lips.

When I was dressed, I stumbled out of the room on uneven legs. I didn’t think I could look at Cayden for the next week, I was too embarrassed. Different moments of our encounter flashed in my mind like a movie reel. That moment when he’d stroked my face and kissed me. The moment when I’d tasted our combined flavors on my lips, tangled between our tongues, had been unbearably hot and filthy as hell. I didn’t recognize myself in his arms. I felt wild and free, untethered by my usual pressures, and he saw it all. I saw him, and he saw me back. It was terrifying. Raw and vulnerable in a way I’d never allowed myself to be.

“Lily! There you are. I wanted to check if you were okay,” Josh called to me along the landing as I made for the stairs. He stood at the bottom, waiting for me.

I rushed down the stairs without looking back.

“I’m okay,” I muttered, pulling self-consciously at Cayden’s hockey jersey. “I just put this on because I have nothing else to wear that’s dry.” I didn’t know why I was explaining myself to him. I just felt so damn awkward. Wearing a guy’s hockey jersey was a move usually reserved for girlfriends.

Josh nodded and looked at the jersey. He snorted softly. “Well, it’s the least he could do.”

Josh had another jersey in his hand.

We descended more stairs, heading for the ground floor.

“Meaning?” I wondered.

As soon as we got to the packed lower floor, people watched me. It was the damn jersey. I felt like it was a neon sign flashing over my head, attracting speculation.

“Meaning, Cayden should give you something to wear, since he pushed you in the pool.”

I stopped and turned to Josh.

“What? Selena pushed me.”

Josh shook his head. “No, Marcus just assumed she did. Cayden pushed you. I saw him.”

A bitter laugh left me as I ran a hand through my damp hair. That fucking asshole. Acting like a secret white knight, pulling me out of the water and bringing me a shirt to wear. He’d pushed me. He’d wanted to get me alone and he’d found a way. Maybe he’d wanted to punish me, too, for kissing Josh. All the soft, mellow thoughts I’d been having in my post-orgasm haze went up in a puff of smoke.

I couldn’t trust Cayden. He was a manipulator and a bully, and I was nothing more than his target.

I needed to get dirt on him and get him out of our lives, now, before something bad happened.

My eyes fell to the jersey in Josh’s hand.

He read the questioning look in my eyes. “I thought I’d bring it, in case you didn’t have anything to wear…it’s dumb.”

“No, it’s kind. Thank you. I’d change into it right now if I could,” I muttered.

Josh laughed and handed me the shirt. “Feel free to take it. It’s an old one, and I don’t wear it anymore.”

I took it, too tired and fed up with the evening to argue. “Have you seen Eve? I’m going to head home.”

“She already left with Asher, some emergency with their mom.”

“What? An emergency?” I grabbed my phone out of the huge, baggy basketball shorts I’d borrowed from Beckett. It was unresponsive in my hand.

Josh grimaced. “You might need to leave that in rice for a few days, or like a week.”

I sighed. “Well, tonight was just as shitty as I thought it would be,” I murmured. “I’m going home.”

“Wait! Do you need a ride? Your house is so far from here, and Coach wouldn’t like you walking home.”

Ah, yes, Josh the suck-up.

“I’m heading out anyway,” he said. “I’m meeting someone across town.”

“Really? That would be amazing,” I said quickly. I could feel eyes on me now, and I knew exactly whose they were. Cayden had rejoined the party, and I was going to get the fuck out of here before I blew up at him. He was still right, after all—he held all my secrets in the palm of his hand, and therefore he had all the power.

“Sure thing. Let’s go.”

Josh held out a hand to me, and before I could consider the wisdom of such a move, I took it and let him lead me out through the crush of people.

I felt Cayden’s eyes on me every step of the way.