ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE) (15 page)

With everyone focused towards the back patio
and the kitchen, nobody noticed the tow truck pull up in front and scoop up my
shitty little car. It also helped that everyone was drinking copious amounts of
wine and liquor. Even Dalton’s grandparents seemed to have lowered that
tremendous stick up their collective asses just a few inches.

When Dalton had paid the tow driver and the
car was gone, we went into the back and said our goodbyes to everyone. Nobody
seemed to find it strange that we were leaving together… nobody except his
grandparents, who looked at us curiously for just a moment.

Dalton didn’t seem to notice that,
thankfully.

When we were done, we walked back around to
the front. With great care, he guided me onto his motorcycle. It felt strong
and untamed between my legs.

“That’s right, squeeze it with your thighs,”
he instructed me, watching how I grew comfortable on it. “I’m going to be in
front, so just hold on around my abdomen. I’ll drive safely. Here’s hoping
nobody pulls us over…”

After a moment, he was seated with his back
to me. I wrapped my arms around him as Dalton revved the engine and kicked up
the stand, pulling us onto the road.

Riding behind him was incredible. I loved how
the wind filtered through my hair, and the sounds of the road as we navigated
towards the main highway, took some turns, and wound up meeting the interstate.

But it wasn’t just that. Holding him close,
practically clutching onto his body, sent a shiver down my spine that I
couldn’t completely attribute to the wind.

His muscles were
hard
beneath his clothes. Dalton had arrived in his suit earlier,
only pausing to remove his helmet and straighten his attire after parking his
motorcycle. This meant that there wasn’t any thick leather or bothersome layers
to come between us.

My stepbrother was built broad, tough, and
with powerful muscles that lined his entire body. I’d known this as a fact when
I’d straddled him during our night together, but I’d tried my hardest to push
that aside.

It was hard to avoid being reminded, over and
over, for the entire hour that we were on the road.

Part of me expected Dalton to try and bring
me to his place. I wondered how I’d react to that… and decided, ultimately,
that I’d be okay with it. After all, we had school in the morning. It made more
sense for me to sleep on his couch or something.

Instead, he didn’t make the appropriate turn,
and he brought me back towards Natalie’s apartment. Dalton didn’t bother
killing the engine as he parked, letting me unwrap myself from around him and
climb down from the throttling beast.

“So, this is goodnight, huh?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’ll be back in the morning.
You’re not far, so I don’t have to get up
too
much earlier. When do you need me?”

“How about seven o’clock?”

“Don’t you think that’s cutting it a little
short?” He questioned, tilting his head.

“Okay. A little earlier than that.”

Dalton shook his head. “Be down here at a
quarter to seven,” he instructed. “Think you can do that?”

“Sure,” I replied, quietly admonishing myself
for choosing a class so early in the day.
What
the hell was I thinking?

“Alright. See you in the morning,” Dalton
muttered offhandedly, sailing off on his ride towards the falling sun.

“Yeah… in the morning,” I sadly, quietly
responded after him. He hadn’t bothered to wait up, or to even try to convince
me to come home with him.

But that’s what I want, right?

Of course it wasn’t.

I knew it even then.

Rather than try and summon him back or wallow
self-piteously in the encroaching darkness, I plugged in my key code, entered
the building, and took the elevators up.

To my surprise and disappointment, the lights
were off as I arrived. I’d been looking forward to Natalie’s company after such
a strange and stressful day, but she wasn’t here – instead, she was probably
out drinking with other friends, or hanging with her boyfriend.

I was alone.

Changing out of my dress, I took a quick
shower to clean up and shed the light makeup. I took it long and hot, standing
with my back and shoulders against the beating heat of the water for upwards of
an hour.
 

When I finally dragged myself out and toweled
off, no happier than I’d been before, I ran my hair drier and checked my text
messages.

Nothing.

I was pretty full from all the food earlier,
so I didn’t feel like snagging anything meaningful to eat. There was also some
homework to do, but I didn’t particularly care about it right now.

Instead, I grabbed my emergency pint of
chocolate ice cream from the freezer, huddled down with a blanket, and parked
myself in Natalie’s usual spot on the couch.

I hadn’t made it more than an episode or two
into some mindless sitcom when the door finally opened. Natalie slid inside,
her boyfriend’s lips all over her as she let them both inside. He was pinning
her wrists up against the wall and kissing her neck when her eyes fell on me.

“Heya, girl… don’t worry, we’ll drag this
back to the bed… room…”

She recognized the pint of ice cream on the
coffee table, and pushed her hands against Jared.

“Fighting a little tonight, huh?” He asked
huskily, diving in for another kiss.

She took his cheeks into her hands and looked
him in the eyes. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to skip this one, babe.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

She nodded her head towards me. “Babygirl’s
pulled out the emergency ice cream. I’m afraid that tonight’s not
Sexy Night
anymore
.
Now it’s
Roommate Night.
”

He looked disappointed, pulling back and
running his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Alright. Fine. Goodnight.”

Jared threw a nasty look my way and stormed
out, throwing the door shut as he left. I felt my spirits crumple into dust at
the display of anger over my emotional state.

“Ignore him,” she sighed, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry for ruining your night,” I
muttered, moving my legs as Natalie dropped to sit down beside me on the couch.

“Nah, you didn’t ruin anything,” she
reassured me. “Honestly, you might have just done me a favor.”

“How’s that?”

Natalie blew at her bangs in exasperation. “He’s
cute, and he knows how to handle that dick of his, but
good lord, is he a complete idiot
,” she chuckled. “After that
little stunt there… I’m pretty sure whatever I saw in him is gone now.”

“Well, at least there’s that. I’m gonna be
frank, I’m not really sure what you ever saw in that guy.”

Natalie gave me a smirk. “Yeah, well, hey!
Silver linings! I haven’t been single in ages. Maybe it’s time to get my slut
on, you know? I could
totally
pull off a revolving bedroom
door. I wonder if I can call Daddy’s contractor to get a literal one
installed…”

She paused when she saw my expression.

“What, too much?”

“
You’re
too much,” I smiled, pulling her into a big hug. “Look, you can call him
back. I’ll be fine.”

“No, dude.
 
You’ve gotta tell me what’s…” Natalie
paused, her face falling. “Oh shit, it’s the
wedding.
That was
today.
Okay,
yeah. I’m gonna dock myself some points for misplacing that vital piece of
information and bringing my guy home–”

“Nat, it’s
okay
,” I reassured her.

“Oh yeah? I’m not convinced,” she replied,
letting her eyes trail towards the melting pint of ice cream. “Anyway. Give me
a minute. Let me change into something a little more comfortable, and then I’m
coming back out here, ordering a pizza, and we are
talking it out.
”

“I’ve already eaten,” I shrugged.

“First off, okay, but it’s fucking
pizza
,” she laughed. “It’s like dessert.
There’s always room for it. Secondly, if you insist, that’s just more for me,
but I’m
starving.
”

Natalie jumped up, whipping out her
smartphone. I could hear her placing a pizza order in her bedroom as she
changed, and she finally walked back out in expensive, silky pink pajamas as
she hung up the phone.

“Cool. It’s on the way.”

She slumped down onto the couch, her back
against the armrest, and looked at me with the most endearingly sincere eyes
I’ve ever seen.

“Alright, Clara. Tell me
everything
from the top…”

Chapter 14

When I arrived the following morning, Clara
was waiting for me in the spot where I’d left her the previous night. I’d
connected the spare helmet at the back, and I handed it to her as she walked up
towards me.

“See if that fits,” I instructed.

She slipped it on. “It’s not exactly
snug, but it’ll definitely do,” she
told me, before eyeing me curiously. “Who exactly does this
belong to?”

“It’s my old one. I outgrew it eventually.”

“Really?” She sounded impressed. “Must have
been ages ago. How long have you been riding?”

“Since
long
before the marines,” I answered.

Apparently satisfied with this, she climbed
onto the back and put her arms around me again, straddling the seat tightly.
Once I decided that she was properly secure, I kicked off.

Clara was surprisingly close that morning. I
don’t mean that just physically, with her arms actually wrapped around me, but
emotionally, too. As we sat in Psych class, still working off of my textbook,
her cold exterior seemed to have melted away somewhat.

She laughed at the jokes I made, didn’t shy
away from eye contact, and didn’t make a move when I scooted my chair a little
closer to her (under the guise of easier book sharing, of course).

“Okay, what’s gotten into you?” I asked her
after class, guiding her to the side once we left the building.

“What do you mean?” She tilted her head.

“Yesterday, you were full-on
ice princess
, but today… you’re acting
as if everything’s perfectly fine between us.” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
“What changed?”

Clara sighed. “It’s just… a combination of
things, really.”

I crossed my arms boldly. “Enlighten me.”

“Well…” Clara bit her lip tentatively, gazing
up at me. It had the distinct effect of making my cock twitch in my jeans,
although I tried to ignore its sudden alertness. “Look, all that
destiny
crap you fed me last week… I
couldn’t help but think that you maybe had a point.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, we had our night together, and
I loved every second of it. But then our parents were getting married, and I
needed to extract myself from you.
Then,
they
actually
got
married, and there was
no way you and I could have a future together. But no matter what, I just can’t
get rid of you, can I?”

“I’m not following…”

“The car,” she reminded me. “The whole reason
why you’re bringing me to school, right? I have the perfect opportunity to cut
you loose and let that just be the end of that, and then
this
happens. Now, I’m stuck in a position wherein I have to rely
on you… which I don’t like, but it
conveniently keeps us together.”

“That’s true,” I thought aloud. “So… what
does this mean, then? As far as how things are going between us, at any rate.”

Clara smiled softly. “It means that… I think
I want to keep seeing you.”

“You spoke to that friend of yours, didn’t
you?” I grinned. “Your roommate. The girl from the bar.”

“…She
did
have some compelling arguments, yes,” Clara wistfully explained. “We stayed
up half the night talking about stuff. I went to bed feeling
way
better about everything.”

“Remind me to buy that woman flowers,” I
grinned like an idiot. “When she told me that she made a hell of a wingwoman, I
didn’t know the half of it…”

“Yeah, getting my best friend on your side
from the start is sort of a plus,” Clara laughed. “But look… just like that
night we shared together, this doesn’t mean I’m promising you anything. I need
you to understand that.”

“No, I get it,” I nodded, scratching the back
of my head. “We’re just taking it slow for now, right? No need to complicate
things any further than they already are…”

“That’s right.”

The tone of Clara’s voice was relatively
noncommittal, but her face was saying it all. She was positively
beaming.

We realized the time, and that we were both
going to be late for our prospective following classes. Parting with a strong
hug and a quick kiss, we separated away from each other, reinvigorated with
energy for the day.

Unfortunately, bad news came later on. My
buddy at the auto shop rang me back while I was in the student union building,
seated in comfortable furniture and gazing out the large, glass wall over the
campus. I was waiting on Clara’s last class to wrap up, and my mechanically
minded friend didn’t exactly have anything reassuring to tell me.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” I started. “Have
you got anything good to tell me?”

“Wish I did, dude.”

He sounded exasperated.

I frowned tentatively. “It’s that bad?”

He took in a sharp breath of air. “Yeah… the
way it’s looking now, the engine’s totally fried. Her oil was not only really
low, but filthy as shit. Did she miss some oil changes or something?”

“Yeah, I think she might have mentioned
that…”

He chuckled with exasperation. “Should have
stayed on top of that shit. Whole engine’s gotta go. Now, this being an old
clunker, she might want to consider just getting a new car altogether.”

I sighed. “I don’t think she’s not going to
be able to take that option.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what I tell
everybody
when I see an impending mess
as bad as this one: tough shit. I’ll try and pull some strings because it’s
you, but even if I found a used, compatible engine that wasn’t going to
absolutely crucify her bank account, this thing’s gonna die from something
else. I give it half a year… maybe a year, tops.”

“So, it’s either spend thousands on an engine
and buy some time, or spend at least that on a newer vehicle. Either way, she’s
out of pocket a substantial little sum.”

“Sure looks that way, bro.”

“Alright, Kevin. Thanks for everything you’ve
done. I’ll talk to her, and we’ll sort it all out.”

“Later, dude.”

I hung up the line angrily.

As soon as the problem had happened, I’d
known that it was going to take a miracle
to fix it. Unfortunately, having her come back around had apparently filled
the miracle quota for today.

I was still trying to figure out what to do
when Clara came into view. She was climbing the wide steps outside, ducking
into the union building and scanning for me. As she spotted me in the seating
area, she stomped towards me with a look of clear, overwhelming stress painted
across her face.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

Clara slumped down in the chair to my side.
“Just… unreasonable teachers,” she muttered. “Couldn’t they just consult each
other on the homework front? Instead of
bombarding
us with it, all at once?”

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works,” I
chuckled lightly.

“Guess not,” Clara muttered before pulling
herself to an upright, seated position. “Alright, so, have you heard from your
guy yet?”

My face immediately fell.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she groaned,
slumping back into the cushions. “
Goddammit!
Why is this turning out to be such a bullshit day? Everything’s been going
downhill since I saw you last…”

“Well, what can I do to make it up to you?” I
asked her. “Surely there’s
something
…”

She caught my eye and chuckled. “Maybe not
tonight. I’m going to be buried under assignments for the next day or two
anyway…”

“Oh, you’ve got
plenty
of time before then,” I smiled. “You seem stressed. Just
give me an hour or two of your time to help you unwind, yeah? Wouldn’t you
enjoy that?”

Clara glanced over mischievously.

“Well… I
suppose
that could work for me.”

I made sure that it did...

Two hours later, after an incredible
simultaneous orgasm that left us both completely spent. We were laying together
in bed. She and I were just the way I liked us best – grinning together,
drained from great sex, without a stitch of clothing on us.

I was already on my back again, and my lover
was curled up against my chest. Absentmindedly, my fingers played with the hair
on the back of her head.

“God, Dalton, that was just as incredible as
before,” she murmured softly.

“Oh yeah? Satisfied, love?”

“Am I ever…”

With a satisfied groan, I glanced over at my
alarm clock.

“Huh. It’s later than I thought.”

“Is it?” She asked, lifting her head.

“Yeah, it’s already half past five.”

“Half past five, huh…” Clara murmured.
“That’s strange, I feel like there’s something important that I’ve forgotten,
something like…”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh no. Oh fuck. No. Please no.”

“What? What is it?”

Clara was leaping up from the bed, clearly
frazzled. I didn’t like how stressed she was getting, all of a sudden.

“Oh god, it’s
work
,” Clara finally groaned.

“Work?” I asked. “Wait… you didn’t…?”

She’d forgotten to contact her
boss.

“Yeah…” She held her face in her hands. “I can’t
believe it. I
completely
fucking
forgot to email Arnold last night, when I came home… and I stayed up talking to
Natalie. I was supposed to be there over
an
hour ago.
”

Clara dove for her phone and practically went
catatonic when she saw her notifications. “Oh shit. Oh
shit
, I’m in trouble…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I told her. “Look,
just apologize to him, and everything will be okay.”

“That’s not how this works,” Clara lashed
out. “Look, my car’s a mess that’s apparently broken down, now I’ve been totally
distracted from my
job
, and for what?
Sex?”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“Clara, look. I’m sorry. I’ll help you.”

“I don’t
want
your help,” she muttered.

“Be that as it may… I know that you’ve had a
rough time of things lately. Between the car thing, your job, school, our
parents suddenly
marrying, your
feelings for me…”

She glanced at me with irritation. “No, go
on,” she snarled. “Please. Feel free to rack up
additional
ways that my life is fucking up right now. Really. I
want to hear them.”