Giving It to the Bad Boy (14 page)

Whatever he had done clearly made him irrational and had him thinking he was invincible.

“I want to tell you what I’m going to do once I’m done with you.” Chris moved back and forth,

his fists raised and his eyes wild. Blood oozed out of the nasty looking cuts that littered the knuckles on his busted-up hand. Reese ran his forearm over his split lip. “I’m going to find that sweet piece of ass you’ve been hanging with and show her how a real man fucks.” Lowering his voice so there was

no doubt only Reese could hear, Chris said, “I bet she’s a virgin, and I can already feel how it’ll be popping that sweet cherry.”

A blind rage filled Reese. He wasn’t such a fool that he didn’t know exactly what Chris was

doing. The asshole was goading him, and it worked. Reese charged after him, took his body to the

ground, and slammed his fist into the side of Chris’s face. The wrestler started to put some moves on him, ones that were meant to put Reese in submission, but there was no fucking way. His muscles

were filled with blood, and his heart slammed fast and hard in his chest. He was in fight mode, and

Chris had said the wrong fucking thing.

Slamming his fist into Chris’s face over and over again, Reese could only see Kiera on the

ground with Josh on top of her. His vision turned red, and a low hum surrounded him. It was then he

realized the low, deep noise was coming from
him
. Several sets of arms locked around his upper body, but Reese wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from this. He swung out, connected with a body,

and heard the grunt and curse come from behind him. He went after Chris again, but more arms

wrapped around him again and this time managed to haul him off Chris. Reese started swinging at the

people taking him away from his outlet of violence, but it was when he heard Marcus’s and

Christian’s voices that he realized he needed to calm down before he really did some damage that

was irreversible.

He turned toward Marcus and Christian and saw his friends’ stunned expressions. Marcus had

wide eyes and stared between him and Chris. “Shit, dude. This is number two in a week’s time.” He

ran his hand over his short hair and blew out a breath. “Everyone get the fuck out of here. Show’s

over.” Marcus addressed the crowd in a loud, pissed off voice and glared at them until they started to head back inside. He turned back to Reese and shook his head. “Reese, man, what the fuck’s going

on?” Marcus was a close friend, one he didn’t hide shit from, but it had been a long time since he had spoken about what went down in his life. He wasn’t about to start now, though, and he certainly

wasn’t about to talk about Kiera, not when he was so pissed.

“I’m out of here.” Chris’s groans came from behind him, and he was thankful Marcus and

Christian had pulled him off, again. What the fuck was happening to him?

The rest of Saturday and Sunday dragged with only texts between her and Reese. He had sent

her a text asking her if she wanted to go to a party with him, but it had been late and she had been sleeping. By the time she saw the text it was morning. Aside from talking to him on the phone and

texting back and forth, she had stayed home and vegged out in front of the TV. Ian and Molly came

over a few times, and it was nice just visiting with them. Kiera hadn’t realized how isolated she had been from everyone around her, especially her two friends.. When she had talked to Reese she could

tell something was wrong with him, but she could also tell by the tone of his voice that he would talk about it when he was ready.

Molly picked her up for school Monday, and she sat in the back of the car while Ian and Molly

held hands and did other sappy relationship type things. It seemed now that they were no longer

hiding their new found love they decided PDA was definitely in order. It was nauseating, but cute

nonetheless. They arrived early enough that they got a parking spot close to the front building of the school. It was then, as Molly and Ian were arguing over him wanting to carry her bag, that Kiera saw Reese in his Trans-Am just a few spots down. The end of the cigarette that was held loosely between

his lips became bright as he inhaled. Kiera had never been one to find smoking attractive, but

watching Reese do it seemed so sexy in a devil-may-care kind of way. As if he felt her stare—

because frankly she was staring pretty hard—he turned and caught her eyes with his. The smile that

spread across his face was slow and heated, and Kiera’s whole body lit up like the damn Fourth of

July. Grabbing her bag and getting out of the car, she told Molly and Ian she’d meet up with them

later. Her friends glanced over at Reese, shared a knowing smile, and nodded to her before heading

into school. Reese climbed out of his Trans-Am, his long limbs unfolding like some kind of powerful

beast getting ready for battle. He wore his standard get-up: distressed jeans and t-shit with a splash of design on the chest. He took one more drag off his cigarette, making the otherwise nasty habit seem

goddamn sexy, grabbed his backpack and strode toward her. Kiera felt like a damn girly-girl as she

watched him approach. She could feel people’s eyes on them, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away

from his. He stopped right in front of her, and she wondered if he could hear her heart beating. It

sounded so loud in her ears, like a drum beating a wild beat. It was then that she took note of his

bruised cheek and healing split lip.

“Oh my God, Reese.” She lifted her hand to touch his face, but he stopped her with a gentle

hold on her wrist. “What happened?”

“Hey, pretty girl.” He grinned down at her. “It’s all good.” She could tell he didn’t want to

elaborate, so she didn’t push, although Kiera couldn’t help but wonder who he had gotten into a fight with. God, she hoped his father hadn’t done that to him.

Pushing those thoughts away until she could properly ask him she said, “Hi.” Kiera looked

away from him and noticed several people watching them. They weren’t even doing anything intimate,

yet her face heated at their clear interest. She had never been noticed so blatantly before. It was a bit unnerving. When she looked back at Reese his smile had grown wide.

“I still make you nervous, after everything?” The way he said the last word had warmth

spreading anew through her. She remembered his lips on hers, his hands on her body, and his erection pressed against her pussy. Heat flashed behind his eyes, and he took a step closer. “Does it bother

you that we have an audience?”

It should, and she did feel a bit exposed, but standing so close to him, smelling him, feeling his

warmth, had everything else fading in the background. She shook her head.

“Good.”

Before she could blink and process what he was doing he slipped his hand behind her neck and

brought his mouth down on hers. They were no longer standing in the school parking lot, but swept

away somewhere private and intimate. His kiss took her there, pushed everything else away, and had

her floating high above everyone else. He tasted like mint, and she wondered when he had put a piece of gum in—most likely when she was too worried about everyone else, or gawking at how gorgeous

he was. That first swipe of his tongue against the seam of her lips had her mouth parting and accepting what he wanted to give her. They may have stood there and kissed for hours, or maybe it was only

seconds, but either way it scrambled her mind. When he did pull away she leaned toward him,

seeking him out and not ready to relinquish the pleasure he so readily gave her. She opened her eyes, feeling embarrassed that she hadn’t even realized they were still closed, and looked up at him. His

eyes were half-lidded, and a look of arousal covered his face. His lips were red and slightly swollen, and Kiera knew hers must have looked the same way. They sure as hell felt like it. The hazy fog she

was surrounded in was popped like a needle in a balloon when a few catcalls and whistles sounded

off to the side. Kiera looked over to see Marcus clapping and grinning. Christian placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a huge ear-piercing whistle.

“Damn, Reese, you work fast, dude.” Marcus smiled at Kiera, and she knew that his teasing

words weren’t meant to be crude. Ducking her head, her hair fell over the side of her face like a

curtain.

Reese took her hand and led her right toward the gawking bystanders. Just before they passed

Marcus Reese slugged him hard enough in the arm to send Marcus stumbling back and gripping his

bicep.

“Damn, man. What the hell was that for?” Marcus rubbed his arm and glared at Reese.

“I don’t care if you were joking or not. I better not hear you saying that fucking shit concerning

Kiera again.” The anger in Reese’s voice was tangible, and Marcus gave a tight jerk of his chin to

show he understood. Reese continued to lead them to the front doors, and Kiera spotted Ian and Molly standing off to the side, both of their mouths hanging open in shock. Molly regained her composure

faster than Ian and gave her two thumbs up. Lord, could her personal life be put on display any more than it had in the last ten minutes? No one said anything else, most likely in fear of Reese punching them as he did Marcus, but that didn’t stop Andrea or her little cheerleading posse from giving her the nastiest looks they could muster. Kiera knew this was how it would be if she allowed herself to be

with Reese in any way, but was she really ready for this kind of attention?

The first half of school went fairly quickly, and when lunch rolled around Kiera was a nervous

wreck. She met Molly and Ian in the lunch room and scanned around for Reese. She spotted him

sitting at his table, a scowl on his face as Andrea sat across from him. The look on Andrea’s face was sultry, as if she were trying to seduce Reese in the school cafeteria, which wasn’t all that surprising.

Andrea’s mouth was moving slowly and deliberately, and Kiera wondered what she said. Most likely

something of a sexual nature. Jealousy reared its head, and Kiera straightened her back. After the little display they had given everyone in the parking lot, Kiera would have assumed Andrea would have

backed off. Clearly Kiera had been wrong.

“We’re heading off campus to eat. Wanna come?” asked Ian.

Kiera still stared at Reese and shook her head.

“No, I think I might stay here.” What Kiera planned to do was still a mystery even to her, but

she wasn’t going to just stand back and let Andrea walk all over her, especially when Reese was

something she wasn’t going to give up on, at least not without a fight. She may have kept in the

background, stayed out of people’s way, and always thinking less of herself, but Reese Trenton made

her feel something … more. Watching him not care about what others said, and living by his own

rules, made her want to push all her preconceived notions of herself away. He had a crummy home

life, yet he still kept his head up and went through life with a purpose. She was standing up for what she believed in, one step at a time.

She looked over at her friends and saw their attention was on Reese.

“Well, go get ‘em, girl.” Molly said, and Kiera could hear the encouragement and smile in her

friend’s voice.

“Careful, that one has some claws on her.” Ian sounded a bit hesitant, but she couldn’t blame

him. All of her life Kiera took the backseat in everything. She was tired of it, and wanted to stand up for herself. She may not be popular, but she was no one’s doormat, least of all a girl who looked

down on everyone else. She had a week left at this shitty high school, and the only good thing to ever come out of it was Molly, Ian, and now Reese. Kiera was not going to let anything take that away.

After Molly and Ian left, Kiera grabbed an apple, a bottle of water, and a small salad. Andrea

was still at the table and staring at Reese, who was otherwise engrossed in a conversation with

Marcus. Taking a deep, strengthening breath Kiera moved toward Reese. When she was close enough

that the others at the table took notice of her they stopped talking and stared at her. Yeah, Kiera could hear what Andrea and her friends were thinking.

Does she actually think she is going to sit here?

Who invited the geek over?

Reese stopped talking to Marcus and looked up at her. The smile that spread across his face

gave her the extra strength she needed to take those extra steps forward.

“I think you have the wrong table.” Andrea sneered toward her. She flipped her perfectly curled

hair away from her shoulder and lifted her nose. “The nerds hang out on the other side of the

cafeteria.” Her friends giggled.

“I was just about to come find you. Come sit next to me, pretty girl.” Reese ignored Andrea’s

comments and held his hand out. Reese stood and said, “On second thought, let’s go somewhere else

to eat.” Kiera could practically hear Andrea grinding her teeth. Reese cast a glance toward Andrea,

and Kiera could tell he wanted to say more, but he refrained.

“No, no. Right here is fine,” Kiera said and set her tray down next to Reese’s.

“This is unbelievable,” Andrea muttered under her breath, but made sure it was loud enough for

Kiera to hear.

“Shut the fuck up, Andrea.” Reese spoke the words calmly, but there was a dark seriousness to

them that had the whole table growing still. The shocked look that crossed her face was priceless.

“I don’t have to take this.” Andrea snatched up her books and stood. The tiny cheerleading outfit

was indecent, and Kiera wondered how many days a week they felt the need to wear them since it