Jailbait (9 page)

His breathing becomes ragged and he clutches my body to his. He thrusts in deep and I come for the third time. I’m seeing stars, my entire body humming with pleasure. Grayson buries his face in my hair and bites my neck as he climaxes. He lets out a guttural growl and his hot cum streams inside me. I cling to him, feeling his cock pulse, and listening to his heart pound in his chest.
 

We stay like that, just holding each other as we come down from the high for several minutes. Then he slides out and hands me my clothes. I slip my panties on before I jump down from the counter. Grayson steps into his boxers, not taking his eyes off of me.

I gather my clothes, mop up the spilled wine, and then take Grayson’s hand. We go up the narrow staircase and into my dark room. I quickly use the bathroom and get myself cleaned up and ready for bed. I collapse into bed, bringing Grayson with me. He spoons his body around mine, holding me tight.
 

 
I feel so small tucked in against him like this, small yet so empowered.
 

“Gray?” I whisper.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you came back.”
 

He kisses my neck, and my heart feels so full. Which is crazy and I know it, but I can’t help how I feel. How I’ve
felt.

My feelings for Grayson never went away, and laying here with him has awakened them, bringing them out with fury. I trace my fingers along his arm, enjoying the peace that surrounds me. Peace that I haven’t felt in forever.
 

Grayson left me, but now he’s back. I just hope it’s for good this time.
 

Chapter Six

Grayson
 

Pale moonlight bathes the room, and the calming scent of lavender fills the air. Pepper’s tangled hair tickles my face and my right arm is going numb beneath her, but I don’t dare move. Because this is fucking perfect.
 

Pepper fell asleep quickly, and while I share the same exhaustion, there’s no way I’m closing my eyes just yet. It’s not often I feel this way, and I don’t want it to disappear for something as mundane as sleep. No, I want to remember every inch of Pepper’s naked body, how tight her pussy felt around my dick, the way she looks when she comes…and how fucking good it feels to have her nestled in my arms like this. She’s so soft and delicate yet full of fire.
 

I look around the room. The large space—like the kitchen—has been redecorated since the last time I was here, yet it’s familiar. Pepper’s personal tastes never matched the grandiose decor of the rest of the house. She likes earth tones, and prefers anything natural. I recall a time when another girl at her school made fun of her for not wearing makeup, and insulted Pepper’s bohemian fashion. She never let anyone but me know that it upset her, and what she said about it was something I never forgot…and was one of the defining moments in our relationship.
 

She told me she felt sorry for the girl who was bullying her, because she must be really unhappy with herself if she had to pick apart other people’s flaws. And she wasn’t just saying that to cover up her hurt feelings, Pepper really believed it. She made it her mission to befriend this girl, and a month later they were hanging out together. And it turned out, the girl’s parents had gone through a bitter divorce, and her new stepmom-to-be dressed in a similar sense to Pepper.
 

People aren’t inherently bad, she told me. Circumstances turn them that way. And if someone was good once, they can be again.
 

I wish that were true.

Clouds pass over the moon, darkening the room. I can’t recall how many nights I spent tucked in this big bed next to Pepper. I regret how much I took for granted back then, how I naively assumed we’d stay together. I can hardly remember the last time we were together. It was nothing spectacular; just a normal night of talking and enjoying each other’s company. She was home for fall break from Cornell, blowing off a trip to France with her friends so she could see me.

The weekend started off much like this reunion: fucking like crazy because it had been too long since the last time, talking, laughing, and just being together. I told Pepper that her constant encouragement to take school more seriously was annoying, and she launched into a well-prepared speech on why I need to invest in my future. She planned to be in it, after all.
 

We ate dinner in the courtyard, had sex in the hot tub, then went up to her room and crashed. Like I said…a normal weekend for us back then. Nothing crazy, but it was perfect.
 

And then I got the phone call.
 

I close my eyes, almost able to hear the ringing all over again. I never knew that answering the phone could change my life like that. I’ve spent countless hours thinking what my life would be like if I let the call go to voicemail, and called back in the morning. Would I have been greeted with the same fate later? Or would this—sleeping next to Pepper—be my normal?
 

I often wonder if I would regret it,
not
answering the phone,
not
going to help my father when he needed it most. He was in deep shit when I got there, deep shit that I got sucked into when I tried to pull him out. He did it to himself, and it’s selfish to wish I hadn’t gone, that I had stayed right here next to Pepper.
 

Pepper stretches out in her sleep, hand landing above her head. I look at her face, relaxed and at peace, and kiss her. Pepper’s eyes flutter open. It takes her a few seconds to focus on my face, but when she does, she smiles.
 

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” I whisper.

“It’s okay.” She raises her arms and hooks them around my neck. “I was dreaming about you. I would have been mad to leave that dream, but this is a rare time when reality is better.”
 

I pull her to me, kissing her again. Pepper’s messy hair webs around my face. I push it back and move my lips to her neck. She softly moans and throws the blankets off of us. We kiss for a moment, then she breaks contact, grabs my hands, and forces me down onto the mattress.
 

I’m getting hard by the time she climbs on top, straddling my waist. She’s only wearing panties and a silky tank top. Her legs widen, letting me feel her heat. And fuck, she’s hot. I run my hands up her smooth legs, cock hardening more and more with each inch I feel. She rocks her hips back, rubbing against me. It’s all I can do but squirm beneath her, grabbing her hips and making her do that again and again until I cum.
 

Pepper bites her lip and leans forward, gaze moving from mine to my chest. I admire her tits as she looks at my tattoos, tattoos that weren’t there the last time we got naked together.
 

“I like this,” she says quietly, running her finger over the outline of a wing over my right peck. “Do they mean anything?”
 

“Not really,” I lie. Dammit. I hate this. But I’m not ready to explain this shit to Pepper. Not yet. I don’t want her to think I’m a bad person, but I know how this shit sounds when I explain it.

“Oh, well, I like it.” She continues tracing the tattoos, and when her fingers hover over a particular mark of ink over my ribs, I kiss her, pushing her messy hair over her shoulders. We roll back on the mattress and I situate myself between Pepper’s legs. She bends her knees and hooks her legs around me.

Holding onto my shoulders, she brings her head up and kisses me, making me let go of everything, thinking about nothing other than this.
 

Nothing other than
her.

I shift my weight to the side and run my hand along her stomach, fingers inching under the lace band on her panties. She lifts her hips, eager for me to take the garment off. I intend on teasing her, on taking my damn time, but when I see the lust-filled way she’s looking at me, I don’t think I can hold out any longer.
 

My mouth opens and I let out a breath when I rub her core. “You’re so fucking wet,” I pant. I swirl my finger along her clit, turned on by the hot slickness of her center.
 

“I was dreaming about you,” she mewls.
 

“Fuck,” I moan.
 

“In my dream you made me cum.”
 

God, this woman. “I’m going to make you cum again.” I push two fingers inside of her. “And again. I’m going to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to say your own goddamn name” I turn my wrist, pressing my fingers against her inner walls, moving them in and out, then against her sweet spot over and over. Pepper’s eyes are closed and her head is turned to the side, mouth open as she pants in pleasure. She has one hand resting on the pillow next to her, and the other is gripping my bicep. “Touch yourself, Pepper.”
 

Her eyes flutter open and she looks down, watching my fingers pumping in and out of her. A faint smile pulls up her lips and she takes her hand off the pillow, perfectly manicured fingers landing between her legs. She sweeps her fingers over her clit and gasps.
 

“You are so fucking hot,” I tell her, pushing my fingers in deeper. Pepper speeds up her own movements and I feel her inner walls tighten. She cries out as she comes, wetness spilling from her onto the sheets beneath us. Her hand falls to the side and I pick up where she left off, rubbing my thumb over her clit until her body goes rigid again. Her fingernails dig into my flesh and the pain mixed with the pleasure of watching her orgasm is almost enough to do me in.

Pepper is panting, heart racing, unable to talk or even open her eyes. Her pussy is contracting around me and I want so badly to push my cock inside and fuck her again. Instead, I slide my fingers out and carefully lift Pepper’s body, cradling her against me. I bring us down onto the mattress with her on top of me, holding her tight.
 

A moment passes before she sits up, spinning around so she’s straddling me again. A wicked grin is planted on her face. She pushes her shoulders up, hard nipples protruding through the thin material of her shirt. Then she moves, parting my legs as she goes down. Her fingers wrap around my hard cock, pumping up and down its length before she takes it in her mouth, devouring me.
 

Her tongue swirls the tip and she sucks hard. I take a tangle of her hair, watching her head bob up and down as she works. I drop my head back and feel my muscles tighten. I could come right now and be completely satisfied. But the thought of not touching Pepper anymore is almost painful. I want this to last all night, if not forever. I don’t want to go out and face the world, to deal with the shit that I know will eventually catch up with me.
 

Pepper takes her mouth off me and bites at the side of my thigh, just like she used to do once upon a time when we were lovers. It’s the only place on my whole body where I’m ticklish, and she’s the only person who knows it.
 

She does it again, making me squirm. Pepper laughs and I reach down and grab her, pulling her up and flipping her over. The three little words we used to tell each other burn on my tongue. I won’t say them. I never stopped loving her, not once. But I can’t say the same about her.

I squeeze her sides, turning the table and making her shy away and laugh. She playfully swats me away, as she tells me to stop. She wins when she grabs my dick, thumb circling the tip, sending tingles through me. She guides me between her legs and arches her back. I kiss her as I slide inside, letting out a ragged breath. Pepper rakes her nails up my back, then cups my face with her hands, kissing me fiercely as I fuck her.
 

I wait until she comes again, then pull out, flip her over, and enter her from behind. On her hands and knees. Pepper turns around and watches for a minute, then reaches her hand under her stomach and plays with her clit.
 

Holy fuck.
 

My fingers bite into her hips and I push in deep, hot cum streaming inside her. She keeps working her fingers as I orgasm, bringing herself to the point of no return as well. We hold ourselves there, panting and writhing in ecstasy, and then collapse onto the bed together, not caring about the mess we’ve made on the sheets.
 

Pepper folds herself into me, resting her head on my chest.
 

“We never should have stopped,” she whispers.
 

“Fucking? You’re a selfish lover.”
 

“That’s not entirely what I meant,” she says with a smile. “Being together.”
 

Her words awaken a dead part of my heart. I want her to say it again and again, shouting it from the rooftops so I can believe it to be true.
 

And at the same time, I want her to take it back.
 

Being together now isn’t going to be as easy as it was back then.
 

“Or maybe we should have,” she adds when I don’t respond, and starts to move away.
 

I tighten my hold on her, and hook a leg over hers. “No. I agree, Pepper. When I said I’ve missed you…I meant it.” She relaxes again, snuggling in close. I can’t help but think this is how my life is supposed to be.

It’s how it could have been, if shit hadn’t gone down all those years ago.
 

“Then why did you leave and never come back?”
 

Her words cut through the air, landing a knife in my heart. The last words I spoke to her were a hasty goodbye, followed with a promise of seeing her soon. A few text messages were exchanged after that, but you lose cellphone privileges in prison.
 

“I had to help my dad with something,” I give a variation of the truth. That’s still a lie, and I know it.
 

“You said that. That’s all you said, though. What did he need help with that made you forget about me?” The vulnerability slips from her lips without her intending it to. Guilt crushes me.
 

“I never forgot about you, Pepper.” I close my eyes and bury my face in her hair. By the time I got out of prison, Pepper had a new boyfriend. Maybe it was presumptuous to assume she had moved on. But what else was I supposed to think? And then the shit storm at home started to rage even more. “Things were…were complicated.” The words sound like bullshit as they come from my mouth. “If I could change things, I would.”