Chapter 7

A rap rap disrupts my focus on my bedroom door before it’s rudely pushed open, and Dane stands in the open space looking at me at my desk by the veranda.

“Monique says to come down for food. You aren’t to eat in your room.” He tells me blankly and then pushes off from my door frame to walk off. Not waiting for a response or to see if I even heard him.

I get up, drop my pen beside my notebook and laptop, and follow him out the door. Glad for the food break as I was starting to see double while working on my essay.

Seeing him loitering ahead of me in the hallways as he walks at the speed of a snail back to wherever he came from, I hurry to catch up.

“Move, slow ass.” I nudge him to one side with my shoulder, barely budging him as I power march up beside him to get by. Seeing as he’s taking up the center of the walkway. Thrusting myself forward to cut in front of him, yet I'm hauled mid-step with a hand on my upper arm and tugged back again, so I stumble into him.

“Losers come last.” He smirks, pushing me backward with a palm to my forehead, so I am sent reeling behind him, and he takes off into a jog to get down before me.

The competitive streak in me riles up, and impulsive anger takes over that has me righting myself and breaking into a run after him. He’s always been a fast sprinter, but he’s not putting effort into it, and although he spans the upstairs hall in a minute, I am speedy on his heels and catch him by the hoodie he's wearing. I yank it with all my might, stopping my run that has him break mid-stride and tumble back at me before shoving him sideways into the nearest open door and running like a bat out of hell. He falls into the open space but quickly recovers.

“Oh, hell no, mosquito.”

He’s faster with reflexes than me, and I can’t help but squeal in terror as I am physically grabbed from behind. Sweeping me off my feet, two strong arms wrap me around the waist, and he swings me into mid-air so my heels end up at my eye level. I instinctively grab his arms and cling on, girl-squealing my protest.

“Don’t think so, short stuff. I won’t lose to you.” He laughs in my ear where his face is against mine, pressing our cheeks together warmly before dropping me with a thud onto my ass in a sitting position. He jumps over me, missing me by inches, and starts scaling the staircase taking two steps at a time.

“Asshole. That’s not fair, and you know it.” I yell after him; indignation is strong as I pull myself off the floor and have to put in twice the effort to compete. I will not let this boy get the better of me. Adrenalin is pumping through me now, and I excitedly take off after him.

He has long legs, and the stairs are an easy feat, but I'm not about to take this lying down. I jump onto our polished banister like a deranged monkey, seeing as I switched to my satin lounger pants when I got home and slide down the curved wood to catch up with him.

It’s faster than I expected due to its high gloss finish, and I can't really grip it, or I’ll slow down. Curled over, sliding backward, I meet the last set of steps at high velocity as he does and tumble sideways as the rail curves inwards and is no longer straight. My grip is awful, and I am catapulted, losing a sense of time and space.

I come flying off at speed, shooting at him like a torpedo, knowing this was such a bad idea that it might get me killed. Gravity is not my friend, and my stomach lifts in my body as I am temporarily weightless in the air.

I take Dane down in a flying hurdle I don’t intend. Instead, I am just looking for a soft landing spot to save me from ultimate permanent disfigurement. His arms, face, and torso meet my body side on, and we become a splat-impacted, entangled mess of limbs and grunts as we topple the last small set of five steps into a rolling ball. We crash across the marble floor, somehow ending up wrapped together in the fetal position with me on top, and hit a sliding stop against the nearest pillar.

Theres’ an uncrumpling as we both roll out, the deadweight collapse of body parts, side by side and lay like half-dead animals. Panting and groaning as all the aches and pain hit me from the human collision.

“You’re a psycho.” Dane laughs at me, only not with malice, but he seems impressed I braved the railing and almost ended myself just to beat him. His boyish, genuine chuckle I hear when he’s hanging out with Tyler at lunch. Weird boys are easily awed by crazy girls risking life for a win.

For a moment, I forget how much I dislike him as his smile is infectious and has hints of his dad's, and I laugh and aim a sucker punch at him with a weak arm.

“You’re a cheat.”

He catches my closed fist and tugs me closer before poking me in the face with a pointer finger and flicking me in the head.

“Only in games… not in relationships.” He turns his head to me, seeing as we're both lying sprawled out a foot apart, limbs still half entangled, and we look one another directly in the eye. A moment of calm after the chaos, and neither is getting up yet as we recover from this train wreck landing. His words remind me of the Renee mess and why we’re both home, and I eyeroll at him. That inner sense of disgust and something else swirling up inside me to remind me that he isn’t worth my time.

“Maybe learn to keep it in your pants.” I get up, using his abdomen as a platform to lever myself up and make sure I apply as much weight as possible as I do so. He grunts and shoves my shoulder, so my elbow gives out, and I have to catch myself from falling onto him.

“Maybe learn to take yours off, and I might show you some interest.” He winks again, only this time I screw up my face in disgust at him. The cheeky grin that he pastes on, and his fingers trail over to my pant waistband as he gives it a mocking tug.

“Ewwwww,” I slap him around the head in reaction, but he catches both my wrists as I am still half perched over the top, and he yanks me down. I slip from the stupidly smooth pants and fall on top of him, banging my nose against his in the process and gasping with the shock of a full-body collision. My breasts splat into his pecks, turning me seven shades of beetroot as a blush envelopes my entire body.

“You’re disgusting.” I try to fight away from him, but he hooks one leg around mine and locks me in place. Keeping my hands far back beside his head so I cannot even lean up.

“You’re uptight and prudish.” He shoves me off him sideways with a fast jerk I don’t expect that has me roll onto my back, and then quick as a flash, he’s on top of me. He pins my hands to each side of my head and gets right in my face, so I hold my breath. Silenced by his maneuver and too stunned to do a thing initially. Held by his entire weight, he has my legs and pelvis under his, so I am utterly immobile. “Don’t worry, Kayla….you are the last girl on this planet I would want to get like this naked…. You’re not my type.”

“That’s because I have an IQ and standards. Get off of me.” I squirm against him, but he only tightens his hold and pushes his torso into mine with more weight to subdue me. He lowers his head so his nose grazes mine, his mouth close enough that I can feel his soft breath on my lips. I hold my breath and freeze as he tilts his head to one side and lowers his voice to a crazy, deep, slow, precise way of talking. Suddenly petrified into stillness.

“Kayla…honey…. Sweetest, untouched and pure little lady of mine….”My name slides off his tongue in a crazy seductive way that makes me swallow my saliva with a nervous gulp, and I’m a deer caught in the headlights. So unsure of this predatory change in him. All my normal fire and fight dissipates under this hulk of male hormones. So close that the slightest movement from either of us will have his lips on mine. I suddenly can’t think straight or breathe. I am too scared to move.

Aware of every inch of a muscular, large body, hot and firm, pressing down on mine in ways they should not be, I get way too hyperfocused on where his actual groin is in relation to mine.

I feel like my heart might explode through my chest as my whole body tenses and my blood starts to run through my body noisily. My skin tingles and goosebumps all over, and his pale eyes so close seem to darken as his pupils expand and hold me captive. He pauses and breathes so slowly that my lips tingle with the tickling touch, and he appears to inch a minuscule of a hairbreadth closer, so the static between us ignites over my entire face. I am paralyzed with nervousness.

“You know…. If I was drunk, blind, and desperate… I might think about it.” He smirks, lifting away to laugh at me, breaking the captive hold he has over me with his eerie dark magic, and it’s like a sucker punch in the stomach. An insult I never knew could be such a sober slap. He looks so satisfied with my reaction to him, and I know that jerk just played me.

“No one offered…. if I was drunk, blind, desperate, and you were the only man left to procreate with… I would pass. I would rather see extinction than let you touch me.” I snap back at him, frost taking over and utter contempt at what an asshole he is. Burned by whatever that just was.

“Ooooh, Sexy mad…. I love it when you get all seething hateful and bitchy. Reminds me of your toxic mother and the urge to smother you to death.” He retorts in sarcasm, cooling off from the hot and heavy he was a second ago and replacing that sexy expression with one of scorn. I wiggle one leg loose enough to bring my knee up with a thrust aiming right for his balls. Fuelled by a wave of inner anger I never knew I could possess.

Incensed at him, I give it my all.

It’s a slight moment of victory, not as hard as I wanted, but his oooft noise and crumbling on top of me before dramatically rolling away and clutching his manhood tells me I hit the bingo mark. It was probably a scrape rather than a full assault, but I snort in pride that I got him where it hurts.

“Ever pin me down like that again, and I’ll castrate you. You are a complete pervert. I wouldn’t touch you if my life depended on it.” I sit up, barking it at him, dust myself off, and get up to search for food in the kitchen. Acting like none of this affected me even though my legs are like Jello and my pulse is going four times the normal rate. My insides are all churned up, and I am a little lightheaded. My mood is foul, and I am close to smashing something over his head.

He’s lucky our parents are not home during the day because my mom would have mauled him for that little display.

“Yo, virgin…?” He clears his throat, voice strained, and I glance back, seeing him getting to his feet and adjusting his shorts. A little blush on the high points of his cheekbones, but he seems to recover rapidly. He locks his gaze on mine and keeps me rooted as I walk away.

“What?” I snark at him, so focused on walking while snarling his way, I walk straight into the door frame and bang my cheek, shoulder, hip, and knee simultaneously and ‘ouch’ in reaction. It’s a sharp shooting pain over the entire left side of my body that has me crumpling.

“Yeah … that…. You suck at multitasking.” He laughs at me, wanders up to where I am hopping around, rubbing various sore points on my body and face, and uses his flat palm to push my head away as he passes, covering my entire cheek. I fall on my ass because of my weird posture and holding my leg up, and it only makes me rage all the more.

“You’re a jerk. I hope your food chokes you.” I snort, knowing he intentionally distracted me because I was walking toward the wall. Angry that he always gets the upper hand. I thrust myself up and storm after him as he makes his way to the refrigerator.

Our food is all laid out at the breakfast bar, two settings facing one another, and Monique has departed to the laundry room down the hall. I can hear her singing to herself.

Dane opens the door and leans in, looking for a drink, and I push my way in front of him like a child, use my butt to scoot him back with a nudge to his groin, and bend down for my preferred brand of water. Ignoring the noise of a ‘hmmph’ and then how he steps back in, puts his hands on my hips in a suggestive manner, and props up behind me in a mock sexual pose. He doesn’t press into my butt, but he's close enough that I can feel it, and I freak out. I know I brought it on myself, being too naïve to think about what pushing him that way would ignite, but I didn’t realize he would grab me. My face burns in flame, and my stomach somersaults.

“Is that an invitation?” he lifts his knee and prods the back of mine to move me further forward into a bent-over stance, so I almost fall into the shelves, and I straighten and spin on him in a panic that he would be this revolting. Flying out like a feral kitten who has been cornered.

“What the fuc…. Dane, that’s disgusting.” I shove at him.

Dane is laughing so hard that it only adds fuel to my fire. I slap his hands on me and bat at his face with my water bottle, but it only serves to make him let go, step back out of range in a dodging motion, and trip over his foot. My arms flail as I cannot right myself, and nothing is close enough to grab as I start to fall.

Dane is quick and somehow catches me, hauls me into his arms while turning me towards him, and we end up bent over before I skull-smacked the floor. Me facing up, and him facing down, holding me two feet above the ground while clutching my water to my chest, and our noses are an inch apart. He stopped me from smashing to the ground, and the sudden pause has us both panting, eyes locked on one another.

“If you wanted me to hold you, you should have just asked.” He smirks before letting go and dropping me the last gap to the floor with an ungraceful thud that sounds worse than it feels. He straightens up, laughing to himself, steps over me to reach into the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle, and I'm left lying here under him as some half-dead conquest.

“Arghhhhhh…. Why are you like this?” I yell at him, using my legs to aim for his, but he hops away and walks off toward our food. He throws me a backward look and is beaming all over with getting the upper hand.

“You know…. I wouldn’t even if you begged. I’m not into prissy uptight virgins.” He cracks open his water and downs a mouthful before settling to eat. His facial injuries don’t seem to bother him despite getting darker in the last hour since we got back here, but I suddenly have the urge to poke at them with a long, sharp nail.

“Why is it always sex with you?” I snap. Standing and fixing my clothes before slamming the refrigerator door closed.

“I’m a guy…. If you popped your V card, it might become all about sex for you too. Pretty sure girls get just as horny as we do.” He shrugs like this is a nothing conversation, and my face flames again in embarrassment. It’s not a topic I ever willingly bring up with anyone, and here he is, so matter of fact about it.

“Stop talking.” I lift my hand and wave it his way. Mortified that this is where this went.

“Why…. Scared I put ideas in your head? Start thinking about getting propped up on the counter and shown a good time?” he laughs at how my face pales, and my eyes widen in horror, enjoying my reaction.

“I didn’t think I could dislike you more than I did …but now….” I trail off, moving to the bar and sliding my plate away from him to the end, so I don’t have to sit anywhere near the vile human trash.

“You’re too easy. It’s that pure and innocent mind that’s never been touched…… I just have to say the words cum and orgasm, and you turn red.” He tilts his head to smirk at the instant blushing on my face as warmth creeps across my cheeks, and I tilt my chin down and stare at the food instead.

“I’m seventeen, not seven….” I retort. “I am not affected by talking about sex.” Instantly squirming with how uncomfortable this is.

“Be honest….. have you never done anything with anyone? Not even first base? Maybe some back seat grinding? A heavy petting session?” He is fully enjoying the way I'm shrinking and turning crimson from head to foot, knowing fine well I have never dated anyone in our entire time as classmates. He has known me since our first year of kindergarten.

“It’s none of your business.”

“So, you really are just an untouched milky white landscape….. that’s kinda sad.” He digs in and shoves a forkful of chicken and salad in his mouth, seemingly disinterested in carrying on. Still, it’s amped up a level of indignation and mortification in me. He always measures me up with his superior know-it-all and dismissive way. As though being untouched is the most worthless thing I can be in his eyes. He’s warped. Yet it still bothers me.

“I’ve done plenty….. I’m not as pure as you think; I just don’t broadcast it to the world.” I lie, gritting my teeth and hating him for making me dishonest like this. I don’t even know why I care, and I catch his fork stop midway to his mouth for a second bite. He pauses, stays still, and is silent for a second before swallowing his first mouthful and looking up at me.

“Why are you lying right now?” there’s a seriousness in his tone that has me feeling weird, and I put my chin back down and shove my food in so I don’t need to answer

“Hmmm,” I try to sound flat and bored. Done with this topic and blanking him.

“Who was your first kiss, then?” He asks in a strained way, poised and waiting… “First proper date?”

“I told you it’s none of your business.” I scoff, choking on my half-swallowed and not well-chewed food, and cannot look him in the eye. I don’t even know why I am being this pathetic and immature.

“You can lie about it if it makes you feel better but don’t do anything stupid… don’t go with guys alone anywhere. Girls have to be more aware….. don't let a guy disrespect you either. Don’t take any shit from any guy.” His whole manner and take-the-piss attitude have dropped; instead, there's a serious and strange huskiness. His words have me pause and gawp at him like he has two heads.

“What?” it was not the response I expected, and I blink at him, forgetting all about bickering and focusing on the mood change. His smug aura is gone; instead, he seems pensive and rigid, losing even that casual slouch he always has going on. It entirely confuses me.

“You’re not like other girls in our class… I know you haven’t dated anyone or done anything. I’m just saying …. Don’t do anything because you feel like you have to because of pressure or idiots making fun of you. Don’t let guys mess with you. It’s not a sin to be a virgin.” He exhales heavily, stares at his food, and then leans back and stretches out, avoiding looking at me.

“I don’t get what you’re saying.” I stammer, knowing he has seen through my deception and not getting what he’s trying to communicate. Even more puzzled as Dane is literally the only person in school who teases me about being a virgin. He knows I haven’t done a damn thing with anyone. Dane stares at his fork for what seems like a long minute, frowning at nothing in particular, and then heaves a heavy sigh.

“Forget it. I have a headache… I’m taking this to my room. Tell Monique I’m taking aspirin and having a nap.” He moves off the stool and dumps his cutlery on his plate before picking it up with one hand and his water with the other. He can’t look me in the eye anymore, and I’m sitting here confused about what just went down between us.

I don’t know what to say, and as he walks around to pass me, he stops right at my stool with a downward appraisal of me with his eyes.

“If a guy ever fucks with you…. You know I’d have your back, right? You can come to me.” It startles me, as does his uber-serious mood and expression as he menacingly towers over me. I don’t know whether to feel comforted or intimidated.

“You’re the only guy who fucks with me.” I point out, avoiding his gaze as it finally travels back to my blue eyes. My heart is hammering through my chest, and I don’t even know what this is. We have never had a relationship where we look out for each other. We’re sworn enemies.

“This isn’t fucking with you… I play with you, but you should know that’s all it ever is. I wouldn’t do a thing to you.”

“Why are you being this way? It’s creeping me out. I think you have a concussion.” I slide away from him, feeling his proximity hemming me in, and he lays his plate and water down on the bar and stares at me.

“We’re not little kids anymore…. You’re naïve and oblivious to the bigger world out there. Your mom has you blinkered and sheltered…… you’re an easy target for guys like me. Casual fuck boys looking for fun and good times…..you’re worth more, Kalya…. Just don’t feel you have to do anything for anyone to conform to what’s expected at our age.”

I think I get what he’s saying. He’s mad I lied and tried to make out I wasn't inexperienced, and he’s telling me not to be ashamed of being untouched even though he teases me about it constantly.

I really don’t get him at all.

“I’m not like that. I won’t be pushed into something to fit in….okay, so I lied…, but that’s only to you because you drive me crazy with this. Always calling me a virgin and telling me how frigid I am. We’re like chalk and cheese, and I hate how you rile me.” I fold my arms across my chest and lift my chin to meet his taller height. Feeling like I have never met this version of him before, and it makes me uneasy.

He stares at me for what feels like an eternity, and I have no idea what he is doing. It’s like he is trying to crawl inside my brain and figure out my thoughts. He doesn’t say a damn word.

“This all feels very ….. ‘it’s fine for boys but not for girls’, and I’m not sure I like the subtle misogyny in it. Especially coming from a grade-A man whore who sleeps with every skirt he meets. You are the last person who should ever lecture me on whether I have sex or not.” I break the silence with my scratchy sassy self showing face.

Dane shakes his head at me and sighs before rolling his eyes and bending toward me slightly. Whatever had been going through his brain a moment ago seems to have evacuated the building, and his eyes are back to blank.

“These…” He lifts his hands and pinches my ear lobes simultaneously “seemingly, they are just for decoration. You only hear what you wanna hear.” He pats me on the head as if I am some puppy or misplaced toddler and then returns to his food and picks it up. “Eat and go study….. you're safer within the page of your textbooks, kiddo.” He wanders off, leaving me with a confused frown as I watch him walk off, yet that last remark enrages a yelled reply after him.

“I am only three weeks younger than you, jerk.”