BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (159 page)

Megan rolled her eyes. “I’m her best friend, Stratton, no offense. I’m sure she’s fine.”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, I know she’s really tired, so you probably shouldn’t hang around long.”

She glared at me. “I thought you were cool,” she said in a disgusted voice. Then, perking up, she looked at me with her normal expression. “I’ll be fine. I promise I won’t be too obnoxious.”

I heard a car pull into the driveway and the engine cut off. Leda stepped out of the driver’s seat, looking radiant in a sundress. My cock twitched as I watched her breasts bounce up the stairs, encased in thin cotton. My palms began to sweat and my heart was thudding as she opened the door.

“Hi Stratton,” she said, not looking at me. “Is Megan here?”

“I’m in the living room!” Megan cried out. “Come in here!”

Leda rolled her eyes. “Coming,” she called. Without looking at me, she pushed past and walked over to her friend.

“Tyler proposed!” Megan gushed. I watched as she held out her hand to Leda. Leda picked up her fingers and glanced at the ring. “Don’t you just love it!”

“It’s great,” Leda said. “Congratulations.”

Megan frowned. “Aren’t you happy?”

“It’s great, Megan, really,” Leda said. She sounded tired. “I’m just exhausted. I barely slept. I just had lunch with Matthew.”

My stomach turned over as Megan gushed something in return.
Matthew? Her ex?
I frowned.
She went out with him the day after having sex with me?
The thought made my blood boil. Angrily, I walked down the hall and locked myself in my room. I couldn’t believe Leda had done that just to fuck with me! She was really unbelievable. For someone who painted herself as pitiable, she was anything but. My mind flashed back to the promise I’d made myself not twenty minutes before. Suddenly, I didn’t care about treating her well. If she wasn’t going to play by the rules, neither would I.

Thinking about her and Matthew together made my stomach hurt. I felt so used and so manipulated. She cried on my shoulder about how depressed and heartbroken she’d been after they broke up, and then went running to him right after me? It was sickening. No wonder she had such a reputation for being an ice queen. I couldn’t imagine anyone ever making the great Leda happy; her standards were fucking impossible. She didn’t want me to flirt with anyone, yet she can go out with her ex? Shaking my head, I tried to clear every thought of her away. But no matter what I did, the images of us together were burned into my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her moaning and writhing underneath me, panting with pleasure. I saw myself kissing my way down her delicate body, making her squirm and gasp.
Be gone
, I thought angrily.
I rid myself of you!

Still, Leda pervaded every inch of my brain.

Chapter Ten

Leda

“Are you excited about coming home for break?” Mom’s voice whined in my ear. I closed my eyes and sat down on the bed, next to my suitcase. “You know Judith is going to be home this summer, too.”

“That’s great, Mom,” I said. “I’m packing now, so I should get off the phone and finish.”

“Oh, Leda, can’t you multitask?” My mom snapped. “We haven’t caught up in months and now you want to rush me away!”

“Probably because I’ll be at your house in a few hours,” I pointed out. “And then we can catch up for hours.”

“But you won’t talk to me then,” my mom snipped. “You’ll go into your room or leave me alone and go out with Judith. I get so lonely, you girls don’t realize that.”

“Mom,” I said through clenched teeth. “I really have to go. I’ll see you before dinner. I love you.”

My mom hung up the phone without saying goodbye and I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe that I was ready to spend another summer under her roof again. Silently, I cursed my luck. All I wanted to do was stay in Charlottesville for the summer but I knew Stratton wasn’t going back to Germany and Tyler had moved back in with Megan. So there I was; stuck at home for another couple of months, listening to my mom guilt trip me at every possible turn.

As I looked around my room, there was a lump in my throat. Things felt so different than they had a few days ago. I’d planned on avoiding Stratton as much as possible but he’d been icing me out ever since that day Megan got engaged. Matthew had sent me approximately twenty emails and six texts but I hadn’t answered any of them. Each one that I read was more pathetic than the last, and not a single sentiment that he expressed made me feel guilty. If anything, I was angry at myself for falling into his trap and not seeing it before. People like Matthew were emotional vampires, always looking for their next victim.

And as for Stratton…. I truly had no idea what was going on. It was more than he was just avoiding me; he seemed truly angry with me for something. I thought it was just an attempt to keep me away, but he’d never been actively upset with me before. Stratton was one of the most laidback people that I’d ever known. What could I have done to upset him so deeply?

I zipped my suitcase and dropped it onto the floor. Wheeling it into the hallway, I grabbed my two favorite jackets and an umbrella from the coat tree. The windows were open and I could hear birds chirping outside. It was unpleasantly warm and humid and there was already a thin film of sweat clinging to my skin.
At least my parents have air conditioning,
I grumbled to myself. That was one net positive.

Stratton was standing shirtless by the front door, kicking a soccer ball up in the air. I tried not to look at his sculpted chest as I dragged my suitcase out the front door.

“I’m leaving for the summer,” I said quietly. “I hope you have a good one, Stratton.” I forced myself to look up at his face. He was staring at me. Sweat was beading his forehead and his luscious brown hair was even darker with perspiration.

He looked up at me with no hint of friendliness on his face. “You too, Leda,” he said in a neutral tone. “Have a great time with Matthew.”

Before I could protest, Stratton had pushed past me and jogged out the front door. I called after him and he didn’t respond, and by the time I’d dragged my suitcase to my car, he was gone.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Prologue

Just like that, everything had changed.

Since I married Stratton so he could stay in the country, it felt like so much had changed. We’d made love, we’d become closer. But then, for no reason, he’d started to ice me out yet again.

I didn’t think I could handle any more of the stress. Between my best friend getting married and keeping my own sham marriage a secret, I was feeling more thinly stretched than ever before.

What was I going to do? Could I really spend another year under the same roof as the man who always knew how to get under my skin?

Little did I know, things were about to get even worse…

Chapter One

Leda

“He’s the best, Leeds, I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Judith gushed. She looked radiantly happy: her eyes were shining and her heart-shaped face was stretched wide with a grin. “He’s just so yummy and he makes me feel all floaty and weird.”

I shook my head dismissively. “Didn’t Mom tell you that you’re supposed to be focusing on your studies?”

Judith narrowed her eyes. “That’s rich coming from someone who practically followed her college boyfriend around like a puppy,” she replied. Her eyes flicked downwards over the table and I swallowed uncomfortably.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “It just seems a little premature to be moving in together.”

“Leda, don’t pull the same shit as Mom,” Judith grumbled. “Besides, you live with guys. They’re not that bad, right? They’re good roommates!”

“We don’t share a bed,” I said tartly.
Except for Stratton, sometimes,
my mind corrected and I shook my head to rid myself of the image. “They’re just housemates.”

“But they’re responsible, right? Mom doesn’t really care if I have sex, Leda,” Judith said disapprovingly. “Come on, it’s the twenty-first century. Everyone does that now.”

I frowned. “Not everyone,” I said carefully. Stratton and I hadn’t slept together before marriage. Of course, not everyone was married for a student visa. “And Judith, listen, don’t waste all your time on one guy. That’s not a good idea. I really regret not making more friends in college.”

Judith’s pink mouth fell open. “Seriously? You’re trying to convince me to sleep around
more
?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said, with more force than I’d intended to. “No, I didn’t say that. Just… please be careful, okay?”

Judith took a long drink of water. She kept her eyes trained on me the whole time and I felt myself start to sweat under her gaze. Even though she was younger than me by three years, my little sister always knew how to make me squirm.

“Let’s just drop it,” she said coolly. “So I heard Matthew and his fiancée split up.”

“God, why can’t you just unfriend him? We’ve been broken up for years.”

“So? He dumped you, not me,” Judith spat. A pain went through me and I looked at her. “Sorry,” she apologized carelessly. “I didn’t mean that. But did he contact you?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “We went out to lunch and it was horrible. He’s desperate and sad.”

“He’s thirsty,” Judith said, rolling her eyes. “You had to have always known that about him. He just craved approval.”

I suppressed the urge to laugh. Judith was a psychology major and she never missed the chance to armchair analyze anything. “I’m sure,” I said. “When are you going back?”

“As soon as I can,” she gushed. Her eyes took on that dreamy look again and I knew she was thinking of her new beau. “Are you sure you don’t wanna meet him? He’s coming to pick me up sometime next week.”

I shook my head. “I can’t, I need to get back. I haven’t seen Megan all summer and she’s asked me to go dress shopping with her like three times.”

“I can’t believe she’s getting married,” Judith said. “She’s so wild.”

I shrugged. “I think it’s what she wants. I can’t really judge her anymore.”

“You can still judge me, though,” Judith said sarcastically. She stood up from the table and stretched. “I’m going to the ladies. I’ll be back.”

Checking my phone, I had an email from my landlord asking me when I’d be able to send the deposit for this year. With a sinking feeling, I realized that I still hadn’t asked him whether or not Stratton was staying for another year. I’d spent the last week of summer vacation looking for another place to live, but everywhere else was too expensive. I was as sick of having four roommates as the next woman, but I still couldn’t afford to live alone. Not when my stipend would barely stretch through nine months as it was.

“Hi Mr. Holmes,

Is Stratton Müller staying for another year? I have a friend who may want to take his spot.

Thanks,

Leda”

Pressing send, I watched as Judith picked her way across the crowded dining room and flopped down into the seat across from me.

“Are you excited about finishing up?” Judith asked me coolly. I watched as the drank the last of her water. “It’s your last year in grad school.”

And then I’ll be a divorcee,
I thought to myself. “I guess,” I said finally. “It doesn’t really seem like three years.”

Judith nodded. “Are you going to get a job?”

I shrugged. “Not a lot for me to do unless I want to teach community college,” I said. “I’d have to get a PhD to really get any use out of this degree.”

My younger sister frowned. Even when she looked angry, she was still beautiful. I thought I’d gotten over being jealous of her looks ages ago, but apparently not. She didn’t reply for a long time, and when she did, it was to change the subject. I felt guilty; I knew on some level, she resented me for letting Mom and Dad pay for my master’s degree.

We left the restaurant and drove home in silence. I decided I was going to leave for Charlottesville that night instead of the next morning. I’d already done most of my packing but I still had a lot of stuff left to go.

“Leda, are you going to go away for another year and not call home again?” I tried to ignore my mom’s voice but I knew if I listened, she’d suck me back in with her guilt.

“That’s not fair,” I protested. “I called home!”

My mom shook her head. “Not nearly often enough, young lady,” she chastised me and I winced. “Especially now that Megan is getting married. I assume you’ll need some help planning the bachelorette?”

I cringed, thinking of my mom’s idea of a perfect bachelorette party. We’d sit around drinking apple cider and watching old Disney movies—those live action ones—and be in bed before midnight. Megan would kill me; I knew that she wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than a blowout. Hell, she might even want to go to Vegas.

“I think Megan wants a big party, Mom,” I said carefully. “She’s not really into the idea of doing things quietly.”

My mom shook her head. “We’ll talk when it comes closer,” she said, as though I hadn’t even spoken up. “Call me more often, Leda, you know how much I miss you!”

“Okay, Mom,” I relented. She released me from her tight grasp and I blinked. “I’ll call you—or text you—when I get there, okay?”

My mom frowned. “You always just have to get away from us as soon as possible,” she commented blithely. “Judith’s not like that at all.”

“Judith’s nineteen,” I groaned. “Most people my age haven’t stayed with their parents in years, do you know how embarrassing this is?”

My mom rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I wish you’d turn into one of those boomerang children I read about in the news,” she said calmly. “Then I could have you home all day.”

Shuddering, I threw my last bag in the backseat of my car and climbed in behind the wheel. My mom watched from the front door and I saw her reach up to wipe a tear form her face. I tried not to roll my eyes as I waved back. Judith definitely took after my mom—dramatic and impossible to deal with. I was more like my dad, cool and distant and unable to be too close to people. My mom didn’t get that being around her was so stressful, but it was almost better than dealing with her constant guilt. I couldn’t wait until I graduated so I had an excuse not to visit more often.

The drive back to Charlottesville seemed to take almost no time. As I neared home, there was a knot growing in my stomach. Between Stratton and Megan, I knew I was going to have to work harder this year. I vowed quietly to treat both of them with more respect. The way Stratton had talked to me (or rather, not talked to me) before I left for the summer was puzzling, and I couldn’t figure out what I’d done to upset him so much. One day he was his usual teasing self, and then…

“Shit,” I muttered out loud. “It couldn’t have been because of that.” My mind flashed back to our last encounter, in bed, when I said I loved him. But after that,
I
was the one who felt hurt. How would something like that have made him so icy? I’d understand if he’d been awkward (and he was), but freezing me out because I had feelings for him?

Reaching down, I dialed Megan’s number and pressed the Bluetooth button on the steering wheel. Soon, her scratchy voice pumped through my speakers.

“Yo,” she greeted me. “What’s up?”

“I’ve missed you too,” I said after an awkward pause. Over the summer, we hadn’t spent as much time talking as usual. I chalked it up to my bitchy attitude over her engagement, but sometimes I wondered if she was getting sick of being my friend.

“I’m sorry about the spring,” I said, biting my lip. “And I’m really sorry we weren’t closer this summer. I miss you, Megan. I feel really bad. I think I was just jealous and I was acting out.”

There was a crackling silence. “It’s fine,” Megan said. “I’m sorry if I was acting crazy. I know I probably went a little nuts before we got engaged.”

I rolled my eyes.
A little nuts?
I thought about Megan throwing herself at Stratton, on the night of her disastrous party. “I probably would have done the same,” I lied. “Have you decided when you actually want to go dress shopping?”

“Finally!” Megan’s yelped loudly through my speakers. “Can we go tomorrow? Please? I’ve been waiting all summer!”

I laughed, in spite of myself. Laughing felt surprisingly good and after I took a moment to breathe, I saw my happy grin reflected in the rearview mirror. “Sure,” I replied. “Come over and pick me up after lunch. I don’t have class until Monday.”

“Yay!” Megan squealed. We said our goodbyes and hung up. Now, I didn’t have nearly as much of a bad feeling as I had before. At least Megan and I were on good terms.

Now, all I had to worry about was Stratton.