Crushed (7 page)

"What if I don't want a new fun
buddy?" He smiled, "What if I want to spend more time with you,
huh?" He winked at me. I inwardly groaned and fought the urge to
strip off my dress. I smiled right back at him, maybe he didn't
respond well to anger. Maybe I needed to soften the
blow.

"That won't work, Neil. Justice
will still come after me for supposedly stealing you."

His smile dropped. "I won't let
her."

I sighed, that hadn't worked
either. I wanted to yell at him. Maybe that would work. "Neil...
I'm flattered that you enjoyed pillaging me but..."

"You enjoyed it too. We work well
together and I enjoy the time we spend together, Claire-bear, sex
or not. Justice shouldn't get in the way of that. Whatever's going
on with her is her own problem."

I raised my voice, we were going in
circles with this conversation. "She's making it my problem! The
answer is still no, Neil!" His expressions closed off to me and he
nodded. Without another word he left me and went back to the
party.

Chapter 10

Neil

How could she fucking blow me off
like that? I was practically throwing myself at her feet and she
still kicked me to the curb. The music from the party was pumping
through my blue button down shirt. Maybe she was just shook up from
her run-in with Justice. I was still amazed that Justice had the
lioness in her to fight for me. It would have been flattering if we
had a relationship, but we didn't. Nothing at all outside the
bedroom anyway.

My feet took me towards her and I
grabbed her arm and pulled her towards an empty bedroom. Once
inside I closed the door forcefully and pushed her back towards the
middle of the room, away from me. I didn't want her touching me
right now.

"What the fuck is going on,
Justice? I told you to leave her alone." She smiled and a chuckle
left her throat.

"Neil, come on, it was a harmless
little push. Probably even an accident, I can't
remember."

"Cut the shit, Justice. You pushed
her on purpose."

"Fine. I pushed her on purpose."
She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she studied me, "What did
she say to you? You look utterly defeated. She's not good enough
for you, you know."

I went to the bed and sat down,
hands in my hair. "You don't know what you're talking
about."

"I think I do." She sat down behind
me, her knees straddling my hips from behind and her hands moved
through my hair, comforting me. "I won't touch your precious
Cupid-wannabe but I want something in return." Of course she did,
there was nothing for free in this world. Everything came with a
price.

"What do you want?" I barely heard
my own voice but she must have heard me loud and clear.

"I want you to date me. I want you
to take me places, do things together." My jaw was starting to hurt
from clenching it so tightly.

"Justice, I don't want to date
you." I couldn't lie to her, it wouldn't be fair.

"You might not want to now but you
will after you get to know me. That's the deal. You take me out
three times a week and I'll leave Claire alone." What did I have to
lose, really? It was a small price to pay to keep Justice's claws
out of Claire.

"How long?" I glanced over my
shoulder, she looked quite smug.

"Six months."

I guffawed loudly. "Justice, that's
ridiculous." Would she even still be interested me in six months?
Or six weeks after the hunt of me was over? I wasn't sure but I
sure as hell didn't want to take that chance.

"Fine. Three months but you can't
take any other girls out. Sleep with them, I don't care but I don't
want to hear about you spending gross amounts of quality time with
any other girl. I like you, Neil, and I want the chance to see if
you like me too." I glanced at her again. She was serious. I stared
at the hardwood floor beneath my feet as I mulled it over in my
brain.

Three months of Justice, just
dates. Can't spend time with any other girl but her. It would get
Justice off Claire's back and hopefully get rid of Justice's
ridiculous crush on me. I was already pissed with her so it
wouldn't be hard to be a shitty boyfriend...semi-boyfriend. She
didn't stipulate that we had to have sex, maybe I could work around
that. I'd figure something out. "Okay. Three months, just dates and
you leave Claire alone forever." We shook on it and then had sex,
it didn't even feel as half as good as it had with
Claire.

It had been three weeks and Claire
had barely said two words to me. I stared at the back of her blonde
head in English class. She'd made sure she came in late enough to
squeeze into a seat that was not in front or behind me directly. I
couldn't ask her for pens anymore, the excuse to touch her was
gone. And as much as I hated to admit it to myself, it was
torture.

As far as dating Justice was going,
well, she got what she wanted. She pretended everything was golden,
I didn't pretend. If I was bored, which I often was because all she
wanted to talk about was cheerleading and football and gossip, I
didn't try to hide my wandering eyes. A few times I seduced a
waitress during our dinners. Last night Justice had caught me and
joined in. I was so drunk I didn't realize what I'd done until this
morning. I'd fucked Justice even though I'd vowed not
to.

Class let out and I watched Claire
run out the door like the building was on fire. I grabbed my
notebook, which was void of notes again, and headed out the door. I
went to my dorm, dropped my shit off and went out for my run. I had
to fight myself to keep running when I saw Claire's hand on another
dude's chest. Was she dating again? I felt my jaw clench and cursed
myself. It wasn't my fucking business. I couldn't have her, at
least not until Justice was taken care of.

In the shower after my run I closed
my eyes and jerked off to the only thing I had of Claire, the
memories of how fucking good she felt around my dick. My memories
paled in comparison to the real thing but there was nothing I could
do about that ... yet.

We had a game that evening, nothing
extraordinary. I was kicking ass and taking names. My team was on
fire, blocking superbly so I could run my ass down to the field
goal and score touchdown after touchdown. At halftime the
cheerleaders came out on the field and entertained the rowdy crowd.
I watched as I rehydrated. The girls in their short skirts were
mesmerizing. Especially Claire. Justice and another girl lifted
Claire up and then dropped her down and popped her back up for a
jump. Justice turned early and Claire fell half on the other girl
and half on the ground. I crushed my paper cup and started running
on the field. I froze when I saw that same guy from earlier already
at Claire's side. He picked her up and escorted her off the field.
I stalked towards Justice and grabbed her arm, pulling her away
from the crowd.

"What the fuck was that?!"
Justice's eyes flashed and she smiled a hateful smile at
me.

"Oh, now you care about what I have
to say?" She put her hand on my chest and pushed me back into the
shadows. I glanced around, no one could see us. She sank to her
knees and tried pulling down my uniform pants. My traitorous dick
was standing to attention with anticipation of her warm mouth. I
put my head back against the wall and tried to push through the sex
smog in my brain.

"Justice..." I opened my mouth to
protest but I couldn't get the rest of the words out as soon as I
was deep in her mouth. My hand was in her hair, gripping it tight.
In my mind I pictured Claire sucking my dick, as long as they were
closed I could pretend it was her. It felt so fucking
good.

She moaned and my dick vibrated, it
pulsed in her mouth. I wasn't going to last long. I looked down and
saw the blonde hair. I closed my eyes tight, groaned and shuddered
and blasted my seed down her throat. "Fuck, Claire! That's so
fucking good." I heard my dick pop out of her mouth and looked
down. Justice was not happy. I opened my mouth to say something but
my head was knocked to the right with a forceful slap.

"This isn't working, Neil. You
better figure out how to make it work or you're going to regret
it." I rubbed my cheek as I watched her sashay away from me. What
the fuck just happened? Was she going to hurt Claire now that I
fucked up? One of my teammates came running towards me and I tucked
my shit back into my pants before he saw. I stepped out of the
shadows and shook my head, I needed to get my head back in the
game.

I pushed all thoughts out until the
game was over. After I showered and changed I headed to the Frat
for the post-game mixer. I grabbed my red solo cup and leaned
against the wall, waiting for a Claire sighting, I needed to see
her. I needed to talk to her. I needed to be inside her.

Chapter 11

Claire

I didn't really want to be at the
mixer but Damien insisted. He said I couldn't let Justice win. He
was right. The nurse said I'd only sprained my ankle, I was lucky.
I was feeling pretty good after the Percocet she'd given me. Damien
and I had been seeing each other for the past couple of weeks. I
was ready to test my theory again. Damien had no purple in his
aura. But he'd been sweet and seemed interested. I wasn't sure what
he was doing hanging around me. He didn't have the reputation that
Neil did but he was certainly no virgin. He had tried kissing me
many times but I had kept him at bay so far.

I grabbed Damien's hand and pulled
him towards the nearest free wall space. Once my back was against
the wall I pulled him down and kissed him. My lips flamed up and I
pressed against him with a roll of my hips. He moaned against my
lips and put a hand in my hair. I gently pushed against his chest
but he didn't pull back. Dammit! It was happening again...I didn't
understand what was going on. He didn't have any purple in his
aura. He shouldn't be acting like this. My theory was gone down
shit's creek and I was going to be screwed soon too unless I
figured out how to get him to stop sucking my face.

I kissed him a little more to
pacify him but it only seemed to intensify things. I pushed him
away a bit harder, but he wouldn't let up. His hands were gripping
my breasts and he forced my legs open with his knee. He got between
my legs and rubbed himself against my jeans. Thank god I wasn't
wearing a skirt. I pinched his stomach hard, trying to snap him out
of it. Didn't work. I pulled his head down so he was kissing my
neck and winced when he sucked on my neck, marking me. "Gah...
Damien, stop!" My hands went to his shoulders and I tried to push
him away once more.

I looked up just as Neil pulled
Damien off me and punched him squarely in the nose. My mouth was
gaping open but I didn't care as I crossed my arms over my raw
nipples. I watched as the two started to beat each other in the
middle of the party. After my few long seconds of surprise I kicked
into action and grabbed Neil's arm which was pulled back, ready to
land another punch to Damien's already swelling face. "Neil, stop!
That's enough!" Neil's chest was heaving, his nose crooked and
bloodied, Damien had managed to get in at least one
punch.

He dropped Damien's shirt, Damien
fell to the floor and he turned to me, his green eyes dark and
searching my face. "Are you okay?" His voice was husky, concern
clear.

I blinked at him, surprised,
confused. "I...I'm fine. Thank you but... I should take him to the
nurse..." I glanced at Damien, curled up on the floor. Will touched
my shoulder and I swear I heard Neil growl.

"I'll take him, Claire. You don't
need to baby this dude. He probably couldn't help himself, you
know. –I- know." Will heaved Damien up and slowly walked him out of
the party.

Neil wrapped his hand around my
elbow and gently pushed me towards the side. "Are you sure you're
okay?"

I tried to shake his hand free from
my elbow. "I'm fine. Where's Justice?" I looked around for her but
didn't see her anywhere.

"I don't give a fuck about Justice.
Claire, come with me to the Frat Formal." I felt like he'd struck
me and my knees weakened. It wasn't a question really, did I have
to respond?

"Neil, nothing has changed, I am
not looking to be your fun buddy." He shook his head and stepped
towards me. I stepped back and he kept going until my back was
against the wall. He leaned down and whispered against my neck,
making me shiver. My heart was still racing from the action-packed
evening.

"I'm not looking for you to be my
fun buddy. Please come with me to the formal?" I kept my hands to
myself. He was too damn tempting. I needed him to go
away.

"Bring flowers." I sucked in a
breath and ducked under his cagey arms and limped away with a
confidence I was far from feeling. I didn't get far before his hand
grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards his chest.

I stopped myself from falling
against him. "Can I sleep over tonight? My roommate has claimed the
room tonight."

"Isn't that convenient? No, you're
going to try funny business." He shook his head, his serious face
still up front.

"No, I promise. If there is any
funny business you can kick me in my bollocks. I love them very
much so I swear to you I am not going to try any funny business." I
couldn't say no to him. I sighed softly and turned, limping towards
my dorm.