Twisted Minds (3 page)

Straightening up, I quickly washed my hands and stepped out of the bathroom.

“Fancy seeing you here, James.”

Her voice made my skin crawl. Turning around, I found Cass lingering outside the women’s bathroom, almost as though she had been waiting for me. I wouldn’t put it past her.

“What the hell do you want?” Hostility edged my voice, but I didn’t care if it came across strong.

Cass batted her long, dark lashes at me, a smile curving her mouth. “Come now, Nathaniel, don’t act as though you hate me. I know you’ve probably thought about me in some interesting ways.”

She was right—I had in the past, but those thoughts were long gone. “You’re like an STD that just won’t quit.”

Her smile grew, and she placed a finger on my chest, spiraling it slowly downwards as she spoke. “There’s no need to be so rude, Nathaniel. We could be friends again, if you really wanted.”

I pushed her away, irritated that she would even try to pull her crap with Finn just around the corner. “I’ve never wanted to be your friend, Cass.” I looked her up and down, trying to seem disappointed. “Honestly, there just isn’t anything about you that’s worth it.”

Cass didn’t like that. Her smile fell and her eyes flashed with anger. “You’re a fucking jerk, Nathaniel.” She leaned in closer, lowering her voice. “I’m not here for you anyway.”

“Oh, yeah?”

A smug smiled spread across her face. “It’s Finn I want. It’s always been Finn.”

The girl was crazy, but my chest squeezed tight at the thought of her ever sinking her claws into Finn again.

“Stay the hell away from him,” I snapped, unable to keep my cool. “He’s doing better without you spreading your poison around.”

Cass flipped her hair as though it was some sign of victory. It fell perfectly behind her shoulder. “I would never do anything to hurt Griffin,” she simpered pathetically. “The past was a misunderstanding. I’ll make sure he understands that.”

“Misunderstanding my ass,” I retorted.

I wasn’t sure why she was putting on an act in front of me when we both knew exactly what she was about. Taking a deep breath, I began to walk around her. I was done standing here in her poisonous presence.

“Wait a second,” Cass called out.

There was something in her voice that made me stop. Turning around, I shot her an impatient look.

“What?”

Cass smiled a smile that was sickly sweet. As I studied her, I couldn’t believe there had been a time when I’d first met her where I’d thought she was attractive. Now she just reminded me of what a huge mistake she was for Finn.

“I saw the way you were looking at Kira.”

I shrugged. “So what? She’s hot. I’ll look all I want.”

Look, and think about fucking her.

“I bet,” Cass paused here, tapping a finger against her cheek, “you couldn’t get her to sleep with you.”

There was no woman I couldn’t get to sleep with me, least of all a girl who’d grown up in a small town with a limited amount of guys to choose from.

“Yeah, right,” I scoffed. “I can get anyone to sleep with me. I’m Nathaniel James.”

Cass shook her head, appearing unconvinced. “Not Kira. She’s not like the girls in your journal.”

The journal—Cass was one of the few people who knew about its existence, and that had been due to a simple act of discovery when she had been living with Finn in New York, and in turn been living with me since it was my apartment.

“Every girl is like the girls in my journal,” I retorted, yet even as those words left my mouth I knew she was somehow right about Kira.

“Not her. Not every girl dreams of having sex with you.”

“You sure did,” I mocked her, tapping a finger against the side of my cheek.

“That was a mistake.” Cass’ nostrils flared, and her grey eyes darkened to a cloudy storm. “But Kira is too smart to make that same mistake. I know her, and men like you don’t interest her. I bet you couldn’t get her to sleep with you if you tried.”

“Stop making bets you’re going to lose.” I couldn’t help but laugh at how pathetic Cass was, trying to bet on things she knew she would never win. “She’ll be begging me to fuck her by the end of the week.”

A sly smile crept onto her mouth, unsettling me, as she extended a hand. “We’ll see.”

Though I kept my cool, Cass’ words echoed in my mind as I returned to our table. I was Nathaniel James. Women never refused me. Cass was just trying to get to me. Kira Walsh had no idea what was about to hit her.

Three

Across the Hall

After the mediocre meal at the Chinese restaurant, and parting ways with Finn and Kira’s friends, we returned to the Walshs’ house.

Just in case we were hungry, Joe and Theresa had saved some roast beef and vegetables for us, as though they knew the food at Fortune Cookie wouldn’t be palatable.

Joe had also left a bottle of wine on the counter with a note tucked underneath it.

For Nathaniel,

A lover of fine wine and fine women, just like me.

Joe

Mildly amused, I picked up the bottle of cabernet sauvignon and swiveled it around in my hand. It was label called
Jacob’s Creek
, which I’d personally never had, but was eager to try it out.

“Dad picked it up on a trip to Australia,” Finn explained as I studied the unfamiliar bottle with keen eyes. “He’s only got a couple of bottles, so he saves it for special occasions.”

Interesting. I guess I was a special occasion. That was a first. My mother always said I was a nuisance.

The only person missing in all this was Kira. For some reason, she couldn’t stand the sight of me and had rushed upstairs the second we’d arrived home. Cass’ challenge rang through my head, reminding me how I’d let her petty words get to me.

I hated losing a challenge, but I hated the prospect of losing a challenge proposed by Cass even more.

Finn uncorked the bottle of wine for me, and grabbed a six pack of Budweiser for himself before we moved into the living room.

As I eased into the couch, I finally had a chance to take in my surroundings.

Their house definitely wasn’t as big as my mother’s house was, or as luxuriously furnished as my apartment was, but there was something about it that I liked. My apartment, with its glowing white tiles and high ceilings, seemed almost sterile. In comparison, the Walsh’s house, well, it felt like a home. It felt like a home filled with love, which was more appealing than the one I’d grown up in.

“I know it’s not high end, but I like it anyway,” Finn said, sitting down on the other end of the couch and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

At first I thought he’d read my mind, and wondered if I was always such a transparent asshole, until I realized he was talking about his beer.

“It doesn’t bother me as long as I don’t have to drink it.” I took a sip of the wine, pleasantly surprised by the strong, full bodied flavor. “So what’s it been like being back home?”

“Great,” he said, a look of content spreading across his face. “I missed my family more than I thought I did. It’s definitely not the city, but it feels like I’m meant to be here. I’ll definitely miss it when I’m gone again.”

“And Cass?” I asked nonchalantly. “How do you feel about that whole thing?”

Finn’s amiable features darkened. “I don’t even want to think about her.”

The only instance where Finn hadn’t been forgiving—when it had come to Cass and her cheating ways. Even he had his limits.

I decided to drop the subject. “So what are Ripley girls like?”

He laughed as he took a drink of his beer. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before you started asking about the girls.” He paused. “They’re definitely not like New York City girls, that’s for sure.”

“Amy’s cute,” I commented, drinking more of the incredible wine.

“She is,” Finn agreed with a nod. “I thought about hooking up with her since I’ve been back, but it looks like she’s got eyes for you now.”

“She’s all yours, man,” I said with a shrug.

Amy was good looking enough, and I could tell it would be easy to get her into bed, but it was Kira I was drawn to.

A part of me really wanted to ask about her—if she was seeing anyone, what her interests were—but I knew it wouldn’t go down well with him. Besides, I didn’t want to make it obvious that I wanted her to get down on her knees and wrap her big lips around my dick.

“So did you bring your journal?” Finn asked, raising his eyebrows at me. I could tell he already knew the answer to that question. “How many girls did you bang in the two weeks since I left?”

It was surprising he was bringing up the journal now, considering that in the bathroom of the Chinese restaurant, he hadn’t even want to discuss the possibility of working on his own one. Alcohol definitely made him more open minded.

“Too many. No one impressive though,” I said with a wave of my hand, getting up and walking over to where Joe had placed my bag in the living room when I’d first arrived. “And of course I brought it with me.”

Unzipping my bag, I pulled out the journal and walked back over to Finn, handing it to him. He immediately straightened up, putting his beer on the edge of the coffee table as his full attention fell on the journal.

“The list,” he breathed, almost in awe of the conquests that filled the pages. “Ridiculous and incredible at the same time.”

He began flipping through the pages, and I knew he was simply skimming through for the sake of being able to feel the weight of women I’d been with. He handed it back to me, chewing on his bottom lip as he pulled out his own journal.

The journal—it had initially begun with a list I had created with my friends in our senior year of high school, detailing different combinations of women we could do sexual things with. It had expanded into so much more.

The list had grown over the years, keeping records of the girls and women we had been with. It all began with her description, then we added more details to it—sometimes her phone number, sometimes how far she was willing to go, sometimes a picture—and kept a tally of the different types of women we’d been with.

We each kept our own journal, and although some of us had grown out of it, I never stopped updating mine. With the screwed up parents I had, I’d needed a constant in my life—so I dived into the list, which in turn opened up a world of women for me.

“Stacey, Megan, Stephanie, Jessica,” Finn was saying as his eyes glided over his list. “I never did manage to get very far with mine.”

“That’s because you were with Cass for most of your life.”

“Yeah.” Finn’s lips tightened, and he dragged his gaze back onto his journal. “Nicola. Oh boy, I remember her. She was a wild one.”

When I’d first met Finn in our freshman year of college, he’d been a good boy—he still was—with his steady high school girlfriend, Cassidy, but every good boy wanted to let loose and fuck.

It was in our nature.

So when Finn and Cass went through a rough patch, I encouraged him to start his own journal—to start his own list. And he totally went for it.

Unfortunately, the problem with good guys were they always wanted to be good, so he and Cass worked things out and Finn made me swear I’d never tell her about his journal.

“Is there a reason why you’re revisiting memory lane?” I asked casually.

I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it straight from his mouth.

His eyes were bright yellow in the light, as though the list had sparked something inside of him. “Fuck, Cass. Fuck that bitch,” he spat, his voice low, and I wondered how much of the alcohol was doing the talking “I wanna find more girls, like the ones on this list. Not that good for nothing whore.”

Obviously, seeing Cass tonight had messed him up more than I’d initially thought. Finn was such a selfless guy that when someone like Cass spread poison in his life, it basically ruined him.

“I wanna do what you do.” He nodded at my journal. “I want to fuck girls without caring about their feelings.” It was like a switch had flipped in his mind, but I was pretty sure the beer was influencing his words. He was already onto his second bottle.

We sat downstairs for an hour longer, the conversation drifting between women, Finn’s new job at my father’s company, and his life in the city. My thoughts drifted between Cass and the childish bet I’d made with her, and Kira and why she disliked me.

Finn finished up the six-pack, and I drank a good portion of wine before we decided to call it a night. By the time Finn showed me to my room, he was a mess. He was incoherent as he stumbled down the hall to his room, which I hadn’t even had a chance to see.

At least I’d noticed the bathroom on the way to my room. As I headed back out into the hall, I noticed the door across from mine was slightly ajar and that the light was still on.

Hesitating outside, I wondered if this was Kira’s room. Maybe I could flirt with her a little, get her a little hot and heavy. Figure out why she hated me.

When I pushed open the door, a thrill shot through my body as I caught sight of her. Of all the scenarios I’d expected, this wasn’t one of them.

Kira was on her bed, lying flat on her stomach; her glorious, blonde mane spilled down her back. In her hand was a book, though I couldn’t see what it was from this distance. But it wasn’t the book that had me awestruck or that she was reading it.

It was the fact that she was practically naked.

A pair of cream, lace panties hugged her ass cheeks—her ass was practically eating them up, that’s how tiny her panties were. I wanted to cream all over those lace panties.

She shifted a little, and her curls spilled to the side, revealing the flesh of her upper back. That part of her definitely was naked. She was topless. She was lying there as though waiting for me to take her.

And goddamn did I want to take her—just the way she was, right from behind.

For the second time today, my dick hardened involuntarily. What was this power this girl held over me? Once again, I was entranced by her as she turned the pages of her book, completely unaware that I was standing here watching her. Which I should probably stop doing in case one of her parents caught me.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, I took a step backwards, but my hand knocked against the door, alerting her to my presence.

She sat up straight, her breasts bouncing as she moved. I glimpsed her tits for a good two seconds—they were huge, bigger than I’d initially thought, yet still perky and firm. Her pink nipples taunted me, as though wanting to be sucked on.

“Nate!” she gasped, her eyes wide as she grabbed a pillow and used it to cover herself up. The color was draining from her face by the second.

“Shit! Sorry!” I apologized, scrambling out of her room and hurrying down the hall to the bathroom. I shut the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily as I tried to wrap my mind around what had just transpired.

Kira. Naked. Her beautiful, young body just waiting to be taken.

My dick was throbbing so hard in my pants that it was painful not going back to her room and fucking the shit out of her until she screamed for me to stop. I wanted her spread out on her bed, her face buried in her pillow as I destroyed her.

But I didn’t go back. I knew all hell would break loose if I so much as touched her. She wasn’t ready for me yet. She hadn’t fawned over me the way I’d thought she would. That girl was a work-in-progress, but one that I was willing to bide my time for.

I wanted her, not just because of the bet I had made with Cass, but because it was going to be incredible when I claimed her. After seeing her like that, I’d wait a fucking eternity for her. Okay, maybe not that long, but I would wait all the same.

Taking a deep breath, I stroked my throbbing cock, relieving it from its distress. Then I turned on the shower, keeping the water cold so that I could douse myself from the heat that had taken over me.

When I finally returned to my room, Kira’s door was shut and her light was off—a clear sign she didn’t want a repeat of what had just happened.

Yeah, she was definitely a challenge, but one I intended to overcome.