Obsession (Dangerous Love #1)

CHAPTER 17

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HIS WORLD

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My eyes were fixed on the speedometer. The number changed with each passing second, increasing, just like my pulse. When he reached 230 miles per hour, my mind involuntarily began to say a prayer. The RPMs didn’t drop under 7000 either.

He didn’t want to calm down, and I was trying not to think about what would happen to us if he were to collide with something at this speed.

He was driving like a maniac, with a mask of frustration and fury on his face. I was searching for my words, but I couldn’t find anything right to say, nothing that would pull me out of the mess I made, because no matter how hard I fought myself, I was still feeling guilty about what I did. I didn’t know why, but it was simply how I felt, which was as ridiculous as it was annoying.

The lights on the other cars flew past us like lightning bolts in a storm. He didn’t even seem focused on driving, as his mind seemed thrown elsewhere, frowning often and gripping the steering wheel with white knuckle force every time he didn’t like some thought. I wondered what he was thinking about. Where was he taking me?

I tightened the seatbelt around me, curling into my seat. I had a big mouth and balls for days – abilities that seemed to be advantages, but combined with the trouble magnet I was, they didn’t do much good – but Harris had kind of scared me today. I wasn’t truly afraid of him, I actually felt safer than anywhere when I was with him, but that didn’t mean that he could suddenly do whatever he wanted with me.

“Harris, stop the car,” I asked, calmly, because it wasn’t the time to start yelling at him.

When he ignored me, my calm flew out the window.

“Stop this fucking car right fucking now!”

I expected him to keep ignoring me, but he pulled over and stopped with a brake so strong that would have sent me flying through the windshield were it not for the seatbelt.

“I stopped it,” he fought back immediately and turned towards me.

I slowly exhaled and managed to calm down. I really wanted a normal talk.

“Why did you come for me?”

“Why do you think?”

“I want honest answers, Harris, not ironic ones.”

He sighed, trying to calm himself down, just as I did.

“I don’t know why I came. Believe what you want, but that’s the truth.”

“Did you have Ty track my phone again?”

He didn’t say anything, but silence was also an answer.

“You have to stop that, it’s becoming annoying.”

For the first time since I had met him, he simply nodded, without any comments.

I looked at my hands and searched for the right words.

“Harris, you’re behaving as if we’re in a relationship, which isn’t okay at all. I know you’re not with Amber anymore, but that doesn’t mean we…”

He reached for me and gripped my chin between his fingers.

“You wanted me to leave you with him?” he spoke normally, but I could feel the growl in his voice, “Tell me! Ask me to take you back to him and I will! Ask me not to touch you ever again and I swear I’ll respect your decision. I’m not the dominating devil everyone made you believe I am.”

His rough tone made me gulp. I could have ended it right here. I had the chance, but my lips vehemently refused speaking those words.

“This past week you avoided me like I was a fucking parasite. Tell me what happened, Katherine. I broke it off with Amber, for good, even if I hadn’t touched her since the first day I laid eyes on you. I did it officially, like you wanted, and now you’re running away from me more than before.”

I sunk my nails into my palms, wanting to tell him everything, but I was afraid of the consequences. I remembered what Shane had told me.

I looked at his T-shirt, I couldn’t see them in the low lighting, but I knew those blood stains were there.

Eventually, Harris gave up. He freed me and sighed forcefully, pulling back, and running his hands through his hair.

“Despite what you think, I didn’t come for you to cause a jealousy scene, which is why I waited for you outside and didn’t enter the theatre. I wanted to ask you to come with me and talk, but when I saw that asshole grabbing your hand, my calm went to shit.”

He didn’t look at me while he spoke, but I carefully analyzed him. I had tried forgetting him these past days, moving on from whatever had sparked between us, but I had only drowned myself in pain. Now, having him so close, all I wanted was to feel him holding me again.

“What did you want to talk about?” I asked.

He smiled bitterly, the green light highlighting the sharp features on his face.

“It doesn’t matter now.”

This time, I was the one who reached for him, and I surprised him when I cupped his cheek in my palm.

“It matters to me.”

He immediately grabbed my hips to pull me closer.

“I know I’m not the normal type of… boyfriend. I don’t think I’ll ever be, and you probably already figured that out on your own. I went crazy when I saw you in the hallway, I would have killed that fucker without thinking much about it. I’m impulsive, protective, and jealous, and I’ll never be able to change that. It’s your decision whether or not you accept me like this, but I want you to tell me. I want you to look into my eyes and tell me why I should leave you alone, not avoid me like you have done these past days.”

“And if I tell you I don’t accept you? If I ask you to leave me alone from now on, you’ll do it?” I confronted him.

He gulped.

“Yes, I will. I’ll never force you if you don’t want me around, as long as you say it clearly and I feel you want it. But do you want me to honestly tell you what I feel every time you’re close to me?”

I raised my chin, waiting for the answer. It didn’t come as words, but as a maddening kiss which turned my thoughts to dust. Without thinking about it, I clung to his neck, and he gripped my waist and pulled me closed. I had missed him, now realizing just how much. Many hours of crying weren’t caused by fear, but by missing these kisses and touches.

He groaned through my lips and kneaded my skin in his fists.

“I feel you don’t want me to leave you alone at all, and I don’t plan on doing it. Something scared you, and I wish you could trust me enough to tell me what it was, but I won’t force you. I just what you to know I never missed anyone until now. I never knew how it felt, even if I lost many important people in my life, but what I felt these days was more horrible than I thought. And I missed you most at night, when I remembered how it felt to sleep with you in my arms.”

We looked at each other and I tried to hold in my tears.

He pressed his forehead to mine.

“So, tell me. Tell me what you want to happen next. It’s your choice because you already know what I want. No games or tests this time.”

There wasn’t really anything to think about, I had known the answer ever since the afternoon when I’d realized Joshua had been to blame for everything. It was still dangerous, but I wasn’t afraid of that son of a bitch, and I trusted Shane would take care of him. Harris didn’t need that anger now, and I was going to tell him eventually, but now was not the time. I didn’t believe the story about Joshua’s brother, I didn’t accept to be influenced like that by Shane, even if he had helped me. I knew he wanted me to stay away from Harris, but I had already fought the distance enough.

I cupped his face in my palms and whispered over his lips:

“I needed time to figure out some… stuff. I reached the same shocking conclusion as you did, and after today… I don’t want anything else; I just want you.”

There were no other words needed as his lips promptly crashed against mine and he pulled me into his lap. After he pushed his chair back as far as it could go, his hands were everywhere on me. His mouth claimed mine and I moaned without being able to stop the sound, because I had missed it too much. He had missed it; I could feel it in every touch and squeeze, in the way he slowly whimpered when we separated to breathe.

“Katherine,” he whispered my name, his forehead pressed to mine, my heart close to exploding, “what did you do to me?” he continued with his eyes closed, and I closed mine as well.

“I think I should be the one to ask that question.”

I felt him smile, then he pulled back to look at me. There was a painful serosity in his eyes when he took a lock of my hair between his fingers.

“I’m sorry for what happened today. I promised you’d be safe, and that son of a bitch got to you again.”

I looked down to avoid him reading the fear in my eyes, or realize just how Joshua had really gotten to me.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know, but he’s really lucky to be locked up right now. For some reason, they didn’t free him too. If he had gotten out the same time I did, I don’t know what I would have been capable of doing to him.”

Anger still burned inside him, I could feel it pulsing, even if he was trying to control it. I knew the reason Joshua was still locked up very well, but he wouldn’t hear about it for now, and I didn’t need to think about Harris as a criminal anymore.

“What you said then, in the parking lot, triggered everything. You made it seem as though you still wanted Amber.”

He closed his eyes and bumped his head into the headrest.

“I know, baby, that’s what I wanted to talk about these last few days. It was my fault, because I made it all sound so fucking wrong, and you didn’t give me time to explain. When I say “no” I meant to say I didn’t want her anymore, that she doesn’t interest me.”

It wasn’t that surprising now, but I still raised my eyebrows.

Harris sighed.

“Remember when I told you it’s complicated with her?”

I nodded.

“It’s not the first time I break up with her. We ended once a few months ago, but Amber… let’s just say she’s capable of a lot of shit when something doesn’t go her way.”

Completely confused, I asked for details.

“She hurts herself,” Harris spoke shortly, and I couldn’t control the shock on my face.

“She hurt herself when you left her?”

He just nodded, without giving me any more details, and I didn’t want them either.

“I never had a serious relationship. I accepted her back because I didn’t want her to do something stupid because of me and there wasn’t anyone else to grab my attention.”

I raised my head and our eyes collided. Harris’ fingertips gently brushed over my cheek.

“You’ve been the only one on my mind since the first second I saw you, Katherine.”

I smiled and pressed my head into his palm.

I didn’t want to talk about Amber and what she might do because of Harris. I didn’t want to feel guilty about it either. Harris and I had started our chapter, and she wasn’t a character in it anymore.

“Anyway, where are you going to take me?” I asked eventually, changing the subject.

He smirked over my lips.

“To a place that’s much more fun than a movie theater.”

He helped me get back into my seat before I could end up without my clothes on.

“I don’t care what you’re going to do with Joshua anymore, but I want you to promise me you’ll leave Zac alone this time. He’s not a threat for you.” He seemed to weigh my words, then that smug grin of his returned to his face.

“Good,” he said, and stepped on the gas pedal, but the fact that he didn’t promise hadn’t escaped me.

He drove for about ten miles with the same crazy speed, then I was distracted by some strong lights that lay in front of us. We were out of the city’s agitation and found ourselves in a strange, broken-down neighborhood, seemingly close to the port.

There was one street that led to the center of the agitation. Tens of people roamed around their cars, each putting their own wheeled jewel on display. Thick smoke, strong lights breaking through the darkness of the night, the powerful bass of the music which made the ground vibrate, all that excited and scared me simultaneously.

“Where are we?” I asked again, curiously analyzing the faces around when we entered the crowd.

Most of them seemed to be teenagers, even if their faces and behavior were far from a flock of educated kids.

As soon as they recognized Harris’ car, a wave of shouts and whistles turned towards us, all of them loudly expressing their excitement because the demon had joined them.

I looked at Harris, who was smiling in a triumphant, relaxed manner, something I didn’t think would happen again tonight.

He sped up and I a silent, terrified wince escaped me when the car began to spin in place, in the middle of everyone. Thick smoke caused by the brakes raised around the car, and the engine seemed to roar right under us, ready to explode from the pressure. People gathered around the car, unconscious about the fact that they could be thrown over the hood at any given moment.

“This is fun,” he answered eventually.

He stopped the car, and I flew into the seatbelt again. This thing was becoming painful for my ribs.

I felt my stomach raise in my throat, then my pulse accelerated. I needed heart pills around this boy.

“Awesome,” I mumbled, trying to regain control over my intestines.

Harris gave me a devilish grin, then he got out of the car. Another wave of cheers took over him. He saluted everyone, raising one hand to wave as he closed the door behind himself. The contrast of the image was rather funny. He looked like a king among his subjects, a demonic king who was capable of beheading those who stepped over his word, as he had probably done with Joshua. Thinking about his upset my stomach again.

Tens of cars and tens of teens, all of them out of the ordinary.

He took a few steps in from of the car, the image of his back muscles rippling still maddening me, now more than ever, because I had missed every part of him. He looked utterly amazing under the neon lights. That black T-shirt perfectly molded over his abbs, as I could count the squares on it. Even if it was still dirty with blood, that didn’t take away from his attractiveness. Harris would probably look sexy covered in mud. Yes, he most certainly would.

His friends greeted him, Jay and Ty shaking his hand then brotherly hugging him, and V playfully punched his shoulder, then also gave him a hug. They were happy he got out okay. I was too.

I wondered if they hadn’t seen him at all today. Had he come straight for me after getting rid of the police?

He turned towards the car, better said: towards me, and the people around him noticed his move, figuring out that he wasn’t alone.

A naughty smile coated his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest, scolding me with his stare. Even if he couldn’t see me, he knew exactly where I was. His friends were growing suspicious, probably asking themselves what sort of specimen lay inside the demon’s car. Amber would have certainly been all over him by now.

I wasn’t going to play the queen and clearly didn’t want to risk being picked up and taken out of the car against my will, because he looked like that was what he was about to do.

A deep sigh left my lungs as I tried to calm down and I undid my seatbelt. My hand sat unsurely over the door’s opening mechanism. I pushed it more and flinched when I wanted to step out. From under Harris’ car came a strange light, neon green, just like the one on the dashboard. I hadn’t seen it before, and it made me smile.

I got out of the car.

A graveyard-like silence took over the space. Now I knew how an alien amongst humans felt. Harris was the only one smiling, as if he had analyzed the way I had looked while getting out of his car and he liked it.

I was still behind the door, unsure whether to close it or get back inside.

Harris lazily stepped towards me, grabbing the top side of the door as he pulled me next to him, then pushing it closed.

He took me into his arms and his gaze burned all the way through my core, my heart pounding faster in my chest.

“And now you’ll see what fun really means!”

He displayed that maddening smile of his and, in the next second, he gripped the back of my throat, pulling me closer to him and gluing his warm lips to mine, kneading them into a sensual yet wild kiss that stirred another wave of whistles and joy around us. I was entirely in his arms.

A clear warning couldn’t exist. I was with him, or… his , and everyone had to know it immediately.

I was starting to get used with him. I preferred to kiss him like that to avoid another fight, even if the feminist inside me scrunched her nose at this masculine show of domination.

Making a scene in front of everyone wouldn’t help. Plus, I couldn’t resist Harris’ lips anymore and I struggled not to wrap my arms around his neck, especially when his hands started caressing my back.

Eventually, he broke away from the kiss, that naughty smile still on his lips, and I could breathe again.

“Welcome to my world,” he whispered over my lips, and I slowly gulped, turning my eyes towards the crowd gathered around us.

His world wasn’t a place everyone could face. Not even I. I had spent the period of time amongst toxic outlaws, but not at this level. There were races and illegal circuits in New York as well, but I wasn’t part of the group who participated in them. I used to spend most of my time on street corners or vandalizing shops and fast foods. Harris’ world represented the high class of vandalism.

He took my hand and led me towards his group, and I was relieved to see that the show I was the star off had ended and everyone had gone back to their previous activity.

“Welcome to our group, blondie,” Jay greeted joyfully, putting an arm around my shoulder in a brotherly manner, then ruffling my hair.

I mumbled something while rearranging my hair, but I couldn’t hold in my laughter, especially when I saw Harris throw Jay a criminal glare. The guy turned small, faking innocence.

“Don’t hit me,” he pleaded, bending down, and raising his arms in surrender.

“Don’t hit?! You know I always hit,” Harris growled with macabre amusement and threw himself at Jay, staring a play fight.

Jay was shorter than Harris, and he tried to get out from underneath him and take him down, but his chances of achieving it were rather small.

I started laughing as I watched them. It was surprising and beautiful to see Harris like that, smiling happily and having fun, even if, no matter how hard he tried, something from his serious expression still remained imprinted on his face, making him seem terrifyingly attractive. My attention turned to a new figure, already known by now. Ken made his appearance with a tired smile plastered onto his face, with Ty’s arm around his neck.

“Our hero,” the redhead yelled out.

Ken seemed extremely embarrassed, and he tried to make Ty shut up.

Everyone applauded and, even if it reminded me of the incident from this morning, I did the same and decided it was time to talk to him. Ty brought him to me before I could go to him.

Harris was still play-fighting with Jay, but I noticed his smile when he saw Ken. Were they friends already?

“Hey, Kath, here’s your savior,” Ty spoke a bit too loudly.

Clearly, that beer can in his hand wasn’t his first. Ken gave him a desperate stare, almost as if begging him to stop.

“It’s nice to meet you in other circumstances, Kath,” he spoke with a smile, in perfect English, pushing his hand out to me.

“Nice to meet you too, Ken,” I shook his hand, “and thank you,” I added sincerely.

“I’m just glad I was there!”

I tried not remembering the moment and allowed myself to analyze him closer. He didn’t look that much like a K-drama actor, as Kristen kept portraying him. His features seemed rather sharp, scary even, and his hair was black and cut short. I could understand my friend’s fascination with him though, he exuded that danger that made girls get into trouble for.

As an answer to my thoughts, the source of my problems appeared behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He squeezed me, then picked me up and spun me around a few times.

He did that so easily that it made me laugh, his arms massive around me.

Harris sat me back down onto my feet and lowered his head onto my neck, kissing me quickly and passionately, as he hadn’t done in a long time.

“How are you, bro? Fitting in?” he spoke to Ken, who was still in front of me, with Ty’s hand still over his shoulders.

“Yeah, this place is really cool!”

“Well, consider yourself one of us from now on,” Harris encouraged, shaking his hand in a brother-like way.

Ken smiled, nodding.

“Okay, what did I miss?” I asked, confusion written all over my face. They were already bros?

They both laughed.

“We had time to get to know each other while we were arrested and we realized we have a lot in common, besides…” Harris turned me to face him, “he saved you.”

I gave him a gentle smile. I could feel how relieved he was, how grateful to Ken for being there at the right moment.

“How did you get out of there?” I asked, trying to take my mind off kidnappings and other disasters.

“Connections.”

Harris winked at me, and I raised an eyebrow, then remembered what Shane had said about his lawyers.

Suddenly, I jerked in his arms. A strong siren sounded between us, and Harris chuckled, holding me tighter to calm my nerves a little.

Jay howled like a wolf and disappeared into the crowd.

“Let’s set fire to the street,” Ty roared, and although I had no idea what that meant, I was eager to find out.

Harris laughed and let go of me, but not before kissing my neck one more time.

“I’ll see you in a few minutes. You’re my luck tonight,” he whispered in my ear.

I almost fainted.

He smiled like an irresistible devil, put an arm around Ken’s neck and pulled him away, disappearing along with the others. What the hell was he talking about?

He looked at V and shook his head in my direction. Of course, he asked her to keep an eye on me.

“How’s it going, girl? Feeling good among us?”

Her friendly face made me smile, and I nodded as she held out a can of beer to me.

I took it immediately. Thirst was burning in my throat, especially as I was also thirsty for something stronger, and I hoped that I would soon find a joint somewhere. I felt like I deserved it after the days I’d had.

“Yeah, I feel great,” I finally replied.

The beer slid down my throat cold, and the feeling caused goosebumps to form on my skin.

As I looked around, I seemed a little overdressed. All the girls here were provocatively sexy, their skirts way too short, which in turn gave the guys a prime view of their asses. Deep cleavages and high stilettos, each of them stole the show with their shiny style. Excessive makeup and behavior to match, and somehow, they all reminded me of Amber, the mere thought making me cringe inside.

My black T-shirt, ripped jeans, and combat boots were definitely out of place. The girls here were just like the cars: trinkets for the boys. I felt better when I saw that V’s outfit resembled mine and stood out with her signature color. She wasn’t an accessory here, and her attitude proved it.

“So you’ve decided to give this asshole another chance? I’ve never seen him as wild as in the last few days.”

I gulped down the beer and looked at her. I wanted details on that statement, and she smiled.

We walked through the crowd, and I was getting increasingly nervous because I couldn’t see Harris anywhere, but after we passed a few people, we reached a circle, and I could see him again. He was standing next to his car and three others, along with Jay, Ken, and another boy I didn’t know.

As soon as he noticed me, Harris gave me a dazzling smile that I’d never seen on him before. It was clear that he was in his element here.

“I’ve never seen him behave like this towards a girl. Harris has always been protective of his girlfriends because he’s very sensitive when it comes to… what happened to you. You’ll understand why later,” V spoke seriously as she looked at Harris, who was play-fighting the other boys.

I was struggling to figure out what they were up to.

“Thing is, I’ve never seen him so angry and so obsessed with protecting someone.”

I turned to her and swallowed. I’d already figured Harris was obsessed with protecting me.

“I know you are upset about Amber, but she and Harris haven’t been a real couple for a long time. She’s the obsessive one who won’t let him go. This final breakup wasn’t easy, believe me.” Her eyes widened as if she’d witnessed a lot of circus and crying.

“Would she really be capable of hurting herself?” I asked, remembering what Harris had told me.

V rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

“She’s a drama queen and totally insane. Yes, she probably would, but that’s none of your business. Harris wants you. He wants you in a way he’s never wanted any of the others before you, trust me, I’ve known him for a long time.”

I looked down at the floor and pressed my lips together, not knowing how to respond.

“What did she do before?” I continued because the thought was nagging at me. I really didn’t want Amber on my conscience.

V wrinkled her nose in disgust and took a sip of her drink.

“I have no idea; Harris didn’t tell us. Don’t think he took her to the garage too often, especially not after I messed up her face for about two weeks.”

I almost choked on my beer and started laughing.

“What?”

She grinned.

“She stepped on my tail, I was drunk and angry, and it’s easy to imagine the rest. She was lucky Harris heard her scream.”

“I would have paid to see that,” I laughed as she winked at me.

V was certainly one to win every fight, especially with another girl.

He shook her head toward Harris.

“You really got to him. It was so funny to see him so rabid, even if Jay didn’t particularly like it. Harris punches him every time he remembered that text.”

My eyes widened.

“So Jay really sent that text?”

V started laughing.

“Yeah. You probably already figured my boyfriend is a bit of clown, I don’t need to explain it to you.”

I laughed with her because the text message didn’t bother me anymore. It seemed like it had happened months ago, but it was nice to know Harris hadn’t lied about it.

V’s expression turned serious.

“Harris is a dangerous guy, Kath, and not just because he’s capable of killing someone with his bare hands without feeling guilty afterward. There will come a time when he asks you for things that will seem strange, but listen to him, for your own good. He’s already too obsessed with you and you with him for either of you to stop it now. So be careful how you proceed from now on.”

I looked at her, trying hard to keep my expression calm and not remember everything Shane had told me about Harris.

Not tonight.

Tonight I was going to relax, and tomorrow I would deal with Harris’s criminal side.

I turned my gaze to the boys, noticing a new guy was sitting next to them, as they all handed him a big wad of cash. What the hell was going on here?

“Ready for some fun?” V asked with a devilish grin.

“How much trouble am I getting myself into?” I sighed and watched as Harris and the others got into their cars. They all stopped behind a red line that had been spray-painted on the road.

“The bigger the better,” V laughed.

I laughed with her, finishing the can of beer to give myself some courage. Even though I didn’t realize what would happen and what part I would play in it. All I could do was stand there and watch Harris compete.

The boys got out of the cars and Jay ran like lightning towards V, picking her up and howling like a madman before shoving her into his car. She laughed gleefully and screamed along. The other guy took his girlfriend too, and Ken chose a girl from the crowd to join him.

Oh, no! NO!

I swallowed and took a few steps back when I saw Harris coming towards me, a devilish grin playing around his lips.

“Stop right there,” I warned, raising my index finger at him, “I’m not getting into this demon with you.”

“I’m the demon, baby,” he grinned devilishly before grabbing my hand and pulling me into his arms.

I threw the can on the floor.

“I told you, you’re my luck tonight!”

He grabbed my butt in his hands, and loud cheers rang out around us.

I noticed the girls, none of them were looking at me kindly, but all of them were highly interested in Harris. Jealousy came over me like a tsunami.

“Show me what you’re capable of,” I whispered over his lips.

He bit his bottom lip, then picked me up like I weighed nothing. He threw me over his shoulder, but not like Joshua had done today. He held me really high in his arms, his palms resting comfortably – and obviously – on my butt. I laughed and playfully punched his shoulder. That wasn’t such a good idea, because this time he sank his teeth into my butt cheek without warning. I screamed, and the others howled with me. Despite my jeans, those teeth bit into what they needed to.

He walked to his car while people continued to hoot enthusiastically. I growled when he bit me again.

“Stop it,” I scolded.

“Why? It’s mine,” he countered and immediately spanked my ass.

“Did you just say my ass is yours?”

He set me down next to his car.

“Oh, yeah,” he grinned, opening the door for me as I narrowed my eyes at him, “and I can’t wait to have a better taste later.”

He leaned close to my ear and my lips opened into an astonished ‘O’.

I think he groaned.

“Get in the car, baby, and stop opening your mouth like that. You’re clouding my judgment and I need to focus right now.”

My mouth opened wider, then quickly closed again. I stuck my tongue out at him like a child and then slid into my seat. He grinned at me again before closing the door.

He sat down in the driver’s seat, just like the other boys. Loud horns sounded in the noisy crowd, and I felt my heart pounding in my throat.

The engine started up as if it was connected to Harris’ brain. There was something absolutely demonic and mesmerizing about this car. The green lights played with the shadows on Harris’ perfect features.

Actually, he was the absolutely demonic and mesmerizing one, the car was just a dangerous toy in his hands.

He winked at me, then revved the engine. I couldn’t keep up with his actions, with the buttons he was pressing at the same time. I’d never seen him do anything like this before, so I obviously had no idea what his car was really capable of. I could have sworn the seat electrocuted me for a second as the engine vibrated again. Two screens switched on in front of me, and a larger one in the middle of the dashboard, between us. I couldn’t understand any of it, but I assumed that was how he was monitoring the whole car. He set something – he knew what – directly on these tablets, then turned around in his seat and faced the back of the car, where he opened the lid of some strange tanks. I’d seen those things in his room before, and I didn’t like seeing them in his car now.

He revved the engine again while the chair vibrated with me under its power. I felt like I was sitting on a monster that was just waking up.

“Put your seatbelt on!”

For the first time, he fastened his seatbelt too, and I did the same. He pulled two straps that formed an X across his chest and held him in his seat, then he did the same to me, pulling another strap from behind the chair and tightening it across my stomach.

My breathing quickened.

When he finished, he lifted his gaze to me, his face inches from mine.

“Are you ready to enter my world?” He whispered, and the depths of his eyes made me dizzy for a moment.

“Yes,” I replied, amazed at the determination in my own tone.

He smiled, his lips capturing mine in a pressed kiss.

As he retreated to his starting position, I licked my lips and savored his tingling taste. I had no idea what he had been drinking before, but it tickled my lips and tasted fantastic.

He smiled cheekily when he realized what I was doing.

The race was about to begin, but a silly thought crossed my mind. I struggled with the tight straps and leaned closer to him. His eyes followed me curiously, but I quickly glued my lips to his neck.

“For luck,” I whispered, then pressed a passionate kiss to his neck and slowly sucked on his warm, soft skin. It was no longer a secret that he loved that, and he responded to my action with a stifled moan of pleasure.

I slowly pulled back and lifted my gaze to him.

“That’s all I needed.”

His gaze made me melt between those straps. Sometimes he was more beautiful than I could bear.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a girl walking in front of the cars, dressed only in an outrageously short skirt and a bra.

I expected a flag, a scarf, something… but no, the woman unclasped her bra, and I seemed more interested in the show than Harris, as he was focused on the screens crowding his dashboard.

When he finished, his eyes bored into mine.

“Do you trust me?” he asked, sweetness and seriousness playing in his pupils.

“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

And I really did, which really shocked me.

“If it gets too much for you and you want me to stop, tell me. I promise I will.”

I blinked in surprise, that would have meant losing the race. I just nodded, trying not to think about how bad this whole thing was going to be, considering he’d warned me about it.

He gave me another smile, then turned his face forward.

I was the only one looking at the so-called starting line. Her bra straps slid down her arms, and Harris revved the engine.

The flimsy fabric fell, and I did not have time to catch a glimpse of her breasts as I was thrown against my seat, feeling like my ribs turned into cords and knotted inside me in less than a second.

Harris sped up so much that I felt my heart rise into my throat and my heartbeat vibrate on my tongue.

“Fuck,” I muttered the first thing that came to mind, which made him laugh.

I reminded myself that we weren’t alone in the race, but I couldn’t see the others. Harris had smoked them from the start, like a demon, literally.

I smiled without wanting to, but my face changed completely as the turns began. Harris turned in such a way that I felt dizzy, and the car almost spun on the spot. The brakes held up admirably while my heart skipped a few beats. Although the belts kept me perfectly still in my seat, I could feel them digging into my flesh with every turn.

The others appeared behind us.

Harris noticed them immediately, but he didn’t make a sound, he seemed more focused than I’d ever seen him, sexier than … oh, fuck , I needed to concentrate too.

I winced in fear as we entered the city, our car darting between the others, and I heard myself making strange, fear-induced sounds. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming and distracting him.

Ken was right behind us, or so I thought. When he got a little too close, Harris noticed him too.

“Asians and your fucking drifting,” he muttered through his teeth.

I had no idea what he was referring to because I was too busy trying to stop my heart from flying out of my chest. The speed continued to pick up, and I clutched the seatbelt, clenching my fists around it and trying to keep my eyes open. The race was between Ken and Harris before Jay caught up and first place kept changing between the three of them, through sudden and dangerous turns that brought me closer and closer to a heart attack.

The lights, buildings, and people resembled lightning as we passed them.

Our speed wasn’t the most dangerous factor, the cars around us were. The honking sounded like thunder and most of them swerved to avoid us and even drove into the opposite lane. I bit my tongue as we passed between an Audi and another car, inches away from both.

Jay, crazy as he was, moved into the opposite lane and was now in line with Harris. V’s window was rolled down and I could see them laughing as Jay seemed very proud of his move.

Harris rolled down his window too, but didn’t say anything, just pointed ahead.

We all followed his gaze at the same time. The wind hit my skin and swirled my hair around my face, blocking my scream.

Curses rang out as I flinched in shock.

A truck was coming straight at them, and Jay slammed on his brakes and got behind us seconds before his green car could be turned into a pile of scrap metal. Honks took over the streets.

I turned my head to make sure they were okay as Harris laughed and rolled up his window again. He sped off, immediately leaving them behind.

We headed for a traffic light.

A red light.

“Harris…” I began to murmur, glancing at the crowd crossing the street.

God, if he were to pass between them, he’d run them over like they were skittles.

I was repeating his name in a whisper when the car suddenly turned, and I screamed.

For a moment, I had the impression that we had collided with a building. The car climbed on something, which made me jump in my seat despite the seatbelts, and then there was nothing but darkness.

I looked around and realized that we were driving in an alley between two buildings, but the space was so narrow that not even a cat could have gotten past us.

“Harris… your luck is about to pee her pants,” I admitted.

He laughed.

Fucking asshole.

“There’s only one way you’ll let go tonight, but now is not the time.”

He looked at me, in the midst of the madness we were in, he found the time to wink, and I instinctively rubbed my thighs together. I didn’t want to think about why.

Don’t look at the mileage, don’t look at the mileage . I kept telling myself, so as not to make it any harder for myself.

The car swerved back onto the sidewalk and immediately onto the road, forcing other vehicles to brake. I had no idea what part of the city we were in, but I could see the Space Needle, and I winced. It was bigger than I had imagined, lit up and mesmerizing, almost like it was out of this world.

Harris turned right next to it, and I looked up, realizing only then that I hadn’t seen much of Seattle, let alone how spectacular it really was.

Everything sparkled around me as Harris accelerated and entered a storm of lights that looked like stars floating around us. Tall buildings, colors, people flying past us like faceless silhouettes, and our speed gave me the impression that nothing would ever catch up with us.

Lost in adrenaline and danger, I felt the purest sense of security, the most euphoric abandon.

I smiled in amazement, even though my heart continued to pound.

“Your world is fascinating,” I found the strength to whisper.

I didn’t think he would hear me, but he looked at me and smiled.

“You’re the fascinating one, Katherine,” he whispered back, letting go of the steering wheel to grab my hand for a few seconds.

I could feel my heart pounding in my temples.

“Ready to go invisible?”

I had no idea what that meant, but I knew it wasn’t the right time to ask, so I just nodded.

I caught a brief glimpse of his grin before everything went dark.

Everything.

I blinked in shock and waited for the car to stop, but I sensed it was moving at the same speed.

We were not downtown anymore, there weren’t as many lights and cars as there used to be, and at that moment I realized what Harris was doing.

That damn car was a black hole. He turned off all the lights inside and out and became invisible. You could barely see it during the day sometimes, I could only imagine what it looked like in the dark.

The demon.

I began to understand why they called him that.

I started laughing and then realized we were driving without headlights. Fucking shit!

I clung to the straps again and prayed that Harris knew the way, because I could barely see two feet ahead of us.

The others, who were always hot on his heels, lost him as soon as he became one with the shadows. I couldn’t see any of them, while Harris kept turning left and right, squeezing through various paths that I assumed were shortcuts.

“Here comes the fun part,” I heard his voice without being able to see anything.

He passed Ken, and judging by his sudden movement, I was sure the guy did not see him until the last second. It was as funny as it was scary.

“Another one?”

Before I could ask anything else, I noticed the lights coming from the railroad crossing ahead of us.

“Harris…” I mumbled, completely terrified, clutching the chair.

He switched on the lights, but that didn’t help, because I could only see my end approaching.

No! He wasn’t so crazy that he would….

He just smiled, and I saw the train coming towards us from the right. It would pass right in front of us, but Harris didn’t slow down.

His hands flew over the gadgets on the dashboard and I noticed some buttons on the steering wheel light up, then something roared behind us and the car vibrated.

I gulped as I saw the train approaching.

It to us and us to it.

There was no point in telling him to stop, he wouldn’t have listened.

“Hold on tight,” he advised, before pressing another damn button

Hold on to what? I wanted to scream, but I didn’t have the chance. A bomb seemed to explode beneath us. The car shook and then shot forward like a rocket. Harris gripped the steering wheel with both hands and glued himself to the seat. I imitated him because I was afraid I might lose my spine after this whole thing was over.

I screamed without being able to suppress it when I saw the train a few feet in front of us. We were about to jump in front of it.

How the hell were we going to get across the tracks?

My unspoken question was answered when I noticed the ramp in front of us, a few feet from the tracks. The train had already passed. There was no way to cross in front of it anymore.

“Harriiis!!!” I shouted again, clutching the seat belts.

He gripped the steering wheel tight, stepped on the gas and the car went flying. Not in the figurative sense: we were in the air. Not in front of the train, but above it.

My lungs were empty of air and nausea rose in my throat. I swallowed to hold it in, then involuntarily cried out again.

I had the impression that I was already playing with death, but I was very much mistaken. This, Harris…. was really playing with death. The explosive feeling of adrenaline was incomparable, the fear that froze your blood in your veins; I felt both in a combination that no drug had ever produced.

The car jumped over the locomotive and landed on the other side with a loud bang. The straps held me in place, but I could still feel them digging into my ribs. I opened my mouth because my teeth were threatening to break as my whole body shook.

I didn’t close my eyes, I saw everything and looked at Harris as he regained control of the car.

A smile formed around the corners of his mouth, as if what he had just done was no big deal. He turned to me and winked.

God, he was overwhelming.

We had jumped with the car over a moving train. I started scanning my body to make sure every piece was still there.

The crowd gathered in front of us, waiting for the winner. They probably took a shortcut to get ahead of us because we were no longer at the place we started from.

I looked behind and saw Ken’s car a few feet behind us, and Jay’s car much further away. The other guy was no longer there because he had probably given up the jump.

As Harris crossed the finish line, my heart was still searching for its usual rhythm. With a big grin, he suddenly slowed down and came to a stop in the middle of the crowd, then turned off the lights and gave them what they all wanted.

Everyone howled as the demon became invisible.

Harris laughed again and turned to me as he turned off the engine. I could barely make out his features, but I think he was smiling.

“They’re waiting for you to—”

His lips swallowed my words. I had no idea how he’d gotten to me so quickly, but I didn’t care. My heart was still pounding hard, and his kiss gave it the final push. Dozens of people surrounded us, and I knew none of them could see us, even though some had their faces glued to the windows.

Arousal instantly warmed my skin, caused by the sensation of the moment and the way I had the demon right in front of them, but no one could see it.

I ran my fingers through his hair and deepened the kiss. His groan passed through my lips and Harris pressed my hip into his palm.

We managed to pause before we did anything else, right there.

“Where have you been until now?” he whispered over my lips, and the emotional charge in his words made even my bones shake.

He said it like he’d been waiting an eternity.

I didn’t get a chance to reply in any way – I wouldn’t have known how anyway – because Jay opened the door and grabbed him by his arm to pull him out of the car.

I started laughing as he yanked him off me, then I was pulled out the same way by V, who immediately unclasped the seatbelts.

“For fuck’s sake, how are you still intact?”

She looked at me as if she expected to see my ghost, and I continued to laugh.

“So you expected me to reach the finish line in pieces?”

She laughed.

“No, I just know what it means to be in the passenger seat of that demon. I’ve only done it once and I’m pretty sure I vomited my guts up afterward.”

I laughed even louder. My nausea had faded, but I was still full of adrenaline. I almost rattled, and when I looked at Harris, he was already watching me, even if he was being mobbed by other people.

V leaned down and whispered devilishly in my ear,

“The only time Amber had the guts to get in the car, she made him stop at about six hundred feet. He didn’t really lose because he didn’t really compete, but it still pissed him off. He never took another girl in the car after that.”

I raised an eyebrow, then she put an arm around my shoulder and grinned.

“He’s going to eat you alive tonight, I hope you’re ready.”

I barely had time to widen my eyes at her words when I was torn away from her and heard her laughter. Harris grabbed me by the hips and lifted me above his head, and I was still thinking about how he was going to eat me when the guy who had the money before the bets came up to Harris, holding the entire sum in his hand.

“Give it to Ty,” he said simply, without looking at him, then lowered me until our faces were level. “You’re my prize,” he growled over my lips before kissing me savagely.

I wrapped my feet around him and ran my fingers through his hair. I had only been one step away from death, so I deserved my kiss.

The crowd roared around us.

“Congrats, champ,” I heard Ken behind us.

We broke away from each other smiling and I looked at him, but Harris wouldn’t let go of me.

“You too. For a rookie, you amazed me!”

Ken smiled.

“The jump shocked me, but the light thing fucking scared me, you disappeared in a second,” Ken spoke as he admired Harris’ car.

I turned my attention to my winner.

“So it seems I was your lucky charm after all,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Lucky is not the right word, it’s too simple. I’m not really interested in the win, but that you were right there with me until the end, that you resisted and… hell, you were mesmerized by it.”

He leaned over my neck, growled across my skin, bit me, then pressed a kiss to the bite. I thought it was an animalistic reaction, triggered by happiness and arousal, a gesture that radiated pure masculinity, which made me laugh.

I thought about what V had said to me, but the moment was ruined by the powerful sirens sounding all around.

“Fuck,” Harris growled, letting go of me.

It only took a second for him to shove me back into his car.

I barely had time to see the flashing lights before Harris sped through the crowd and disappeared.

I couldn’t suppress my laughter when all the lights went out. Everything, including all the switches on the dashboard, turned off. There was absolutely no drop of light left, and I imagined the cops trying to catch up with his car. They wouldn’t see it even if it was right in front of them.

Harris seemed to laugh at my amusement. It was the sweetest of sounds.

Jay, Ken, and Ty were right behind us. As soon as he made sure we weren’t being followed, Harris turned on the lights. The more he did that, the more mesmerizing he became.

The drive through the city was normal this time, but my heart was still pounding.

I knew we were in Harris’ neighborhood when I noticed the unkempt houses.

“Is it always like this?” I asked.

“Almost. I don’t understand why they bother when they know they have no chance of catching us,” He replied, a brief smile playing around his lips.

I thought of Shane, but I pushed him out of my mind.

I felt the phone vibrate in my pocket, as it had done so many times during the race, but I hadn’t been paying attention. I took it out of my pocket and an annoyingly large number of calls flashed up on my screen, all from my father. I didn’t want him to spoil my good mood. I was comfortable in Harris’ world and wanted to enjoy it, so I sent him a quick text saying I was fine and that he shouldn’t wait up for me. I didn’t even care if he grounded me again.

Harris pulled up in front of the house, and I finally got a better look at it from the outside. It looked like a huge garage, old and with a big metal door. It appeared to be abandoned. The perfect place for a teenager who liked danger and adrenaline.

A demon’s nest.

And I needed no clues to realize that I was the demon’s prey tonight. ***

The rest of the night was relaxed, despite the earlier experience.

Ty and Jay got extremely drunk.

I drank another can of beer, which gave me a slight buzz, but I was clear-headed. I was surprised that Harris hadn’t had any alcohol. He’d smoked a lot and had a puff or two from Jay’s bong, but no alcohol. In turn, he’d had about three cans of Monster, and his eyes were increasingly sparkling with energy. There was this voice in my head telling me that I wouldn’t sleep all night. The way he looked at me confirmed my thoughts. He looked at me as if… as if he was going to eat me. It was only a matter of time now.

The boys were in the living room playing some game on a fancy PS5 while V and I tried to finish the card game we had started earlier. The fight was now between the two of us. I had showered and had become sleepy as a result.

Their living room, or “game room” as Jay liked to call it, was a medium-sized space, filled to the brim with everything a teenager who loved games and movies would want. Half the room was taken up by a huge couch, about which V had made an obscene remark.

“It’s perfect for any position you can think of,” she’d said, and I was still thinking about it when Harris entered the room and threw himself onto the black sofa.

Oh God, have mercy on me.

He was barefoot, wearing those damn cargo pants that made my head spin ever since the beginning, and a clean T-shirt. He’d finally gotten rid of Joshua’s blood. He didn’t even bother to dry his hair, and when he ran his fingers through it and pulled it back, my hormones went crazy.

He lit a cigarette and turned his eyes to me. He looked at me in a certain way, as if tempting me to a slow and sweet death. The smoke wafted past his lips and out his nostrils, and I winced.

“You win.” I said to V, jumping to my feet as quickly as I could.

V protested behind me that I had given up the game, but I could resist no longer. She was the one who had put those images in my head, so she had no one to blame but herself.

I walked up to Harris, and he straightened himself, grabbed my hips and pulled me onto his lap before I could say a word. He released the cigarette from his lips and blew the smoke above us. My hands traveled up his neck as I leaned over him. The kiss sent a shockwave through both of us, and as we vibrated on the same frequency, I knew he felt the same way I did. He gave up the cigarette to grab my hips and pull me closer to him until my legs encircled his torso.

The game from the console boomed in the room. You could hear gunfire and fighting that seemed impossibly real, but I focused more on Harris’ sounds on my lips. His palms traveled down to my ass and he lifted me up to squeeze the flesh, driving me crazy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw V straddling Jay in the exact same way as he tried to look over her shoulder at the screen.

She gripped his jaw between her fingers.

“You think I’m going to sit there and watch those two while you play?” she snapped at him.

Jay turned his head toward Harris and me, and we started laughing. He looked at the screen, then at V’s cleavage, and decided his priorities were clear as he buried his face between her breasts. Ty and Ken complained that he was abandoning them in wartime

Harris was still laughing and rose to his feet with me in his arms. “Where are we going?” I whispered as we left the living room, immediately realizing we were going to his bedroom.

He dropped me back onto my feet, then closed the door. He said nothing, and I already knew that a silent Harris meant nothing but danger. The LED strip on the ceiling was on. My head fell back, I was mesmerized. The whole room was green. This bedroom had the same glow as his car.

Harris smiled as he pressed a button and the lights turned red.

“You plan on eating me tonight, aren’t you?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, barely a whisper, noticing how that color hugged his face. He looked devilish, beautiful, sexy… deadly.

The way he grinned as he approached me answered my question.

“You couldn’t have asked a better question,” he leaned over me and ran his fingers through his damp hair. “Remember when I told you I wanted to kiss every single inch of your skin?” he asked as the hormones in my body ran a marathon and I almost choked on my words, so I just nodded. “I’ll start with that.”

My skin vibrated, the familiar electricity setting my entire nervous system on fire, and I clung to his shoulders for support.

I wanted it! Fuck, I wanted it all! Everything that was in his head. Nothing could stop me anymore, nothing mattered, only him.

His hands found the hem of my T-shirt and crept underneath. He caressed my hips as his lips roamed over my neck. I could feel the menace in their gentle touch, I knew what was to follow. He was just being patient.

I whimpered and let my head fall back as his warm, calloused hands traveled up and reached my bra straps, then dropped again. I took matters into my own hands and bunched his t-shirt up on his chest, whereupon he lifted his arms and allowed me to take it off. I was unable to control my thoughts and my desires as my eyes committed every inch to memory, every muscle, every tattoo, and every piece of skin I wanted to sink my teeth into.

He was right. I was a pervert.

He placed two fingers under my chin and pushed it up until my eyes met his. I could read the playfulness in them.

“Are you finished?” I knew what he was asking, it was obvious, and I grinned shamelessly.

“Not even close.” I replied as he grabbed the hem of my t-shirt and pushed it up.

“My turn.”

Ah, that voice. Thick, raspy, so damn erotic, I couldn’t quite describe it, but I knew he could bring me to the brink of ecstasy just with his voice. I lifted my arms so he could take off my T-shirt. Goosebumps covered my skin as my damp hair fell cold and heavy around my face and down my back.

Then he began his sweet torture.

A madness so pure that made every hair on my body stand up. With his fingertips he traced a path across my abdomen, around my breasts. Too slow, far too slow. I clenched my fists and curled my toes. His eyes left nothing out, even though it wasn’t the first time he’d seen me in such an intimate way.

“Harris,” I whimpered as the last ounce of restraint in my body began to fade. I wanted to lunge at him.

He didn’t look at me, but he smiled, knowing full well what he was doing.

My hormones did a happy dance when he reached the zipper of my jeans.

Almost, just a little while longer.

Agony and ecstasy.

He came closer as his palms moved around me, under the fabric, pushing it down slightly until my buttocks rested in his hands. He gritted his teeth and bit my lip, but he didn’t kiss me. It was becoming increasingly clear that I couldn’t survive this night and stay lucid, not after Harris dropped to his knees and pulled my pants down. I hurriedly took off my sneakers and tried not to think about his face being so close to my private parts, which were only covered by a skimpy thong. My underwear was black. Had I been inspired today? Did I know I would end up here? With Harris’s lips spreading kisses across my abdomen, with his hands squeezing my thighs and pulling me closer to him?

I clung to his shoulders as his deep moans vibrated through me. The way he touched me and the way he looked at me made my knees weak. I was on the verge of coming when he straightened up.

“Fuck, you’re…” He exhaled over my lips and pulled me closer to him, pressing me against him. I whimpered when I felt his erection.

He did not manage to tell me what I was, savagery took possession of him as he finally rushed over to me. His mouth reached for mine, and it felt like he was trying to suck the soul out of me, through my lips. Before I had a moment to gather my thoughts, he leaned down and grabbed my thighs, lifting me up and making me wrap my legs around his waist. I was wrapped around him.

We had been in this exact position many times before, and although I was no longer a stranger to his body, I knew this time would be different. I didn’t feel the need to stop him anymore, I didn’t want to stop him, and he knew it. He would take us to the finish line.

I felt dizzy as Harris leaned over the mattress with me underneath him. I could tell by the way he kissed me that he wasn’t going to take it easy on me, not after waiting so many days. He confused my thoughts even more as his lips left mine and descended to my neck, making good on his damn promise to kiss every inch of me.

But he didn’t just kiss. That would have been too easy. His teeth played an important role, as did his tongue, and his hands wandered over the most dangerous places. He spread my legs as his lips reached my abdomen, and I couldn’t stop my back from arching and my head from burying itself in the pillow. A wave of heat spread through me, the need to feel him inside me becoming more and more painful, increasingly electrifying.

All those feelings were new to me.

My toes curled again, and I could no longer hold back the moans and whimpers that his touch evoked. When his fingers slipped under the elastic of my panties, I bit my tongue and closed my eyes. His mouth moved back up to my breasts, but he was still playing and hadn’t taken my bra off yet. He left bites along the cups, just to tease me even more, and I could feel them swelling and becoming painfully heavy. I arched my back again as his fingers reached deeper and hovered over my opening.

“You wouldn’t tell me then; you let me go crazy next to you.”

I knew what he was talking about. The first time he’d driven me to school, and I’d admitted that the sight of his fingers made me shudder.

“I want to hear it, with every detail you kept to yourself then. Tell me where you wanted my fingers.”

Without thinking, I replied:

“Inside me,” I opened my eyes so he could see the burning desire inside me.

I wanted his fingers inside me. I had managed to hold back then, but now I would go crazy if I didn’t feel them. He cursed quietly to himself and exhaled over my breasts, making me even wetter. I bit my lips until I could feel the skin peeling away.

“Harris, please…” I moaned, not sure what I was begging for, but I couldn’t bear the feeling of his fingers stroking and playing with my skin so tenderly, turning my mind to dust.

“If only you’d have told me then…”

My body jerked violently, and my back arched as far as it could as one deliciously long finger slid inside me. It wasn’t brutal, but it burst the bubble of electricity that had formed in the wake of his teasing. I had waited too long, I had imagined it too many ways, but my imagination had nothing to do with reality. The moan that escaped my lips was one I had never heard from my own lips before. Ecstasy flooded me so fast it shook my mind, shattering my sanity, and I pushed my hips down on it. Harris groaned over my skin and buried his finger deeper.

The burning sensation was unexpected though.

He paused and lifted his head to look at me. I saw a frown forming on his forehead as his eyes scanned mine. I didn’t need to ask, I already knew what he was thinking.

To confirm his hypothesis, he forced my limits and slipped a second finger inside me. My breathing became heavy, and I writhed on the mattress. I kept whispering his name and tugging at the sheets because now it hurt.

“Holly fuck,” he gasped in shock and withdrew his fingers.

I couldn’t stand still. It hurt, but I didn’t want him to stop. He leaned over me until his lips hovered over mine.

“Did you forget something important, baby?”

I swallowed as I rubbed my feet together. I wanted his fingers back. I’d been dreaming about them for too long. Talk of virginity wasn’t something I was interested in.

“It’s not something you just blurt out.”

He looked at me for a long time, too long for the situation we were in. I would have sold my hormones to know what he was thinking. He sighed and pressed his forehead to mine.

“That’s not a good reaction,” I added, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“But it is, baby. You have no idea how good.”

I remembered what Kristen had told me about Harris and virgins, because I had completely forgotten. However, he had never asked about it since we met.

“We haven’t talked about it because I don’t want you to think it makes a difference in how I look at you, but now I have to know. I need to know.Without warning, he cupped me possessively, rekindling the flames that had died down.

“Have you ever been touched by a man?”

I pinched my lower lip between my teeth and shook my head in denial.

He almost choked.

“Not even like this?” He moved his fingers aimlessly under my underwear and I shook my head again. His touch was so delicate, but it still drove me crazy. His eyes looked at me like I’d told him I was an angel in a past life, the moment was awkward and funny at the same time.

“Fuck, baby.”

“I know, considering how I have thrown myself at you so far, it seems impossible, but I’ve been… busy. I had no time for relationships, there’s only been one that ended quickly and messily, with no touches like this, and then I dedicated myself to…”

“Dancing?” he asked as I shrugged my shoulders. I knew he had studied me and my accomplishments very well.

I nodded, and since the moment had gone to hell, I sat up on the bed and he slowly removed his fingers. I was still fully immersed in the unpleasant memory when Harris set me on fire again as those fingers, he had inside me ended up in his mouth.

He sucked on them in the most decadent way and groaned.

“When I first saw you, I didn’t know if you were a human or a goddess. You’re probably a mixture of both. If that part of mythology is true and gods really did impregnate mortals, you’re a child born from such a union.”

I blinked in shock for a while. It was the first time I had ever heard him talk like that.

“Trust me, there’s nothing divine about my parents.”

He reached over and stroked my cheek.

“Then you’re the goddess,” he moved closer until our lips touched. “Perfect like I never dared to dream,” he stole my words with a kiss, then grabbed my thighs and pulled me to him until I straddled him. “Mine!”

His mouth crashed down on mine as words lost their purpose. He took me by force, not bothering to tease me again. My back touched the mattress, and he climbed on top of me, then something snapped at my hip. All I could see was his hand removing the scrap of fabric from me. He managed to rip my underwear off with one hand.

I was exposed far too quickly, but he didn’t give me time to think about it, not when his hand cupped me again and blew my thoughts away. I writhed beneath him and moaned into his mouth.

“That’s it, baby. So responsive…”

He pushed his finger into me again, and the answer he was waiting for came immediately as I gripped his hair in my fist and bit his lips.

He reached his other hand out to me and I wrapped my lips around his index finger, sucking and biting into it as I moved my hips uncontrollably, because Harris stroked nerves that seemed to be directly connected to my brain. With one finger, he controlled my entire body and mind. My moans mingled with my whimpers, and I grabbed his shoulders when I couldn’t hold them back any longer.

He pushed, teased, and burned right into the center of my being. He drew maddening circles, dominating the part of me that had never yet belonged to anyone, not even me.

His body mimicked the movements of penetration as he took his hand from my mouth and gripped his member. He trembled with need, and I could have sworn he gritted his teeth.

“Fucking hell…” he gasped, lowering himself over my body.

I blinked, still disoriented as I lifted my head. Harris was already between my legs, and I slapped a hand over my mouth at the last second, but my scream was still audible.

He attacked with his lips, teeth and tongue, seemingly all at the same time.

I could no longer suppress anything, everything was too intense, too intoxicating, as if my own body was collapsing under the blinding pleasure he was inflicting on me.

I sat up and gripped Harris’ hair tighter as his head was buried completely between my legs, and I was unable to describe what he was doing. All I knew was that he was about to leave me breathless.

Instinctively, I wanted to close my legs, but he grinned like a devil and looked up at me, then gripped my hips and pulled me closer.

His tongue pushed inside me and I cried out, pulling at his hair until I managed to yank his head away from me.

He sat up and I kissed him, my lips crashing against his with all the fierceness I was feeling, for the electric current vibrating inside me had to be quelled or I would have exploded like a nuclear bomb.

Harris smiled over my lips, seemingly amused.

“You okay, baby?” he asked when he finally broke away from me.

“No… yeah… fuck, it’s…”

“Too much?” he added when it was clear my lucidity was fading.

I nodded frantically.

“Shh, relax,” he whispered over my skin. “I’ll take it easier on you.”

I could still sense amusement in his voice, but also pleasure.

“I have waited too long for you. I have craved you for so long, I could take a bite of you now.”

“You did bite,” I sighed with pleasure as his palm massaged me tenderly.

His erotic smile vibrated in my veins.

“Yes, I did, and I’m far from being satiated by your taste.”

I wiped my sweaty forehead and tried controlling the sensations running through me. He was certainly more tender now as my body could still feel the heated aftermath of his earlier attack. I never thought pleasure could become so strong, bordering on unbearable.

“Since you’ve stopped me, I want to see something now. Something that’s been driving me crazy.”

I didn’t understand him until he flipped me onto my stomach. I didn’t stand a chance against him, so I just snorted into the pillow before I heard one of the strongest moans Harris let out.

I looked over my shoulder to see him grab my ass with his palms and sink his teeth into my buttock. I turned my head and screamed into the pillow.

“You know how long I wanted to do that for?

I looked at him curiously.

“Since the first time I saw you. You were on the grass, and you bent over to get the water bottle. I swore to myself that I would sink everything I have into this ass.”

My eyes widened, then I burst out laughing.

“You started with your teeth. Dare I ask what else you are going to sink?”

His grin clearly answered the question.

It was strange that for a so-called virgin, I wasn’t at all ashamed to be standing in front of him like this, while his tongue leisurely licked over my buttocks. I’d stopped being a virgin from the first moment Harris had pinned me against the wall and walked all over my purity with his boots, leaving nothing but a kinky, horny beast in his wake, as he’d called me.

He squeezed the flesh in his palms, and I couldn’t suppress my reactions, not that I tried too hard.

Finally, I felt free. Free to take whatever I wanted from him and offer him everything I had, because the toxicity I’d felt at the beginning had long since faded. I sensed that he was just as honest as I was, and we were going to give each other a real chance this time.

His teeth dug into my skin again, deeper. He moaned, I screamed. The temperature continued to rise. He took a marker from his desk and wrote something on my ass.

I propped myself up on my elbows to see what he was doing and started laughing.

He had written “MINE” on my right buttock, along with his famous “S” a little lower.

I couldn’t help but tease him about it.

“Just the right one? You’re leaving the left one to me?”

He frowned, and it didn’t take more than three seconds for him to do the same with my left.

“You’re laughing now, baby, because when I’ll get inside here, you’re going to scream as loud as your lungs will allow.”

He thrust himself insinuatingly into my ass, my laughter dying as I swallowed my words, for the threat was as real as could be.

And hard .

He rolled his hips again, and we both groaned. He reached his hand between us to undo his jeans. I had hoped he would take them off, but he only unzipped them.

What was happening inside his jeans seemed painful, but I didn’t dare make a sound.

He unclasped my bra, and the straps fell down my arms.

I whimpered slowly as his palm crept gently under me and gripped my breast, squeezing it maddeningly slow as he sighed with pleasure. He lay on top of me, propping his weight on one elbow, and I pushed my hips up to be closer to him, his moan vibrating on my spine.

“Fuck, baby, if you do that again…”

“I know what’s going to happen. What are you waiting for?”

He muttered some curses into my hair as he kneaded my breast. I had no idea what he was up to, but I had felt the change in him when he found out I was still a virgin. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing, but I was about to find out.

“You stopped me when I only had my mouth on you, can you imagine what it would be like if I was inside you like this?”

I felt brave and thrust my ass into him again. His whole body stiffened and tensed over me as he gasped into my hair.

“I want it again. I want more,” I admitted shamelessly, while even my marrow boiled inside me and I found it harder and harder to stop.

“No…”

I stopped his words and repeated the motion, curious to see how long he could resist me.

Not even a second.

He sat up and flipped me onto my back again, his mouth crushing mine. I reached my hand between us into those damn pants and tried to push them down when he’d stopped resisting me, but a knock on the door made us both stop suddenly.

We turned our heads towards the door simultaneously. It was impossible for both of us to have imagined it.

“Harriiiiis!”

It was Jay, shouting as loud as he could, obviously drunk out of his mind.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he gritted his teeth, and I could have sworn that even his penis was vibrating with rage. “Go the fuck away,” he yelled at the door.

“No! Everyone is asleep and I have no one to play with. Come out!”

Clearly, spikey boy had forgotten all about my presence here, or he was too drunk to remember.

“Jay, go the fuck away or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

His voice had changed, and I was clearly demented, because I really liked his anger combined with arousal.

“No! What are you doing in there?”

I immediately sensed the danger.

“Is the door locked?” I asked in a whisper.

Harris looked at me for a second before standing up faster than I would have thought humanly possible. I was completely exposed and quickly pulled the sheet over me as Harris walked to the door and stepped out of the room.

I heard a bang before any word, then a strangled cry of pain.

“What’s gotten into you, man?” Jay shouted and I couldn’t suppress my giggles.

I heard no reply from Harris, just a menacing growl.

I stretched out like a cat over his mattress; his sheets smelled the same as last time.

Tobacco and his perfume.

I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, just Jay shouting:

“Sorry, Katherine!”

He remembered me, in a painful way I’m sure. I didn’t answer him, but I laughed.

Harris still seemed angry when he came back, but still hard. I raised an eyebrow, impressed.

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, then bent down to pull the sheet off me. I didn’t let it slide over my breasts and he smiled as he mainly looked between my legs.

I realized immediately that a devilish idea crossed his mind. I was finding it easier and easier to see through him.

“Harris…”

I narrowed my eyes but didn’t manage to do anything else. He leaned down, grabbed my hips and pulled me to the edge of the mattress before picking me into his arms.

I began to struggle against him when I saw him heading for the door.

“What in God’s name are you doing?”

“I’m giving you more,” he smiled, and that was the only answer I got before he walked out of the room with me.

Completely naked.