Broken (Reapers Reign, #1) Page 5

  “Uh, you mean Tammy, right? Because last time I checked, that was her name.” Why and how did they have that? Last I saw it was with Tammy in the locker room.

  “Yeah, ok Sarah-Jane, keep your hair on. She asked for it to be refilled.” Mmmm I think, not really caring and not one bit interested in being near these two a second longer.

  “Fine,” I nod snatching it from his slimy hand.

  “It’s cognac,” they say, “the same as before,” laughing to each other and then sending me a wink. As I walk away, I can feel Dan behind me. I spin on my heels, my face set with my best ‘get stuffed’ glare. I tell him to back the hell off. He grabs my arm again. Goddamn, this song-and-dance is getting old! He snatches out, grabbing my arm in a vice like grip, and whispers in my ear “This isn’t over sweetheart. I always get what I want.” God, he makes my skin crawl. I pull my hand free and stamp on his foot before walking away. I hear him calling out behind me, “Make sure you drink up Sarah-Jane, it’s just what you need to chill the fuck out”. Unfazed by him and his comments and feeling the effects of the drink from earlier and the new surge of power I have, I flip him the bird over my shoulder, smiling to myself. Ooooh girl, you’re fierce.

  I head towards the girls. Tammy jogs over, takes the flask and then sends a smile and a kiss to Clarke, I imagine. I’m shaking in my skin. This girl is truly blind to the fact that those boys are slimy douchebags, who just want to get their end away and don’t care how they do it. Tammy takes a sip and then I take another long pull on the flask. After having to deal with Lord Dick, I so need it! She waves them good-bye and tells me she is going to get the girls prepped with a cheer chant. I smile and roll my eyes. There is nothing I can say without laughing at her, so I reply, “I’ll be here after the game.”

  She leans in and gives me a hug. “Hold onto the cognac and make sure you save me some.” With that, she turns and skips away in true Tammy style. I shake my head and turn to find my seat in the bleachers, and boom! Just like a flash of lightning, there he is, all walking God and standing right in front of me. Holy jeepers! Talk about taking my breath away. I feel dizzy. I’m sure it’s him and not the cognac. I feel a flush grace my cheeks and butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach. God, I’m so worried that if I try to speak, those little suckers are going to fly right out! He sure makes me feel a whole lot of nervous and excited all at the same time.

  We stand there, just staring at each other for what feels like an eternity. There seems to be so much space between us, but then not nearly enough. I go to take a step toward him, my heart pounding so loud I’m sure he can hear it. This man is so electrifying, if anyone was to walk between us at this moment they would definitely get a shock. We seem to be in our own bubble of intoxicating lust, want, and need. So many questions floating unspoken between us. There is an earth-shifting pull between us. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach and between my legs. I have an intense, irrational, undying need to touch this man, to feel him, to see if he is real, if he is alive. I want to absorb this man and let him seep into my soul.

  As I step forward, I stumble, a little tipsy and lightheaded. I feel giddy just being in such close proximity to him. Good God, I’m a mess! I feel his arm come around my waist to catch me. Spinning on his heel and flicking me out in a small circle as he pulls me into him. That rock-hard chest presses up against my back and his front hits my butt. Ooh good lord, I feel his bulge against me. If that is what he’s working with, then heck. Holy sweet lord, he smells delicious, like night time rain and musk. He keeps his grip tight around my waist and where he is touching me feels hot like fire licking my skin. I try to turn and he catches on turning me in his arms, linking his fingers on the base of my back, resting there like they belong. I look up and see his eyebrows are knitted together. He is watching me, his eyes boring into my soul. He has such a pained look on his face. I wonder what that is about. But before I can say anything, the spell is broken. The bubble popped between us by his mate, Jamie, I think. I feel dazed and unsteady on my feet. I’m not sure if it’s the captivating Mr. Ambrose, the fire in my ovaries or the cognac. Either way, I need to sit down.

  “Let’s go, dude,” says Jamie. “It’s time to grab our drinks and sit down to enjoy a night of hot cheerleaders dancing round in next to nothing.” He flicks a cheesy grin my way. Knox looks at me and for the first time speaks.

  “Hey, are you going to be ok?” As he lets his grip round my waist loosen, he brings up his hand pushing a curl of long blonde hair from my face. I gain my balance and gently shake my head to relieve some of the fuzziness. To no avail though. I bring my feet down level. For some reason, I was standing on my tippy toes.

  “Um yeah, sure,” I reply. “Thank you for grabbing me.” Oh, god is that all you got Sarah, internally beating myself up for being twenty shades of not cool.

  He looks at me with a seriously sexy smirk. “No problem, you seem to like throwing yourself at me, don’t you?” He says it like it’s a question mixed with a statement.

  Heck My cheeks redden! I only manage to mumble “you could say that.”

  For the love of God, Sarah, really? He winks at me, “Laters baby.” And just like that, he’s gone. With his smell floating around me, my senses are on hyper alert, his “Laters baby” just chilling in the space between us, all I can do is blink and grin. It’s a cheek hurting grin too. Right. I head to my seat in the front row and turn to see him looking at me over his shoulder. How can that man be so hot and calm all at the same time? I feel so stupid, right now. How could I stuff that up so bad? I didn’t even say who I was. I just stood there, all dazed and confused like a love-struck school girl. I take a swig from the flask and settle into the game, while I silently berate myself for how I acted with him.

  As the game goes on, I begin to feel strange. It could be the drink, but I have been drunk before and this feeling is different in some weird way. It’s all fuzz and buzz rolled into one ball of dizzy, heavy, and not quite right. I can’t seem to shake it loose. I’ll give the cognac a rest, I think.

  Knox

  She’s so mesmerizing; the way her honey blonde hair falls in soft curls around her like a golden halo. I find her so enchanting and the way she smells is intoxicating. The way her body felt under my touch was exhilarating. Having her back pressed up against my chest, her ass fit perfectly in my crotch and by god, didn’t my little friend react to being that close. It had my heart and mind doing all types of weird things. She certainly has a way to pull me in. I can’t deny that there was an intense, magnetic spark between us. My palms feel hot where I’d touch her. It feels like fire and ice, a bit of a burn and a bit cool at the same time. Damn Jamie for breaking the trance. I kind of liked it there and would have liked to have seen where it went. Feeling her body under my touch has me itching for more. Seeing her shoot Dan down and smart mouth both him and Clarke, that made me chuckle. I like nothing more than strong women and this one, from what I see, is right up my alley. When I was watching them, though, I did sense something weird between them, the guys mainly. It seemed that they had a plan and whatever was in that flask had something to do with it. She did seem off, a bit fuzzy. I’m going to keep a close eye on her, just to make sure. Grabbing my beers and chips, I head back to the bleachers. I pass her and she tries not to smile as she looks at me walk by. Smirking, I nod my head at her as she turns scarlet red. Oh, the fun we could have, darling. I’ll make you red; all over.

  Throughout the game, I watch her like a hawk. I can’t get enough of the way she moves, the way she flicks her hair when it falls across her face from the breeze. This girl is so breath-taking. I really want to just take her away from here and ravage her bones, to touch her, feel her, and taste her. I have the undying need to hear that sweet thing scream my name. She’s so consuming, I want nothing more than to destroy her and each time she moves she’ll know that I have been there, for the next week. That thought alone brings a smirk to my lips. Shit, I sound like Jamie and the boys, and for some reason, I don�
��t think I’m the only one thinking that either. At least one of those two jocks from the dick squad has the same idea about her and Tammy. Well, over my dead body, he will come anywhere near Sarah-Jane, not while I’m here at least. I want her. She has taken my interest, consumed my thoughts and haunted my dreams. That girl is going to be mine. She won’t know what has happened to her soul by the time I’m done with her.

  While the game winds up, my thoughts travel to how I’m going to get her away from Tammy tonight. I don’t have to worry about jock one and jock two, I’m sure if I said ‘boo’ they may just piss their pants. They like to think that they are tough, but I’m sure I can take them. Then I remember what Pa always says: “don’t judge a book by its cover boy; you never know what’s under there. His fight just may be more than what you have.”

  Tammy, on the other hand, will not let me near her quite so easily and that is going to need a plan. We all know by now how girls stick together, but if Sarah-Jane feels half as much as I think she does about us, then I’m sure she’ll calm down her pit-bull of a friend so we can figure this all out. I’m quite looking forward to that. I’ll take her away from the party tonight and see just how much of her I can get to know, see just how much of a good girl she really is.

  A flicker in the corner of my eye breaks my train of thought. It’s Sarah-Jane, she’s leaving the bleachers. As she starts to walk down, she stumbles a bit. I feel a dire need to go to her, pick her up and carry her away. She sits back down. I look at Jamie as she places her head in her hands. “Brother, I’ll meet you down there. Aye. I’m just going to talk with Sarah-Jane.”

  I glare at him when he whistles out, “All good brother. I’ll catch you down there.” He winks at me.

  I get up and head down to where she is sitting. Stepping down onto the final bleacher, I push past the crowd and park my ass right next to her, my hand sitting down on top of hers and boom, like lightening, that heat is there. Startled, she snaps her head up from her hands and looks at me through hazy eyes.

  “Hey, you,” I say causally as I look into her eyes.

  “Hey,” is all she says in response. She looks away, breaking the intense current swirling around us. She pulls her hand free and runs her fingers through her hair.

  “You ok, Babes?” I feel concern seeping out as I notice that she is off, she seems different and not in a good way either.

  “Yep. I’m just feeling a bit off. Think it could be like fromlack of food maybe, or water.” She tells me as she places her hand down over her tummy.

  “Stay here ok, I’ll be back.” Before she can say anything, I jump down from the bleaches and head to the hot food truck. Once there, I grab us both a bottle of water and a hot dog, along with some chips. As I pay, I keep one eye on her and one on what I’m doing.

  Heading back her eyes find mine and a smile rests over her delicate features, “You didn’t have to,” she says gratefully, taking the water and food.

  “I know, but I did. Eat up, Babes,” winking at her, I settle in, munching back the hot dog. There is nothing like game food to get ya taste buds tingling. I’m going to need to do ten extra sit up for this one tomorrow. Watching the game as I finish my food, I see she-devil herself looking up at us. Wrapping my hand around her shoulders, I pull her in, “Better Babes?”

  She turns into me, slightly jerky, “Better. Thank you.”

  Tisking at her, I smile, “No thanks needed Babes, I needed a reason to get near you again and to stay.” On cue, cheeks redden and she giggles. What a sweet sound that is. “I’ve seen you around with team prissy,” I say.

  She looks up at me through her lashes, “Yes, well it’s the group I fit into.”

  Shaking my head at her, I tell her what I think, “Looks like you try hard not to, Babes.” I take a large swig from my water and watch her curiously as she mulls it over.

  The final whistle blows as she looks at me, “Well, I try hard to keep up appearances.”

  I tilt my head to the side and look deep into her hazy eyes, “Don’t ever feel like you need to fit in, Babes, just to be someone you’re not.”

  She tries to stand once more but wobbles again, flicking her hands out to stable herself. I grab her hand, standing up to support her. “Sorry,” she says, like she has something to be sorry for.

  “Don’t sweat it Babes. As long as you’re alright?” I ask, concerned again, stepping to the side as she walks forward.

  “I’m fine. I have to go wait for Tammy. Thank you for the water and food.”

  “No problem,” She steps from the bleaches and heads over to the edge of the changing rooms I just sit here and watch her for a bit.

  Jamie and the boys are heading down to meet up with their cheerleaders for the night. I’m thinking I may ask her if she’s going to the party and if she wants to ride with us. Once there, we’ll ditch the boy and Tammy and take off somewhere else. I grab Kash and go to make that plan a reality. Before I can get to her though, Tammy and the jocks reach her. Tammy’s arm in arm with her man-child, and they all walk up to Sarah-Jane. As they walk away, Dan goes to put his damn arm around her. I stiffen, just as she tries to shake him off. She looks as though she may lose her balance and fall. She’s still rather wobbly on her feet, just like before when she started to leave the bleachers. I watch Dan take the flask and hear him say, “Have you been drinking this?”

  She nods and he says, “Good girl.” He passes it to Clarke, who gives him a wink and passes it to Tammy.

  I ball my fists and say to Kash, “Bro, did you see that?”

  “See what? Them passing a drink? Yeah, why, what’s up?”

  I stalk over to them, Kash right behind me. When I reach them, Sarah-Jane is pushing Dan back, saying, “Dude, get off me! Why do you always need to touch me?”

  I spin his hands off from around her. He flicks round, “What the fuck bro?”

  “She’s told you to back up, so best you back up, don’t you think?”

  Tammy and Clarke stop, watching to see what the fuss is about.

  “What’s up?” Tammy asks. “Get lost. Knox. She’s fine, aren’t you Sarah-Jane?”

  “I’m not asking for your two cents, Tammy. If you were any kind of friend you would see she isn’t into this jerk and whatever it is he’s been giving her.” I’m shaking as I pull him in by his football top.

  “Oh, don’t be a hero dude,” chimes in Clarke. “How would you know what she wants and likes? You aren’t one of us, so piss off.”

  My knuckles are turning white and I can feel the throb of a vein popping in my neck. I ball my fist, take a step back, while still holding Dan by the scruff of his neck and go to punch this muppet right between the eyes, then I’ll crack Clarke the douche too. Kash grabs my arm, pulls me back, and quietly says in my ear, “Hey, it isn’t worth it, bro. Remember Pa said if you get in trouble for fighting outside the cage one more time, it’s over for you. Don’t do that, leave them.”

  I take a deep breath. I know he’s right and God, that’s so hard to take in. I look past them to Sarah-Jane and ask her if she’s ok and if she wants me to take her home. She looks stunned. It takes her a little while to answer me. When she does, her speech is a little slurred. She finally gets out a, “I’m ok, thank you. But come to the party, I’ll be there.”

  I drop the muppet on his ass and she flicks me a smile over her shoulder, as Tammy pulls her away. I spin around to Kash and spit, “Let’s go and find the boys, we need to get to that party and fast. Something doesn’t sit right. There is something up with those guys and that drink is not just alcohol.”

  “Yeah, ok man,” nods Kash. “Let’s roll.”

  Sarah-Jane

  Dan is such a pain. Why doesn’t he get that I’m just not into him. He makes my skin crawl! The way he hangs onto me, God, I am not a damn coat rack!

  Having Knox come to my rescue was pretty damn amazing, though. That man is freaking hot! I’m feeling really good right now, a bit too fuzzy if I am being honest, though. I’ll do water for a
bit, I think. I grab another bottle from the concession stand on our way out the gate. Clarke has such a joke car, convertible, go figure. Tammy loves it; me, not so much. I do not like being this close to Dan. He makes me feel like I’m struggling for air. The wind in my face and whisking through my hair is a welcome comfort; it helps with this Goddamn fog that has taken over my body without my consent.

  Driving out of town over to the school frat houses I think to how sweet Knox was tonight, getting me water and food. My stomach stills feels off like it’s a damn rollercoaster and any moment I will be sick. I wish I could talk to Tammy about it but with her swigging on the flask for dear life and sitting up front, it’s a bit hard. I know for sure at the party I won’t either. Pulling into the drive way and parking out front. I relish in the fresh air hiting my face as I step from the back seat. My skin is clamy and gross. Walking up the front steps of the house where the great jock squad is housed the smell hits me and my stomach coils. It’s a Mess and it stinks filled with booze and stale smoke. I need to find a bathroom and fast before I lose what little is in my stomach all over the stained and off yellow carpet.

  I find a bathroom upstairs and down the end of the dimly lit hallway. I open the door and lock it behind me, looking in the mirror, I’m shocked at what I see. My eyes are glassy looking. My skin looks and feels pale and sticky, with a sheen of sweat. I feel it trickle down my back as my legs begin to feel like jelly. My head is spinning. I turn on the tap and scoop up cold water to splash on my face, in a feeble attempt to wash this feeling away. What the hell has gotten into me? What the fuck was in that drink? Cognac shouldn’t be this intense. Before I know it my mouth waters and my stomach lurches up, as vomit comes out, not only my mouth but my nose. Great, all my contents have come out mixed with tonight’s food. Using my finger, I have to push and swirl it down the plug hole, running the water to assist in this effort. God, I feel like death warmed up and I look just as bad. I’m going to find out what the fuck is going on and the two jocks are at the top of my shit list.