Troublemaker Read online

  I could tell him about the weigh-ins.

  But Harrison, despite being a playboy and a little bit of a jerk, doesn’t really deserve all of that.

  Does he?

  Does he really deserve to have his dreams crushed just because I can’t hold my pain together?

  It seems cruel, somehow, to let him know just how rough things have been for me. It seems difficult and mean to tell him that his father isn’t exactly honest with him, and so I take the easy way out, and I lie.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say. Then I decide to push things away from this topic. “And I don’t know what you mean. Is that seriously what you called me up here for?”

  My voice is shaking now. I can’t raise it because neither one of us wants to alert the household that we’re in the attic or that we even know how to access it. There are a couple of entrances to this place, of course, but our bedrooms seem to be the easiest ways in here. There’s also an entrance from one of the upstairs hallways, but I don’t think anyone has ever used that one.

  To be honest, I’m not even sure how the furniture that’s up here managed to make its way inside. It seems physically impossible, so I try not to think too hard about it.

  “Yeah,” he says. “That’s why I called you up here.”

  “Well, you’re dumber than I thought,” I say, choking out the words. I don’t want to be a bitch to him, but I need Harrison to dislike me.

  I need him to hate me.

  I need him to not want me.

  If he hates me, then his dad can’t force us together, right?

  If he hates me, he won’t feel obligated to enter some sort of weird arranged marriage.

  It he hates me...

  Then things will be so much easier for me.

  “Am I?” He says. His eyes narrow, and he stalks across the attic floor so he’s standing right in front of me. He looks down at me. He’s so close that my breasts are now pushing against his chest, touching him, and I’m completely aware of every inch of our bodies that are rubbing against each other.

  Shit.

  It’s a good thing he can’t fucking smell my arousal because I’m certain it’s written all over my face. I have to force my lips tightly shut so I don’t fucking moan.

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  “Really? Dumb?”

  “Yes,” I whisper, but it comes out breathy and needy, and it’s obvious that I don’t think he’s dumb.

  Okay, so I suck at lying, and he knows it. Harrison just shakes his head and reaches for my cheek. To my utter shock, he strokes my skin softly, and then he pushes my hair back behind my ear.

  “Oh, sweet Adalee,” he murmurs. “So many secrets. Does it ever get lonely?”

  “Does what get lonely?”

  “Keeping all of your secrets to yourself,” he says.

  “Yes.”

  I didn’t mean to be honest. He’s just as shocked by this answer as I am, because he looks at me sharply.

  “You don’t have to be alone,” he finally says.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Adalee.”

  He reaches for my cheek again. This time, when he rubs his fingers over my skin, they come away wet.

  “You’re crying.”

  I hadn’t even realized I was.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, and I move to wipe away my tears, but Harrison stops me. He grips my wrists, holding them in front of me with his hands, and then he leans out and kisses my cheek. He swipes his tongue over my skin, cleaning up my tears, and then he does the same thing to my other cheek.

  I don’t know why this simple gesture, which is honestly kind of weird, is so wildly arousing to me. Suddenly, I want to know what it would feel like to have his tongue on other parts of my body.

  What if he did this to my breasts?

  To my nipples?

  What if he made this move on my hips?

  I hate the way I’m suddenly so wildly aroused that it hurts. All of a sudden, I’m no longer thinking about secrets or trying to be honest with Harrison.

  Now, all I’m thinking about is kissing him.

  So I do.

  I lean forward, pressing my lips to his, and I kiss Harrison O’Conner.

  I kiss him like it’s my first time.

  I kiss him like I’ve never done this before.

  I kiss him like I’m offering him everything because in some weird, twisted-sort of way, I am. I’m silently offering him everything I have, which isn’t much, and I’m begging him to take me away from all of this, even if it’s only for a minute.

  So I kiss him, and then, Harrison kisses me back.

  Chapter Eight

  Harrison

  ADALEE KISSES ME IN the darkness of the attic, and I don’t know what the fuck to do. Luckily, my body reacts instantly, and it sort of takes over where my brain has failed.

  I kiss her back, pulling her even tighter against my body. Why the fuck have we waited so long to do this? That’s seriously my first thought as she kisses me eagerly, greedily, like she’s been dreaming of this moment her entire life.

  The stars could start falling and the Earth could explode, and I wouldn’t even care because she’s here in my arms, and this is exactly where I want her to be.

  Exactly.

  “Adalee,” I murmur, kissing her.

  I have a million questions I want to ask her.

  Why now?

  Why me?

  Why here?

  All of those fade from my mind, though, because she reaches between us and starts to stroke my cock, and my mind goes numb. I’m so fucking hard for her, so excited for her, and I don’t want her to ever fucking stop.

  There’s a part of me that wants to toss her down on the couches and just slide inside of her. I could push her skirt up, yank her panties down, and just fuck her wildly like she’s my damn princess.

  Another part of me knows that the time isn’t right.

  Another part of me thinks that fucking her, no matter how perfect it could be between us, would be wrong.

  I just don’t know which part of myself to believe right now.

  She grips my neck, pulling me closer to her. One hand is wrapped around my neck and the other strokes up and down my jeans. Her hand feels good and firm against my cock, and it’s hard.

  So.

  Fucking.

  Hard.

  “Adalee,” I murmur again, but she shakes her head no, as though talking is the last damn thing she wants to do, and you know what? I don’t want to talk either.

  I’ve waited my whole life for Adalee to look twice at me, and this is my moment to shine.

  This is my chance to show her just how damn good something between us could be, so I’m not about to fuck that up.

  I drop to my knees in front of her and look up at her. There’s a question in her eyes, but only a one.

  Am I sure?

  Am I ready for this?

  How cute.

  I almost laugh at her innocent expression as I push her skirt up. She grabs it, holding it up, and I just stare at her fucking panties for a long time. Probably too long. She’s wearing black lace panties and I can see exactly how our kissing has affected her because they’re damp. I press my lips to her pussy over the panties, and she lets out the tiniest little purr.

  Oh yes, Adalee likes this.

  I look up at her, silently asking if she’s ready for this, and she nods ever-so-slightly, but that’s enough for me.

  I yank her panties down, letting them pool around her ankles, and I start kissing her pussy greedily. Adalee is shaved and soft and wet, and I run my tongue over her lips and clit. I suck, teasing and nipping at her gentle skin, and then I just lick and lick and lick. I have no idea if Adalee has ever been with someone before. I don’t know if she’s ever had her pussy licked or if she likes to come this way. The two of us have never so much as talked about sex, but I don’t care.

  Right now, I’m going to make her come, and I’m going to make sure that she fucking remembers me and all of the wonderful things I can do to her body.

  So I lick, teasing and taunting her, and I can feel her entire body tensing.

  “Harrison,” she whispers, but I just keep going. I don’t know if she’s begging me to stay quiet or if she’s warning me that she’s going to come or if she wants me to know that she’s close, but I know.

  I can fucking tell.

  She grips my hair and leans her head back. I peek up at her as I lick her over and over again, and then the first pulsing waves of her orgasm hit her, washing over her. She doesn’t scream, but she opens her mouth as the pleasure takes over her body. Her knees buckle and I catch her before she falls. I know that my knees are probably dusty and dirty right now, but I don’t fucking care.

  I need her.

  I want her.

  She lies down on the dusty area rug that was once a brilliant shade of gold. It’s got burgundy flowers that have faded away, but neither one of us cares. She reaches for me and pulls me up to her. I kiss her again, and I know that she can taste herself on my lips.

  “Fucking perfect,” I tell her, murmuring gently.

  “Please,” she says.

  “What?”

  What does she want?

  I can make her come again. I can make her scream if I want to. I can make her wiggle and tense up and I can make her pussy feel incredible pleasure she won’t believe is actually possible.

  I can do all of that and more.

  I can do whatever she wants.

  “Harrison, please. I need you.”

  She kisses me, and I realize what she wants, and any thoughts of saying no have faded away.

  “I don’t have a condom,” I say, suddenly embarrassed. I don’t know why I should be embarrassed about this. Wouldn’t i
t be worse to be the kind of person who carries one around just in case you decide to fuck your childhood friend in the attic?

  But Adalee shakes her head.

  “I’ve been on the pill for years,” she tells me. She has no reason to lie to me, and I trust her more than I should, so I nod and wiggle out of my pants. In seconds, my cock is pressed against her entrance, and she’s spreading her legs to let me in.

  “Are you sure?” I whisper, giving her one last chance to say no, to push me away. I know that no matter what happens next – whether we do this thing or not – things are never going back to the way they were before I tasted Adalee’s sweet, sweet pussy.

  “Please fuck me, Harrison,” she whispers, and that’s all the permission I need.

  In just a second, I’m in her, and my entire body feels like it’s on fire. I thrust slowly, pushing myself deeper into her, and Adalee just grabs me and kisses me over and over and over again.

  It’s never felt like this before.

  It’s never been this perfect, or this sweet, and there’s a part of me that never wants this moment to end.

  I want to be lost in her forever and ever, but for now, all I have is this.

  Us.

  Right now.

  And so I make love to Adalee on the attic floor, in a place I never thought we’d ever connect like this. I kiss her endlessly, teasing her and touching her until I finally fall completely apart. My body melts into hers, connecting like two lost puzzle pieces that finally found each other.

  I come, whispering her name, holding her tightly.

  And suddenly, everything just feels...

  Complete.

  We just hold each other for what feels like hours. We touch each other, kissing over and over. We’re entwined on the carpet, and all I want to know is why the hell we waited so damn long to do this.

  Because this thing between us...it’s perfect.

  “Adalee,” I whisper.

  “That was...”

  “It was great.”

  “Yeah,” she says breathlessly, looking up at me. “Yeah, it was great.”

  “I didn’t know you felt that way about me,” I tell her. It’s the truth. In a rare burst of honesty, I feel like telling her.

  I never knew that she liked me.

  Not like that.

  I’ve cared about Adalee for a long time, but part of me always thought she was too good for me, or that she viewed me as some sort of rich loser.

  I don’t know why I never knew that she could care about me.

  Even though we literally just made love, I’m still shocked. Part of me feels like I must be dreaming. There’s no way this can be real.

  “I didn’t know you liked me, either,” she says.

  “How long have you...when did you...”

  “Forever,” she says. “Forever, Harrison.”

  Chapter Nine

  Adalee

  WE TALK WAY TOO LONG, and then we return to our own bedrooms. Hopefully, it’s early enough that Frank won’t realize we sneaked out. I have no idea how long Harrison and I were in the attic for, but I’m just hoping against all hope that he doesn’t realize what we were doing up there.

  And I made Harrison promise not to tell anyone.

  Not his dad.

  Not anybody.

  It’s not that I’m ashamed of Harrison. I’m not. I’m not going to say that I love him even if I do. The problem is that Frank is a vicious shark and if he realizes just how much I actually care about Harrison, he’ll do everything in my power to tear us down. He’ll use my adoration of Harrison against me. He’ll use me to manipulate Harrison to do what he wants.

  See, Frank might be rich, but his late wife?

  She was even richer.

  And she left every damn dime to Harrison. He doesn’t get it until his twenty-first birthday, of course. That’s how these things always work. But Frank wants that money, and he totally believes that he can use me to manipulate Harrison to do what he wants.

  I can’t let him do that.

  I can’t let him know that I care about Harrison.

  And Harrison and I can never, ever end up together.

  For us, making love in the attic was as good as it can ever get. We can never let things progress past what we just did. If we do, and Frank finds out, I know he’s going to blackmail me. I just know it, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to say no.

  I don’t know what he’s going to throw at me, but I know that I’m not strong enough to handle it when he does.

  Moving silently into my bathroom, I strip out of my clothes and get in the shower. I turn the water up as hot as I can stand it, and I just stay there. The water pours on me and I just take it. The heat washes away every scent of Harrison. It washes away the physical remnants of what we did. It washes away everything except the memory of us because that...

  Well, that’s not something I’m willing to give up.

  When I’m finally done, I go into my room, set the alarm for six, and climb under the blankets. It seems to take me an eternity to finally fall asleep, but eventually, everything just sort of fades away.

  And then I’m dreaming.

  He’s running away from me, and I’m doing everything I can to keep up.

  “Wait!” I cry out. “Slow down!”

  I can’t keep up with his long strides. Harrison looks over his shoulder and laughs. He gestures for me to hurry up, to come catch up with him, and I’m trying my very best. The woods are dark, though, and the forest is dense. It’s hard to make my way to him.

  Almost impossible.

  We go around a corner and Harrison vanishes from sight, but there’s someone else here now.

  Someone I’ve almost forgotten.

  My mother.

  I can’t believe it’s her at first, but I know that it is. Her face is blurry, but it doesn’t matter. I remember that scent. I remember the way she styled her hair.

  “Mom?”

  “Adalee,” she says with a soft smile.

  “Mom, what are you doing here?” I whisper. “Where did you go?”

  “I’m sorry, Adalee,” she says. “I didn’t mean to leave you all alone. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

  “But why?” I ask, crying. “It’s not fair. I miss you.”

  “I’m sorry,” she says. “It was the only way.”

  I wake with a start, and my eyes are wet and swollen with my own tears.

  Shit.

  I hope I wasn’t sobbing in my sleep like a little kid, like a whiny baby. Who the hell cries in their sleep? Then again, what was up with my weird dream?

  I grab my phone and see that it’s 5:57.

  “Impeccable timing,” I mutter, shaking my head. I’ve got two texts from Harrison, one from Emilia, and two from Karen.

  Saving the best for last, I start with Karen’s. She wants to know if I made it in okay, and I quickly let her know that I did. I think about telling her about Harrison, but then I decide not to. She’ll have a ton of questions, and I won’t have answers to most of them.

  Or any of them.

  I read Emilia’s message next. She wants to know if I got my grades yet, and I haven’t, so I tell her. We’re supposed to get them pretty promptly, but who knows? Things are always crazy this time of year for everyone. Not just the teachers.

  Finally, I open Harrison’s messages.

  He sent one around midnight and one twenty minutes ago.

  “You were perfect tonight.”

  That’s what the first message says.

  Perfect.

  Me?

  It’s not something I ever could have thought about myself. Perfect?

  Harrison O’Conner is not the first person I’ve had sex with, but he’s the first person I’ve had passionate sex with. The other times...well, they were more transactional than anything else. I wanted to prove that I was likable and the guys...

  I don’t know.

  I guess they were just happy to have a willing partner.

  With Harrison, though, it’s like the world was spinning and everything was blurry. It was like I couldn’t think straight until I had his dick inside of me, and then everything seemed completely and totally perfect.

  I can’t totally pinpoint what was so perfect about it except that it was something I’ve wanted for so very long and he seemed totally, completely into it.