It takes a second for him to answer. “I think you might think you know that, but you’re not walking away so… I want to help you.”

“I don’t want your help.” I open my eyes when he doesn’t respond and reach for the doorknob, figuring he did what I asked and decided to leave me alone, since he’s been good about giving me space. But when I open the door, he’s still standing on the other side and he comes barreling in without warning, forcing me back into the bathroom and then slamming the door behind us and locking it.

He’s panting, as if all worked up as he leans back against the door and just stares at me in the most unnerving way that makes me all fidgety. There’s too little space between us… too little breathing room… I need to breathe… I need to rip his clothes off… I think the whiskey I drank earlier has burnt away my rationality.

I shake the last thought from my head. “What do you want?” I finally ask in a clipped tone, crossing my arms and refusing to look away from him, even though I desperately want to. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

He gives his head a little shake, muttering something under his breath before standing up straight. “Why are you here?”

I gape at him. “I was here first. You’re the one that followed me back here and then forced your way in here.”

He dithers then takes a tentative step toward me, forcing me to take a step back toward the towel rack. “I mean here at Geraldson’s house?” he asks. “You don’t want to be messing around with these people, Violet.” He glances at the shut door then his concerned gaze lands on me. “This isn’t the same as those frat guys you fuck over.”

“You don’t think I know that?” I hiss. “But I don’t have a choice, do I? I live with Preston and this is how I pay him for that.”

“Pay him?” He lets out a flabbergasted laugh as he spans his hands to the side and takes another step toward me, slightly unstable on his feet, which means he’s probably drunk. “The guy is a fucking asshole. You don’t owe him anything… you shouldn’t even be with him.”

I take a step back and then another until I’m bumping into the wall and the towel rack is pressed against my side. I have nowhere else to go besides the shower or out the window. Being in the confined space with whiskey soaring in my system is making the air buzz electrically and my brain foggy. I need to get out… but I kind of don’t want to. “Well, I don’t really have a choice, do I?” I say. “Since I have nowhere else to live at the moment besides the streets.”

His face drains of color and then he reaches out to touch me, as if to soothe me, but I lean my head away as far as it will go. He freezes, appearing horrified. “Why are you so afraid of me?” he asks, his hand lifelessly falling to his side. “I would never hurt you. Not on purpose anyway.”

“I know you wouldn’t, but it still hurts.” We’re talking in code and I want to cry, but I make those damn traitor tears to stay in my eyes. I never cry. Only once, when I found out about Luke’s mother and I promised myself never again—I’m stronger than that. “And besides, I’m afraid of myself being near you, not the other way around.” And I’d like to thank the booze for the last comment.

He swallows hard. “I’m sorry.” His voice is barely audible, so much agony emitting from his eyes that it submerges me. He looks just like I feel and I want to make both of us feel better.

I’m not even sure what overcomes me, if it’s him, me, the powerful, lustful emotions blazing between us, the need to rip his clothes off, or the alcohol searing my veins, but I find myself stepping toward him. I haven’t forgotten or moved past what happened, but I let myself stop caring for a brief second, letting my walls down just enough that I can put my hand on his chest. He sucks in I sharp breath from the contact, his heart rate instantly quickening beneath my palm.

“Fuck,” he utters, then he’s leaning forward and I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead he just rests his forehead against mine. He breathes raggedly, in and out, in and out, his solid chest crashing into my breasts. I wait for him to touch me, but he doesn’t. Wait for him to do something, but he doesn’t. He’s motionless, like he’s giving me the chance to leave. I should. Just walk around him and go out the door. Never look back. But having him this close to me causes intense memories to flood my body, reminds me that being touched by a guy doesn’t have to feel wrong or dirty. That it can feel right. It did once with Luke and I selfishly want it again.

Suppressed emotions, alcohol, and a hunger I’ve never felt before possess me and suddenly I’m crashing my lips against his. He sucks in a startled breath, slanting back slightly as if to pull away, but then in a snap of a finger he’s grabbing me by the hips and yanking me against him as he seals his mouth to mine. The heat of him… the taste of him… it’s so potent… so wrong… so right… so confusing.

“I can stop,” he whispers against my mouth, his tongue parting my lips, his hand cupping the back of my head and tangling through my hair. He taste like Vodka and cherries and smells like cigarettes and cologne. Delicious and dangerous, for many different reasons.

I wonder if he actually would stop if I told him to. I don’t want to find out though. Not right now. So I arch my back into him and press my chest to his, while I delve deeper into the kiss, running my fingers along his scruffy jawline, being gentle where the bruise is. I’m remembering everything that went on between us… God, do I remember… and it feels so amazingly, blissfully good. Each graze of his lips and brush of his fingers feels like it’s erasing every unwanted touch over the last couple of months as if Luke has erasing super abilities.

His hands find my hips, his fingernails digging into my flesh as he forces me closer while he backs up, without breaking the kiss. He’s moving us somewhere… to the countertop. He leans me back, the edge digging into my back, before he picks me up and sets me down on it, positioning himself between my legs and our hips grind together.

“Oh my God….” I let out a porn star moan, but am completely unashamed as I try to rip off his shirt, but it doesn’t work like it does in the movies and I end up just stretching it out.

He lets out a soft chuckle at my failed attempt, but the noise gets caught in his throat. “You taste so much better than I remember,” he says in a husky voice before sucking my bottom lip into his mouth, deliberately, causing a slow burn to build inside me that only amplifies when his hands wander up the front of my thighs and underneath my dress. Needing to touch more of him, I sneak my fingers up the front of his shirt and feel the lean muscles flex beneath my hands. His breath falters as if I’m driving him mad. It’s different, somehow, from the last time we were together, like he’s gotten more vulnerable.

“I don’t want to let you go,” he says, between kisses as his fingers graze the edge of my panties, his movements rough and sloppy, built by desperation.

Suddenly I’m reminded why we haven’t touched each other in two months, and what I’ve been doing with Preston for two months, and why I should pull back. If I was a good person, I would. I’d put my parents above my horniness and just tell Luke what I let Preston do to me, how I let him touch me. I know it would get him to stop, but I guess I’m not a good person. Never really have been. And the adrenaline pulsating through my body, instilled by Luke’s touch and kisses, isn’t helping either.

Keeping my thoughts to myself, I slant against the mirror behind me, surprising him at first as out lips disconnect. His eyelids lift open and he’s worried that I’m stopping this, but I grab the front of his shirt and draw him to me until our lips reunite. Then we kiss each other deeply, our tongues entangled, his fingers slipping into my panties and inside me and I bite down on his lip as his touch brings me pleasure not pain and shame like I thought it would, like Preston’s does.

At one point, Luke leans back slightly, watching me as I get lost, drifting away from the reality that I wake up hating every day, while holding onto him, moments later falling apart in his arms. There’s a pause as the haze and heat leave my body and mind and I can tell he thinks I’m going to bail—I can see it in his eyes. I have no intentions on doing so and I slant forward to kiss him again. But right as our lips brush, we’re interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Luke, get the fuck out here.” Another loud bang and the whole door rattles. “We have a huge fucking problem we need to discuss.”

I feel Luke’s muscles go rigid as he moves away and stares at the door, trying to figure something out as he scratches his head. Recollection slowly clicks across his face and he staggers away from the door, patting the back pockets of his jeans before rummaging around in all of them. “Fuck, I’m screwed.” He pats his plaid shirt pocket and lets out a frustrated breath.

I hop off the counter and readjust my dress over my legs. “What’s wrong?”

He swiftly shakes his head. “It’s nothing.” Without looking at me, he blows out a breath. “You need to go.” His gaze finally resides on me and through the drunken dazedness I detect a hint of fear. “Walk out of here, leave this fucking house, and don’t come back.”

Someone knocks against the door again. “Luke, if you don’t get out here now, I’m going to have to bust the fucking door down and that’s just going to piss Geraldson off more.”

I shake my head, tucking wilds strands of my hair behind my ears. “I’m not leaving until you tell me what you did,” I tell Luke, but then seconds later I put two and two together “Did you cheat?”

He puts his finger to his lips, urging me to be quiet. “I always do,” he whispers.

“We found the fucking ace that fell out of your pocket!” The guy shouts from the other side. There’s a deafening bang as he probably rams himself into the door. “I warned you not to do this man!”

“Shit, we have to get you out of here…” He scans the bathroom for another way besides out the door and into the wrath of a very angry, very big guy who probably has a gun.

It seems like I should be more worried than I am, but this is nothing new to me. I’ve been chased down by people I’ve ripped off before, on more than one occasion—it’s how I met Luke. I know there’s more danger considering who the people are, but at the same time that sick addiction of mine is manifesting and telling me to bask in it because it’ll erase the emotions trying to shove up inside me, emotions Luke’s fingers and lips just brought out in me.

Still, I search for another way out of the bathroom and then remember that there’s a window near the shower. “Jackpot,” I say as I walk over to the shower, step inside, and lift the window up. A gentle breeze blows in as I stare down the three-story drop. Not too bad. Doable maybe.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Luke gapes at me as I pop out the screen, letting it fall to the ground below then stick my head out to calculate what I’m up against. No fences. There are cars down there, but hey it wouldn’t be the first time I had to land on a car before. “We’re on the third floor for God sakes.”

“Yeah but that… could be… doable…” I glance over my shoulder at him and am alarmed by the fear in his eyes. But then I think of his sister and how she committed suicide in an act similar to this and feel sort of bad. But still, the other alternative isn’t that great. “I’ll go first if you want me to.”

Shaking his head, he snatches ahold of my wrist. “I don’t want you going anywhere outside the window. I fucking mean it Violet.”

Sighing, I stick my head out, ignoring how tight his grip gets on my arm as I look for other options and moments later find one. “There’s a fire escape just at the corner… and the ledge is pretty thick. We can walk on it and then climb down the fire escape.”

“No.” His voice is firm and so is his hold. “I won’t—”

He’s cut off by the sound of the door being crashed into again, this time to the point where the hinges start to give in. While he’s distracted, I slip my arm out of his hand and hurry and climb out. Whoa, head rush. I brace my hands and back against the wall as the wind slams against my cheeks and hair.

Luke curses under his breath, reaching for my ankle as I balance up on the ledge. My heart thrashes, excited, nervous, terrified. This is everything I need at the moment and I calmly crouch down and extend my hand to Luke.

“Come on,” I say, so calm it’s terrifying, how terror can settle me. “It’s not so bad. I promise.”