Coercion (5 page)

Her tongue darted out to meet his as his fingers fumbled with her jeans’ button fly clasp. His kisses became distracted and clumsy, and finally he drew away, frustrated. “What’s wrong with these things?” he grumbled, inspecting the brass buttons.

Breeze laughed. “Has anyone ever told you you’re incredibly sexy when you’re annoyed?”

Exasperated, Michael slanted her a look. “Then it’s a wonder you’re not jumping me every single day.” He grabbed the front of her jeans and gave them a helpless tug.

“You’re such a baby.” Breeze quickly undid the first three buttons before raising her hands over her head. “There, that’s all the help you get.”

“That’s all I need.” Michael sat back and dragged her jeans off her legs. Just the sight of her naked legs made him harden further, an act he didn’t think was possible at this point. He kneeled in front of her, and she immediately draped a leg on either side of him. He savored the feeling of her smooth inner thighs brushing against his face as he lowered his head. Her sweet, familiar scent flooded his senses as the tip of his tongue darted out to give her clit a quick, teasing lick over her panties.

Breeze tangled her hands in his hair and locked her ankles behind his back. Her knees hugged his ears, trapping him, urging him closer. He obliged with another teasing sweep of his tongue.

Her fingernails bit into his scalp. “More.” The demand left her mouth in the form of a moan.

“I don’t know if you could handle more.” He didn’t know if
he
could handle more. His hand fell into his lap and he stroked his shaft, lingering on the head, his mouth dry at the thought of Breeze coming on his tongue.

She cupped the back of his neck and pulled him into her, leaving him no choice but to lick her pussy. He could taste her juices through the thin fabric, and his head flooded with pleasure at the sound of Breeze’s unapologetically loud screams and the feeling of his own hand, sliding over his cock, now slick with pre-come.

Breeze moved the crotch of her panties aside, giving him full access to her cunt. Michael let out a breathy moan and removed his hand from his cock—the sensation was too much. His tongue lapped at her clit before dipping inside her.

“Fuck, Michael,” Breeze moaned, her body arching beneath his ministrations. “I want you to fuck me. I want to come with you inside me. Hurry.”

Michael swallowed a groan as he let Breeze drag him up her body, which was half hanging off the chair. She took hold of his cock as he leaned over her and directed him into her.

“Fuck,” Breeze wailed again, and Michael squeezed his eyes shut as her slick walls held him. He nestled his face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her shampoo as her heels dug into the small of his back, urging him on.

Dangerously teetering on a climax, Michael forced himself to move. He pushed his hips against her, driving into her at whatever tempo and rhythm she breathlessly requested in his ear.

“I’m so close,” she said in a throaty voice. Her grip on his shoulders tightened as her pussy clamped around him. “Fuck me, Michael. Fuck me.”

His head swam at her request, and his pelvis crashed into hers over and over until she finally screamed out one last stream of profanity and went limp. Feeling her contract around him, he came just moments after her.

He opened his eyes and fought to catch his breath as she smiled at him. “So are we cool?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, wishing he could take back the word the moment it left his mouth. His anger returned, and he immediately regretted he had ever even met Breeze, let alone let her work her magic over him like she always managed to do.

“Good.” She slid out from beneath him and reached for the box of tissues sitting on the end table. “Because I need to kick you out now. Lisa will be home any minute, and I’ve got to study.”

* * * *

Valerie took a sip from her half-full can of iced tea as she slipped her notes into her tote bag. “Do you need a ride home?” she asked Shannon, who stood from her chair in the library and stretched with a groan.

Shannon shook her head. “That’s all right. I told you this morning when you came and got me Rick’s picking me up. He’s in for the weekend so...”

“So you two are going to grope at the drive-in and leave me alone and bored tonight.” Valerie tossed her can in the nearest trash bin as she and her friend exited the library.

Shannon giggled. “I gotta get my kicks while I’m still young. If you had a boyfriend who went to a different college, you’d understand my frustration and all the burning desire that comes along with it.”

“I do understand,” Valerie admitted with reluctance. “Your frustration, at least.”

Her friend’s face transformed into a look of sympathy as she patted Valerie’s back. “Don’t sweat it. You’ll meet someone soon. I can just feel it.”

Valerie raised an eyebrow. “You can? How?”

“I don’t know, I just do.” Shannon’s face brightened. “I know! Why don’t you try asking someone out?”

Valerie’s mouth dropped open. “I can’t do that.” She shook her head. “No way. I’m too shy.”

“You just think you are,” Shannon said. “I think you have it in you. You just need to have a little more faith, that’s all. You should only think good thoughts. Then only good things will happen to you. Weren’t you paying attention when Mrs. Abrahams was teaching us about the law of attraction all those years ago? ‘Likes tend toward likes’?”

“That was a science class. This is my life.”

“Nevertheless, how can you go wrong with thinking positively?” Shannon nodded toward a boy with fox-colored hair who waited against a tangerine Chevy Nova in the parking lot. “Look, there’s Rick.” She waved to her boyfriend, who grinned back. “Doesn’t he look cute today?”

Valerie smirked. “He looks like he’s glad you’re wearing a tiny skirt today.”

Shannon giggled. “Naturally.” She rubbed Valerie’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to you on Sunday, okay?” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe you should call your study buddy Daniel over for a little tutoring session.”

“Great.” Valerie forced herself to sound enthusiastic as Shannon bounded down the granite steps and into her boyfriend’s arms. She waved goodbye as Shannon climbed into Rick’s car and they drove off, laughing. Valerie could only imagine the weekend ahead of the happy couple.

Valerie’s aunt had promised her similar weekends by assuring her that a new body meant a new life. The reminder of her aunt’s “guarantee” made her pulse race with a fear that was borderline hysterical. If that were true, why were things still the same?

* * * *

Michael gave the steering wheel of his Ford truck a sharp tug to the left, screeching across an empty two-lane highway bridging the gap between Kenton and nowhere, and pulled into the college’s entranceway. He’d spent the past hour driving aimlessly through Kenton, forcing himself to take it easy and just breathe. But his body still burned after his latest argument with Breeze. He clenched and unclenched his fists around the steering wheel. He felt like a complete fool, and not for the first time.

The engine idled as his gaze drifted to the engraved archway looming overhead and turning black in the fading sunlight. The tops of the metal letters spelling
Kenton
College
stretched to the sky like thorns. He found he still couldn’t identify with the school or call it his own yet. He suspected he never would.

Thinking about his studies made his stomach coil further, and he fanned the truck in a wide U-turn, prepared to turn around and head back to his house. In his rearview, he noticed a familiar, dark-haired girl crossing the library’s near-empty lot in the direction of a white Volvo. His anger once again faded. He’d recognize those legs anywhere and, as he dragged the shifter into reverse, he figured it was high time he told her so.

* * * *

Valerie reached into her embroidered tote bag, fumbling for the keys to the vehicle, when she heard a car door slam from somewhere behind her. She glanced up and, in the murky reflection in the Volvo’s window, saw someone climb out of a truck. She turned around in time to see Michael, wearing his ever-present aviators along with a tan suede coat, cup his hands around a cigarette, shielding it from the wind as he lit it. He breathed out a cloud of smoke as he shook his fist, extinguishing the match. A lump formed in Valerie’s throat as she realized he was heading in her direction.

She faced the car again and groped for the keys, not knowing what else to do. He couldn’t possibly be here for her. She tried to ignore how her heart thudded in time to the roar of the blood rushing to her head as she heard his slow, relaxed footsteps on the pavement come to a stop behind her. Unable to avoid it, she looked behind her where Michael stood, one hand buried in the pocket of his coat and the other rolling the filter of the cigarette between his fingertips. His mirrored glasses masked the look in his eyes, but a smirk danced on his lips.

“Hi,” was all she could squeak.

“How’s it going?” His mouth pulled on the cigarette as a chilly October breeze tousled his thick, shaggy hair even further.

She gave an exaggerated shrug. “All right.”

He tilted his head. “We’ve got History together, right?”

“Right.” She bobbed her head in the affirmative and hoped it wasn’t obvious her body temperature had just rocketed about ten degrees.

“Thought so.” He regarded her in silence for a moment. “You heading home?”

“Yeah. I’m just looking for my keys.”

“If you can’t find them,” he said between drags, “I’ll give you a ride.”

“Thanks.” She forced her attention back on her bag, her hands shaking from his offer, which she wasn’t sure was intentionally sexual or not. She mentally chided herself for her dirty mind. Shannon’s bawdy thoughts were obviously rubbing off on her.

Valerie’s embarrassment increased when she lost her already tenuous grip on her tote, its contents skittering across the pavement. “Oh no!”

Michael watched her wordlessly as she gathered up the dropped items: a few pens and pencils, a plastic blue compact mirror, a mini notebook serving as her day planner and a pot of clear lip gloss. Another puff of smoke escaped his mouth as he finally bent with the speed of a tree sloth and scooped up a handful of keys attached to several decorative rings. “Found ’em.” They dangled from his index finger.

She was sure her face couldn’t get any redder as she quickly snatched the keys from him, making sure to avoid body contact. “Thanks.”

“Why do girls always have so much shit on their keys?” he asked. “The ratio of key rings to actual keys is probably eight to one.”

“They’re my mom’s,” she said, her voice weak.

“So?” The smug smirk remained on his face. “Clearly she’s not the exception.”

“I guess.” Her voice trailed off and she turned back to the car door in an effort to avoid the silence.

“Nice legs.”

She spun around again, her brow furrowed in bewilderment. “What?”

He took another pull on his cigarette and nodded at her legs. “I like them.”

“Oh.” It was the only sound that would escape her mouth.

“Oh? Someone pays you a compliment and that’s all you can say?” He shook his head. “That’s not very polite.”

“I’m sorry. I just... I was just surprised, I guess. That’s all.” Her face burned. “Thank you for saying so.”

He flicked his cigarette across the parking lot, where it bumped and sparked on the pavement. “You leaving now?”

She hesitated. “I should. We’re already having dinner late tonight. I don’t want to keep anyone waiting.”

“I think you can put off dinner a little while longer.” He moved closer and Valerie’s body grew warmer. She automatically took a step back, the backs of her knees hitting the car door. He stood with his face a mere foot away from hers and leaned against the car, propping himself up with one hand on its roof. “First, you and I need to have a little talk about your manners.”

Valerie had never been more aware of the sensitivity of her skin. If she turned her face just slightly to the left, her cheek would brush against his hand. If she took a step forward, her body would be pressed against his. “My manners?” she echoed, hoping her voice wasn’t as suddenly shrill as she feared.

“That’s right.” He leaned in closer, his hot breath against her cheek. “We’re in the same class, and you’ve never once said hi. In fact, you do your best to completely ignore me. Don’t you think that’s rude?”

“I’m sorry.” She tried not to stare at his pillowy lips and ignored the fact Michael Vartanian had no recollection of her prior to the start of the semester.

“Prove it.” Then his mouth was on hers before she knew it. The tote slipped from her fingers to the ground, and a surprised moan sounded from the back of her throat at the feeling of his lips on hers, hot and unyielding. When he drew away from her, he smiled, as if reveling in her shock. “What’s the problem?”

“What?” She touched her fingers to her lips, still burning from the kiss. Her mind was a fog as the rest of the world suddenly slipped away. All that remained was Michael Vartanian’s mouth. “What problem?”

“You look troubled.” He bowed his head again for another kiss, one that led away from her mouth and down her throat. “So what’s the problem?”

“There is none,” she said through chattering teeth, the ghostly print of Michael’s lips lingering on hers. Her memory allowed her to still feel the metal edge of his aviators scratching her cheek. “It’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“This is all just so weird.”

He moved away from her sharply. Gone was the smile gracing his face just moments before. She could sense him glaring at her behind his sunglasses. “What’s weird about it? Something specific, or is it just the general idea of you making out with a lowlife?”

“That’s not it at all. I just never thought something like this would happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re you, and I’m me.” The words stammered out of her like a faulty typewriter.

He threw a glance heavenward and raked a hand through his hair. “What does that even mean?”

“You’re just not the type to notice someone like me.”

As quickly as his smile vanished, it reappeared, leaving her to assume she had only imagined his unhappiness. “Someone like you, huh? So you somehow think I’m better than you?”