Crushed (21 page)

I grumbled as I looked at the
floor, "It's probably just because no girl has ever said no to him
before."

"Maybe." I shot Merit daggers and
she laughed again. "Come on, Claire. What do you want from me? Do
you want me to tell you to forgive him?"

"I don't know!" I whimpered and
slumped over her desk.

Merit let out a sigh. "Claire, what
is your head telling you?"

"To stay the hell away from him.
He's going to hurt me again."

"And what is your body telling
you?"

"That it misses him. It misses the
way only he could make me feel."

"So fuck him and get it out of your
system and then reassess. Or you can finally go on your rebound
date and fuck -him-."

I looked at her and shook my head.
"This is the best advice you have?"

She nodded and shrugged.

I sighed sadly.
"Dammit."

Chapter 38

Neil

I had decided to stop stalking
Claire for a little while anyway, after she slammed me with the
info that she hadn't been messing around since I'd left. But I
guess I was jumping to conclusions, she'd never actually said
that.

After a long jog and hot shower, I
lounged in my room, listening to music. I was still trying to
figure out the right thing to do with Claire to win her back. As I
was stewing I heard a knock on my door.

"Go away," I growled, I didn't need
any old lovers coming around. If I answered the door and they threw
themselves at me it wouldn't look good at all. Word could easily
get around to Claire that something had happened even if it hadn't.
There was another soft knock. I ignored it this time and closed my
eyes willing whoever it was to go away.

The fourth knock was too much and I
got up and stormed to the door, ready to give whoever it was a
piece of my mind. But when I opened the door and saw Claire
standing there those thoughts passed. I couldn't help but smile, I
grabbed onto the door above my head and let my body lean to one
side. I wished I hadn't put on a shirt yet. "Hey."

She swallowed hard, standing still
as a statue in the doorway. I was going to ask her what was wrong
when was suddenly wrapped around me, her hands in my hair, her lips
against mine, her breasts pressed against my chest. I groaned
loudly and gently put my hands on her, walking us both backwards.
Once she was clear of the door I pushed it shut, never breaking our
kiss. I was afraid that if I made one wrong move she'd bolt out the
door.

Her hands moved down the front of
my shirt and I felt it tighten before I heard the thin fabric rip
open. My dick twitched. So fucking hot. My hands explored her
shapely back, her round ass. When the backs of my knees touched the
end of my bed I moved one of my hands to the back of her head and
then I turned us suddenly so that she was beneath me on the bed. I
broke the kiss to discard my shirt. And while we were apart she
peeled off her own shirt and tossed it aside. I opened my mouth to
say something but she stopped me by pulling me down and kissing me
again. I didn't protest, how could I? I'd missed her so bloody
much.

I tore my lips away from hers so I
could taste the rest of her. I kissed her neck, her collarbone, and
made my way down to her exquisite breasts which looked larger than
I'd remembered. I pulled her offending bra down, and as I took the
first taste of her pink nipple she squirmed beneath me, her hands
tight in my hair, her legs wrapping around my waist. Her hot center
was undulating against mine, but I pushed it aside as I tortured
her, teased her, marked her with my tongue as mine. Only
mine.

After torturing her right nipple I
kissed my way to the other and did the same. When I was done I had
only a second to pull back and admire the taut buds before she
grabbed my head and pulled me back up to her mouth. She groaned and
writhed against me, and as she kissed away my senses my dick took
over. I reached down between us with one hand and undid my jeans
and then pushed her long black skirt up, my hands not taking the
time to enjoy her skin. I didn't want to stop so I yanked her
panties off. She gasped and then moaned as my fingers teased her
clit and then sunk inside her, making sure she was ready. She
fucking was. My soaked fingers pushed my jeans down my thighs as I
continued to kiss her.

I grabbed my dick in my hand and
plunged into her, a cry escaping from her as she arched her back
beneath me. I kept myself deep as I wrapped my arm around her and
then flipped us, she was on top now. Her long blonde hair smelled
like a rose garden as it fell around my face. I pushed her hair to
one side of her head and then grabbed onto her hips which were
already rising and falling on my cock. "You're so beautiful...." I
wanted to close my eyes to soak in the incredible tight heat
surrounding me but I didn't want to ever forget the way she looked
on top of me. Her breasts bounced as she rode me. Her delicate
hands were on my chest, as she stared into my eyes, her mouth open
slightly so her delicious moans could escape. Her face was flushed
because of how much I filled her.

I tried to focus on all these
little things so I could last awhile for her but when she leaned
forward over me and started sliding on my cock fast I gritted my
teeth. I was going to lose it, it felt so fucking good. I reached
over her thigh and tickled her clit, going as fast as she was
fucking me. It wasn't long before her hips were hiccuping as she
came around my cock. My other hand was on her lower back, not
letting her escape as I continued to flick her clit. When she came
undone and squeezed my cock I released my seed inside her
too.

She grabbed my wrist and pulled my
hand away from her. I smiled against the top of her head, her cheek
was buried against my chest. After a moment of both of us basking
in the silent afterglow of incredible sex she kissed her way up my
chest, making me pulse inside her. She kissed my lips tenderly,
slowly. If she was hoping that I wouldn't notice when I left her
heat she was wrong. I groaned and wrapped my arms around her, not
ready to let her go yet.

She pushed herself away from my
chest, forcing me to release her. "Thanks, Neil. I gotta go." I
blinked at her, watching as she climbed off the bed and grabbed one
of my shirts from my dresser.

"You what? You have to go where,
love? It's almost ten."

She shrugged softly after slipping
into my shirt. "I have to go back to the Sorority, we have a
curfew. See you later, maybe."

Maybe? What the fuck? I scrambled
off the bed and followed her to the door, my modesty not in the
room with us. "Claire, wait...." I grabbed the door, taking it from
her grasp. She slipped out before I could stop her. I walked out
into the hallway and watched her jog away. My jaw was slack and a
few seconds later I was reminded that my ass was bare.

Kurt came walking up from behind me
and scoffed. "Dude, put some pants on." I turned my attention back
down the hall to where Claire used to be and then went back into my
room. Bloody hell. What had just happened? Did she just use me? Was
she capable of something like that? Or maybe this was the beginning
of her forgiving me. I wasn't going to complain, not
yet.

Chapter 39

Claire

When I was safely in my room I lay
back on my bed and turned on my music. I had just slept with Neil
for the first time in a year. Part of me was hoping that the
feelings wouldn't be there. Part of me was hoping that the memories
I had of us getting hot and heavy were false. But they weren't. He
was every bit as good as I remembered.

Now I had to figure out what I was
going to do with these feelings. Was I going to pay them mind and
try to date Neil again even though we had no future and he was
going to break my heart when he left? Or was I going to ignore
them, ignore him and hope that he just went on his merry way with
some other girl.

Some other girl. Maybe if I stayed
away I could try to set him up with another girl. Or maybe he
needed a rebound to get over me. Maybe we were both just dwelling
in the past. Did I want to see him with another girl? No,
definitely not. But here I was, faced with this
decision.

I made up my mind and the next day
after lunch I went about setting up my plan of action. I ran into
Bevin, literally. We both spilled our books on the floor. It was at
that moment, when I was picking them up, that Neil came up behind
me. I looked at Bevin, watched as her eyes widened and her aura
turned a hot pink. She wanted Neil. I stood up and looked at Neil
who was looking his usual charming self. Neil nodded at Bevin,
giving her no more than a brief glance before looking down at me.
"Can we talk?"

I shook my head, "No, sorry. I've
gotta run."

Neil frowned at me and Bevin still
stood beside us, watching. "Claire, that's a bloody lie. I watched
you just walk in here."

"I forgot that I had something to
do. I was just turning around when I nearly knocked Bevin over." I
looked at Bevin and offered her a smile. "Sorry about that, by the
way."

She shrugged her slender shoulders
as Neil put his arm around mine, pulling me in close to his side. I
tried to shrug him off but he held tight. So I put my head back to
whisper into his ear.

"It won't work between us, Neil. It just won't. You deserve a life
outside of here." I saw his jaw clench and I continued, "I want you
to be happy, please let me set you up." He let me go and nodded to
Bevin.

"Nice seeing you, Bevin. I should
go." I watched as Neil retreated, his hands ran through his dirty
blonde hair as he walked through the exit doors.

"Bye..." Bevin said softly beside
me. We looked at each other at the same moment and I
smiled.

"I'm trying to work on him. I think
you two would be perfect together." Her face lit up with a
blush.

"Really?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he just needs a
little time to get over his last girlfriend."

"You mean you? I dunno Claire, I
don't think I could hold a candle to you."

I frowned at her. "That's crazy,
girl. You are every bit as good as I am. Have some confidence. Neil
and I don't have a future but he could have a future with you. I
just have to make him see that, somehow."

Later that night he tried me again
at dinner, he grabbed my arm as I reached out to open the door and
pulled me into the bushes beside the dining hall. I found myself in
his arms, staring at his coat-covered chest. I slowly looked up
into his eyes which were hot with desire. I swallowed loudly and
tried to push away but he didn't let me get away this
time.

"Tell me what the hell is going
on." I had to lean back to look at him which forced me to press my
bottom half against his. It felt like he already had a
semi.

"You're holding me hostage in the
bushes. If I scream I'm pretty sure someone will hear
me."

"Be careful, love, or I'll make you scream, but not from terror."
His smile lit up his face, but his eyes were still clouded, as he
teased me.

"I don't doubt you could do...that.
But I don't think that would be appropriate seeing how I'm going to
set you up with Bevin."

His jaw tightened as did his hands
on my arms. "I don't want to be set up with, Bevin. I want to be
set up with you."

I winced, "I don't think you
do."

He frowned, "What the hell do you know about what I do or do not
want?"

"Well, I have a sense about these things. You and Bevin belong
together...which makes sense. She can leave campus, you're both
going to graduate at the same..."

He cut me off with a kiss and then
pulled back, "I'm not going to graduate, Claire. I'm leaving here,
for good."

I was stunned and then my eyes
started to water. I nodded and looked down, "I see."

"No, dammit," He grabbed my chin
and pulled it up so he could get a good look at me. "I don't think
you do. I'm leaving to go back to Tir-Na-Nog and I want you to come
with me."

"Well, that's nice and all, Neil,
but you know that I can't do that."

"The hell you can't! You'll be safe
there. Safe with my people."

"Safe like I was here? With my
people??"

He frowned and shook me gently,
"Claire, I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. We'd be married, you'd be
my queen, I-"

I yanked away from him, tears in my
eyes, anger in my voice, "That's enough! I don't want to hear your
false promises, Neil. I can't go with you."