Unwillingly Yours (Warning: Love Moderately) (4 page)

The first thing Jaike saw was the distance suddenly separating Angelo and Rosie, the other girl fuming when she reached out for Angelo’s hand and he batted it away instead. The second was the look of betrayal in Angelo’s dark gaze, sending a shaft of such acute distress through her that she almost cried out.

Even though a part of her wanted to go to Angelo, she held herself stiffly in place, her hand instinctively searching for Derek’s and gripping it as tightly as she could. Why was Angelo looking at her like she had hurt him when he had been the one to break them apart? His unexpected betrayal was like a chainsaw that had hacked her heart into pieces, something she didn’t know how to survive without Derek at her side.

“Baby?” The aching sweetness in Derek’s voice made her look at him, unconsciously pleading for something she couldn’t put a label to. All she knew was that Derek was the only one who could give it to her.

          The look of surrender in Jaike’s eyes nearly had Derek undone, but he managed to keep his control even though all he wanted was to snatch her into his arms and finally have a taste of her lips. Keeping his voice gentle, he asked, “Did you tell him then?”

Jaike found herself suddenly being pulled to Derek’s side, one arm going around her waist with casual intimacy. She shivered again, for an entirely different reason. The touch felt like the start of something she had waited and avoided for so long, the moment when Derek Christopoulos was finally claiming her as
his
.

His gaze on Jaike, Derek caressed her cheek with his knuckles as he told Angelo, “I don’t understand why you have to be so furious, Valencia. You seem to have someone else in your life as well. Jaike didn’t mean to fall in love with me but she did so she went here to do the right thing and tell you.”

The words he didn’t say but implied were clear to everyone. Jaike had the decency not to play around. Angelo didn’t.

“I wanted to be the one to tell you, but she wanted to do things
right
.” It was another not-so-subtle dig.

Angelo visibly bristled, but he still remained silent, his lips stiffly pressed together.

Derek’s broad shoulders moved in an elegant shrug as he turned back to Angelo with a smile, his hand moving down to curl around the side of her hip. “But now she’s said it. Don’t you think it’s better if we put the past behind now and move on?”

          Jaike jerked in shock when she realized where Angelo was staring, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flaring in fury as he stared at where Derek’s hand was holding her with familiar ease, a place that even he hadn’t ever touched. His face was filled with loathing as he glanced at her, snapping, “Is this true?”

          And slowly, she heard herself saying, “Yes.”

          Beside her, Derek’s body relaxed, and it was only then she realized how he had been standing so tensely while waiting for her answer.

          “You’re right.” The coy smile Rosie flashed at Derek made Jaike feel sick. “We should let bygones be bygones and just be happy together.”

          Jaike wanted to throw up. She couldn’t help turning to Angelo, searching for any signs of dismay in his handsome face. Couldn’t he see how the other girl was flirting with Derek? She knew Angelo was out of her league. She had known that from the very start, but at least she was and would have always been faithful to her, something Rosie could never be.

          But Angelo was no longer looking at her or anyone else. “Fuck you, Christopoulos,” he said brusquely, and then he was walking away, dragging his date with him.

Marcy suddenly bounced into view. “Oh God, I can’t believe you had the courage to tell Angelo the truth and then this happened!” Her voice was unnaturally loud, making Jaike wince. Subtlety was so not Marcy’s forte.

Derek still had his arm around her. Five minutes ago, his touch would have sent her into a panic but now it was something that kept her world in balance, something she actually felt desperate
not
to lose.

“I want to go home,” Jaike whispered, more to herself.

“I’ll take you,” Derek said immediately.

Marcy nodded helpfully. “Yes, take your
girlfriend
home now, Derek.” Her eyes twinkled.

If she could just summon enough energy, she’d be glaring at Marcy by now. She was not Derek’s girlfriend! She wasn’t anyone’s girlfriend! She was an ex-girlfriend. That was what she was. An ex-girlfriend! The thought threatened her resolve, making Jaike shudder involuntarily.

Fifteen months.
For fifteen months she had allowed herself to dream, had dared to believe that her life was finally going to be perfectly predictable because she had the right man next to her.

She remembered laughing with Angelo as they argued about her choice of paperbacks in the bookstore. She remembered the times he would wake her up with a sweet chaste kiss on her lips if he caught her asleep on her laptop. Jaike remembered a lot more, but the memories that used to make her smile were now like knife stabs into her heart. They were so beautiful, and they were so fake.

Derek’s arm tightened around her, and his voice was tight with worry when he spoke. “You don’t look good.”

“I’m…fine.” She was. She had to be. She had been alone before. She could do it again.

The walk back to Blake Hall was spent in silence. All she could do was concentrate on breathing and doing her best not to break down.

Derek’s arm remained protectively curled around her shoulders even all the way up in the elevator. When they reached her floor, her fingers trembled as she fumbled for the keys inside her bag.

Jaike turned around when she finally managed to unlock her door. “W-would you like to come in?” The words felt like they were from a Nicholas Sparks movie – it was that unreal, a bad omen that would somehow get a happily-ever-after.

Was she really asking Derek Christopoulos to come inside her room?

Derek stared at her for a long moment before nodding. “I’d like that, thanks.”

And then he stepped inside with her and closed the door behind him.

Jaike stared at Derek, a bit of her sanity returning and causing her to experience a sliver of panic as Derek’s gaze settled on her, his thoughts hidden behind the blank mask on his face.

The room suddenly felt smaller and hotter, dominated by the sheer impact of his presence. She forgot about Rosie, about Angelo, about everything else. All she could see, feel, and think of was Derek.

“Jaike.”

Just that one word told her everything she didn’t want to know. The way he said her name, the way his eyes burned with a purposeful glitter---

Once she had asked him why he kept bothering to be nice to her, when he so clearly didn’t lack for female company and she so clearly wasn’t comfortable in his presence. Then, he had only given her a smile that could have meant anything.

But tonight, he was answering her.

Derek Christopoulos wanted to be her fucking Dom.

Literally.

Three Years Earlier

Angelo Valencia, dressed in his usual pretty-preppy boy shit, was making a move on the girl Derek wanted more than anything in his life. Eighteen fucking years old and Valencia dressed like he was headed to the NYSE. Who the fuck wore a tie to a post-orientation bash for freshmen? They were called fucking fresh for a goddamn reason.

          Unfortunately, the chick that had caught his eye seemed to dig Valencia’s style. Derek knew this for a fact since he stood close enough to hear every word exchanged between her and the prick.

          “Don’t let those girls bother you,” Angelo was murmuring.

          Derek knew the other guy was talking about the bitches that had surrounded the girl earlier. He was usually laidback, but even his hackles had immediately risen at the way those stupid bitches had talked shit about Jaike. He had been about to go over and help her, but Angelo had appeared out of nowhere, beating him to the punch.

          She smiled at the other man, her face softening. “I never do. You don’t have to worry about me.”

          Angelo grinned. “Good. I was afraid I’d have to join my first bitch fight just to protect you.”

          She laughed, the melodic sound stroking Derek like a siren’s call.

          The two spent more than a few minutes chatting and laughing. Her smile was breath-taking. It was the most beautiful thing about her, lighting her face up in a way that made him want to find out if she would give him that smile if - no, when – he took her body.

          His fists clenched as Jaike kept on smiling at the other man. Derek wanted to hoard her smile so that no other man would know how lovely she was.

          “I have to go,” Valencia said when a faculty member waved him to come over from the opposite side of the auditorium. He stepped in front of Jaike, which placed him directly in Derek’s line of vision as well.

          A possessive warning glinted in Valencia’s gaze just before he bent down to kiss Jaike on the cheek.

          Fucking asshole. Derek wanted to beat the other man up but knew it wouldn’t help him. He wasn’t blind. A lot of girls went for the bad boy – the rebel without a cause, but he knew that Jaike Hepburn was not like that. She would choose Valencia over him because she was the type to want someone she was comfortable with, someone who wouldn’t make her heart race or force her to lose control.

          Jaike Hepburn would not want someone like Derek Christopoulos – even if she needed him as much as he needed her.

          “Hi.” He strolled towards her as soon as Valencia turned his back, uncaring if the other man heard him or not.

          She had the look of a cornered rabbit as she took in all of him. Derek almost groaned at his bad choice of words. They made him imagine Jaike on her knees, taking his throbbing dick into her mouth.

          “H-hi.” It had taken Jaike quite a while to speak, and Derek tried not to be offended at how she clearly didn’t want to look anywhere but him.

          “I’m Derek by the way.” He suppressed a smile as she ducked her head so she could pretend she didn’t see his outstretched hand.

          “Jaike Hepburn,” she mumbled.

          “I know.”

          Her head snapped up.

          “I’ve been watching you the moment you arrived.”

          A bemused look entered her eyes.

          “I’m thinking maybe we could go out after this, just to get to know each other better?”

          Her face turned red. “Umm, no, sorry, but thanks.”

          It took more than a moment for Derek to realize that she had shot him down.

          He tried again. “Are you worried because I’m a stranger? I’m a Christopoulos.” He tried not to flush at the words. He had never used his name as a bargaining tool, but for this girl he was apparently willing to do anything. “The whole school can vouch for me.”

          “I know you’re a…a…Christopoulos.” She had a cute frustrated look in her eyes, but it wasn’t enough to make him take pity. His pride was stung, knowing that she was implicitly choosing Valencia over him. Was she really that much of a fool to think she would be satisfied with second best?

          Her shoulders lifted in a helpless shrug. “But I just don’t…”

“You really don’t want to go out with me?” Derek demanded.

          “I’m sorry.” Jaike fidgeted, which just made her cuter and sexier in his eyes. That was bad, since his dick had already been rock hard the first time he had caught a glimpse of her face. Now it was a fucking pain that would prevent him from walking right.