The Bet: Dark New Adult Romance

3

Remington

Seeing her with Cole Robson shouldn’t have bothered me, not really. So why the f**k did it feel like someone was stabbing me in the heart over and over again with a f*****g fork? I tried to ignore the pain, but it was far too noticeable, and that only annoyed me more.

Knowing she’s here, at Northwoods, at my f*****g school, irritates me beyond belief. I want to tell her to leave, to turn the f**k around and go back to wherever she came from, but I won’t. Instead, I’m going to do the next best thing and make her life a living hell.

The odds of me getting her to leave town on her own is slim to none, but if I push her, force her out of this town with tear-stained cheeks I doubt she’ll return ever again.

The music from the party downstairs vibrates through the walls and the floor. f**k, the frat house is packed tonight. Alan sure spread the word about tonight. The first huge party of the semester and we were going to do our legendary bet tonight.

“Heard you f****d Layla again?” Thomas nudges my arm. f*****g the same woman twice wasn’t really my thing. I rarely ever had s*x with the same woman, however, there weren’t a lot of women as good at blow jobs as she was. Still, I hadn’t had s*x with her more than once. If she referred to blow jobs as s*x, then that was all her doing.

“I didn’t f**k her. She sucked my d**k, there’s a difference,” I chide, taking a long pull from the bottle of beer in my hands. After finding out Jules was here...I’m going to need a lot more beer and a lot more p***y.

“Alright boys, you got your picks ready?” Cole questions with excitement handing out a stack of square pieces of papers and pens after setting the NWU hat in the center of the table.

“You know the rules. The girls must be present at the party,” I announce, giving Thomas a knowing look. He’s notorious for dropping names of girls into the hat that don’t even show up at parties, making it ten times harder to win. Not that winning gets you much of anything other than bragging rights, it sucks when you don’t get any p***y for six weeks though. I take another pull from my beer bottle, letting the cold liquid cool my heated insides.

“Shut up, Rem!” He rolls his eyes, taking a chug from his glass. I chuckle and write the first three girls’ names down that came up and talked to me, then I toss them into the hat. Kia, Thomas, Cole, and Alan do the same, and soon the hat is full of unsuspecting partygoers names. Names of women that won’t even realize how much their lives are going to be changing in the next six weeks.

“So remember, if she’s a virgin, you get more points. Anything other than s*x isn’t fulfilling the bet. Winner takes bragging rights and doesn’t have to do any house party cleaning for the next six months. At the six week point, you have to break it off with her and let her know it was nothing more than a bet. If you can’t do it, or you fail to do it, then you forfeit your bet and lose.”

“Thank you for explaining the rules, Captain Obvious.” Though a refresher on said rules never hurt anyone.

Alan gives the hat a good shake, almost losing some pieces of paper in the process. A nervous kind of energy runs through me. Why the f**k do I feel so nervous? I have no reason to be...I’ve done this many times. Plus, it’s just f*****g. Completely harmless, all fun.

One by one we each pluck a single piece of paper from the hat. I unfold mine in my hands, not caring for any dramatic splendors and stare at the name.

Fuck no! Not even f**k no. No way in hell. That can’t be right. She’s not even here, is she? I look up and around the group, thinking this must be a joke, but no one in this room knows about my connection to her so there is no way one of these assholes did this to be a d**k. No, this is fate, karma kicking me in the balls.

I look back down at the paper, my hand shaking, hoping that maybe the name has magically changed in the last few seconds, but even after I blink, I see it hasn’t.

Jules Peterson is still the name scribbled in blue ink. I feel sick to my stomach. Not only did she ruin me once before, but now she’s reappeared back in my life to do it again. The muscles in my jaw jump as I try to figure out what the f**k I’m going to do.

“Who did you get, Rem?” Cole asks, frowning at me.

Apparently, he didn't get the girl he wanted either.

I turn the paper around and hold it up so he can read it.

“s**t! That’s who I wanted,” he whines. Who he wanted? For a moment, I think about what I saw this afternoon. Them walking together, her smiling up at him, seemingly happy. I should’ve realized what was happening then. It was obvious Cole was chasing tail, claiming her as his next conquest.

“Here, you can have her.” I flick the piece of paper at him and snatch the piece he’s holding in his hand.

“f**k yeah!” He almost jumps from excitement. “This is going to be so f*****g great. She won’t even know what hit her,” he snickers. “She’s already given me her number, getting inside those virgin panties shouldn’t be too hard now.”

A lump forms in my throat at his words. Virgin. No f*****g way is Jules still a virgin. She might act innocent and even come off as pure, but there’s no way her cherry is still dangling between her legs. No. I can’t think about Jules and s*x in the same sentence. Let him break her heart. She deserves it.

Frustrated, I stomp out of the room without even hearing what names the other guys drew. I’m fed up already, and she’s only been here one f*****g day. Thrusting my fingers through my hair in frustration, I clomp down the steps, stopping when I reach the bottom of the staircase. I tip my beer back, emptying its contents into my throat before scanning the crowd.

Weak. She makes me weak. My eyes immediately seek her out, like she’s a magnet that I’m drawn to or something. It doesn’t take me long. Three seconds tops to find her golden blonde curls calling out to me like a beacon in the room. She’s wearing makeup, not much, but enough to make her eyes pop, and the same pair of skinny jeans from earlier, the ones that show off her perfect ass.

An ass I’d love to sink my teeth into…

Fuck, why does she have to be beautiful, and perfect, and… No! She’s nothing to me. Trash, garbage, scum beneath my feet, that’s what she is. I take a couple calming breaths reminding myself that she’s the reason we’re here. She’s the f*****g reason I’m the way I am. Shaking my head, I read the new name in my hand.

Cally Brice. I try to rack my brain, connecting the name to a face. Redhead, I think. I look around the room once more until I spot the girl I think is Cally.

She’s standing in the opposite corner of the room, away from Jules. Thank God, I need to be as far away from her as I can get. Cally spots me as I start to walk over to her, her eyes light up. She’s pretty enough, big green eyes, looking at me all googly eyed. This is going to be a cakewalk...I’ll have the bet won by tonight.

“Hey, Cally, right?”

She blinks at me like she can’t believe I just said her name. “Umm, yes,” she stutters, and I grin.

“You look beautiful tonight.” I lay it on thick, knowing just what to say to charm her panties off. I’m so good at it, the boys once told me I could charm the panties off a nun if I tried. I didn’t, in case you were wondering.

She tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Thank you...it’s nothing really, just a little makeup, and…” Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Cole walking up to Jules. She’s smiling, and laughing, still having not seen me yet.

I warned her, told her I’d ruin her if she didn’t leave me alone, stay out of my way, and still, she found her way to my house, to my party, into the lion’s den. She’s got a brain inside that head of hers and if she was smart, she would’ve tucked tail and ran the other way by now.

Cole stands close, too close, leaning in to whisper something into her ear. Her eyes widen and she nibbles on her plump bottom lip that is painted red this evening.

Those lips, her hair, that f*****g body. In my mind, I can see her writhing beneath me, her tight little cunt swallowing my c**k. I’ve always wondered what she would look like as she falls apart, as she squeezes my c**k with her tightness. Jesus. There’s a pounding forming behind my eyes, warranting the onset of a f*****g headache.

Fuck Cole. f**k her. He can rip her heart out...rip it out and break it into a million pieces. Inhaling through my nose, I reason with myself. She doesn’t matter, she’s no one, nothing. She broke your heart. I remind myself.

Yeah, she broke your heart, but you can’t stop thinking about her. Being with her, inside of her. My hands curl into fists, forgetting about the girl in front of me, the party, the f*****g people around me. But for some reason, I can’t erase her. When he leans in a little closer, and his lips almost touch hers, I lose it. I fundamentally lose it and find my body reacting to what’s happening without even thinking of the consequences.

“Hey…” Cally calls out after me, but I brush her off like a gnat. Inside my head, I tell myself that I don’t care about anything, nothing at all. Only making the girl in front of me feel the same kind of loss I’ve felt for the last three f*****g years. She doesn’t get to come here and have the time of her life.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I growl at Cole and grab Jules by her slim arm. Her skin is warm, soft, and she smells like vanilla and cinnamon. The scent slams into me, hitting me like a ton of bricks right in the gut. Pulling her toward me, I watch as her face morphs from laughter and happiness, to anger and confusion in an instant.

“Cole?” She looks between us with a puzzled expression.

“Rem,” Cole warns, his eyes almost pleading as if he knows what I’m going to do. I shake my head, stopping him from saying anything. I don’t give a f**k what he says. She was mine first, and always will be, and we have a history. She’s mine to ruin, mine to break. When I don’t say anything, she starts to struggle in my grasp.

“Let go of me,” she growls through her teeth, trying to sink her feet into the floor. Does she think she’s strong enough to fight me? I’m nearly a foot taller than her, much stronger and if she wants to get technical about it, I have no problem proving it to her.

Grinning, I hone in on that simmering pain that eats, breathes, and lives inside of me. “Nope. I warned you, Jules, told you that if you didn’t stay out of my way, there would be consequences. It’s not my fault you’re a s**t listener.”

“You don’t own the school, Remmy! Plus, I was invited to this party. Why can’t you just leave me alone? You can’t control me, or tell me where I can and can’t go, you aren’t a damn god!” she yells over the music blaring through the house.

Her feistiness turns me on as much as it angers me. I tug her through the crowd, and she loses her footing a time or two, but with my hand on her arm, she manages to stay upright. Once I reach the edge of the room, I open the back door and pull her out into the dimly lit backyard. The cold air bites into my skin, but it’s a welcoming feeling with the rage boiling inside of me.

Once outside, I release her like her skin is on fire and shove her against the side of the house. Touching her reminds me of the times when we were kids… when I held her hand and walked with her. It reminds me of the person I was before she broke me.

“Invited or not, I told you not to show your f*****g face around me.” She looks back toward the door as if she thinks Cole or someone else will come rescue her. Stupid. So stupid. I bear my teeth, feeling the need to shake some common sense into her. She doesn’t know me anymore, the man I am, the person I became because of her.

I don’t hurt women, not unless you count breaking their hearts as hurting them, but I want to hurt Jules. I want her to feel my pain…I want to own her body, her heart. I want her tears, her misery. I want to feel all of it.

Leaning into her face, I say, “If you’re waiting for a knight to come and rescue you, you’ll be waiting a long time. Cole won’t save you from me. He’s not dumb enough to stick his nose where it doesn’t f*****g belong, and nor would he try. I’m the king of this campus. It’s my playground and I f**k and take from those that I want to.”

“What happened to you, Remmy?” Her voice cracks, her eyes soft, pleading even. Like she doesn’t know what she f*****g did to me, how she destroyed me, broke my heart. She wants to play stupid, the victim. I’ll show her what it’s like to be the victim.

“It’s Remington,” I yell, watching as she shudders. “And you can drop the innocent little act, like you don’t know what the f**k you did.”

She shakes her head, sending blonde curls flying, and I can’t stop myself from doing what I do next. I’m an asshole, a bastard, a f*****g douchebag, but I am who I am, and Jules had her chance to save me, to be mine, now she’s nothing, nothing but a f*****g bet.

“I don’t understand, I never…” she starts, but I don’t want to hear her excuses. I don’t care about anything she has to say. Her words are nothing but lies. She gasps at my sudden movement as I advance toward her, trying to press herself against the house to put more space between us.

“Get on your knees,” I order.

Her expression turns from puzzled to fearful and though my stomach twists and knots and it feels like I might throw up, I’m enjoying this, my blood singing, the monster inside me gobbling up the exchange, fueling the beast inside of me.

“What? No way, this is not happening Rem…” Too many words are being said, her excuses only angering me further. With both my hands, I push down on her shoulders, forcing her to the ground and on her knees. She cries out as if I’ve hurt her, but I know I didn’t. I’ve barely touched her, yet.

“Consequences. For everything you do, there is a consequence. Now yours is to suck my d**k like the good little w***e you are, or I’m going to ruin your entire existence here. I warned you, Jules. I f*****g warned you, but you didn’t listen to me. You didn’t take me seriously, but maybe next time you will.” I snarl, reaching for the button on my jeans. How f****d up is it that I’m hard? That my c**k is screaming to take her?

“Don’t do this, Remington. Please don’t…” she begs, tears glistening in her eyes. And I think back to that day, the day that I f*****g needed her. I would’ve done anything and said anything to keep her with me then. My begs, my pleas went unnoticed, uncared for.

Shoving my pants down, I take sick satisfaction when her lips start to tremble. I’m so caught up looking at her face and her big blue eyes that I don’t notice her pulling her fist back until it’s too late. Her tiny hands land against my ball sack, and all the air in my lungs dissipates. My stomach churns and I fall to my knees as she moves away from me and onto her unsteady legs. A lightning bolt of pain passes through my balls.

“Don’t touch me, and don’t f*****g threaten me again. You’ve changed, Remington, and the person you are and the person I am, are no longer people that run in the same circles. I don’t know you anymore. The Remington I knew never would’ve done what you just did. Touch me again and I’ll find a way to make you pay.”

And that’s the truth, the f*****g truth. Never in a million years would I have put my hands on her like that. I never would’ve been excited to see fear flicker in her eyes, but I wasn’t that person anymore. This was the new me, and the only version she was going to f*****g get.

“I’ll break you, Jules. I’ll make you pay for this,” I bite out each word, holding onto my balls, my entire world spinning out of control. One f*****g day, one day is all it took for her to come back into my life sending all the perfectly constructed walls surrounding my heart into a crumbling mess. One day is all it took for her to make my stupid black hole of a heart beat again.

“I look forward to it,” she sneers, walking back into the house, leaving me alone outside with nothing more than the sick feeling of what I almost did to her, and the reality of the man I’ve become.