Page 29 of Defiant
“But it’s dark,” I spoke, only sounding a little whiny. Mostly I sounded out of breath, which was ridiculous, because he wasn’t even touching me.
“I don’t care.” Silence for a while, and as my eyes started to become adjusted to the darkness, Vaughn continued, “I don’t like hearing that you went home with someone else. Did he—”
“No,” I cut in. “He was a gentleman. A grouch, but a gentleman. I like him, Vaughn, but there’s no reason for you to be…” I trailed off, realizing it. “Jealous?” It came out like a question, because it kind of was.
Was Vaughn Scott jealous of Jacob?
No. No way. First off, it wasn’t like I was with Vaughn. We weren’t dating or anything. Sure, we’d kissed, but that’s about it. I might be attracted to the boy, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be his and his alone.
And, besides that, Jacob had made it clear that he thought of me as nothing more than a kid, in spite of me fighting him on it. Just a kid who put herself in bad situations, where he had to play the resentful hero. Which was fine, I guess, even though I really didn’t think I deserved the kid label.
“I’m not jealous,” Vaughn said, though I couldn’t tell who he was trying to convince more: him or me?
“Really? So, you stormed away after I told you I went home with someone else because you’re not jealous? Tell me how that works.” Suddenly Vaughn’s body moved toward mine, and I found myself backing up, my spine hitting the closet door. Through the darkness, I could see him place both hands on the door beside my head, as if blocking my way out of this.
Dude, we were stuck in a janitor’s closet. There was no getting out of this.
“I…” He paused, and I felt his body inch toward mine. He wasn’t pinning me to the door, but I could feel his front grazing mine; it wouldn’t take much to increase the pressure between us. “I don’t know. I’ve never been jealous.”
I didn’t know if I should consider myself lucky or not.
“I’ve never been a lot of things before,” he whispered, his hands on the door sliding down slowly, inching their way along until they rested just outside my hips, like he was bracing himself, trying to keep himself from having our bodies touch. “You bring things out of me.”
Was it wrong to kind of like what he was saying? It was weird—oh, hell yeah, it was weird—but his words gave me a sense of reassurance, that, even though I might’ve fucked up with Archer, maybe I could have something else with another guy. Archer wasn’t the end of the world.
But Vaughn was a Scott, and the Scotts weren’t the kind of people I could trust. I knew it, deep down. Jacob’s reaction to me accepting Vaughn’s help had told me his opinion on the matter, and I trusted Mr. Grumps and his opinion.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t know whether Vaughn was happy or upset that I brought things out of him, and the darkness in this room wasn’t helping me gauge his expression.
“Are you?” Whatever willpower he had must’ve faded, for in the next moment, I felt his midsection slowly starting to put pressure on mine. My body was instantly alight, set on fire by feeling his body against me. “I don’t think you are.”
Eh, yeah, maybe I wasn’t.
With my head resting on the door behind me, my eyelids fluttered shut. Vaughn’s fingers grazed my hips, just under my shirt. The barest hints of skin on mine sent my heart into overdrive, and I felt myself warming all the way down to my core.
Vaughn leaned his head against mine, his forehead cool on my heated skin. “I think you like bringing all these feelings out of me,” he murmured, his voice softer than it had ever been. “I don’t know what to do with myself when you’re in the picture.” The tentativeness of his hands on my sides gave way to a firmness, the type of grip a man would have only on something that’s his.
But I wasn’t Vaughn’s. I wasn’t anybody’s, no matter what anyone thought.
No matter what I might want, deep down—multiple guys, apparently. I felt for more than one guy right now, and it was super confusing. Even Archer…that prick, that bastard still had a part of me I didn’t want him to have. Now Vaughn…when would the crushes stop? Like, enough already.
“You make me…so confused,” he murmured, his nose grazing mine. “I didn’t like hearing that your precious investigator took you home. I don’t like thinking of you, vulnerable, in someone else’s hands.” His words came out soft yet urgent, a desperate plea for me to believe him.
How could I not?
I did think it was odd, how he acted when I told him I’d gone to Jacob’s place, but he didn’t freak out nearly as much when he heard about what happened between me and Archer. This was putting it lightly, but I didn’t understand his mindset.
“Well,” I joked, “you weren’t there, so I had to make do.” Bad time to joke, Jaz, I told myself.
The hands holding my hips were slow to travel upward, taking in the curve of my sides before moving to my chest, both palms grazing my breasts and causing me to breathe in sharply. His hands eventually found my neck, fingers tangling in my hair, as if stopping me from turning away.
Thing was, I didn’t think I’d ever turn away from him. Even if he was a Scott, even if his family was into some illegal shit, I couldn’t stop him. I didn’t want to. I wanted to give in to this boy more than I’d ever wanted to give in before, and that included my quick hookup with Archer—a hookup that was now proving to be much more trouble than it was worth.
Vaughn…would I give myself to him, if I could? Would I give my body to the tall, tatted boy who was often locked in his own head, keeping his emotions close? The boy I drove crazy, the boy I made confused?
We all knew the answers to those questions.
“If I was there,” Vaughn whispered, my whole body like goo in his hands, “I would’ve made them all pay for what they did to you.”
