Page 56 of Brutal Days

“Sky!” Gia shrieked as she and Damon stopped beside us.

Tucker finished his shots and set the game gun down, then we both shifted our focus to Gia and Damon. I clenched my teeth, annoyed that she was finally talking to me. Excitement pinkened her cheeks as she looked back and forth between Tucker and me.

“I can’t believe we’re all here at the same time,” she said.

I nodded noncommittedly as Gia kept gushing happily over seeing us. We were quite the foursome. I glanced at Tucker’s black eye, and Damon wore his normal scowl. I was unhappy for my own reasons.

Gia was the only one talking, and I wondered how she could be so oblivious. I barely looked her in the eye. Anger built the more she blabbered about the stupid festival. How she’d treated me hurt, and I wasn’t coping well.

“How are Tina and Rebecca?” I couldn’t help throwing shade.

She had fucking seen me at the mall while she’d been with the sophomore social climbers who hung around Damon and his cousins.

Gia’s smile wavered, but she soldiered through, ignoring my question. “We should all go on the Ferris wheel together.” She gestured behind her.

“No thanks.” I didn’t want to stay and watch her and Damon having fun. And not because I would owe him another “favor” but because I didn’t like how much I wanted to give him one. I turned and walked away.

Tucker followed. His truck was parked by the pier, and he gave me a ride home, letting me stew in silence. That was one of the reasons I liked him. He could read the room and be okay with letting me deal with things in my way.

By the time I said goodbye, thanked him for the ride, and let myself into the house, I had ten messages from Damon. Some were threats, asking if my mom knew I was the kind of girl who fucked one guy in the afternoon and another in the evening.

It wasn’t twice in the same day, douchebag.I’d screwed Damon Thursday and had done nothing with Tucker that Sunday. I wanted to scream at him. But instead, I realized what it all meant. It was time to end things.

I punched my response into the phone, taking my fury out on the innocent buttons.The deal’s off. I’m telling Gia tomorrow.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

DAMON

#Busted

Ishould have given Tucker a second black eye to match the one from just over a week ago.Does he have a death wish, showing up with Sky?She was mine. And if he hadn’t figured that out by how I’d jumped him, he was a lot dumber than I’d thought.

When Sky and Tucker had left, I’d dragged Gia through the crowd to the car then dropped her at home. Once she was inside, I put my SUV in park and went straight to Skylar’s house. A light shone in her bedroom window, and I could see her silhouette through the blinds.

I banged on the glass pane since the screen was still in the bushes from when I’d taken it off last time. “Open the window, or I’ll fucking break it.” I was pissed enough to do it too.

It took her too long to open it, angering me even more. And when she finally did, she backed up, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at me. I climbed in.

“I can’t—”

“Shh,” she shushed me, her voice low and heated as she stepped closer to make her point. Anger burned in her eyes, turning them a deep blue.

I lowered my voice to match hers. “I can’t believe you fucked me Thursday, and now you’re screwing Tucker. The guy’s a tool.”

“Excuse me? He’s a friend. ButifI were fucking Tucker, it wouldn’t be any of your business.” A dark grin curved her lips. “Turnabout is fair play. You do that kind of shit all the time. One and done? Ring a bell? We had sex. It was good. And now we’re done.”

Not happening. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her to me. “We’re done when I say we are.” It was a bullshit thing to say, but in the heat of the moment, I wasn’t very rational.

I didn’t let her respond as I slanted my lips over hers with all the heat and desperation I felt. It only took one second for her body to melt into mine, and she returned the kiss.

Need raged between us like a goddammed inferno of desire. I had to have her, and from the way she kissed me back, I knew the feeling was mutual.

I buried my hand in her hair, angling her head to deepen the kiss. Too many clothes stood between us, and I tugged on her shirt with my free hand until she broke the kiss, stepped back, and whipped it over her head.

My grin matched hers as I shed my clothing as fast as she did hers. We stood before each other, naked. She was so goddammed beautiful.

She pushed back the covers, but I had a different idea.

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