Page 117 of Seven Lost Summers
Not when I can still hear the floorboards groan under his boots, sense the weight of the silence before he’d start shouting my name.
I hid under beds. Cramped myself into closets so tight my ribs ached. Held still, held my breath, and waited to find out if tonight was the night I became a goddamn bargaining chip for whatever debt he owed.
Every time I hear a door slam, a voice raise, my stomach still knots the same way it did back in those days. Those scars don’t fade. They linger under your skin, waiting to be ripped open.
I lay Quinn down on the bed, her back sinking into the mattress, her light brown hair spilling over the dark sheets in a messy halo.
I step back for a second, because fuck, I need to see her. All of her.
My eyes drag slowly over her body, tracing every inch. Her tits rise and fall with each shaky breath, nipples tight and begging to be in someone’s mouth. Her stomach’s flushed, her skin glowing with heat, every curve screaming to be touched, begging for hands to grip and mark.
Nate steps up beside me, and I sense him staring too, carrying that same silent hunger.
Together, we stand there and fucking look at her.
She’s fucking beautiful spread out this way, every part of her needing to be touched, kissed, and fucked.
She shifts slightly, her thighs edging together as if she’s trying to hide the one thing we want most.
“Nah,” I rasp. “Keep them open, Quinn. Let us fucking look at that perfect pussy. Let us see exactly what we’re about to ruin.”
And that’s the moment I notice it—the shift, the flicker in her eyes, the insecurity.
She was never like this before.
Quinn Thomas was the girl who’d flip you off before you even opened your mouth. The one who walked through high school without giving a single fuck what anyone thought. The girl who never treated me as some broken asshole. Who saw through all the bullshit and never once judged me or turned away. She was my friend. Always beautiful.
And now… her laying here, naked and open, and somewhere along the line, some fuckhead made her doubt herself.
Rage surges hot in my chest but I force it down. Whoever did this to her… whoever made her question her worth should have their face smashed into a fucking wall until there’s nothing left.
I drop to my knees at the edge of the bed, hands sliding slow up her thighs, every tremor under my palms sinking into my skin.
“You have no idea how fucking beautiful you look right now.”
“He’s right,” Nate says beside me. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Q.”
And I wonder if he sees it too.
The cracks she never had before. The shadows that weren’t there when we were crazy teens. The way some asshole left fingerprints on her confidence and made her forget what she is.
She swallows hard, lips parting slightly, chest rising as though she’s trying to hold herself together.
I lean in, dragging my mouth along her skin. The scent of her arousal wraps around my head and sinks into my blood. It’s a drug. One hit and I’m fucking gone.
“Fuck,” I whisper, more confession than sound. “I want to fucking devour you.”
She moans, the sound spilling from her lips before she can bite it back.
That helpless little slip shreds the last of my control.
Nate steps in closer and peels his shirt over his head. His jeans follow, hitting the floor in one smooth motion, and when he straightens, he’s completely naked. His cock stands thick and hard, veins tracing along the shaft, pre-cum beading at the swollen tip, taunting me with the thought of how it would taste on my tongue.
He’s fucking beautiful.
All hard muscle and heat, jaw tight like he’s holding back more than a groan. And for a second, I forget everything else.
I’ve seen him with groupies. We’ve done this before. Shared bodies, sweat, moans, fucked until we’re exhausted, a hundred times over until it became habit. But this… this is a live wire under my skin.
