In a Bad Way - Part One

In a Bad Way - Part One

  Ginny Lurcock

  Copyright 2013 by Ginny Lurcock

  Dedication

  Can I just blanket dedicate these to my husband? Is that a thing? Or do I have to find something sweet to say about him every time?

  Really, every time?

  Huh.

  Well then...

  To my husband. Who sleeps in the most adorable fashion possible. Right in the middle of the bed so I can't give into the urge to nap.

  That is on purpose, right?

  Acknowledgements

  You may have heard the phrase “it takes a village to write a book.” Or maybe you haven’t, since I think I just made it up. Not really the point now. What I’m trying to say is that it takes a lot of people to write a book. Even when that “book” is actually a three thousand word short story. My thanks, this time around, go out to Phineas Lurcock, Megan Dwyer, Kelly LaDuke, Marc Gelinas, Chrie Martel, Rose Jansen, Liz Long, Rhys Davis, Krystyna Novak, Jena Gregoire, James Ramsey, Ginny Doremus, Jocelyn Stover, Matt Larkin, Tellulah Darling, and all of my friends and family who’ve helped me along the way.

  You keep me going, even when I’m convinced I should stop.

  In a Bad Way

  Part One

  So there we were, in the same pose that we'd been in countless other times. No, seriously, dozens, hundreds, I had honestly lost track of how many times this scenario had repeated itself since that first time three years ago.

  The time I'd made my move.

  It had been innocent enough to start. Just like my affections for her had been. Though, to be honest, that's because I'd fallen for her when I was all of six years old. Hard to have lascivious intent when you still imagine that girls have cooties.

  By age fifteen I'd known better though, so while we were at her parent's lake house, long after everyone else had gone to sleep, I'd done it. The yawn and arm stretch.

  And that was all she wrote.

  Next thing I knew, every time we were together we wound up wrapped in each other's arms. Her back pressed against my front. Our bodies molded together. Bending and twisting in ways so that it was a miracle I hadn't torn a muscle in my back and/or shoulders.

  Unfortunately, it was usually because I was trying to avoid dropping food on her head.

  Or because the girl threw elbows like it was going out of style.

  Yes, that's right. I, Andrew Michael Anderson, had tried the move on my best friend, Victoria Elizabeth Reeve.

  And she'd thought I just wanted a friendly snuggle.

  I wasn't sure which one of us was the bigger idiot in this scenario.

  “But that’s not the worst part.” She lamented as she grabbed another slice of pizza. Her fourth, if you were keeping track. Which I wasn't because that would be weird.

  “So what was the worst part?” I asked, proud that I'd managed to avoid my voice cracking. Not that anyone could have blamed me if it had. The way Tori leaned to grab pizza was borderline obscene and always resulted in her much too perfect hind end rubbing up against me.

  You know, there.

  And it always resulted in me having to subtly shift the lower half of my body so she didn't realize the quantity- and quality- of the attention I was paying to her.

  Tori let out an exaggerated and pain filled sigh before somehow managing to fold completely in half. Speaking directly to my knee, she drove a nail right through my heart. "The worst part is that he is beautiful. Like completely and totally breath-takeingly heart-stoppingly beautiful.”

  Well, at least I wouldn’t have to worry about any hard evidence being discovered anymore. Nothing like hearing about how beautiful another man was to take care of that little problem. Not that it was a little problem, but heck, I was already doubting my manhood, why not throw another log on the fire?

  Oh well, at least I could snag a bite of pizza- pepperoni and pineapple, her favorite- without having to grow three extra joints in my arm to--

  "What the hell am I going to do, Drew?" Her head snapped up, cracking into my chin and causing me to bite my own tongue instead of my slice. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes, but I resisted shouting every curse word I'd ever learned. Not because I was worried about offending her- Tori was far more inventive with her curse words than I could ever hope to be- but because I didn't want to upset her.

  And knowing that she hurt me would upset her.

  "OH MY GOD, DREW! Are you okay?" She threw both of our slices in the vicinity of the coffee table before pivoting in my lap. An action that made me forget all about my stupid tongue momentarily.

  "I'm fine. Totally fine." Or I would be just as soon as she stopped trying to crawl up my body, since that's what she tried to do as she assessed my face for damage. "Seriously, just bit my tongue a bit, that's all. No big." Except that my voice was strained, verging on cracking.

  So that wasn't obvious or anything.

  "You're tongue, let me see?" She settled back so she was sitting on her heels, which should have been safe. It wasn't though, since at some point when I wasn't paying attention she'd straddled me. In this scenario, "sitting on her heels" meant "her bits all lined up with my bits."

  "Don't be stupid. What if it's serious? What if it gets all infected and falls off?" Her fingers brushed against my lips, tracing the seam as if searching for a way in.

  "My tongue isn't going to fall off, Tor." I leaned away from her as I said it hoping to avoid her questing fingers, but she chased me, rocking forward so that I couldn't escape her.

  "You don't know that. Now open up and let me in." With a sigh, I leaned closer to her again and gave in, parting my lips just enough to let her fingers test my tongue.

  Her fingers tasted like pizza.

  They were also strong as shit. Before I knew what was happening, she had my jaw wedged open and had pulled my tongue out into the open. She'd rocked back so she was sitting on her heels again, this time so she could see into my mouth. She had to arch her back like a ticked off cat, but it actually kind of worked for her.

  I must have died. Probably at some point on the way to pick her up. I'd died and this was my personal hell. Trapped for eternity with the woman I loved who didn't even realize I was a man. Who probably thought I was a eunuch. Desperately hoping that each time our level of physical contact became more intimate I could go back to the last.

  The less painful one.

  My theory was confirmed mere seconds later when her fingers stopped being content at merely prodding my tongue. That was when she started caressing it. The two fingers on the top moving back and forth over and over while the thumb remained pressed flush against the bottom to hold it in place.

  I could feel those fingers everywhere. The sensations they caused in my tongue sending heat everywhere and making me practically vibrate with eighteen years worth of pent up lust.

  Lust that, once it could no longer be contained, stumbled forth into the world on a moan.

  One that I cut off just as quickly as I could.

  Her fingers instantly flew from my mouth and I started to apologize, but she beat me to it. "Ohmygosh Drew, I am so sorry." Her hands flew to her mouth and her eyes looked full of tears. "Did that hurt?"

  The relief I felt was so strong my eyes actually rolled back into my head.

  "Drew! Oh my God I cannot have killed you." I laughed at that. I had to. The girl was hilarious, if nothing else. "Shut up!" She shouted when I couldn't manage to stop laughing, settling more firmly on her heels. As she did, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave a little disgruntled huff.

  Okay, so she wasn't just hilarious, she was also so damned cute it hurt my heart.

  So cute that I forgot myself for a moment and made a grave tactical err
or.

  Reaching up, I brushed so stray hairs from her face, tucking them behind her ears. Then my had just sort of stayed there. My palm pressed up against her jaw. She looked at me then. Her hazel eyes all wide and open and full of wonder. When I looked into them, I was just lost.

  I hoped that my own eyes conveyed all the things I wanted to say but couldn't. Or wouldn't. That I wanted her to see me- actually see me- as a man. A man who loved her madly and wanted her desperately. A man who would spend every day for the rest of his life cherishing her.

  If she did, she showed no sign of it.

  "So not funny, dick." She muttered as she climbed off my lap and shuffled to the other end of the couch. Not that it was far. My dorm room wasn't big enough for a full sized couch. Even if it was the largest single dorm I'd ever seen.

  It was highly suspicious and made me suspect things.

  Things like my father pulling more strings than I'd originally thought, ensuring that not only was I the only freshman on campus in a single, but that it hadn't actually been intended as a single. I bet if I searched the far corner of the room I'd find marks where another bed frame had been.

  God, my father was such an overbearing asshole.

  At least my mood was thoroughly ruined now, and I wouldn't have to worry about humping Tori like a stray dog. Conversely, I'd also have to soothe her hurt feelings while wanting my own soothed instead. "Tori. I'm sorry."

  "Oh like that's going to cut it." Her