Untapped: A Bad Boy Crime Novel Read online

  "What?" I twirled in front of the mirror. "I like it. It's conservative."

  "It's boring and old." She rolled onto her back and climbed off the bed, walking to stand between me and the mirror. "The eighties called, and they want their tie back."

  She grabbed the bright pink tie I had on and tugged on it.

  "I like this." I forced a frown as she walked toward her closet.

  "No. You're not wearing that out tonight. Take it off. Now."

  "I don't like your tone. Reminds me of Nate." I smiled wickedly and turned to face her. "Speaking of... tell me what's been going on with you guys. You know I have to live vicariously through you."

  "No. You don't." She tossed me a white top and black miniskirt that would make a whore look needy.

  "Yes." I tossed it back to her. "I do. I don't have a boyfriend."

  "You know what?" She lifted her eyebrows and dropped the clothes on the floor, moving back to stand in front of me. "You've never had a boyfriend. We're in our early twenties. It's time to stop letting all that bullshit from your mother stop you from being who you really are."

  She reached up and undid my tie before unbuttoning the white button up I had picked with pride from my closet. There was no way in hell anyone would hit on me at Kadia if I looked like a cross dresser.

  "This is hot." I gripped her hand and wagged my eyebrows. "Go slow, okay?"

  She laughed. "You like dick, and so do I."

  I shrugged. "I wouldn't know." I glanced down. "I've never really had it."

  "What?" She moved back like I'd scalded her. "We've been best friends our whole lives. You told me you slept with Tommy Johnson and Tanner Walls."

  "I lied." I shrugged and moved away from her. "I'm sorry. Honestly." I hopped up on the bed as the familiar feeling of disappointment raced through me. "I've never slept with anyone."

  "That's nothing to be sorry about." She moved in front of me and pushed my shirt over my shoulders. "It's beautiful. Are you saving yourself for marriage?"

  "No. Yes. I don't know." I glanced down at my hands feeling like a child all of a sudden.

  "Hey." She touched my chin. "Talk to me. I'm your best friend. We're like sisters."

  "I want to sleep with someone, but not just anyone. It's too intimate, too much like giving myself up for nothing." I pushed at her chest. "Back up. You're in my space."

  She laughed and moved back, picking up the shirt. "And is there someone you have in mind for giving up your V-card to?"

  Heat rushed up my chest and coated my neck. "Erik, of course, but he would probably be appalled by it. Guys like him like a woman who knows what they want."

  "And you don't know what you want?" She handed me the shirt. "Put this on and pull your boobs up a little so they show right at the top of the shirt."

  I did as she said and tried to figure out how to get myself out of the most awkward conversation we'd had to date. "I want Erik."

  "Good. Nate should be here any minute. Put on that skirt, and I'll make him call Erik."

  "I thought you said Erik was horrible for me." I laid back and pulled off my tights before getting off the bed.

  "Wow. Your ass looks great in those panties."

  I turned and put my back to the mirror. "There aren't any panties there. Hence the word string." I laughed and reached for the skirt.

  "You girls in here?" Nate's voice filled up the hallway, and I yelped and ran for the bathroom to find it locked.

  "Yeah. We're just changing." Jenna rolled her eyes and turned as Nate walked in.

  I stood with the skirt hanging in front of my waist, not able to think clearly enough to put the damn thing on. "I'm getting dressed!"

  "Good. Turn around and show Nate how good your ass looks in those panties." Jenna lifted her finger in the air and twirled it around. "Turn. Seriously. You have no clue how good you look."

  "What? No. Nate! Get out." I pointed to the door as the world felt like it was closing in on me. My goodie-goodie persona was sliding fast at the thought of Nate's approval of my ass. It would boost my confidence. It would turn me on.

  I was a horrible friend.

  "So..." Nate glanced between the two of us, the handsome bastard obviously okay with giving me a rating while his girlfriend was standing right there.

  "Turn around. Seriously." Jenna walked toward me, grabbing my shoulders and turning me around.

  I focused on not clenching my ass as I dropped my forehead to her shoulder. "I hate you so much."

  "Wow. I never in a million years would have thought you were hiding such a beautiful body under those clothes, Grace. I'm impressed. You're an official cock-blocker for yourself." He clapped and winked as I turned and glared at him over my shoulder.

  "Now, get out!"

  He turned and walked out, laughing.

  "See? I told you." She walked back to the closet, tossing me a pair of sexy black heels. "Wear your hair down and put on a little bit of makeup and we're heading out."

  "I'm not going home with some weirdo tonight."

  "I know you're not, but I want you to notice how guys react when you're not busy covering yourself up constantly. You're stunning, Grace. You need to see that."

  "What if I lie and say that I do?" I gave her an innocent smile as she scoffed and walked out, leaving me with my thoughts. Was she really going to get Nate to reach out to Erik? Did I want that? He had to be five to six years older than me, and would he really be impressed by my virginity or think it was funny?

  I didn’t know him that well, but something told me he was just enough of a dick to make fun of me about it.

  Only one way to find out.

  *

  "I feel sick," I mumbled and walked toward the bar.

  Jenna wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Don't. Everything is fine. Just relax and have fun tonight. I'm not going to let you go home with a stranger. Drink and dance and just explore, Grace."

  "Explore?" The sound of being so forward with my sexuality made my pulse spike. How long had I been holding myself back? Right. My whole fucking life.

  "Hey, beautiful." The bartender leaned forward and smiled.

  I glanced over at Jenna. "I'll just get a beer."

  "Tell him." She laughed loudly. "He was talking to you."

  "No, he wasn't." I glanced back at him as he nodded.

  "Yeah. I was. You're gorgeous. What's your name, baby?"

  I glanced at Jenna again, who rolled her eyes at me and turned to walk off. Something inside my chest swelled. Whether he was being nice or not... I liked it. I'd been working for so long not to get the attention that I wasn't sure how to handle finally getting it.

  "It's Grace, and I'll take a shot of tequila. Two actually." I pressed my hands to the bar top and watched as his smile grew.

  "It's on the house tonight. Anything you want." I licked at my bottom lip and moved toward the liquor.

  "Find something you like?" Erik's voice surprised me a little. The sound of it washed over me, forcing me to realize that it didn't matter what he might want from me. I was willing to give it. All of it.

  "The liquor or the bartender?" I glanced sideways at him before turning my attention back to the bar. I could play the bitch like he did most days in the library.

  "Both?" He offered a card. "Put the lady’s drinks on my card with mine. It's not a request."

  The guy nodded, his eyes widening a little.

  I turned and lifted my first shot to my lips. "To the scariest guy in all of New York."

  He took my other shot. "To the woman he'd choose to fuck every night if his life were any different."

  The liquor burned on the way down, as did his words. The truth. He wanted me beneath him too, but his life wouldn't afford it. It was a life I knew nothing about, and yet I wanted to so bad.

  "And one night would simply destroy everything." I licked my lips and set my shot glass down, knowing I was pushing in the wrong direction.

  "You're just a child locked in that beautiful body, Grace. You
don't need to dress like a slut for attention." He reached out and gripped my chin hard, leaning down and letting his lips hover above mine. Every pleasure point I had lit on fire, my body screaming for me to close the gap and submit fully to him. Power rolled off of him in intoxicating waves, and the darkness in his eyes called to me. "You already have everyone's when you're being yourself."

  "I want more," I whispered and moved closer, only to feel the pressure of his free hand on my hip.

  "I'm not the man you want in your life. Stop fooling yourself and get your head out of a book, kitten. I'm a monster, not a savior."

  He kissed the tip of my nose and walked off, joining Jenna and Nate across the room. I turned and ordered a beer, grateful that the bartender was moving so fast that night.

  I couldn't get enough air in my lungs as I stood there, feeling two feet tall. My mother had the power to cut me down to nothing, but it would seem that Erik Bertinelli did too.

  "Hey." Nate moved up beside me and smiled.

  "Are you still thinking about me in my panties?" I elbowed him and took a drink, liking the guy a little more now that he'd given me the thumbs up on being hot.

  "Hell yeah. I wish Jenna were into girls too. We could have some fun tonight." He smiled and leaned his beer toward mine. "You know Erik cares about you."

  "What? That's absurd."

  "Why? Because he's a heartless bastard? He's here tonight, right?"

  "Yeah. For you." I let my eyes drag down his back to the thick curve of his perfect ass. "I wanna do so many things with him. It scares me."

  "It should." Nate chuckled and extended his hand. "Half of one of these will have your blood boiling and your inhibitions completely gone. Take it and tell him you got it off of someone and you need him to help make it stop."

  "Make what stop?" I took the pill and glanced up into Nate's strong gaze.

  "The lust raping your system." He pressed his hand to the bottom of mine. "Take it and force yourself to break a few boundaries tonight."

  "I'm scared." I glanced down at it as the pulse in the side of my neck went wild.

  "Good. You should be." He took a sip of his beer. "You both need each other. Make it happen, Grace. He'll fall in love with you before he knows what's happening."

  I popped the pill in my mouth and shot it down with a quick sip of my beer as Jenna and Erik walked back toward us. "I want that."

  "Of course you do." Nate moved around me, his voice low, seductive. "Because you're a good girl."

  A shiver ran through me. I might have been before I showed up, but something told me that I wouldn't be for much longer.

  Chapter 5

  Erik

  "Here. Finish this shit while I dance with my girl." Nate handed me his beer and grabbed Jenna's hand, walking out toward the dance floor.

  I shouldn't have agreed to come, but sitting at home in the dark and pondering over my empty existence was getting old.

  A soft moan pulled me from my thoughts as I lifted the beer to my lips and drank deeply. Grace was beyond seductive in her tight skirt and skimpy top. Every man in the whole fucking bar was doing double and triple takes, which had me on edge. She might not be mine, but she sure as fuck wasn't going to belong to anyone else as well.

  "Hey. You okay?" I turned to face her as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and nodded.

  "Nate gave me something to help me chill out." She ran her hand over the tops of her breasts, and my cock twitched in my jeans. Zandra. Fuck.

  I lifted my bottle to my nose and breathed in, the taint of the drug more than obvious. "What the fuck?" I growled and moved toward her. "Stay here and don't move. I'll be right back."

  "Okay," she breathed out, her pupils dilated, her cheeks pink. She was pure. Untouched. Why the hell would Nate think it was okay to mess with that?

  I grabbed his shirt and jerked him toward me, pressing my chest to his as I got in his face. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

  "Hey!" Jenna moved up on my right, reaching up to pull us apart.

  "It's alright, baby. Go check on Grace. I deserve this." Nate turned back to me. "You know why I did it. You're just gonna keep rotting away inside that head of yours. Stop being an idiot and take what the fuck you want."

  "Watch yourself, Nate. You know I have nothing to offer that beautiful girl but death and horror. You'd do that her?" I growled at the thought.

  "I'd do anything for you." He moved back and patted my chest. "Take her somewhere and taste her, Erik. You've wanted her from the moment you started going to that fucking library. Stop lying to me and everyone else." He patted my chest again. "Better yet... stop lying to yourself."

  "It's not that easy, asshole," I called after him, but he was already walking toward Grace and Jenna. Not a moment later, he walked her to the edge of the dance floor like a lamb to the slaughter.

  Grace walked toward me, but paused, looking back. Nate encouraged her to keep going. The poor little innocent thing had no clue how to seduce a man. It was a damn good thing I didn't need that. Just the thought of her naked and crying out left me almost shaking.

  "Erik. I'm really sor-"

  "Hush." I reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her toward me and spinning her until her back was pressed against my chest, her soft ass tucked against my erection. I leaned down and pressed my teeth into the soft flesh below her ear, wrapping my arms around her and dancing slowly to the music. "Seems your friends are no friends at all."

  She rolled her hips, working herself against my dick in a way I wouldn't have expected her to do. "I've wanted you for so long."

  "You don't even know me, Grace. The outside is beautiful and shiny, but the inside is so dark, baby." I reached up and cupped one of her small breasts, just enough flesh to fill my hand. I squeezed softly and slipped my other hand down the front of her dress, cupping her pussy. "You need to get Jenna to take you home. This isn't happening between us."

  "Why?" She cupped her hand over mine and whimpered, rolling her hips seductively as I pressed forward and ground against her. "You're hard and ready for me. Why would you deny me?" She turned in my arms, surprising me by her quickness. Her pretty nails ran up my chest as she pressed herself against me and glanced up. "I want you to have me first. Before anyone else does."

  "First?" Mother fucker. I was right. She was untouched. My fantasies were off-handed concoctions from my wet dreams. My girl hadn't been with another man yet. The knowledge of her virginity caused something to swell inside of me.

  "I... um... I mean..." she pulled back as her facade slipped a little, the scared woman underneath the drug far more beautiful to me than the vixen rubbing up against my cock a few minutes before.

  "I love it." I leaned down and brushed my nose along hers, ready to give up my resolve to leave her be. It was just sex. Or maybe not even sex. I just wanted to taste her, to be the first to hear her come. "My place or yours?" She leaned up to try and kiss me, but I stopped her. "No kissing, kitten. I don't like it." I nipped at her lips and ran my hands down her back, squeezing her ample ass to reassure her that it wasn't anything to do with her. Kissing was too much of a commitment, too intimate.

  "I don't know." She glanced back and then returned her gaze to me.

  I ran my fingers through her hair. "Then it's my place. I brought my bike though. And listen to me." I gripped her hair tightly as she closed her eyes and let out another sweet moan. "This is just tonight, Grace. Nothing more. You have your bastard friend Nate back there to thank for this shit."

  "I'll remember to thank him." She opened her eyes, and something inside of me melted. I could love her so easily. And she'd die. I had no doubt.

  The thought caused my lust to die down, and I moved back and took her hand. I'd take her up to the mountains and get her a little more liquored up. Hopefully, she would fall asleep, and I could save us both from the heartache that would come in the morning.

  After I got her back home safely, my next steps would be to kill Nate. I loved the guy, but he had t
o die for hurting my girl, and I had no doubt... she would end up hurt.

  *

  I pulled up to the house on the bike, Grace wrapped around my back, her hands cupping my cock as she played with me from the club up to the house. My body was on fire, every cell of my being wanting deep depravity with the woman behind me.

  "No," I grumbled and got off the bike.

  "Promise you'll fuck me tonight?" Her voice was teasing, her eyes half-closed as she stumbled off the bike and wrapped herself around me.

  She felt good there. Too good.

  "Anything you want." I walked toward the door, half-holding her up.

  "I know you don't want anything more than tonight, and that's okay. I just want to give myself to you, Erik. I've wanted to since you started coming to the library." A soft giggle had my heart swelling. Fuck me.

  "And I thought you were a good girl. Seems not so much, hmm?" I walked to the bedroom and untangled myself from her. "Strip and get on the bed Grace. Lay on your back and put your hands above your head. Now."

  She stood in front of me, her brown eyes wide, her breathing off. "I'm scared."

  "As you should be." I reached out and brushed my fingers over the tops of her tits. "Do what I told you to do. I'll not ask again."

  "I want to," she breathed out and worked her shirt over her shoulders before unclasping her bra.

  I moved back and slipped my hands into my slacks as my phone buzzed in my pocket. Her perky tits were bigger than I thought, but nothing prepared me for the tiny white g-string she wore so beautifully. The wet spot at the front of her pussy had my muscles locked in place. She wasn't spewing words. She wanted me as badly as I wanted her.

  We were in trouble.

  "Get on the bed," I barked out as aggression raped my veins.

  "Anything for you," she whispered and turned, slipping her panties off and crawling up on the bed seductively. The lighting was perfect. Her body was bare, her pussy glistening as she put herself on display for me.

  My balls tightened, my dick throbbing as I walked to the dresser and pulled out a handful of silk. I sat down at her feet and tied her foot to the bed, glancing up at her.