The Boy I Once Hated: Love & Hate Duet

Seventeen years old

The minute my father opens the front door and finds me standing beside our little island’s sheriff, his face turns to stone.

“What did he do this time?” he questions with a scowl.

“We caught him drag racing through Main Street this time,” Sheriff Boyd explains on a frustrated exhale as my father ushers him into our home with me in tow. “It’s starting to get out of hand, Curt. You’re going to have to do something about your boy. Sooner or later, he’ll get himself in a world of trouble that even I can’t get him out of.”

“Yeah, I know,” my father retorts, running his hand over his face in disgruntlement. “Did anyone get hurt?” he asks apprehensively.

“No. Not this time. But between the fights he gets into and pulling reckless stunts like this, it’s only a matter of time before someone does,” Boyd rants on, looking just as disappointed in my behavior as my father does. “I swear, if he wasn’t Annabelle’s kid, I would have locked him up years ago to teach him a lesson. I must admit, I’m still of two minds about it. Maybe the best thing I could do for your boy is give him a good scare and press charges against him. Maybe that would set him straight.”

Instead of the imposing threat of imprisonment that Sheriff Boyd just laid out at our feet, it’s the mention of my mother’s name that really sucks all the air out of the room. As I glance over at my father and witness his crestfallen features pale a sickly shade of white, acting as if he has just been sucker punched in the gut by his childhood friend with the reminder of his late wife, my hands instinctively curl into fists, my throat burning with hatred for the man standing in front of me.

It’s been so fucking easy for him to erase my mother from his life that anytime he’s confronted with the fact that not everyone on this island has such a fickle and selective memory, he acts like it’s a backward slap to his current happiness.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” my father demands, pulling his attention off the sheriff to direct his resentful gaze on me, making sure to bypass his friend’s comment about my mother as well as the threat of locking me up.

We both know Boyd won’t do shit to me. Not while I’m a minor, at least. When I age out in a few months, then that’s a different story. Not that my asshole of a father really gives two shits what happens to me then. Especially after graduation. All he’ll care about is that he’ll no longer have the living, breathing reminder of my mother walking around his happy home anymore. I’m only halfway done with my junior year in high school, yet I bet the fucker is anxiously counting down the days for me to get my diploma and move out.

“Well, Noah? Do you?” he insists, his tone becoming more aggravated.

“Yeah.” I pull out the wad of cash inside my pocket and slap it on the kitchen counter. “I won.”

On that note, I brush past him, purposely knocking his shoulder with mine before heading upstairs, uncaring that I just added gambling to my long list of felonies in front of Thatcher’s Bay’s finest, no less. Not that I’m worried. Even though the good sheriff just insinuated he’d love to lock me up for my own good, he hasn’t done it yet, and even though he might have his reservations about it, I very much doubt he’ll do it tonight after he went through all the trouble of bringing me home safely without filing a report.

Just as I’m leaving the two men alone in the kitchen to discuss what a little shit I am, I catch a shadowy figure quickly hiding from my view at the top of the stairs. Even as she hurries on featherlight feet back to her bedroom, doing her utmost best to not alert anyone of her presence, I catch her retreating form anyway. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who could possibly be up this late, eavesdropping on our conversation.

My stepsister is the worst Peeping Tom there is.

No matter how discreet she tries to be with her stalking tendencies, I always end up catching her in the act. I usually shrug that shit off my shoulders, but unfortunately for her, tonight I’m not as lenient.

Instead of marching to my room, I rush toward hers and kick the door in for good measure. A sinister smile immediately crests my lips when I realize in her haste, she forgot to lock her door behind her, making the little love tap I do with my boot swing her bedroom door wide open with ease.

She should know better.

But after tonight, I’m sure she’ll think twice before leaving it open again.

“The hell are you doing?! Are you insane? Get out!” she whisper-yells from across the room, her indignant tone grating on my every nerve.

I don’t let her say another word, preferring to take advantage of her surprise to pounce on her instead. My hand is quick to cover her mouth as I walk us both back into a corner of her room until her spine is flush against the wall.

“Why the fuck are you always spying on me?” I growl in her face.

Her eyes widen in fear before she vehemently shakes her head, lying through her teeth even when I have her mouth forcefully muzzled.

“Don’t fucking lie to me, Sky,” I seethe through my clenched jaw near her ear. “I feel your fucking eyes on me everywhere I go. It’s fucking unnerving. How would you like it if I did the same shit to you, huh?”

Her eyelids slant in pure hatred, sparking up an idea that will only kindle those furious flames I see burning in her eyes a little brighter.

“You know what?” I chuckle sardonically. “I think you fucking owe me a show. I’ve given you plenty of my own, after all. It’s about time you fucking pay up and return the favor.”

“Fuck you,” she curses through my fingers.

“You fucking wish I would. Nah, Sky. You haven’t earned my dick yet.”

When her nostrils flare with contempt, my cock disagrees with my comment, stirring awake and making the small, titillating idea of revenge in my mind blossom to new and unexpected heights.

“You want to watch me, Sky? Then pay the fuck up. It’s about time you got a taste of your own medicine.” Seeing the resolve in my glare, she starts wrestling under my grip to break free, but I’m not having it. “Tsk, tsk,” I taunt, my adrenaline spiking higher than racing my bike down a deserted street ever did. “I’m not fucking leaving here until you give me what I want. Those are the rules.”

“Fuck your rules,” she mouths, her loathsome stare piercing through mine.

“Fine,” I relent, taking my hands off her while stepping away from her just an inch, enough for my face to align with hers. “Don’t give me a show then.” I shrug nonchalantly. “However, I’m not sure what your mother and my asshole of a father will think when they find out you asked me into your bedroom in the dead of night.”

“I didn’t ask you to come here! You barged in!” she hollers, pushing my shoulders so I can give her more room to breathe.

I stay rooted to my spot, inclining my head to the side, licking my lips before throwing her a devilish smirk.

“That’s not the story I’ll tell them. My memory might not be all that sharp, but I expressly remember you waiting up for me to get home, and then making sure I followed you back into your bedroom. Alone.”

“That’s not what happened at all,” she blurts out, appalled.

“Are you saying you didn’t wait up for me?” I arch a brow, taking a further step back. “Or that you weren’t hiding at the top of the stairs just waiting for me to come up?”

“I wasn’t waiting for you.”

“No. You weren’t.” I glower, crossing my arms over my chest. “You were just getting your kicks by eavesdropping on other people’s private conversations. I’m not sure that Mommy Dearest is going to like learning how her precious girl is a freak who gets off on other people’s misery.”

“Please,” she states sarcastically with an eye roll while mimicking my form by crossing her arms over her chest, her futile attempt at trying to look intimidating. “You’re not miserable. You’re just bored.”

“Is that what you think I am? Bored?” I laugh menacingly.

“Yes,” she deadpans unapologetically.

With our gazes still fixed on one another, I walk over to her bed and fall flat on my back, crossing my arms behind my head on her pillow.

“You think you know me that well, don’t you, Sky? Please enlighten me then. Why do you think I’m bored?”

She chews on her fat bottom lip, her gaze bouncing from me over to the wide open door I kicked in, wondering if she’s fast enough to close it before someone catches us in here together. Her mom and sister might be sound asleep, but she knows as well as I do that my father is still downstairs with the sheriff and that at any minute, he’ll make his way upstairs and pass by her bedroom door.

It’s no secret that Sky and I have hated each other since the moment we met, but if my father were to catch me in my stepsister’s bedroom like this, sprawled comfortably on her bed like I’ve done this a million times before, it would be enough to plant the seed of doubt in his mind. He might not like the fact that we never got along, but he would hate it even more if he thought we had been fucking like bunnies under his roof all this time without anyone being the wiser. The idea that I could piss him off and rattle Sky’s cage in the same breath has me doubling down on my resolve to see her squirm.

“If that’s bothering you, feel free to close it. I’m in no hurry,” I retort, throwing a glance at the open door while making myself even more comfortable in her bed by kicking off my boots and letting them drop with a loud thud on her floor.

It’s not like a locked door will stop my father from getting in if he feels something is amiss. I know that much. He’s barged in enough times over the years when he thought I was up to no good. Little Miss Perfect here won’t deter him from doing the same to her if he feels she’s pulling a fast one on him.

Sky throws me an icy glare before hurrying to close her door, locking it this time just to be safe. I can’t help but smile widely at her poor survival instincts, since it’s fucking ironic she feels the true threat lies outside her bedroom walls and not within them.

“Now that’s done, how about you tell me just how bored I am? I’m dying to see how fucking insightful you think you are.”

Her upper lip curls at the corner of her mouth to show her discontent, but like a moth drawn to a flame, she pushes herself away from the door and slowly walks toward me until she’s standing halfway in front of me. I try my best to keep my triumphant grin in check, but she sure doesn’t make it easy with the way her bravado has increased tenfold now that she feels no one will discover us alone in here together.

A fool’s bravery if I ever saw one.

“You get off on being reckless because that’s the only thing that makes you feel alive,” she starts to explain, unimpressed. “You surround yourself with friends that think you’re some kind of god, so you can’t count on them to give it to you straight or even challenge you in the least. You hate school because you’re mostly bad at it, so academics don’t bring you any kind of joy. And since you think you’re too cool for sports, any athletic ventures constitute a waste of time in your book.”

My arrogant smile remains intact as she goes through her list of reasons, acting as if she has a direct line to my inner thoughts, when I never gave her such a privilege.

“You think you’re above everyone else, so no matter how hard you try to connect with anyone, you end up being disappointed because no one measures up to your high expectations. And don’t even get me started on your vapid and shallow girlfriend, whose only purpose is to look pretty hanging on your arm.”

“Don’t forget she has to look pretty good on her knees too,” I interject with a mocking grin, knowing exactly how to ruffle my nemesis’s feathers.

Sky’s face turns lethal as she eats the small distance between us until her knees hit the mattress. What I don’t tell her is that Stacy and I broke up again a few days ago right after that stupid ass basketball game that dipshit Kyle manipulated Sky into attending. It’s too much fun letting Sky think otherwise anyway. Almost makes putting up with Stacy’s shit for so long worth it.

“Your very existence is pathetic,” she snarls. “You have nothing going for you and you know it. You are the perfect example of someone peaking in high school. If that isn’t a sign of a life filled with complete and utter boredom, I don’t know what is.”

My victorious smirk immediately falls from my face with the remark.

“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?”

“Is that supposed to hurt me? You’ve called me worse.” She smiles widely, pleased she’s gotten to me.

Fuck that.

And fuck her.

She wants to play?

Then we’re going to fucking play.

Before she’s able to stop me, I fly off the bed and pull her down on top of me. She lets out a surprised shriek, making me have to clamp my hand over her mouth. I roll her over on the bed and cover her body with mine to keep her still and pinned down beneath me.

“You think you know me so well, don’t you, little stalker?” I grunt in her ear as she thrashes away under me. “So fucking perceptive. Watching everyone from the corner of a room and dissecting all their flaws and vulnerabilities. Must make you feel so fucking proud of yourself. But news flash, Skylar. No one gives a shit what you think about them. Because to them, you don’t even exist. You’re nothing. Nothing. You don’t even register. And that must make you sick to your stomach. Knowing that you could disappear at any given moment, and no one would even bat an eye.”

I’d know.

I’d always know.

“Get off of me!” she tries to shout from beneath my grip but her wails don’t deter me.

“Not going to happen,” I grunt, my body suddenly feeling electrified with the way hers rubs against it. I swallow dryly, trying desperately to tap back into my rage. I imprison her wrists together, her arms up over her head while my thighs lock hers in.

“You know, for someone who is so fucking clever, you can be downright stupid when you want to be.” Her brows pinch together in confusion, her eyes locked on mine. “If you don’t shut the fuck up and do as I say, then sooner or later, my father will come into this room and find me on top of you. Maybe that’s what you want. Is it, Sky? Do you want the world to know that you let the guy you think is so fucking pathetic paw all over you?”

At this, she quiets down, her body finally melting into the mattress in total submission.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” I scoff, eyeing every curve of her beautiful face and inwardly cursing every flawless feature. “You’ve had your fun, now it’s time I had mine. Put your hand down your shorts,” I order, loosening my grip on her wrists.

“No,” she blanches, her gaze bouncing off of my face and over my shoulder, staring at her locked bedroom door.

“I told you I wanted a show, and now you’re going to fucking give it to me. Fuck knows I’ve given you more than you deserve. So, as I see it, it’s time to pay the piper. Put your hand down your shorts, Sky. It’s either your hand that goes down there or mine. Your choice.”

“I hate you,” she seethes, but starts to do as she’s told.

I sit back on my haunches and watch as her hand begins to tremble and sneak down her chest toward her shorts.

“Put it inside your panties. No cheating,” I demand when I see she’s trying to rob me of my vengeful show.

“I am,” she lies.

“You’re not.”

“How do you know?” She throws daggers at me.

“Because I can’t smell that dripping cunt yet.”

A pretty shade of pink crawls up her neck all the way to her cheeks, coaxing my cock to strain in my jeans again. The fucker doesn’t realize that this isn’t about me getting off. It’s about wanting her to feel just as fucking humiliated as she’s managed to make me with her little rant. I want her to hurt. I want her to feel just as pathetic as she has proclaimed me to be.

“Fuck this,” I growl impatiently before grabbing her waistband and pulling her shorts off her legs in one menacing tug. I throw them over my shoulder and grip her ankles in place.

“You want to play hardball, then this is what you get. Now do as I say or suffer the consequences.”

“You are so unhinged, you know that?” she spews, but I don’t miss how her legs relax under my hold.

“Less talking and more doing, or your panties are the next thing to go.”

This time she holds her protests on the tip of her tongue, and slowly shoves her hand inside her panties.

“There. It’s done. Now what, you lunatic?”

“Aw, baby. Giving me pet names already? I think you can come up with better than that.”

“How about psycho? I think it fits you perfectly,” she rebukes with a fake-ass smile.

“If I’m a psycho then that officially makes you my little stalker. Not sure which one of us comes off better. Speaking of coming…” I taunt, eyeing her white cotton panties and smiling when I see there is a little wet spot already imprinted on them.

A sick sense of triumph runs through my veins when I see that my little freak gets off on these games of ours just like I do. My hold on her ankles tightens when she takes longer than I want her to.

“You’re hurting me,” she proclaims in a hushed whisper.

“I haven’t even begun to hurt you, Sky. If you continue to stall your ass, then trust me, I will,” I growl back at her, but ease my grip just the same.

Her shoulders slump, and her expression morphs from one of hatred to embarrassment.

“I don’t know what you want me to do.”

“Isn’t it fucking obvious?” I chuckle sinisterly.

“Yeah, asshole. It is. I’m just not used to doing this type of thing, okay?!” she bites back, trying to keep her voice strong, but I hear the trace of resentment in her tone for having to confess her inexperience, especially to me.

I remember a night where I forced her to play with herself and come for me. I wanted the first time for her to be tainted with the knowledge that I was the one who got her off. Looks like she hasn’t tried to come on her own since then. My knee-jerk reaction is to press my thumb in her wound and make her bleed. But to my utter shock, I do the opposite.

“Close your eyes,” I tell her.

“No. I don’t trust you.”

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us. Now close your fucking eyes, Sky.”

She takes a second to stare me down, but in the end her lids close just like I ordered them to. I take one hand off her ankle and run my fingers through my hair, wondering if I should just take her embarrassing admission that she’s still so green when it comes to sex as a win and get the fuck out of here.

No.

I want more than just her embarrassment.

I want her fucking submission.

“What’s taking so long?” she stammers nervously.

“Are you that anxious to come in front of me?”

“More like I want to get this over with so you can get the hell out of my room.”

With her eyes closed, I let myself smile at her sass. For all the time we’ve lived together, Sky has never once shied away from fighting me. And right now, the battle I’ve instigated between us is one I am determined to win.

I take in all her curves, noticing for the first time that she’s not wearing a bra under her flimsy tank top.

That’s the thing about hate.

Sometimes it blinds you from seeing what’s right in front of your eyes.

Sky has grown into her body. When I first met her, she was just this skinny-ass girl, bland and boring.

No.

That’s a lie.

Sky was never bland to me.

And she sure as fuck was never boring.

Even compared to other girls I’ve hooked up with in the past, Sky always managed to dampen their beauty any time she came into view. They could have been hot as fuck, and my gaze would still try and find the shy girl who hid her scarecrow frame under large hoodies.

But now that I have her all sprawled up on her bed in nothing but a short tank top and panties, I can see she’s coming into her womanhood—her power.

And Skylar’s power is fucking blinding.

Two full breasts taunt me with how perfect they would fit in my palms. Her long legs wrapped around me and her hand-gripping hips doing nothing to settle my hard-on either. I watch in silence as her chest begins to heave up and down, her lids still closed, waiting for my next move.

Fuck.

I should leave.

I should bolt out the door and leave her here wanting.

I should.

I fucking should.

But instead, my hands begin to slowly creep up her long legs, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. My heart jackhammers in my chest as I watch her lips part for breath, her tongue peeking out just enough to lick her parched lips. When my fingers dig into her skin just above her thigh, she lets out a sigh, only to swallow it back, not wanting to give me the satisfaction of hearing how much she’s loving my hands on her. But it’s too late for such futile efforts. Sky is fucking turned on, and the worst part of this shit show is that so am I.

The way my heart keeps drumming loud in my ears has me taking a beat just to stare at her. I take all of it in. How her eyes remain closed in both fear and anticipation. How her hands clutch the duvet beneath her, her shallow breathing coming out in spurts.

She’s never looked more beautiful to me than she does right now.

Waiting for me.

Needing me to make her feel alive.

It’s all fucking intoxicating.

And before logic or reason can raise its ugly head, and kick me out of her bed, I slide her panties to the side. Her breath catches, hissing at the cold air kissing her pussy. The urge to crawl down her body, just to take a long whiff of her arousal, has my own breathing stalling. I know if I even attempt to glide down her body and breathe her in, I’ll end up eating her out. No question about it. The thought alone has my thumb going right to her core, stroking her slit, before lightly grazing her clit.

Her eyelids fly open in astonishment, her hands fisting her bedsheets. She stares at me in bewilderment, while I keep my expression hard as stone.

“Touch me,” I order, the lust-filled husky tone of my voice betraying me.

Sky doesn’t fight me and complies with my command effortlessly. Her quivering fingers run up my chest, but when I let out a frustrated growl, slanting my gaze at her, she rectifies her error, slipping her hands underneath my t-shirt. My chest constricts with just the touch of her fingertips on my bare feverish skin.

We’re trapped now.

Consumed by this thing between us, urging us to be burned alive by these flames.

Unable to find one thing to pull us out of this moment.

When her nails trail down my abs and the stars in her gray eyes twinkle at me, I realize the stakes in this game just got a whole lot steeper. My cock strains in my jeans, as I toy with her clit, rubbing at it in a way that has those same stars in her gaze taking flight. It’s only when I insert a digit into her tight cunt that we both lose our minds.

“Noah,” she pants out, digging her nails into my chest, leaving half-crescent moons on my skin.

My name on the tip of her tongue coaxes me further, and before I know what I’m doing, I lean down and pluck one of her diamond shaped nipples into my mouth and suck on it through her tank top.

“God. Noah!” she sobs, pulling one hand off my chest so she can grab onto my hair.

Every pull has me ravenous, and when my finger glides easily in and out of her wet pussy, I slip in another finger, fully fucking her now.

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” she repeats on a loop, her head thrashing every which way.

I pull my teeth off her little bud and lift up just to look at her.

Beautiful.

So fucking beautiful.

I hide my face in the crook of her neck, groaning when her arms wrap themselves around my shoulders, her fingernails running up the nape of my neck. Her body continues to sing for me, her hips rocking to the tempo of my fingers. My teeth latch onto her earlobe, biting hard on her flesh before releasing it from my grip just to lick the sweat off her hot skin.

Sky is so enraptured with how her body has sprung to life, she doesn’t even register my father’s footsteps walking up the stairs, approaching the hall just outside her room. She’s so fucking primed to coming undone that all it’s going to take is one flick of the wrist to get her there. The devil on my shoulder screams for me to push her over the cliff, let her scream out her bliss and have my father hear her come on my fingers. She would never live it down and he’d blow a fucking casket—two birds, one stone.

But in the end, it’s not the devil in me that pulls my strings. It’s something else. Something that I refuse to acknowledge but fall prey to its wants anyway. Just as I add more pressure to her clit and she gasps out in ecstasy, her big silver eyes widening and meeting mine, I crash on top of her and catch her orgasmic cry with my mouth. I swallow it whole as her body shakes and trembles with the almighty orgasm I ripped out of her. I groan with how sweet she tastes as she continues to convulse underneath me, chasing the high I gifted her for all its extent. Her perky nipples stab my chest, her hot core scorching the tip of my fingers, making me hallucinate with images of licking her clean with my tongue.

It’s only the faraway sound of my father’s bedroom door closing that snaps me awake from the lurid fantasy. As if someone turned the lights on in my chaotic brain, I jump off her, my hands twitching at my sides.

My Adam’s apple bobs as I stare at the beautiful mess I’ve made of her, wishing I could do it all over again. Sky struggles for breath as she stares at me in confusion, her legs wide open and so fucking inviting that it takes inhumane effort to walk away from her like this.

“Noah—”

“And I’m the one who’s pathetic, huh? You came like a fucking Fourth of July fireworks show, and I barely touched you. Next time, look in the fucking mirror before you ever judge me again, Sky. Girls in glass houses should think twice before throwing stones.”

The hurt in her eyes should make me ecstatic, but all it does is make me feel like shit. Without another word, I turn around and rush out her room, not sparing her a second look. When I’m finally in the safety of my bedroom, I lean against the door, grabbing my chest to try and slow my rapid heartbeat. But as I look down at the hand grasping my t-shirt, I see and smell her juices still glistening all over my fingers.

Call it a moment of weakness.

Call it fucking insanity.

Call it whatever the fuck you want, but I’m too on edge to make sense of what I do next.

I shove the hand that just toyed with her most sacred of places into my mouth and suck my fingers clean, all the while using my other hand to free my hard cock from its restraints. Images of Sky on her back, riding my hand, assault me as I thrust into my closed fist.

I see it all in my mind’s eye so fucking clearly—as if she used a jagged blade to carve it into my memory, making sure it filled all the dark and empty corners of my brain.

I remember everything.

Every fucking detail.

The way I licked the bead of sweat that fell from her brow as she let me have my way with her. I can still hear the sound of her soft sighs of elation as her body eagerly responded to my forbidden touch, almost as if it was fucking built for me and me alone. My chest tightens as I relish in the way her spine arched up to meet my fingers, her greedy little cunt riding them like a pro. I pump myself faster with the memory playing on a loop in my head, and before I know it, I’m coming with her name on my lips.

Sky.

Sky.

Sky.

I look at the mess I’ve made on my hand and slam my head back repeatedly on the door, forcefully shutting my eyes closed, wishing I could shut her out as easily.

Fuck.

She’s right.

I am fucking pathetic.

Because in this very minute, I realize what was in front of me all along.

It’s not using my fists on some jackass’s jaw that gives me a rush like this.

It’s not racing my bike or winning money from those rich fuckers that I go to school with that has blood pumping through my veins.

The only times I’ve ever felt truly alive is when she’s near.

Fighting me.

Hating me.

Coming for me.

And that epiphany is too much for me to take.

I’ll fucking cut my heart out of my chest before I ever let her realize the hold she has on me.

She’s taken too much as it is.

Like hell I’ll let her have my heart too.