The Boy I Once Hated: Love & Hate Duet

Eighteen years old

Sky is sprawled naked on the bed, hugging her pillow beneath her head, while I run my fingers up and down the slope of her body. I love how it melts to the mattress, completely sated after I’ve had my way with her. Sky is never as pliant and soft as she is after I’ve coaxed a few good orgasms out of her. I could do anything I wanted to her right now, and she would wave the white flag and let me, willingly surrendering to all my wants and demands.

It surprises me that I have no desire to abuse that power. I’m entirely satisfied just softly touching every curve and valley of her body, wondering if there is a part of her that I haven’t explored with my fingertips, lips, and tongue. I know there isn’t, but just the thought that there is something of hers that I haven’t possessed or put my mark on yet is unsettling. The need to brand every little inch of her, making sure it remembers who its rightful owner is, is overwhelming to me.

“Noah?” she calls out, her voice raspy from being sleep-deprived by all the glorious things I did to her and intend to do again before the sun comes up.

“Hmm,” I reply, leaning in to kiss the left side of her breast, pulling a soft smile out of her.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Does it have anything to do with you riding my tongue again? If so, just jump on my face, baby. I’m more than ready to have another go.” I smirk, giving a soft tap to her ass.

“While tempting, that’s not what I wanted to ask you.”

“Pity.” I pretend to pout, peppering kisses on her shoulder.

She giggles at my disappointed reply before gently slapping my forearm and turning to her side to face me, giving me an even better view of her body. I run my thumb over my lower lip, feeling suddenly ravenous to sink my teeth in her enticing mound again.

Since I can see that she would rather talk than see God for the fifth time tonight, I pull the bedsheet up to her waist, hoping it’s enough of a deterrent to keep me on my best behavior. But when my gaze lands on her perky nipples, taunting me with how sweet they taste on my tongue, I reconsider and tug the sheet all the way up to her chin, making sure it fully covers her chest.

“There. Now you can ask your question.”

She rolls her eyes but holds on to the security of her bedsheet just the same. It’s only when she grows quiet on me that I realize whatever is on her mind is taking all her willpower to say.

“Hey,” I coo, lifting her chin up to meet me. “Just ask. You’re safe with me.”

“Am I?” she retorts, making my forehead crease. “Sometimes I’m not so sure.” I watch her swallow dryly as she inches closer to me. “What are we doing, Noah?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, confused and wondering where this is coming from.

“I mean…what are we? What is this?”

Fuck.

She wants to have the talk.

The words have barely left her lips, and already I feel a chill in the room. Almost as if my libido has been drenched with an ice bucket of reality.

I fall back on the bed, and place my arm over my forehead, staring at her ceiling.

“Noah?” she insists, her tone more alert now. “Did you hear me?”

“Yeah, I heard you.”

“And?”

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

From my peripheral, I can see her chew on her lower lip, anxiety getting the best of her. But it wouldn’t be Skylar if she didn’t shake that shit away as fast as it came and face the issue head-on. She rises from the bed halfway and leans her back against the headboard for support, holding the sheet in place.

“Are we just fucking then? Is that it?”

“Is that what you think we’re doing?” I mumble, unable to make eye contact with her.

“I’m not sure. You haven’t exactly been very forthcoming with how you feel about all this.”

“And you have?” I scoff, my irrational fury making me turn over to my side to face her. “Don’t come at me with questions when you don’t have any answers for them either. Just because I’m the guy doesn’t mean I’m an expert with shit like this.”

“Shit like this? Wow. You really know how to woo a girl,” she quips with a snarl.

“Fuck,” I grumble, rising from the bed, too, and running my fingers through my hair. “What do you want me to say, Sky? This past month has been incredible. Hasn’t it? We’re having fun. Isn’t that enough?”

“Is that what you want? Just to have fun?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know,” I reply, frustrated, pulling the strands of my hair until a few spring loose. “What’s the problem with just having a little fun? It’s worked so far for us. Why complicate it?”

“Maybe I want to complicate it. Maybe having fun isn’t enough for me anymore,” she counters sternly.

Jesus Christ.

“We’re fucking eighteen, Sky. This is our senior year. If we don’t have fun now, then when are we supposed to, huh? When I’m knee-deep in fish guts working on my father’s boat? When I have to worry about shit like mortgages and paying bills, knowing that I’ll never get off that rat race no matter how hard I try? My future is complicated enough, so excuse me if having fun now when I still can offends you.”

I get out of bed and start searching for my discarded clothes on the floor.

“Where are you going?”

“To sleep. Is that also a problem for you?” I arch a menacing brow.

Sky refuses to say anything, and instead falls onto the bed, turning her back to me.

“Good. At least we can agree on something,” I mumble, hurriedly putting my sweatpants on.

I pick my t-shirt from the floor and pull it as fast as I can over my head so that I can quickly head toward her door. But just as I grab the doorknob, I stop in my tracks, taking in a deep breath to calm my temper.

Why did she have to go there?

We were good.

We were better than good.

We were perfect.

“Maybe we should just call it? Feels like this, whatever this is, has run its course,” I hear myself say.

My heart is beating a mile a minute, just waiting for her to tell me to fuck off, pick a fight, or just beg me to stay. I’d take fucking anything at this point. But when she doesn’t say a single word in return, I look over my shoulder to stare at her. She remains so still, it’s almost difficult to see if she’s breathing or not.

“Sky?” I ask, unable to hide the worry in my voice.

“Just go,” she finally whispers, making me cringe at how cold her tone is.

I turn around and lean my temple to her door, ordering my feet to move and do as she says.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I finally reply on a ragged whisper.

I hear her softly exhale as I stand there, waiting on pins and needles for her to say something. When she doesn’t, I know she’s done with me. Unable to stand her silence any longer, I swing her door open and get the hell out of there. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t do my due diligence in making sure the coast was clear for me to leave her room. A mistake that is very fucking evident when I find Daisy sneaking down the dark hallway with her stilettos in her hands, gawking at me. Guess I wasn’t the only one who was up to no good tonight, not that it matters right now.

I’ve never had a problem with Daisy.

In fact, right from the get-go, she was probably the only addition to this house that I could stomach. Sure, she looks like a Barbie doll with her golden hair and blue eyes, but her personality was just as reckless and rebellious as my own. She’s a rolling stone, unable to be pinned down. I guess we always had that in common. We understood each other. She didn’t take any of my shit and I respected her for it.

But by the way she’s glowering at me now, our little truce is over and done with. I square my shoulders as she rushes at me like a bull seeing red for the first time.

“The fuck were you doing in my little sister’s bedroom?”

“Hate to burst your bubble but Sky hasn’t been little in years,” I mock nonchalantly, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Cut the shit,” she snarls, poking a finger into my chest. “I swear, if you hurt her, I’ll cut off your balls and fucking force-feed them to you.”

Thing is, I believe her.

Although the two sisters are night and day from each other, Daisy would fucking kill for Skylar. Over the years as I watched them together, I won’t deny that I envied the loyalty they had for one another. I never had that. Not after my mom died, at least.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist. I didn’t do shit to Sky,” I lie through my teeth.

Daisy’s fixed gaze bounces off me to her closed sister’s bedroom door, her mind working double time, trying to come up with a scenario where Sky was safe with me.

“Bullshit.” She scoffs, unconvinced when she comes to the conclusion that there is no such world where that would happen.

“Tell you what? Why don’t you worry about your own secret booty call and let me deal with mine.”

Her face turns all sorts of frightening red as she grabs my chin and sinks her nails into my skin. Any other time, I would have slapped her grip off me, but the pain she’s inflicting eases the ache in my chest from how I left things with Sky tonight.

“I’m only going to say this once. Leave Sky alone. She’s not like us.”

“Us?” I cock a brow.

“Broken. Unable to love anything more than ourselves. She deserves better. Better than you.”

At this, I do slap her hand away.

“You have no idea what Sky deserves,” I growl in her face, the same one that suddenly changes from being angry to pitying me. I hate that look and she damn well knows it.

“I know that you’ll never be man enough for her. Sky is going places. Big places. And you will just be an anchor around her neck, dragging her down. Away from her full potential. So yeah. I do know what Sky deserves and it’s not you. Like I said, she deserves better. And I won’t let you or anyone else steal her shine, just because they’re fucking bored with their lives.”

“Are you done?” I seethe through gritted teeth.

“Are you?” she retorts with the same vehemence in her tone.

I nod.

“Good. Keep it that way.”

And with that, she passes by me, making sure to clip my shoulder in the process.

I turn around to watch her retreating form, and like the asshole I am, I’m unable to let things go without having the last word.

“Tell me something? Is hiding the fact that you’re screwing Derrick Monroe on the down-low his idea or yours?” I smile sinisterly when she halts mid-step, staying rooted to the spot. “Guess I’m not the only one who is so undeserving, huh? Takes a loser to know one, Daisy.”

And with that, I walk into my room and slam my door, uncaring if I wake up the parentals or not. The shit that goes on in this house without them knowing is their own goddamn fault for being so fucking clueless anyway.

I fall onto my bed and curse, wondering how this night turned into such a shit show. Not an hour ago I was on cloud nine, having everything I ever wanted right at my fingertips.

Now what do I have?

Nothing.

Daisy will be pissed at me for God knows how long.

And Sky?

Who knows how she’ll react.

Will we revert to our old ways of hating each other, or will she just act like I don’t even exist?

Fuck!

I grab the pillow from under my head and scream into it, letting out all the agony I suddenly find myself in. Once I’ve expelled all of it out, I throw the damn thing across the room and focus on trying to get my breathing back in check. Daisy’s words continue to drill a hole into my brain, making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

She deserves better.

She deserves better.

Fuck.

Sky does deserve better, and deep down, I didn’t need Daisy’s reminder to fucking know it. Still, my selfishness rears its ugly head, unable to accept that truth.

Not that it matters anymore.

It’s done.

We’re done.

And the sooner I can wrap that around my thick skull, the better.

I’m doing you a favor, Sky.

Just take it and run.

Run far away.

Because if you don’t, I might just catch you.

And if that happens, I’m not sure I’ll have the strength to let you go.