Pretty When She Cries - Black Mountain Academy

I wonder if Jared fucking Price touches her tits.

My fist jerks harder, faster, but my frustration is stalling out the orgasm. I need something… more. My eyes dart to her nightstand. There, staring back at me, are her pristine white knee socks. Hell yes.

I wrap the end around my dick and go after it with reckless abandon. Fuck you, Kailani. I repeat that sentiment until I blow my load deep into her sock and release a haggard breath. I feel lighter and somewhat vindicated as I squish my come between the fabric and throw it back onto her nightstand where she left it.

I’m zipping up my jeans when the knob on the door turns, and the hinges creak. It’s dark in here, but she doesn’t bother turning on the light. She isn’t looking for the monster inside. She doesn’t know I can see the outline of her body in the moonlight as she collapses against the door. Her head tips back, knees nearly buckling as agony rips out of her lungs like a wounded animal. Tears drip down her face, staining her pretty cheeks.

There’s an intimacy in witnessing something so raw. I’m so used to scripted emotion that I can’t remember the last time I observed pain this real. She’s got me under a spell, held captive by her devastation. Strangely, I can feel it too. This is what tethers us together, destroying us from the inside out. We’re tied up in knots, and the worst part is neither of us will sever the connection.

Kail shatters before me, and I don’t say a word. I don’t even take a breath as she sags into herself, letting it all out. What a fucking mess. What a pretty fucking mess. Even I can’t deny there’s beauty in her pain. Insecurity is the only true authenticity. She can flash her bulletproof armor all she wants, but she can’t repair the hairline fracture. Once it breaks, she’ll still be the same fragile girl inside.

“Pull yourself together, Kail.” She wipes her eyes and draws in a deep breath. “It’s over. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

“I thought you didn’t care what anyone thought of you.”

My voice startles a gasp from her lips, and when she opens her eyes, I’m already closing in on her. Horror washes over her face as it occurs to her I witnessed her entire breakdown, and for a moment, she just stands there, wordless.

“What the hell are you doing?” Her voice cracks as I cage her in with my arms. Her back hits the wall, and she forces her chin up, trying to look braver than she feels right now. I’m itching to touch her even as she murders me with her eyes.

“I don’t know, Kail.” I breathe her in. “What will you tell them I did this time?”

She flinches like I just sucker punched her, and I suppose it felt that way. But the truth fucking hurts.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” She curls her hands around my biceps and tries to wriggle her way out of the prison of my body.

“Not really.” My breath fans across her lips. “I was enjoying the quiet here. At least I was until you came along.”

She shivers, and I’d give anything to know what she’s really thinking when she glares up at me. “News flash, you’re the idiot who lets them throw parties at your house. That sounds like a you problem. Now, let me go before I knee you in the balls.”

“Is that what you call foreplay?” I tease.

The fire in her eyes is like a shock paddle to my dick. All my blood is heading south, and logically, I know this can only end in disaster. But fuck, I have to touch her.

“One kiss and I’ll go.”

“Are you crazy?” She blinks up at me, her face all red and swollen and wrecked. Pretty. Little. Mess.

“We both know I’m not the monster you act like I am.” My fingers graze her chin, and this time, goose bumps break out along her arms. “If you were really afraid of me, you would have locked your door.”

Her eyes dart around me, nervously, searching for a way out of facing the truth. When she doesn’t find the answer she wants, she blurts out an empty threat.

“I’ll tell everyone you needed a tutor.”

My rough thumb skates down her jaw to the beating pulse in her neck. “What’s the matter? Terrified you might like this?”

“I don’t,” she hisses, but she really is a terrible storyteller. “And I mean it. I’ll humiliate you in front of the whole school. I’ll tell them how behind you were—”

“Go ahead. Tell them whatever you want. That’s your thing, isn’t it?”

Her lips fall apart, and her shoulders deflate. Her defense sucks, and if this is the best she’s got, she better buckle up for a rocky ride this year.