Crushing On The Bully (Crushing on You 2)

“You know no one ever sees that money again, right?” he asked, but knelt down to unlace his boots anyway. Clarissa waited somewhat impatiently as he took off his boots.

“Leave them in the hall,” she said pointing to the spot where she had already set her own flats.

“Do you know how expensive they are?” Skull asked.

“No one wants to steal your boots,” Clarissa said and rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help to grin. She was the female and that meant she should have been the one obsessed over her shoes, but it was sort of cute to watch Skull worry about his boots, “They’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Fine,” Skull sighed and reluctantly sat his boots next to Clarissa’s flats.

For a moment Clarissa almost changed her mind and told him to just throw them into the kitchen, that floor was tiled. What would her neighbors think when they saw a pair of boots, that clearly belonged to a man, sitting outside of her apartment? She didn’t have much time to dwell upon her worries, because Skull was already walking into her apartment forcing her to quickly follow behind him.

“You can dry off in the bathroom,” Clarissa said as she shut and locked the door, “Towels are in the cabinet on the right. I’m going to my room to change.”

As Clarissa peeled off her wet clothes she felt her body warming. She had forgotten to grab a towel before heading into the bedroom so she made do with the small towel she had used on her hair this morning. She dried quickly before slipping into a clean and dry pair of jeans and a light blue tank top. Clarissa rubbed her nipples to ensure the tiny nubs lay flat and didn’t peak up visibly through her clothing.

After a few minutes of digging through her closet she slipped into her favorite black fuzzy house shoes, but quickly changed them out for a pair of ankle socks. Clarissa knew that the fuzzy slippers would only give Skull a reason to tease her. So if he was such a pain in the ass and a bully, why had she allowed him into her apartment? Clarissa told herself that she was just being nice, but she knew it was more than that. She was more than a little attracted to the jerk.

“Oh my God!” she mouthed to her pale reflection in the mirror as she ran a comb through her brown hair, “I’m becoming one of those weird girls who fall for the bad boys, but more than that I’m falling for the bully. Is this like Stockholm Syndrome or something?” Clarissa shook the thought away, “Stockholm Syndrome is something differently entirely. He hasn’t kidnapped me or anything.”

Clarissa laughed despite herself and sat the comb back on the dresser.

“What are you giggling about in there?” Skull’s voice called from the other side of the door and startled Clarissa. Lost to her own thoughts she hadn’t heard him leave the bathroom.

“Nothing,” Clarissa said, trying to sound more composed that she felt. It had been a while since she felt this giddy about anything, but she couldn’t let him know how much liked him. Guys like him always used it to their advantage and Clarissa refused to be anyone’s pawn. She glanced at her reflection one last time and headed out into the living room. Skull was sitting on the sofa and for a moment Clarissa wasn’t sure what she was seeing. When her eyes finally made sense of the scene in front of her she had to fight back a giggle fit.

Skull was sitting on the sofa in her fuzzy black robe.

“Hey, do you think I can throw my clothes in your dryer or something?” he asked.

“Yeah, sure, it’s this way,” she said and walked away. Now that she was facing away from him she le

t herself crack a smile. His tall, muscular frame stretched the fabric of her robe at odd angles and only came down to his knees, although when Clarissa wore it the hem trailed along the floors.

Clarissa walked into the laundry room without thinking and turned to find herself closer to Skull than she trusted herself to be. She looked up at him and gave him what she hoped was just a friendly smile.

“You do know how to work a dryer, right?” she asked.

“Duh,” Skull rolled eyes and swung the door to the dryer open.

“Be careful!” she warned.

Clarissa was always a little nervous when other people touched her expensive belongings. You never could tell when one just might break down and if someone else was to use it, she knew she’d blame them. If something of hers broke, she wanted to be the only one to blame. She silently prayed that the dryer would survive and led Skull back into the kitchen.

“Soda?” she said opening the fridge.

“Sure,” Skull said and held up his hand from across the kitchen.

It took Clarissa a moment to realize that he meant for her to toss it to him. She held the can tightly debating on whether or not to toss it. Her aim had never been great and she wasn’t in the mood to clean up a mess. Skull wiggled his fingers to signal that he was ready to catch it, but Clarissa slid it across the counter instead.

For a moment it bobbed on the edge and she feared that her way wasn’t the safer alternative to tossing a can across the room, but Skull’s hand appeared around it just as it began to fall. Clarissa let out a sigh of relief and retrieved a can for herself before heading into the living room.

She sat down on her the left end of the sofa, which was her favorite spot to rest, read, or just sit, and curled her feet under her and nested her back into the arm of the sofa. She normally would face the other way, but it seemed rude to turn her back to Skull, after all, he was a guest in her home.

Skull grinned at Clarissa and she blushed. Her eyes darted around the room and settled on her bookshelf. It was too far away for her to make out the titles, but she knew where all of her books were. She mentally listed them in their shelving order trying to not think of how cute the guy at sitting on the other end of the sofa was.

Clarissa looked away, closed her eyes, and did not open them until she had taken a few deep breaths. She wasn’t sure what mystical force was drawing her to Skull, but she was going to blame it on her hormones. It was lust and the rain nothing more. She imagined that even cave people driven inside by the rain were drawn to the warmth of another body.

“More interesting things, eh?” she asked, hoping that Skull didn’t turn it into some perverted punch line.