Falling for Fallon (Oak Hill 2)

“Okay, give me a second there, killer,” I joked. Fallon didn’t even smirk. Her hands were clenched together in her lap, and I knew I needed to calm her down before I so much as breathed on her, because she was going to lose her shit the second I touched her skin.

I hurriedly grabbed the shit I needed, sat down in my rolling chair, and wheeled myself over to her. Fallon’s breath was labored, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

“Okay, Fallon. I’m gonna lift your shirt up a little, okay?”

A small smile formed on her glossy lips. “You don’t want me to take it off?”

I laughed after telling her no, but fuck yeah, I wanted her to take her shirt off.

Fallon’s stomach was creamy, smooth, and toned. I briefly wondered what kind of workout she did to form those tiny ab muscles, but I quickly shut down my thoughts when I started imagining her doing yoga in those super tight pants that women liked to wear.

Grabbing the cotton ball doused in antiseptic cleaner, I quietly said, “I’m just going to clean the area. Okay?”

Fallon nodded her head quickly, her brown locks swaying in front of her shoulders. Her stomach clenched as I wiped the cotton around her stomach, making her toned muscles even more evident.

As I started to get the clamp ready, along with the needle and belly ring, I asked, “So, Fallon, where are you from?”

Her tense body seemed to relax when I spoke.

“Who says I’m not from here?” I flicked my eyes up to hers to see that she’d opened hers. They were the bluest eyes I’d ever seen.

“I do,” I answered. “Oak Hill is a small town. I’d know if you lived here.”

She quipped an eyebrow. “You know all the ladies around here, then?”

I smirked. “Something like that.”

Fallon smiled, but then her eyes traveled over to my tray, and her head jerked to the left. She shut her eyes again, and just like that, her body went rigid.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked, still giving her time to back out.

Fallon took a deep breath. “Yes…please. I need to do this.”

My eyes squinted as I grabbed the clamp. I tried rubbing my gloved hands together for a second, hoping to warm them up so I didn’t freeze her half to death.

“I’m just clamping the skin. No needle yet.”

She nodded and took another deep breath as I started to clamp her skin.

“Why do you need to do this? And why here in Oak Hill?” I questioned while grabbing the needle. I was going to wait for the right moment before piercing her unblemished skin. I was waiting for the moment where she wasn’t super fucking anxious.

Fallon didn’t say anything for a while, but I could tell that she was calming down, getting lost in her thoughts.

I lifted the needle up, seconds from plunging it into her flesh, when she opened her mouth.

Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Do you ever… just… feel like you’re treading in choppy water that just never lets up?” She paused, and I was about to answer her, but I stopped when I saw her mouth open again. “Like you’re swimming in the middle of the ocean during a wicked storm, trying to make your way back to dry land, but you just have no idea why? You can’t figure out why you’re swimming toward the dry land when, really, all you want is for the ocean to swallow you up whole.” My hand lowered as I stared at Fallon’s calm and unmoving face. I continued to study her while the words fell flawlessly off her lips. “That… that probably doesn’t make any sense. It’s just… sometimes I just want to be someone else. I want a taste of a different life. I’m tired of being the Fallon that I was destined to be. Does that make sense?”

That was the moment I decided to pierce her skin. Fallon let out a loud yelp, but it was over before she even opened her eyes.

I fastened the ball and unclamped her skin. I brought my eyes up to hers. They were wide and her mouth was open. “It makes sense, Fallon. I know exactly what you mean.”

And I did. I knew what it was like to feel like you were living a life you didn’t want. Like you were trying to be someone that you weren’t. I’d been through exactly what she was describing to me. I got it.

Fallon’s breathing started to pick up speed again as she stared at me. My head tilted to the side when I took in her appearance. Her flushed cheeks were no longer flushed – she was as white as a fucking ghost.

“Oh, shit,” I murmured.

“Uh… I feel…”