“Then they have too much power over your life. Do what you want tonight. If anyone says shit, it gives me an excuse to get into a fight.”

“You really like fighting, don’t you?”

I held out my hand, my knuckles still red and puffy from a fight two nights ago.

“Go,” I demanded.

Daisy rolled her eyes, but got up and headed towards the girl on the table. I didn’t take Daisy for the partying type, but there she was, letting the girl pull her up onto the table along with her.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was smiling so hard, it had to hurt.

Another song came on and she kept moving. Her eyes would find mine here and there, apparently making sure I didn’t leave, but there was nowhere else I could think I wanted to be. I couldn’t move, every part of me frozen as I watched her move. The same heat flowed through my veins again, warming every part of me until I felt lighter. It felt like a high, the warm, tingling sensation leaving my head feeling a little lighter.

A guy came up, standing in front of me and blocking my view of her. The heat was immediately replaced with rage. It was clear I had been looking at her. I kicked at the back of his leg, hitting it once and planning to do it harder if he didn’t get the hint.

I wasn’t going to miss a second of Daisy on that fucking table.

He finally saw me, his eyebrows shooting up, and the way his eyes narrowed a bit to let me know he wasn’t a fan of mine. When I looked at his shirt, I knew why.

Shit.

He was a part of the football team, which meant he knew Dean. I wondered if that meant he knew Daisy, too.

Which meant that Dean could be coming over any second if he was here.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t want a fight. I wanted Daisy to keep enjoying her night uninterrupted and me to keep watching, uninterrupted.

I wanted to keep looking at her dance on the table like she didn’t give a fuck what anyone else here was thinking because I was starting to think it might be the first time she had ever not cared.

Like clockwork, Dean walked in, his eyes falling on her immediately, not seeing me sitting here watching his every move.

I took a long drag of the cigarette, shaking the thoughts from my mind.

Of course I wanted to fucking fight. Besides taking off in my car after this, that was all I needed to want to do, not worry about Daisy and her thoughts.

He said something against her ear, the music too loud for me to hear, but her eyebrows went up and she seemed to prompt him to say more.

But then she looked at me, the hard look in her eyes not giving much away. It was the only sign I needed. By the time I made it to them, he was already reaching out to touch her.

“Unless you want that football playing arm broken, don’t touch her,” I said, taking another drag of the cigarette.

Dean’s eyes narrowed at my words, and he pulled his arm out of my reach. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

I grinned and stepped closer to Daisy. “What do you mean? I like going to parties with my girlfriend. Is that a problem?”

Daisy smiled as she moved to sit down on the table next to me. Dean’s eyes raked down her body. The small smirk on his face almost made me punch him right there. He didn’t care that I was there. He thought he still owned her. He knew she was better than this for real, and he wasn’t buying our lie.

Lucky for Daisy, there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to win this game. I stepped closer, parting her legs until they were pressed at my sides. Her arms wound around my neck and she pulled herself closer until our bodies were flush against each other. I hid my flinch, my body going stiff against her, but I ignored it.

The pain didn’t come. My stomach didn’t roll, but my body couldn’t forget years and years of it being there.

Then her lips came to my ear. “Is this okay?”

I wanted to close my eyes as the shiver ran down my back, her breath against my ear almost making me collapse, like I suddenly lost all control of my body.

“Yeah,” I said, the words tight.

“While this is already pretty hot, you really don’t have to fight him or anything,” she whispered.

“Whatever you want,” I said, loud enough for Dean to only hear my part.

I tried to keep my breathing calm as she pressed against me, but my heart hammered in my chest.

It shouldn’t be happening.

I should be focusing on the fight to drown out the pain of her touching me, but I was drowning out the fight to focus on her hands, her legs, her lips against my ear.

A quiet hum filled my body, and I wanted to scream. Where was the pain, the pure disgust? Where was the instinct to fight her off of me?

She grinned, and I knew the look. It was the same type of look that I got when I came up with a plan.

Her hand wrapped around my neck, and I froze. The long nails she had on started digging in just enough to make me stop thinking straight. Then she leaned in, kissing and biting my neck like no one else was in the room. Her tongue moved up my neck until she bit at my ear.

I didn’t know what she was doing that could suddenly make me feel like I was on fire but being drowned at the same time. I stayed there, frozen, trying to get any control over my body, but I could never control it. Usually, it was the pain I was trying to control, but now it was blinding need and confusion.

I couldn’t breathe. Her hand had loosened, but it stayed there as she pulled back with a smile.

“I think we have to go,” I finally said to Dean, who looked ready to kill me. “Great seeing you, though.”

I didn’t know how I managed to say anything, the words sounding like someone else’s voice.

My hand slid under her ass and she clung to me as I picked her up and headed out the door. The crowd moved out of my way like they always did, and she laughed against me as someone yelled out to her.

I didn’t know if she realized the show she was putting on was working way too well for me. This was a different type of pain, a lingering burn that seemed to go all the way to my groin. It wasn’t like I’d never been turned on before. I had had plenty of times when I needed a release, but I took care of that myself. Those times were definitely never caused by another person, and that included any sexual experience I had.

I didn’t like to be touched, and I didn’t care to have sex, so what the fuck was going on now?

By the time I set her on the back of my car, I could barely breathe. I pulled back, trying to give some relief to the feeling spreading over me. My lungs were still so restricted, it felt like I couldn’t get enough. My chest tightened. The place her hand had been on my neck was still burning, and my dick was now hard and pushing painfully against my jeans.

What. The. Fuck.

She chewed on her bottom lip, her eyes dropping to my jeans, and I could see the smile grow.

“I want to apologize for jumping you again, but I don’t want you to think I didn’t enjoy it.”

My stomach jumped and my groin tightened more. Her eyes on me somehow made me want her to do exactly what she did again.

The panic set in at the thought of her touching me again, and me somehow liking it.