ELEVEN

Courtney: Present Day

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EVEN IN THE DARK, THE drive to Blue Harbor was as stunningly beautiful as I remembered it. The lush oak trees that lined the main streets still stood tall and proud. The white wooden bridges that guarded every access point to the lake still looked freshly painted. And Blue Harbor High—the massive white brick building that stood at the end of Main Street still looked just as imposing as it did during my freshman year.

My parents—ever the keepers of nostalgia, had long moved away and retired in Florida, but they made it a point to send me specialty Blue Harbor postcards every six months “to keep our hometown alive.” After being here for only a few minutes though, I realized that all of their glossy pictures had failed to do this place justice.

“What are you thinking about?” Jace put the car in park, keeping my hand entwined in his.

“How much I took living here for granted.”

He muttered something I didn’t quite catch, and then he cleared his throat. “Do you still keep up with anyone from here?”

“Not really. A few of my debate teammates and I meet up every couple of years for a drink, but that’s about it. You?”

“The only person I would’ve wanted to keep up with was you. So, thanks to what you did, no.”

I started to fire back, but I stopped. I didn’t want to argue with him right now. I was tired of going back and forth between wondering if we could ever pick up where we left off or wanting to bite his head off.

Before I could change the subject, he did.

“I had to force myself not to look you up and find you after we fell apart,” he said. “But I still thought about all the things we used to do, all the time.” He leaned forward and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You want to go inside?”

“You mean, break into the school?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

I held back a laugh. “Sure.”

Within minutes, Jace was helping me out of the car and hoisted me over the same fence that me, Genevieve, and all her “friends” climbed over the night my social life ended. Jace came over right after me, and as if we were still as we once were, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me against his side.

No alarm sounded when we pushed the back-door open, and from what we could tell, the security cameras were all focused on the one thing that mattered most: The state championship trophy case that stood in the center of the lobby.

Walking around it, we roamed the empty hallways—amazed that with the exception of a few flat screen monitors, they still seemed stuck in time.

When we approached room 221, Jace insisted on going inside. The room was now fitted with more modern desks—metal instead of wood, but the words written on the whiteboard at the front of the room made us both burst into laughter.

In familiar, terrible handwriting, the detention supervisor had written:

3:30 – 6:30

Detention Hours

Group D

The Daily Rule:

Bring Me Donuts or Write Three Essays. Your Choice.

“What was that guy’s name?” I asked, still laughing.

“I have no idea.” He pulled me close and kissed my lips, catching me completely off guard.

Without hesitation, I returned his kiss—not holding back, not stopping. I felt his cock hardening against my dress, and he slid a hand up my body and gently squeezed my breast.

He slowly pulled away from me and sighed. “I think we should stop at one more place before we leave.”

I nodded, unable to catch my breath.

He pulled me against his side again, and we walked to the other side of the school. And still, all these years later, Blue Harbor High hadn’t learned how to lock the pool at night. The doors opened with a light push, and the Olympic-sized pool looked grander now than it did before.

As we walked around it, I noticed that the only thing new was the line of championship banners that was hanging high above the lap lanes.

“I still can’t believe you covered for me before you even knew me,” I said, looking up at him.

“I still can’t believe you ever covered for Genevieve.” He smiled. “I wasn’t completely altruistic, though. I had an ulterior motive.”

“Sex, right?”

“With the squarest girl in school?” He rolled his eyes. “No.”

“I wasn’t that square.”

“You were.” He was still smiling. “And every guy here fucking knew it. They also knew you were the most attractive girl in the damn town, but since you weren’t putting out, no one wanted to go after you.”

“So was your ulterior motive a bet? See who can fuck the square first?”

“No.” He laughed, looking eighteen all over again. “I had a crush on you. That was my ulterior motive—to finally act on it. That’s it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Because you wouldn’t have believed me,” he said.

“I would’ve.”

He gave me a blank stare, and I laughed.

“Okay, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“I know.” He led me to the other side of the pool, stopping near the locker room. He finally let my hand go and stood in front of me.

“I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me right now,” he said, locking his blue gaze on mine. “Can you do that for me?”

“Yes...”

“Have you missed fucking me?”

“What?”

“You heard me,” he said. “Have you missed fucking me?”

“I’ve missed you.”

“That’s a given. That’s not what I asked you, though.” He pushed me against the wall, pinning me still with his hips.  Then he lowered his voice. “I don’t think a day went by after our first time that we didn’t have sex at least once a day.”

It was twice a day...

“Surely. You’ve had sex with plenty of other people since we ended things, Jace. So, I’m not sure why—”

He bit my bottom lip, preventing me from getting another word out. “Answer my question.”

I hesitated, and he bit my lip again.

“Now.”

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I missed fucking you. Happy?”

“Ecstatic.” He pushed my dress up my waist. “Can you finally admit that it was you who messed us up or will I have to fuck that out of you first?”

I didn’t get a chance to start that argument again. His lips were on mine, and my hands were unzipping his pants. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and pressed it into my hand, silently commanding me to take out the condom. 

Briefly taking his lips off mine, he pressed kisses against my neck and slid his hands up my thighs—yanking off my lace panties.

I rubbed my hands on his rock-hard cock, blushing as I got a reminder of just how huge he was.

When I finished with the condom, he returned his mouth to mine and whispered, “I missed fucking you, too.”

“How romantic. I forgot that’s one of your strong suits.”

He let out a low laugh and lifted my leg around his waist, pressing his cock against my soaked pussy. “Romantic has never worked with you.”

I sucked in a breath as he slid into me inch by inch, as he kept my waist tightly gripped with the firm control of his fingertips.

“Jace...” I cried out his name once he was completely inside of me—making me feel complete in a way I hadn’t felt in years.

Without another word, he began grinding his body against mine—teasingly pulling his cock out of me and thrusting it back into me with a wild and reckless rhythm. He didn’t give me a chance to adjust to his pace, and anytime I tried to move my hips or slow him down, he squeezed my ass. Hard.

Our eyes remain locked in a heated gaze of confusion and our lips constantly collided with a series of wet and angry kisses. Harsh and whispered words.

“I didn’t leave you, Jace,” I said, scratching his neck as he buried himself inside of me again. “I didn’t leave you.”

“Yes.” He hissed. “You did.”

He slid a hand between my thighs and began circling my clit with his thumb—rendering me completely speechless as he continued to fuck me.

The sound of our skin slapping against each other and the soft waves from the pool echoed in the room.

Since he still refused to let me get a chance at taming his reckless tempo, I eventually gave him full control.

My pussy throbbed against his cock as he fucked me even harder, and he softened his kisses against my mouth.

“Jace, I...” I breathed. “Jace...”

He whispered my name against my lips, and my knees went weak. My entire body began to shake against him and my head fell back against the wall. Holding me steady, Jace kissed the corners of my mouth, and I cried out his name.

He found his release shortly after me, and we remained entwined for what felt like forever, but as the pleasure began to wear off, I felt as if the sex had only made things more complicated. As if we were still unresolved.

Slowly sliding out of me, he readjusted my dress and ran his fingers through my hair.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I didn’t answer.

“Courtney?”

“I’m fine.” I bent down and picked up his wallet.

He disposed of the condom and adjusted his pants. And then he stared at me.

“Can we talk about this when we get back to the hotel?”

“About the fact that you just fucked me in a high school pool-room or the fact that there’s clearly been some miscommunication on both sides during all these years?”

“Both, Courtney.”

“Sure.”

He reached for my hand, but I didn’t take it. I wanted to hear his logic about me leaving him (I definitely didn’t) first.

We left the school through the same doors we came through, and he helped me over the fence again.

In the car, I held my own damn hand, and we rode in silence all the way back to the Embassy Suites.

When we made it to the elevator bank in the lobby, he looked at his watch. “I’ll come to your room in an hour? Is that a good time to discuss you leaving me?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

I watched as he stepped onto the elevator, waited until the doors closed and then I took out my phone and called a cab to the airport.

This is me **really** leaving your ass...