The Lustful Summer with my Bad Boy

Prologue

I never would have believed that in the eighteen years of my life that I would find myself on the dependency of someone like Easton Gage. And yet, there I stood in my Louis Vuitton heels and Prada bag wedged in the crease of my arm, exhausted of options and at the mercy of his goodwill. And I believe he thought the same as his eyes would look to me with a concoction of aggravation and humor, but mostly intrigue as I c****d my jaw to show that this was anything but a social call.

“You want me to do what?!” His words echoed back to me as I watched him rise from the bench on the opposite side of the automotive garage, where we had spent the majority of the previous night together. But as I tried to explain the details again, I became momentarily distracted by how I must appear to him; ‘poor little rich girl, coming to the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks asking for a favor...an illegal favor.’ I was truly desperate and much to my chagrin, he had noticed this.

“Maybe you should get one of your jocks to help, but I’m not interested in spending up to forty years just because you want to get a taste of my world-It may be a bit too bitter for your champagne tastes...”

“It’s not like that.” I explained. “If I had ANY other option, I would take it, believe me.”

“I just don’t know if it’s really worth it for me-”

“The money?.” I wasn't sure if it was the reminder of the dollar amount or the pleading of my voice that made him smirk, but either way, he would cross his arms in fascination and lift his eyes in having been pleased that I was solely reliant on his complacency. But once again, he continued to torment me and did not offer a simple agreement or disapproval, instead, he crossed the floor stained with oil and grime before stopping just a few steps across from me.

“What you’re asking isn’t some small-time job like a convenience store...It will take reconnaissance, patience, and time…” With each reason given, he would take one step closer, making me incredibly anxious as he towered over my own petite frame. I am sure I appeared harmless beneath his shadow, but I was steadfast and prayed the devotion to my cause would be enough to convince him.

“Can you do it or not?” I questioned, well aware that the legacy of crime he had left behind at the mere mention of his name had been enough to answer my own inquiry; but I had to know for sure and I had to hear him say it himself.

“How do I know that I can trust you?” He suddenly examined me, his eyes scanning me one time vertically and back again as his jaw slipped to the side until he sucked in his cheeks while awaiting my answer.

“Because I could have had you arrested last night...or even this morning...and I haven’t.”

“You still could.” He rivaled as I had now grown frustrated. I was running out of time and patience and therefore threw my hands up in the exhibit of this before turning on those expensive heels and back into the direction of my car.

“Forget it.”

“Wait!” He spoke quickly, a sense of desperation in his own timbre as he suddenly took hold of my arms as I stood at the door of my vehicle. My eyes drifted to his touch, reminding him how it was inappropriate, as he quickly recanted his grasp, and let out a long exhale.

“Ten thousand dollars with no strings?” I nodded as these were the reasonable terms, but the pensive look of his fading gaze falling into a glare of deeper thought, I let out an aggrieved sigh of my own.

“It seems we have a deal, sweetheart…” He finally agreed, his hand extending to mine as I hesitated in my steps. How in the world did I end up on this side of town making a deal with the devil?

It was supposed to be a celebration for having survived the pure torment of hormones and academics that was known to the general population as having been “High School”. With the SATs and the stress of awaiting college acceptance letters now behind us, the night had been the one well sought after following graduation. The expectations that came with this commemoration had been that of released inhibitions and exercising carpe diem to our fears as it would be our last summer with those we endured adolescence with. But as I had believed it to begin with the daily two hour preparation of perfect hair and makeup, the sixty minute ‘greeting’ session as I was the technical host of this affair, and the final enjoyment of months long planning, I was completely unaware of what this night would actually bring…

“Is Chip here yet?” I questioned Margaux, an athletic peer who appeared breakable with such small bones yet held a personality that rivaled it to an extent that made it polar opposite. She ran her fingers through her perfectly straight and silky dark blonde hair which I had always envied to my own misbehaving flaxen hue accented with caramel highlights.

But as I spoke his name, her eyes would trail away in distraction before her soft grip attempted to distract me from my question and bring me into our group of friends wearing the same Pandora’s bracelets and Coach earrings gifted to each other for graduation.

“Why don’t we just get our dancing shoes on and forget about the guys tonight? I’ll tell Andrew that-'' As she attempted to distract me from thinking of Chip entirely, the door at my back came open to a sight that was impossible to fathom or ignore. However, the evidence was too blatant to exist in ignorance as my eyes fell to the sight of my allegedly faithful boyfriend returning the binds of his pants to an appropriate lock as the girl at his side brought a mint between her lips, leaving my mind wild with speculation. My eyes widened in shock as his expression came to a weak smirk while I set off into the direction of my car.

“Addison!” His voice called to me in an exhausted desperation as I continued in the direction farthest away from him. Keeping my back turned from him to ensure he did not witness the makeup that I had spent far too long assembling to be pleasing to him now staining my cheeks, I kept forward until the force of his hand pulled me to face his physique.

Standing at least double my size with a build somewhere between big-boned and muscular, he held me with annoyance in place of care as he kept his eyes on mine through the fading light of day. He believed his perfect smile would be enough to warrant my forgiveness as it had always done with past transgressions. But this time, his heartless actions were truly unforgivable. When he noticed the lack of leniency in my gaze, he grew desperate. But this was not for a need to convince me we belonged together or that he would do better; instead, it would come from the realization that he had to save face in front of our peers and strangers alike.

“Can you please come back inside so we can talk about this?” He questioned, his tone sweet but his eyes wild with a mix of lust and embarrassment. But as he drew closer to me, my hands joined against his strong torso as I pushed him off of his soles and as far as my frail arms could cast him. It may have not been enough to send him to hell, which was where my mind wanted him to be at this moment, but it had been far enough to move successfully into my car.

“Addie...baby-” There was a sense of fear that ran through my veins at the thought of rivaling someone brandishing the “Baron” name. But as I looked up to him, the look of disheveled hair kept unkempt by the fingers of a girl who wasn’t me was enough to remind me that I deserved better; even if I had been celibate, the actions of the wrong were done by the man outside of my car not the woman desperate to escape the scene lain within its interior.

“You have worked so hard on this party, baby, I don’t want you to miss it because of…” He paused, understanding that there would be no collection of words in the history of any language that would make his mistake sound charming,appealing, or forgivable. “If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t s*x-” He spoke, his brainless comment escaping his lips as he came to regret it immediately. His hands rose in an attempt to defend himself as I glared at him with genuine intent and loathing.

“It was VERY clear to me what it was...It’s disgusting! YOU’RE disgusting! I can’t believe I turned down YALE for you because you couldn’t even get in!” His cheeks reddened as the crowd around us parted their mouths in awe of how savage my comments appeared; but in this moment I was seeing red to both his feelings and his reputation, while damning my own. “I let you-” I stopped myself, tears cascading in quick succession down each cheek as I ignited the engine of my car by setting my finger on the button set in place of a keyhole as he begged to me once more.

“I’m weak...okay...But I love YOU-”

“We’re done.” The words left my lips as a surprise to us both, not for the fact that it was unexpected but for the fact I had the gall to say it. In truth, we were the couple everyone expected to be together, the cliche duo made up of homecoming king and queen...but I couldn’t have told you a single aspiration of his and I would bet anything he could not tell you a detail about me that was deeper than what could be found on any social media page.

“Come on, you’re overreacting-”

“Overreacting?” I suddenly turned to him, tears continuing to shed as I spoke through clenched teeth.

“Seeing you hug a girl and being dramatic would be overreacting!” I explained. “I don’t even want to know what you did...but I can only imagine it...I’ll tolerate you telling me what to wear and what to say..pretend to care about golf or your insecurities...But cheating is NEVER okay.” I continued as he now rose with a scoff.

“Maybe we can be adults about this...What do you want from me, Ads? We’ve only been together once and you balled for hours after words...What guy wants to be with that?” His eyes fell at the understanding of how cold his words emerged, but with the lenses of camera phones set upon us, his pride was too inflated to lower into consideration now.

“You’re a tease, Addison...I used to like your innocence because I thought it was cute...but you don’t drink or swear...you turn down the parts of every song when they cuss! And I thought if I was patient enough that I could make you let loose...But you have a stick so far up your ass that I think it’s physically impossible…” I was in complete astonishment on how he attempted to use my inability to be intimate as grounds for breaking my heart.

“I wanted so badly to be what we used to be...But you changed and….I don’t even want like a handjob from you...You’re just so frigid and I’m sure you wouldn’t know what you were doing anyway-” Before I was able to object, my foot managed to set forward on the gas as my tears blinded my eyes and I had accelerated far enough to find the sight of my house disappear of the trees and serpentine road ahead.

Leaving behind my cursing ex, whose foot was crushed by the wheel of my stepfather’s car, I continued to drive with the illusion that I would be able to outrun the fresh sting of his heartache. The words of Olivia Rodrigo’s entire “Sour” album would keep this broken heart company until I suddenly found myself at the lights of an unfamiliar intersection.

As the lights would alter from red to green and back again, I simply stayed put. My thoughts enveloped me and kept me stilled as I realized how horrible this situation had left me. I had nowhere to go as my friends remained at that party, unafraid to show their loyalty to him as I drove away a mess, keeping me at this intersection with complete and total devastation of my new normal. But it would appear that the powers that be did not wish for me to be alone...

Abruptly, the passenger door would come open and a figure wrapped in a dark sweatshirt and jeans of a matching hue would look at me with focus, as if I was the one in the wrong for having questioned his presence.

“You may want to drive-"