chapter four

MARIAH

I stiffened but it didn't stop my tongue from working. It wasn't the first time I was kissing someone but it was the first time I was doing it in public and yeah, in front of our school's best hockey player. I could perceive Reynold's mint perfume around me but I didn't move or break the kiss with Ralph.

Ralph wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me even closer, his fingers playing with the chains around my waist. His tongue worked in my mouth, exploring every part of it. My body was tensed and fucking heated up. He wasn't a bad kisser at all and for the first time I realized just how good he was in almost everything. If there was anyone Reynold would compete with in school, it would be Ralph but too bad Ralph was a loser.

“Mary!” My body froze and so did my mind when that familiar voice slipped into my mind.

I paused, feeling heat rising up in my cheeks.

I slowly broke the kiss and shifted back, my eyes still on Ralph's flushed face.

I slowly turned to face Reynold but to my surprise, or rather disappointment, it was Cathy. She was standing just right above us, her brows raised in surprise and her lips parted.

“What are you doing?” She muttered in a slurred voice.

“I… I…”

She raised her hand in the air and my lips slammed shut. She slapped a hand against her lips and spun around, running over to the door that led to the bathroom.

I sighed out in relief and turned but Ralph was gone. My eyes fell in disappointment and I got up. I strolled back to the bar where Ophelia was chatting with the other girl. I couldn't remember the blonde's name.

She paused and looked at me, her face turning grim.

“Where have you been?” She snapped, throwing her hands in the air.

I stared silently at her, surprised that she still didn't care what happened to me. When she talked about Ralph being pitiable and trying to fit into places he didn't belong in, I wondered if she was referring to me too. I finally understood why that insult towards Ralph hurt me instead of making me feel better.

I smiled and walked off to the other side of the bar while she stared at my back and complained to the blonde.

As I leaned over and turned to ask for a glass of a non-alcoholic drink, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I swung around and my throat knotted when my eyes fell on Charlotte's face.

“Hi,” she muttered, a false smile spreading over her face.

“Hi,” I mumbled, gripping my hands tightly.

I was trying to grab a single, sensible reason for why she was speaking to me.

She narrowed her eyes over me, that hatred and disdain visible in those eyes.

“You're Mary, right?” She asked.

“No, I'm Mariah,” I replied.

She scoffed loudly, the resentment hard to hide.

“My boyfriend called you Mary,” she said calmly.

The first two words sounded like a warning and mockery towards me.

I smiled.

“My name is Mariah–”

“I don't care what your name is,” she waved her hand in the air.

I wondered if she was here to humiliate me because her boyfriend spoke to me for a few minutes.

“Join us for the game,” she waved her hand at the group of people gathered around for a truth or dare game. It consisted of most of the best players of the school hockey team and that included Reynold.

I gulped hard and shifted my gaze from the chattering group back to her. I knew she had something up her sleeve.

I wanted to reject her offer but I didn't. I wanted to know what she had up her sleeve.

I followed her to the circle and slumped down beside a lean brown haired girl. I raised my gaze and my eyes locked with Reynold's. I looked down again, unable to breathe.

They began to roll the bottle, giving either a dare or a question. I never joined them when they laughed, booed or cheered.

I just sat there, my head down while struggling to breathe and hoping it ends soon.

“Mary?” My head jerked up when someone mentioned that name. Even though that wasn't my name, I still had no choice but to respond to it.

I lifted my gaze and my eyes locked with Reynold's eyes. His lips were slanted to the side in a smirk and his eyes gleamed with mischief.

What was he up to?

“Why are you looking at her, Rey?” I heard Charlotte wince while nudging his arm.

“Caleb dared me to kiss a girl here,” he said and my heart dropped.

My lips parted and slammed shut and my head swerved around, my eyes as wide as saucers.

“For five minutes!” Caleb shouted, laughing.

“That's not part of the dare!” Charlotte snapped, cursing at him.

I tilted my head, silently questioning what he meant and hoping it wasn't what I was thinking.

“I… I don't understand how that has to do–”

A breath caught in my throat and my heart stopped when Reynold's lips crashed on mine.

My eyes slammed shut and goosebumps spread over my skin as I felt cactus fill my belly. His tongue tasted like mint and he smelled like honey, no lavender, no.

He bit my bottom lip and sparks flew over my body. The music seemed to have stopped and so did all the noise in the hall. Time seemed to have stopped as well and the only thing I could hear was my thumping heartbeat and his raspy breath and my low moan.

I didn't know where that came from, but I wrapped my hands around his neck and pulled him closer. His hands snaked around my waist and one of them slid down to the slit on my gown and his fingers began to glide up my thighs.

I could feel my panties grow wet at his touch and my pussy tighten.

I wanted it to last forever. I didn't want this to stop. For the first time since I stepped into this place, I was glad I accepted to come here.

But the moment the kiss was broken, everything came rushing in and back to life. The face I saw after his was Charlotte's. Her jaw was dropped and color drained from her face.

Everyone's eyes were on me with mouths parted open.

The room suddenly felt tight and my chest clenched so hard that I could barely breathe. I slowly realized what I had done. What I had let him do.

I cursed, jerked up, and without hesitation, I ran out.

I returned home quite late and slept off in a pool of despair and regret. But my mom had woken me up early the next morning to meet her finance and his sons with no prior notice of their coming. I had argued with her but it was pointless since they were downstairs already.

When I finally got down from the bed, I realized that I slept for long but that wasn't what mattered.

I brushed and washed up, the memory from last night still terrorizing my mind.

I wonder how I would face not just Reynold but Ralph in school on Monday.

“Mariah!”

“I'm coming!” I growled back at my mother who kept yelling my name from the hallway.

I wore my glasses after getting dressed in a loose, large top and a pair of washed blue jeans. I pushed my door open then trudged down the stairs to the living room to welcome her husband to be, whoever it was.

I forced a smile on when I saw her standing before a man in the middle of the room.

“Ah! There! That's my daughter!” She swung around and waved at me.

My eyes shifted to the bald man standing behind my mother with a smile on his face.

“Hello! Your mom has told me a lot about you,” He waved at me in such an annoying voice that I almost puked.

The smile on my face stretched and I parted my lips to return the fake courtesy but paused when I noticed more people in the room.

I swung my head to the side and for a moment, everything stopped. The smile fell from my face, my heart sank into my belly and horror gripped me as I stared at the faces before me.

I blinked, not sure if I wasn't hallucinating.

“Oh, those are my sons, Reynold Davidson and Ralph Levison,” the man blurted out and my knees dropped