Denying the Bad Boy:Tattooed and Pierced, 2(21)

"For as smart as I know you are, I am surprised to see you on my doorstep."

Why was he acting like this? No, she knew, because he was a pompous  fucker. The Alex she had met just last week, the nice one that smiled at  her genuinely, and spoke softly to her, was not the guy standing in  front of her.

"Are you in or not? I don't have time for this shit."

He lifted a dark brow at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Damn  him for still making her want him after the way he acted, and damn him  for thinking this was funny. It wasn't, and she would make a point that  not all women were mindless twits when it came to him. He stepped away  from the door, held it further open for her, and gestured for her to  enter. Mary didn't look at him as she stepped into the house and stopped  once she was in front of the stairs.

"We can do this in the kitchen." She turned, looked at him, and narrowed  her eyes when the corner of his mouth twitched again. "You need to take  this seriously. I'm not the one failing a course and having my football  season threatened." That had his smirk vanishing and his jaw clenching.

"You came here, don't forget that. You need me as much as I need you."  They were in some kind of stare off for a long while, and it was only  when Adam stepped into the entryway that she looked away.

"Hey, Mary." Adam was all smiles as he stared at her.. Yeah, he  blatantly checked her out on occasion, but he was a genuine guy, unlike  some guys she knew. "You look nice today." Mary would have thought that  was some kind of sarcastic stab at her clothing, but there was no  asshole-ness coming from him.

"Thank you."

She purposefully made sure to dress in the rattiest jeans and t-shirt  she had, ones reserved for cleaning the house. Adam turned his attention  to Alex. "Dude, you're going to break your teeth if you grind them any  harder." With that Adam sauntered out the front door, leaving the two of  them alone once more.

"All right, let's just get this over with." She headed into the kitchen  and started getting the books and notebook out of her backpack. Alex  came in a few seconds later and went over to the fridge.

"You want something to drink?"

Without looking at him she said, "No, I'm good."

This was awkward, but she could handle an hour at a time in his  presence. She sat down and focused on the things in front of him. If she  didn't the smell of him freshly showered, and the sight of his  ridiculously ripped chest with that defined cut V of muscle leading  below his pants, would have her flustered until she couldn't form a  coherent sentence. She lifted just her eyes when he bent over and  reached for something in the fridge. The sight of his toned back was  impressive, especially those muscles right under his arms, but that  wasn't what had disgust moving through her. Three long scratch marks  lined his lower back, scratch marks that a woman would have given him  when he screwed her. He made his way back to her, pulled out the chair  across from her, and sat down. Mary had lowered her gaze before he knew  she had been staring, and pushed images of exactly what he had done last  night out of her head. It wasn't her business, and what Alex did, and  who he did it with, was no concern of hers.

"Listen, about last night-"

Oh, hell no. No way was he going to apologize for the shit that went  down, and what, right after he fucked some girl, most likely a random  one? Honestly she was glad he had said the things he had to her last  night. It reminded her that Alex wasn't for her, and never would be. She  held her hand up, stopping him from continuing on with that. Finding  all of her strength, and not about to let him smooth things over as  easily as he probably did with a lot of thing, Mary looked him in the  eyes.

"There is no need for apologies, Alex." His big, wide chest rose and  fell as he inhaled deeply. "I'm here to help you, and because I need  your help in return. Besides, it looks like you had plenty to occupy  your time last night after I left."

Why did you say that? God, she needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.  She lifted her eyes to him, saw the confused expression on his face  morph into one of embarrassment, anger, and what? Was that regret? He  cornered her, literally and in the figurative sense. Growing up she had  met a lot of people like him, ones that thought about themselves, didn't  care what others felt, and had blinders on. Well no more. They had made  an agreement, reached an understanding, and that was it.                       
       
           



       

"We are using each other, and that is all." She was stronger than he  gave her credit for. "Now, can we just move past last night, get this  over with, and then we both can forget the other existed?"

He clenched his jaw again and held his hands in tight fists on top of  the table. His whole body grew taut, and his muscles flexed and bulged  beneath his skin. Well good, she was glad she was pissing him off,  because he deserved to be just as angry as she was.

"Wouldn't have thought you had a mouth like that on you, Mary." The way  he said her name gave her chills. He looked ready to explode, like he  was barely hanging on to his control. Maybe she should have been  frightened, but all she did was thrust a book at him and tell him what  page to turn it to. Mary forgot about everything else and started going  over the material in the book. For the next hour Mary didn't make eye  contact with him, but she sure as hell felt his stare all the way  through her, and because of that she was even more determined to keep  her distance. That was easier every time she thought about those  scratches he wore.

****

Alex stared at Mary sitting on his living room floor. It had been a week  since she had come to his house, surprising the shit out of him,  considering the douche-bag way he acted toward her at Tainted. Her mouth  was moving, but all he could concentrate on was how fucking hot she  was. He still felt shame that she had seen scratch marks on his back  from the night of sex he didn't even remember, and although it had been  seven days since that happened, he still felt gross about it, and  ashamed that he had worn the damn things like some kind of scarlet  letter. Then his thoughts morphed into the night he'd had her pressed  against the wall at Tainted. He could still smell her, that underlying  scent of sweat mixed with the light, floral perfume she wore. He had  been so fucking hard, and just thinking about it now made him harder  yet. Even now, when she only wore a pair of shorts and a loose fitting  t-shirt he found himself shifting on his seat, trying to alleviate his  hard-on.

"Alex, are you even listening to me?" He snapped his eyes from where he  had been looking: at her perfectly rounded breasts. Her attitude over  the last week had been icy, but she was slowly starting to talk to him  in a voice that wasn't monotone and filled with distaste.

"What?" Fuck, his damn voice cracked like he was some kind of teenager  going through puberty. He cleared his throat and leaned forward so he  was resting his forearms on his thighs. "I'm listening."

No, he wasn't, but she didn't need to know that. Over the last week he  had caught on to the basics of what this class was really about, and  knew he had been so off about the subject matter that he was actually  embarrassed by the fact.

"Yeah?" She crossed her arms and arched a perfectly shaped dark eyebrow.

Shit, he really wished she wouldn't do that because all it accomplished  was plumping up her breasts, and showing him a nice shot of cleavage.  When he didn't answer and was finally able to tear his gaze from her  chest, it was to see her blue eyes snapping with challenge. When she  didn't tell him to fuck off and keep his eyes to himself, he felt a  little high, and decided to see how far he could push it. It was a  dumbass move on his part, seeing as she was just now starting to talk to  him in a not tutorial way. He let his eyes travel down her legs, and  stopped when he saw the fabric of her shorts gap at the junction of her  thighs. Fucking hell. Rubbing his hand over his jaw he averted his eyes,  knowing that he was just working himself up for no reason, and if he  didn't get his arousal under control she would no doubt see the wood he  was sporting.

"Yeah." He looked at her again and smirked. "You were talking about the  rise of proximity in underdeveloped countries." She didn't show any  reaction, and he was pretty damn proud of himself for being able to pull  that answer out of his ass when his thoughts had been on much more  pleasant things. He had seen her the past three days in a row, and only  had one more week of tutoring before he was going with her to her  sister's wedding.

Every time he saw her he found himself wanting her that much more, and  each time she looked into his eyes he wanted to tell her he was sorry  for the way he treated her at the club, that he had acted like an ass,  but that he had tried to make a point, that he was worthless when it  came to being the kind of guy a girl like her deserved. He wanted to  tell her he was sorry, but every time the words came forth she would  look at him, shake her head like she knew what he was going to say, and  finishing talking about a subject he could care less about. He just  wanted to know more about her, and found himself aching to ask her where  she came from, if she had any siblings, and other things that he had  never cared about when confronted with the opposite sex. He was in  uncharted territory right now, and had no idea how to navigate when it  came to trying to be a decent guy, and not one that was just looking for  another one-night stand.