Jace’s stomach churned with acid. “Never gonna happen, so why don’t you do us both a favor and stay the hell out of my life?”
“You’re cute when you’re pissed.” He pushed away from the door. “But if you don’t want to play anymore, I can always go to Rachel—”
Jace swung blindly, overwhelmed by rage at the thought of Jordan bringing Rachel into this mess. Of blackmailing her with Jace’s mistake. Jace wasn’t much of a fighter, though, and his punch was sloppy. Jordan sidestepped him, then used his own momentum as a counterweight to spin him around and lock his right arm up against his back. Jordan wrapped his other arm around Jace’s waist, holding him tight against Jordan’s chest. Jordan’s face was next to his ear. The position sent ice down his spine.
“Let me go,” Jace snapped.
“Now this reminds me of something.” He pushed his hips forward against Jace’s ass. “Oh yeah, that. You were awesome, by the way.”
“You could use a little practice.” Jace kicked with one of his feet, hoping to find a shin or something.
Jordan must have anticipated it, because he managed to avoid the blow and trip Jace into falling face-first onto the bed. His legs dangled off from the knee, which gave him no traction on the floor. Jordan tightened his grip on his right arm, stretching his shoulder so badly he cried out. The position of his arm and Jordan’s weight had him trapped.
“Fucking coward,” Jace said, the words muffled by the bedspread.
“Come on, Jace, don’t tell me Gavin’s a better fuck than I was.” He bent his head, hot breath fanning against Jace’s cheek. “Bet he doesn’t make you scream like I did.”
Rage boiled up inside Jace. He hated Jordan more for daring to compare the pain he’d heaped upon Jace’s body to the way Gavin made his body sing. Gavin didn’t see him as a convenient hole to fuck; Gavin cared about him, and he cared about his pleasure. Jordan would never care about anyone except himself.
“No,” Jace said, “and he also doesn’t make me bleed the way you did. Get off!”
“Hush, honey, and I’ll get us both off.” Jordan’s free hand slid under Jace’s shirt to touch bare skin, then down toward his hip.
“No.” Jace pressed harder onto the bed, stopping Jordan’s descent. He couldn’t shake Jordan off, but he could stall. And if he had to, he’d scream his fucking head off to get someone’s attention.
Jordan gave up on his first target. His hand slid around to push under the waist of Jace’s slacks. Fingers dug into the muscle at the top of Jace’s ass. Phantom pain stabbed him in the guts. Memories from that afternoon, kneeling on the rough carpet of his dorm, while Jordan held his hair and bore into him from behind. Pressing his fist into his mouth and taking it long enough for Jordan to get off, when his body was screaming at him to get away, get it out, make it stop. He couldn’t say no that time. He’d been forced to say yes.
Never again.
“I said no!” Jace reached blindly behind him and raked his fingernails across the first bit of soft flesh he touched.
Jordan yelled, and another voice joined the sound, this one full of rage and surprise.
Gavin.
The weight holding Jace down was gone, and the bed bounced. He un-tucked his slightly numb right arm and rolled onto his back in time to see Gavin land a hard blow to Jordan’s face. Jordan tumbled to the floor with a yelp. Jace slid to the edge of the bed, blood buzzing with adrenaline, ready to attack if Jordan came up swinging. He didn’t. He blinked up at the ceiling, a little dazed, blood trickling from a split lip. Three long gashes ran the length of his right cheek, courtesy of Jace’s nails.
“Jace, you all right?” Gavin was in front of him, touching his hair, trying to make him look up.
He stood so he didn’t have to crane his neck so much, then met Gavin’s wild, worried stare. “I’m fine.” And as he said the words, Jace knew they were true. Jordan had startled him, but he wasn’t scared of him anymore. Jace was disgusted by him, and he hated him, but he was done being cowed by him. “Jordan was just leaving.”
Jordan made a disbelieving noise. Jace stepped around Gavin, then pressed his foot down on Jordan’s crotch. Hard enough for Jordan to grunt and go perfectly still. “We’re done, you hear me?” Jace said. “You don’t contact me or my sister again. Swear to me it’s over, or I scream rape right here and now.”
“You wouldn’t,” Jordan said, his voice reedy and pained.
Jace pressed harder; Jordan’s eyes widened. “You wanna take that chance with your balls at my mercy?”