Striker: A Dark Bully Romance (Redwood Rebels Book 1) by Rachel Leigh (ebook reader for comics TXT) 📕

we’re drawn together, we force ourselves apart. He’s controlling and bossy and he drives me batshit crazy. We fight constantly, and most days, I want to beat him over the head and bury him next to Josh. But then I look at him when he’s not watching and I see a guy who has never been loved by a single hand that’s touched him. I see a person who longs to feel alive and for some screwed up reason, he awakens life inside of me, too.

He hurts me, but he also protects me.

Maybe I’ll call Axel tomorrow.

Sliding the door closed quietly behind me, I tiptoe up the stairs, hoping that the guys are too involved in their game to notice me. When I reach the top, I immediately spot Talon at the end of the hall. His back is pressed to the wall with one foot kicked up behind him. A few wispy strands of hair hang over his left eye, but the other one is zeroed in on me beneath a cocked brow. “Where the hell were you?”

“I needed some air.” I walk toward my bedroom door, but his thunderous strides in my direction have me halting.

“Or some privacy?”

Yep. Though, I don’t say it. There’s no way I could even attempt to make a call in this house with all the eyes and cameras. I found the hidden one in my room stuck to a painted picture. It was about the size of a pencil eraser. I tore that sucker down and flushed it down the toilet. Even if I got that one, I can’t be certain there aren’t more.

“I’m not in the mood to argue. It was an extra-long day at school today.”

“That must be why I’m so exhausted.” He pats his mouth and fakes a yawn. “I couldn't figure it out, but now that you mention it, school is alotta work.” There is something different in his tone. He’s not being abrasive or domineering. There are no crude comments or sexual innuendos.

“So go to bed.”

His eyes land on my lips, and chills dance down my back when his index finger trails along my cheekbone and down to my mouth. He leans closer and whispers, “Come with me.”

My heart skips a beat. “I don't feel like playing your games tonight. I’m just gonna shower and go to bed.” I twist the handle behind me and the door gives way.

He shakes his head. “No games.” His body walks into mine, and we push through the open door. Wrapping his hands around my waist, he pulls me close and those chills only multiply, sending my heart and my head into a frenzy. He tugs the lobe of my ear between his teeth and grazes the skin ever so gently. “Grab your clothes. You can shower and sleep in my room tonight.”

Effortlessly, my head tilts to the side. “Why?” My eyes close and I take in every exhale of his breath on my skin. “I thought you didn’t let anyone sleep in your bed?”

“You’re not just anyone. Besides, you’ve already slept in it.”

“You’re right, I’m not. I’m someone you claim to hate. So, tell me why?” I take a step back so that I can see his face. I need to read his expression because his words lie.

“Because I wanna be near you.”

Wide eyes and pouty lips look back at me. A solemn expression with no hidden agenda. I shouldn't, but I believe him. I always knew that somewhere deep inside, buried under the rubble, was a heart that ticked with more than hate. He feels the pull between us, too.

Once I have my bag packed with my bathroom stuff and some pajamas, I follow Talon up to his room. It feels weird. Really fucking weird. I slept in his room before, but I wasn’t given a choice. Now here I am, of my own freewill. Gripping my bag tightly to my chest, I swallow down any notion that this is a trap. I hate that I feel so on edge around him. I’m so afraid to let my guard down because I fear he’ll use it against me.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out his keys and drops them on the dresser. Followed by the thud of his wallet and his phone. “Shower’s yours. Towels are in the closet.”

Taking my bag with me, I go inside the bathroom and begin searching for cameras. I pull open the cabinet mirror on the wall, over the sink, and see a bottle of pills. Zepro. Which is a mood stabilizer. One of the many that Mom used to take. I pick I up and read the expiration date. September, and the bottle is still full. Hmm, maybe he stopped taking them.

I set the bottle back inside the cabinet and continue my search. There’s the typical male necessities. Shaving cream, a few bottles of high-end cologne, a tube of toothpaste. Boring stuff and nothing that screams he’s watching me. I scope out the walls and the corners and each step has my stomach filling with anger that I have to even do this.

The door swings open, and my heart jumps into my throat. “Everything ok in here?”

“Geez, Talon, I could have been naked.” I unzip my bag and begin pulling out my shower supplies.

“You should have been. You’ve been here in for ten minutes and you haven’t even turned the shower on.” His hand presses against the doorframe. “Were you going through my things?”

I could lie. But I don’t. “Sure was. Just making sure that the guys downstairs aren’t streaming a live feed of me getting undressed in your bathroom.” Regardless of who recorded me, someone did, and right now I can’t trust anyone in this house.

“Even if there was a live feed, which there's not, I wouldn’t share.”

Liar. 

I fight the urge to scream it at him and demand the truth along with answers to every fucked-up thing that has happened.

Here I am falling for this guy, at least that’s what it feels like,