Ride (Alpha Male Romance): In Between the Covers (Carolina Bad Boys #3) by Rie Warren Page B

hips to hold me still.”
    Jase’s hand trembled through my hair. He pulled it away to clench in his lap.
    I took a deep breath. “He didn’t last long. When he came it was with the worst kind of praise about how well I took him, and how he couldn’t wait to fuck me again. He spat on my face before he left. He didn’t even bother to shut the door.” I shuddered and whispered, “I thought I’d be bleeding. I was surprised I wasn’t.”
    “Fuck, Ave. Tell me it wasn’t your first time. Please tell me it wasn’t your first time.”
    “It was my first time, Jase.” I bit down on my lip because it quivered so hard I could barely speak. “He took my virginity. He raped me.”
    I heard a hoarse sob. When I looked over, Jase’s face was buried in his hands. My tears joined his as I struggled to finish.
    “I stayed awake all night after a shower. A long shower. I wanted to sleep in the shower but the water turned cold. I didn’t want anyone to find me there. I didn’t want to see anyone. I spoke to my RA first thing in the morning. She laughed at me. She told me Duncan Locke was the catch of the campus, and I should be thrilled he even bothered to look at me twice. In fact, she told me I better stop spreading lies about him before I found my scholarship dried up.”
    “I want that RA’s name. She’s out of a job tomorrow.” Jase composed himself. He spoke in a hard-edged tone.
    “Jase—”
    “Don’t. Ave. Some people have to pay for this. I’m gonna make sure they do.”
    “I found your roommate ad. As soon as I got through my classes, I biked over here. It hurt to sit on my bike seat.”
    Jase crushed me to him. “I was such an asshole that night. I’m so sorry, precious.”
    “You didn’t scare me.”
    His body wracked and I could hear him swallow.
    “You took me in. You made me feel safe. You made sure I knew my door locked, Jase.”
    “It wasn’t enough.” He pulled away from me.
    “Yes, it was.”
    Silence stretched between us as we sat apart. I dried my face and blew my nose.
    “Jase?” I was so scared about how he’d look at me now.
    His eyes were red-rimmed and his lips pressed together. His hands balled beside him on the sofa. “What is it, precious?”
    “Do you hate me?”
    “What? The fuck? Of course not. Jesus Christ.”
    “Do you think I’m disgusting now?” I held in my tears and the sob in my throat. “Because you’re sitting way over there, and you stopped holding me . . .”
    “I’m trying not to crowd you. I’m trying not to run out and commit murder right now. And I’m trying . . . to give you space.” Rising to his feet, Jase walked over to me. He kneeled in front of me. “I don’t know if you want me to touch you right now.”
    “I always want you to touch me.”
    I slipped from the sofa and into his safe embrace.
    ****
    I was home, the home Jase shared with me without ever pressuring me for rent or bill money. All he asked was that I be me, that I become the person I used to be, thought I might be, before Duncan Locke had raped me.
    Since the afternoon I’d told Jase the whole truth, the horrible, shameful secret about Duncan Locke I’d learned to lock— lock , how fitting—inside, he’d been more careful than ever. Jase didn’t challenge me. He didn’t dare me to cross the threshold of my own desires when he used to be so certain my needs met his every step of the way.
    I shouldn’t have told him.
    I missed the way Jase touched me, with intensity that bordered on something so primal the mind was shed, leaving only growling, hard, gritty need that could only be assuaged through sheer animal passion.
    It had been two weeks. I wanted that back. I needed Jase to take me, show me. Fuck me, make love to me, and he still hadn’t. Tonight, I was done waiting. I’d take. I’d show. I was hungry, starving for more than affection. I wanted the mind-blowing, uncontrollable sex he sent off from his body as if he lived and breathed from needs so deep only