Tainted Love
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E. J. Lace
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🔥12,2M
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98
Damon takes me by the shoulders and flips me on my back. I hate myself for it, but I am so turned on. I moan as his lips begin to suck on my neck. ~It feels so, so good.~
Savannah, scarred by her past, steals from a local biker, Damon. Her act sparks a fiery tension. Can she hide who she is from this risky man? Or will her bold move plunge her back into a world she's terrified to face?
Age Rating: 18+
First Day
Savannah
Coach Kline blows his whistle, making the people closest to him flinch away from the shrill sound.
His sports shirt hangs from his beer gut, the white and blue basketball shorts a little too short and tight.
He claps his hands, and we all turn off the track and make our way back into the locker room, filing in one by one.
The white-washed cinder blocks pave the way and blue tiles cover the floor.
The wolf emblem painted on the wall screams for school spirit, but I can’t say I have any for this shitty place.
Sweaty and gross from the forced physical exercise and the sweltering heat, I know I’m ready for a shower.
Going on week three, and I still haven't melted into the background unfortunately.
If it’s not stumbling over teachers’ names, it’s the questioning glances, the snide comments and the gossip.
Trudging into the locker room, I grab my clothes and try to figure out this dumb lock, before giving up for the fifteenth day in a row and heading for the showers.
Swallowing my irritation, I can’t wait to be through with school, out of high school and done with shit like this.
Who can’t get a fucking lock to click right?!
I hate gym the most, not just because of the physical activity, which I loathe entirely, but it’s the only class we get separated in.
Percy’s my cousin, my only friend at the school. Not that I’m looking to make more, it’s just easier to have someone in your corner; he tries to help me.
Stepping behind the shower curtain that is half the size it should be, I turn the water on and undress in what they call privacy.
As I’m soaping up and rinsing the dirty sweat from my body, the rest of the girls have stopped talking and leave and while I like being alone, this is a bad sign.
I finish my shower and turn the chrome knobs to shut it off.
Reaching out for my towel, I find nothing.
A flare of panic invades me.
Nothing on the stool outside, nothing on the little hook next to the opening.
Nothing.
Pulling the shower curtain back and pushing it to my chest, I look around, seeing none of my clothes and no one around.
Where are my clothes?
I feel the panic start to course through my veins and eat me alive.
Maybe someone saw them on the floor and took them back to my locker?
Hoping that's the case, I rip the shower curtain from its clear rings and wrap myself in it.
Scouring the locker room, I find no trace of any of my things.
Nothing’s left in my locker: no gym bag, no shoes, nothing.
I know someone must have taken it.
I check the trash cans, praying that maybe they just tossed them away, but my luck is shit.
Briskly rounding the corner, I look everywhere for something, even pulling on random lockers hoping to find one that’s open so I can borrow some clothes.
But of course my luck is worse than my life at the moment, and I find nothing.
Hitting my head on the locker, cursing my existence, I know what my only option is, and it isn’t pretty.
Tucking the shower curtain around me even tighter, I make a run for it.
Moving as fast as I can, I run up the short set of steps and up to the first level of the school.
Then I haul ass down the vacant hallway until I get to the boys’ locker room and pass through the doors.
Thankfully no one is in here; class is in session and I’m sure Percy is wondering where I am.
Praying for some stroke of luck, some type of small blessing that these lockers are labeled just like ours, I move through the rows looking for Percy’s name.
The second row and I find the winner.
I can’t get it to open!
Tears sting my eyes and stain my cheek, feeling the hopelessness sinking into my bones.
Crying, wrapped in a shower curtain, after I broke into the boys’ locker room has to be an all-time low.
What else could possibly top this?
I look up, going to curse God but I catch a break in blue and silver.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a locker with no stupid lock hanging from it and what looks like clothes stuffed inside.
What could possibly top this?
Stealing from an innocent stranger.
That’s what.
Holding my breath, I slide in and pop it open, snatching the clothes out and giving it a once-over.
A shirt and basketball shorts, even a pair of slides.
Big, but it will do.
Taking my new finds to the boys’ showers, I get dressed in real clothes, even if they’re not mine.
The immediate problem solved, I feel a tug at my conscience.
I can’t steal this stranger’s clothes.
My uncle is the deputy sheriff for crying out loud.
But I need them.
So I’ll borrow them?
Wear them home, clean them, and return them.
Feeling better about that outcome, I go back to the locker, taking the scrap ripped page from the top shelf and the pen that’s thrown at the bottom to write out an IOU.
“IOU gym clothes. Sorry.” Closing the locker, I memorize the name painted on the front so I know who to return these to.
I feel like shit for taking these.
Even with the pure intentions of returning it, I still feel like a thief.
“I’m sorry D. Henley,” I whisper in the silence, leaving the locker room and this little debacle behind me.
When I get to my real locker, the bell rings and classes all drift into the halls.
My arms at my chest, I rush to my locker.
“Where the— What are you wearing? What happened?” Percy gives me a worried look.
His straight blond hair sways in his face, and his crystal blue eyes study me.
“Those freaking plastic Barbies, I think, stole my stuff. I had to use a shower curtain to cover up with, then I thought I could wear your gym clothes, but I couldn’t work your dumb lock.
“Luckily, I found these in a random person’s locker.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, tucking a lock of it off my face while I got ready for the last class of the day.
The bell rang, telling us to move along.
Shaking my head and mentally pushing myself, Percy and I walk to class.
Him somewhat in front of me while he goes on about what work I’ll have to do. As we round a corner, three boys block our path. The blonde one is smiling, while the brown curly one sighs dramatically at their friend. I can only see the back of him, black hair, leather jacket and his wide hand clamped around a door before it swung out in anger. “ Careful,” I say outloud, my arm shooting out to stop it from hitting Percy. The blonde stops, pausing to look at us, I can feel Percy claiming up. The hand of the black haired pissed off one comes back into view for a moment like he is about to slam it shut but the brown haired boy says “ Not today D, im hungry. Lets just go-” with another sigh. And they keep moving. My eyes stay locked on the blondes as they go. “What was his problem?” I asked Percy. “Who knows, right? Anyways don't mind them, let's go to class.”
The next hour and a half passes slowly—snail speed slow.
We walk home like every day before, the kids at school who drive race past us.
“You know I can walk to and from school alone. I know you miss driving—you don’t have to give it up for me.”
The sun beats down on us, making us sweat and fan our faces with a folder.
Looking forward at the road, we could see the heat hissing from the pavements.
Percy has a car, a driver’s license, and a parking spot at school that he paid for.
“It’s fine, Van. Walking is good for the both of us.” He nudges me with his elbow.
I know he was just being nice.
A year five months ago, my life changed.
One day I went for a drive, just going to the movie theater, and it started to rain.
The passenger side tire blew, we hit a puddle, hydroplaned, and went off the median and down into the river below.
Dad died on impact.
Mom got Morgan and me out of the car but got dragged away by the current.
Morgan died of pneumonia in the hospital a week later.
I woke later to find my family was all gone.
Percy and his dad, Uncle Jonah, are all that’s left for me.
One car wreck was worse than Armageddon at my doorstep.
In therapy that I’m forced into, that’s the thing we are working on.
“I’m sorry you had a shitty day, would pizza make it better?” Percy punches the code in at the front door.
The crispy, cool air conditioning hits us.
Uncle Jonah’s house is nice.
Smaller than my family’s home, but as it was just Percy and my uncle, they didn’t need much.
“Pizza makes everything better.” I head upstairs.
Throwing my bag down and stripping out of the stranger’s clothes, I got into my PJs.
Pulling on some panties makes me feel human again.
Tossing the stranger’s shirt and shorts in the washer, I make sure to add extra soap so they smell nice and clean when I return them.
I give the blue and black sliders a shine and pat them dry.
“Do you think I should buy a gift card to, like, a store, or just for, I don’t know, like, a gas station? That’s gotta be a safer bet, right?”
Percy hits pause on his game and sits up.
The flat screen hangs on the wall in front of us like a homing beacon for our attention.
“Whose clothes did you take?”
He pops a Cheeto in his mouth.
“UhI think I forgot.” My mind draws a blank on the name tag, making Percy laugh and shake his head.
Fun fact about head trauma, memory loss is a big part of it.
Either short-term or long-term, and the degree of how bad, is a needle in a haystack.
Mine is pretty good. It’s not like I’m Ten Second Tom from 50 First Dates or anything.
It’s just harder for me to keep little bites of information.
I forget conversations easily now, studying is harder, and learning someone’s name is ridiculously hard for me.
That’s not all either. I have random bouts of uncontrollable anger, nightmares, and sickening migraines.
Hitting your head on the car window going 75 miles an hour causes problems.
Who knew, right?
“It will come to you, don’t worry. Where was the locker from mine?” He munched down on a handful of chips.
Using my hands, I demonstrate how the room is set up.
“I don’t even know. Your locker being here, I think his locker is facing out and maybe the fourth one?” I take a handful of chips myself and let him think.
“I say get the gas card, it’s probably Patrick’s, or Zack’s locker. Wait, you said it didn’t have a lock on it?”
His blue eyes widened with worry, he throws his controller down and stands up.
“Was it D. Henley?” His voice pleads for me to say no, but the name sounds right and I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it is.
“I don’t know, maybe? Maybe not.” I raise an eyebrow at him and why he looks so afraid all of a sudden.
His face visibly pales.
“Nobody saw you, right?” He bends down in front of me.
“Of course not, I was wrapped in a shower curtain.” I don’t understand what the worry is over.
He puts a hand up to his face and threads it in his hair. “Forget about returning them, and never tell anyone what happened. Not even dad, okay?”
Nodding, he stands back up, walking from the dining room to the middle of the living room.
“Did I, like, break into the mayor’s kid’s locker or something?” My curiosity kicks in.
Percy stops, giving a dry chuckle. “Worse. So much worse.”
