Taste the Dark (Elwood Legacy Book 1) Page 4

  Not forgetting the giant of a man; long straight black hair tied in a ponytail, sporting a moustache and wearing the most bizarre fancy dress type clothing. He appeared angry most of the time and always on the edge of the group.

  There was a bunch of others too, five or six, that routinely hovered around Zac. All of them too attractive and composed to be hanging around here with the drunk kids and the freaks. They stood out a mile, looking like kings amongst peasants.

  Despite my best efforts at parading around, I appeared to be invisible to all of them except Zac. And let’s face it, he only paid marginal attention when he seemed to feel like it. I’d tried to explain to Anna that the others were deliberately ignoring me, going out of their way to look away when I was near, but she told me to get over myself and accept that not every guy wanted me.

  Then there were the girls. Oh, the girls. They flocked to him in a constant stream of tits and ass. At first it made me want to loathe him, but Anna was right. Whilst his friends enjoyed the attention they received from the girls, he never appeared too bothered. That didn’t stop them trying though. And for their persistence he did occasionally participate in some groping and kissing, but it was half-hearted at best. I still wanted to beat those girls to a pulp for touching him.

  Except one. One of the females wasn’t a devotee. She was a clear insider in the group; one of the guys. I heard one of them call out to her before. Eva, was her name. All porcelain skin, bright red lips and dusky eyes. Long dark hair curled with rollers. Polka dot dresses with corsets and stockings. She was sexy and sassy yet demure, not slutty. I liked her style, but I still kind of hated her, because she was the only woman on the island that could attract his genuine attention. Along with that of every male in her vicinity. Greedy.

  They looked like a couple, her and Zac. They were beautiful stood next to each other. Yet he never showed any intimacy with her. Yes, he eyed her with adoration, but he didn’t touch her.

  Anyway, she wasn’t there tonight, but Zac and I were busy having another staring match when one admirer followed his gaze to me and made a face as if to say ‘what on earth is he looking at you for?’ She then promptly thrust herself in front of him, huge tits first. Speaking to him with one hand on her hip, the other twirling her hair.

  He adjusted his position so that he could continue to watch me, blanking her like she was an irritation. Ha! She shot me the dirtiest look I’ve ever received and I couldn’t help but give her my smuggest smile in return.

  He must have noticed the pathetic exchange between us but he showed no sign of it. His face remained expressionless, his body rigid, dark eyes pinning me. Totally focussed, like a lion eyeing up a gazelle. Was I a gazelle?! Fuck that. No I wasn’t.

  What was up with this man? No one around here bothered playing hard to get. You couldn’t move without bumping into someone making out. Was I that weird and repellent that he couldn’t bring himself to approach me?

  But then, why was he watching me all the time? What if he really was some psycho, serial killer stalker? A feeling ran through me, one that shouted out how alarmed I should be by his abnormal attention, yet I couldn’t help the excitement that fluttered under my skin.

  Once again I thought about acting on my excitement and approaching him. And as if reading that thought, he disappeared. As usual. Perhaps I’d got him wrong and he kept vanishing to have sex with those girls after all. It didn’t escape me that Big Tits had gone, too.

  Swallowing back the pang of loss from his disappearance, I distracted myself by finding a man to flirt with. I placed Todd as a little younger than me, probably mid twenties. He said he was here on vacation for a week. It didn’t take a genius to work out why he’d picked this place, at this time of year.

  The spring break girls were up for anything, but evidently he fancied more experience in his bed tonight. He’d make a good, mindless sex toy for the night. He wore smart chinos and a shirt, his dark hair slicked over to one side, looking out of place amongst the muscled and half-naked frat boys, but in an entirely different way to Zac and his group.

  Apparently he worked as a Sales Executive, giving off the impression of company car and big bonuses, but I suspected it was more bored guy sitting at the end of an office phone, selling useless items to old ladies and waiting for home time. I dodged his questions about me. He had a dog named Dude and liked my hair. He also liked my outfit and every word I spoke, which wasn’t very many. I tried hard to lighten up, but something was missing, an empty space inside that I already knew he couldn’t fill.

  A few drinks later and his arm had slid around my shoulder. He smelled nice so I didn’t remove it. Anna appeared briefly and then disappeared with friends again, scooting away and giving me playful looks. As Todd began edging his face closer to mine, I caught the return of Zac from the corner of my eye. He had a different look about him. More strained. He angrily swatted away the girls that approached him.

  Well now. Hello, Zac. Are you interested enough to do something now? End the cat and mouse?

  I wondered what he’d do if I let Todd’s lips reach mine, so I smirked at him and leant in to my toy. Just as my lips were puckering I was pushed away and heard a loud slap, only to find a short, angry girl next to us. Todd had a big red mark on his face. Oh dear.

  “You bastard,” she was screeching. “You were only with me last night, LAST NIGHT, telling me you loved me.”

  Loved her? God bless youngsters and their naivety. He was spluttering out some excuses and then her hand swung up in the air towards my face. I grabbed her wrist and held her firmly away.

  “He’s all yours,” I sighed, releasing the wriggling bomb who was about to explode on his ass. Good luck, Todd.

  I walked over to the dance floor as calmly as I could manage, my cheeks burning, shaking my head. Zac was smiling now. Full and radiant. Something I’d not yet seen on his face before.

  Oh yeah, real funny. We’ll see how much you laugh later when I find a proper man to make you jealous with.

  He raised his eyebrows before looking away and resuming the Mr. Cool act.

  Twatface.

  I wasn’t so cool. In fact, I was a wreck. My head spun with need and frustration. Surrounded by men, but the one I was inexplicably drawn to was behaving like a total dick. As I was dancing I kept watch on him. He darted his gaze my way a few times, as if he were merely scanning the room. He was so bloody difficult to work out, it was infuriating. I knew if I went over to see him he’d disappear. I’d been trying all week with the same result.

  What kind of asshole was he? To infiltrate my mind so thoroughly that I couldn’t think of anyone else, and yet, he had actually done nothing for me. There’d been no romantic kiss. No playful banter. No touching. What the hell was wrong with me? And more importantly, why couldn’t he just come on over here and claim me? Show me what he wanted?

  He glowered at me intently. Mr. Fucking Moody. Was he thinking about murdering me? Or was he thinking about fucking me?

  He stood abruptly and walked straight towards me with that beautiful dark, brooding face. Approaching closer and closer, the whole while staring me down. Hours seemed to pass in the time it took him to reach me. I clutched my sweaty hands together, thinking I might faint from nerves.

  Grabbing my waist, he turned me round and pulled me flush against his body. Swaying seductively to the music, he squeezed tight around my body with such strength that I struggled to breathe. Stiffness pressed behind me, and I don’t just mean his cock, his whole body was strained with tension.

  His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered the words, “Yes, Ma’am. All the time.”

  Lifting one of my hands to his lips, he took a fingertip into his mouth. I gasped for air. His grip tightened as his chest heaved into my back with ragged breaths. I struggled to turn around and face him, and then the strength disintegrated entirely. I spun around, but he was already gone. Like, magically gone in a puff of nothing. Nowhere.

  How the hell did he do that? What was
that?!

  4

  Jess

  I had to hand it to him; he had the mysterious man routine down to a tee. Try as I might, I couldn’t get my heart rate to settle. Anna found me sitting at the bar, willing myself to calm down. Deep breaths.

  “You OK?” she shouted over the music.

  I gave her a drunken, excited grin. “Better than that. Wishes come true!”

  “What wishes?” she asked, knitting her brow down and grabbing a stool.

  “Zac-type wishes. He’s still trying to mess with my head, but I was dancing and wondering if he wanted to give me some hot lovin’ too, when he came over and grabbed me. I’m telling you, his lips on my hand blew me away. Just imagine what those lips would do to me elsewhere?! If he’d let me, I’d have fucked him right there in front of everyone.” I drew a deep breath.

  “Congratulations. You pulled the most unobtainable, sexiest bachelor on the whole island. What else happened?”

  “Well, then the alcohol got in the way because I thought he said ‘All the time’, but that wouldn’t make sense. How would he know what I was thinking?”

  “It’s pretty obvious what you’re thinking, Jess. You’ve been obsessed with him since the day you got here.”

  She had a point. Irritating as it was.

  “Seriously though, I wish I knew what he’d actually said, it could be important. But with his damn sexy body so close to mine… and he called me Ma’am… in this rumbling cowboy accent. Ugh. I went all light-headed. It felt like I’d had a whole lot more to drink.” I instinctively looked at my glass to check how much was left. Damn. I really had drunk a lot. Again.

  “I wish I had those sparks,” she sighed, looking around in disdain at the sea of sex-crazed animals.

  “We best find you someone to scratch the itch then!” I slapped her shoulder.

  “Men are like bank accounts,” she smiled. “Without a lot of money, they don’t generate a lot of interest.”

  “Anna!” I gasped. “I didn’t have you down as a gold-digger!”

  She could always be relied upon to crack a joke though, I swear she had them all written down in a little book, ready to be plucked out at appropriate opportunities.

  She shrugged, “Not a gold digger per se, just looking for someone different to the broke party-boys around here. I can’t believe you’ve been here a week already. Our vacation time is going so fast.”

  “Tell me about it. I’m nowhere near ready to sort my shit out.” My chest tightened at the prospect. Danny was relying on me. She was relying on me. I couldn’t screw up, not this time.

  “You’ll be fine.” She leant forward and put her hand on mine. “You promised; one last blow out, then I’m helping you. We’re going to find different hobbies. Ooh, a book club! Yes! And we’ll start exercising together. We’ll join a gym. Get focussed. I know you can do it…” she paused, looking away, clamping her plump lips like she wanted to say more but didn’t know how.

  “What is it?” The dread grew. I always found myself getting told off for something. My father’s voice rang in my ears. ‘Jessica, when are you going to learn? You’ll never make anything of yourself, you’re so damn stubborn and impulsive.’

  The burn scar down my back and shoulder itched, in the way it always did when I thought of my father. After the explosion the doctors had said he had a fifty percent chance of surviving. He didn’t make it through, but at least he’d had that chance, which was more than my mother got.

  “Just try to start choosing the right men and it’ll help you,” she mumbled.

  There it was. The eternal wrong guy story.

  “Since these weeks don’t count, I’ll let you off,” she continued. “Last blow out on booze and dodgy men, too.” She smiled, but her little chubby cheeks didn’t dimple the way they did when she meant it.

  I gave her a tight smile in return and rolled my eyes in a mock tribute to my bad choices. She was right, of course. I had a habit of flitting from one disastrous relationship to another. The most recent – the cage fighter – or ‘Scary Twat’ as Anna affectionately called him, had been good for only two things; rough sex and teaching me to fight.

  Falling for another bad boy right now would be a mistake. I did need to put myself first for a while, without interruptions from men and indulgence. Straighten shit out. Find new, healthier priorities. Vacation flings were one thing, but fling being the operative word. No more deep shit.

  We sat in silence for a while and found ourselves sandwiched between several guys, all vying for our attention. I decided to take a stroll down to the shore for air. Anna hit the dance floor with friends and was gyrating like a geeky sex-kitten before I’d even reached the door.

  I only got a short way down the beach when I was stopped sharply in my tracks. He was standing with his back to me, watching the surf. Even from behind he was too captivating for words. Something about the way he stood, hands in his pockets, stretching the denim around his tantalising ass. The slim-fit shirt hugging muscles that made me quiver.

  I dithered a few yards away, stepping backwards and forwards, changing my mind about what I should do.

  When did I become such a pussy?

  “Hey,” he said, without turning around.

  Sexy. Creepy.

  “So, which one of us is stalking who?” He turned to face me and his smile was sly, naughty, breathtaking. His gaze wandered up and down my body.

  “I’m not sure,” I stuttered, hoping my huge smile was dazzling him in the same way. It was generally a good weapon in my seduction arsenal. At school I was nicknamed Gobby, not for my big-mouth attitude, though that would have been apt; but for the sheer scale of it. My lips half filled my face at the best of times. As I grew older I’d felt awkward about it and as a teenager I tried not to smile too much. But then something happened in adulthood; the teasing stopped, and the guys started queuing up.

  “You’re British? Here on vacation?” he asked.

  I often forgot about my accent until someone reminded me. American guys love it. Just as I love theirs, especially the deep, southern drawl that was coming from his lips.

  “No… yes… I mean, originally yes, but I’ve been here long enough to call it home.”

  He dug a hole in the sand with the toe of his boot. Military para-boots, laces done loose.

  “You’re in the army?” I asked hopefully. I loved a man in uniform. Holding a gun, even better.

  “Not these days,” he shrugged.

  A couple of men approached from nearby. They went straight to Zac and pointedly refused to look at me. Before they could even say a word he glowered at them and tipped his head skyward, taking a deep breath.

  “Back off, guys, not now,” he spoke slowly and quietly, but he looked anything but calm. In fact, he looked like he was barely keeping a hold of himself. The tension between them made me take a step back.

  They didn’t move.

  “Go!” he yelled, his eyes suddenly full of venom, swirling with golden hues, mesmerising and terrifying.

  They hurried away with their tails between their legs, like chastised puppies. The shift in his demeanour startled me, my hand flying involuntarily to my heart.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said stiffly. “Sometimes they forget their place.”

  “No worries. I love a dominant man,” I blurted.

  Wait. What?! Wrong words, Jess. Back up.

  His smile was brief, “Yes Ma’am, I know you do. That’s a problem.”

  Seriously, if he called me Ma’am one more time I might lose control of the shred of willpower that was stopping me from launching myself at his lips.

  “Why? You don’t seem like the sort of man to have an issue with taking charge?” I bit my lip, taking a step towards him.

  “Exactly,” he said, hungry eyes sinking into mine.

  Hardcore BDSM? I could deal with that. I mean, I hadn’t before, not the major kinky stuff anyway, but there’s a first time for everything.

  He laughed, deep an
d seductive. “Not like that.”

  “Huh?”

  “Not like you’re thinking. I’m not going to shove a ball gag in your mouth and bring out the nipple clamps and butt plugs.”

  Oh God. Those words out of his sexy mouth made me wet.

  “What are you going to do with me then?” I took another step closer, so that we were almost touching hands. My heart jumped all over the place. There was no need for more words, which was convenient, because it was hard to think of them around him, and I was clearly saying the wrong ones.

  I should have been asking him about that angry exchange with his friends. Or why he’d spent so long watching me without speaking. Or why his eyes looked like they were alive with something out of this world.

  Instead, I lifted my chin to kiss him.

  He took three steps back, looking at me in horror, as if I’d grown a third arm right out of my forehead and turned purple.

  “I’m so sorry,” he muttered, looking at his feet, eyes wide. “There’s something… I need to do…”

  Then he turned his back on me and slunk away into the night. Just like that.

  Son of a bitch.

  This took mortified to a new level for me. I prayed for a giant sinkhole to open up beneath my feet and devour me.

  What a prick.

  So why did the sight of him walking away make me want to run after him, grab hold and never let go?

  Fuck!

  “What’s going on over there?” I pointed across the beach to a crowd gathered around a bonfire, curbing my instinct to go check it for safety measures.

  “That would be your boyfriend, Zac, and his crew,” Anna said dryly.

  “What?” I yelled, a little too loudly, slamming my shot glass down with finality. That was the last one. I’d spent the last hour drowning my embarrassment with copious amounts of alcohol… no more until after sleep. “Wow. Had something to do, did he? We’re so gatecrashing that party.” I attempted to stand on wobbly legs and had to grab the stool for support.