I Sold My Soul to the Bad Boy

Chapter 14

Kayla and her idiotic friends were swimming around in the freezing lake while Caleb and I sat in the bed of the pickup truck, our legs swinging from the tailgate. I sipped from a new can of spiked seltzer, the night quickly melting into a blurry, dizzying view.

"The stars are moving," I said, staring up at the abyss above us. My words blurred together as much as the lights in the sky did. I let out a bubbly laugh.

"You're drunk," Caleb told me. I knew he was tipsy, but definitely not as far gone as I was.

I looked at him, really getting a good sense of his body, his face, his soul. I thought I saw it dancing around him with mine floating along beside it. "You're beautiful." The words tumbled out of my mouth, away from my grasp. But I really thought he was. He had the whole bad boy façade, and that was attractive, but in the most whole sense, he was utterly beautiful.

"T-thank you," he said, as if he were taken aback by my drunk musing.

My hand reached for his arm. I fingered his leather jacket, and suddenly that wasn't the only thing I wanted fingered that night.

Wait, what the fuck?

I was too drunk. I needed to stop. But I was grazing his muscles with my fingertips, and they slowly slid to his chest, and then down to the hem of his shirt and under it. I had no control over them at this point. His eyes widened as I made contact with hot skin, rigid abs that I imagined gleaming with sweat after a long workout.

"Alaina," he said, his voice sharp. He inhaled raggedly as my fingers touched the skin just above his belt. "Stop," he said, firmly grabbing my wrist. I whined.

"But Caleb, isn't this what you want to do?"

"I can't take advantage of you like this."

"You do with all the other girls," I told him. I felt a rush of anger, sobering me up. But not nearly enough.

"Alaina, that's enough. We can't do this." He shook his head.

"Why not? I want this."

"I don't think you do."

"You don't know the first thing about what I want."

"I do because you talk about it all the time with Daisy." He was listening to us? What the heck? "You want it to be special, right? That's why you didn't let Stephen touch you."

"Yeah," I mumbled. "But Stephen is an asshole."

"I tried to tell you that." He ran his hand through his beautiful brown hair. "But I'm an asshole, too. And I can't let myself take advantage of you. Lainey, I want you to actually want me."

That shut me up. Tons of girls wanted him. I thought I did, too. But did I? Was this all just a ploy to get him to fall for me? Or had I given up so soon and settled for lust over love?

It had been so long since I was with a boy. I'd barely even kissed one, and yet I still wanted to go this far with Caleb. What had gotten into me?

"Whatever," I said, placing my hands angrily in my lap.

"I'm going to take you home," Caleb said out of nowhere and hopped off the tailgate. He grabbed my wrists and pulled me forward, but I just leaned. His strength overpowered mine, and I toppled awkwardly off the truck. Caleb groaned in frustration. "Get up," he demanded.

I looked up at him from the ground. He was spinning around me, and it hurt my head. "I can't go home. My parents will kill me."

"You have to," he sighed.

"Nooo," I whined, crumpling up into a ball. "Help me, Caleb."

"I'm trying." He held out his hand. I reached for it, and he pulled. I stumbled to my feet, the world spinning too quickly. My stomach lurched, and I was on the ground again, puking all over the ground. "Logan's gonna kill me," Caleb muttered. When I was done, Caleb helped me up. I grimaced at the foul taste in my mouth.