Untamed and Undone (Undone Series) Read online

It was reckless for Derick to assume the phone wasn’t bugged. How could he put us all in danger like that? Without looking at him (my eyes are on my twiddling fingers in my lap), I say to him: “You couldn’t have written the numbers down before, instead of bringing the phone? Madison’s right – they could’ve had a tracker in it.”

  He reaches up to rub his brow, closing his eyes as he does. “There was no tracker.”

  I chew the inside of my lip, wanting to argue but not sure if it’s even worth it to keep questioning him. Somehow, he’s sure there was no tracker, and I guess we just have to trust that he’s right. Or hope he is, anyway.

  “What hotel are we staying at?” Madison asks, tone clipped.

  So, we’re really going through with this? We’re going to a hotel tonight, then back to the city to face the High Society tomorrow? Let’s say I manage to survive this. How can I go back to the life I had before? I can’t go back to the apartment with Claire, can I? Doesn’t she hate me now, seeing how I left on such bad terms? Honestly, I don’t want to live with her anymore. Misery loves company, and she was doing her best to bring me down. I’ll get a one-bedroom apartment for myself instead and go to bed unfulfilled and wake up the same. I’ll go back to my job at the clothing store, working for a wench of a boss until I find something new, something probably just as unsatisfying.

  I thought everything would be different for me now, that I was starting a new chapter in life or something.

  Guess not.

  HOTELS ARE IN THE CITY, I suppose. We’ve pulled into a motel lot at the edge of Whispering Creek, just outside of the next town over, the old cream and maroon sign out front flickering and reading Whispering Motel. That’s not a creepy name or anything. Why leave out the Creek in Whispering?

  The motel is small and two-story, with about twenty or thirty rooms available. Black metal stairs lead to the second floor. The maroon doors of each room denote their number with a gold digit in the upper center portion of the wood. Cream-colored paint peels from the walls and door frames. Dim lights line the awnings above the rooms, leaving some spaces shadowed but other parts barely lit.

  We all get out of the car and grab our bags from the trunk.

  Derick takes mine from my hand, his cool fingers grazing mine, my nerves now hyperaware and sending an electrified jolt through me.

  “I can carry this,” he says.

  I manage to mumble, “Thanks,” too busy reeling from his touch to muster anything more.

  We head toward the front entrance, passing by the buzzing Whispering Motel sign. I’m more reluctant than the others to continue on, my footing slower as I drag behind them. What’s the point of this, again? We’ll all be going back to the city in a few hours.

  Derick holds the door open for me to the lobby. Inside the small space, behind the chipped wooden front desk, a man who appears sixty-ish wearing a faded brown plaid shirt and a bored expression sits in a small swivel chair. His eyes are focused on a car magazine, and our arrival doesn’t divert his attention from the worn pages.

  Dorian leans on the counter. “We need a couple rooms.”

  The man grunts and stands up from the squeaky swivel chair he’d been sitting in.

  “All right,” he says, his accent thick with southern roots. He faces a computer that looks like it’s from the early nineties. “I’ll need a credit card.”

  Dorian retrieves his wallet from his back pocket, and Derick does the same.

  Wait... who’s staying with who tonight? I imagined Madison and I would be getting a room together, and the guys would share their own, but as I look at Madison’s hand securely tucked away in Dorian’s, watching Dorian give the man at the counter his credit card, I have a feeling they’re staying together.

  I suppose that’s fine. Me and Derick can just get a room with two beds. Pfft, even if I did have to sleep next to him, it’s not like he’d make a move. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would take advantage of a situation... disappointing as that may be.

  I come out of my thoughts when Derick walks to the counter next.

  “A room with two beds,” Derick says, handing the man his card.

  Thankfully he’s on the same page as me, having decided that sharing a bed is out of the question.

  “Afraid we ain’t got no more rooms with two beds,” he tells Derick.

  Derick’s back stiffens. “Uh...” He looks at me, then Dorian and Madison. “Don’t suppose you’d want to share a room with me?” he asks Dorian.

  “Hell no,” Dorian answers, then looks at me apologetically. “Sorry, Hailey.”

  “It’s okay,” I say, facing Derick. “I don’t mind. It’s just one night.”

  Will he hear how my heart’s begun to beat faster or notice how my face is turning rouge with a slight flush?

  I absolutely mind, especially when I keep imagining scenes of him taking my virginity. I’ve never slept next to a man before, and I’ve never had one as a lover either. Will he be able to tell that tonight?

  I look at Madison, who’s whispering to Dorian, wondering if she’s noticed my discomfort. Then again, she thinks I’ve slept with guys before, so I’m sure she thinks I’m totally fine sleeping next to this one. Even though Madison was a virgin too, before Dorian, I never wanted to admit that I was. I never wanted to tell her why I was a virgin, a reason I worried would sound stupid out loud: I was waiting for someone who would send me spiraling out of control just from a kiss.

  Derick had done that. He’d kissed me earlier tonight, to calm my nerves while I’d waited to hear from Madison about how things went at Vudu when she and Dorian had run off with that wolf pack to go attack the High Society. You know, before they wound up offing two members and we went on the run.

  To him, I’m not sure it meant anything. To me, it meant everything. It’d been passionate, his lips so rough then so soft against mine, his arms wrapping around me and holding me to him. My knees had gone weak. My skin was overheated and buzzing. My head was dizzy from it... snatching me from reality and pulling me into a beautiful dream with him.

  After, he’d said: “Better?”

  I’d forgotten what I was even worried about.

  Derick pays for our room, and we all walk across the dingy, faded blue carpet of the small motel lobby, down an unpainted wood paneled hall, and into our separate rooms, where the wood paneling has continued.

  I toss my bag on the full-size bed once we’re inside, ignoring the tan fleece comforter so old that pilling has taken over the entirety of it, and point my thumb to the shower. “I should shower.”

  I really just need to be in another room right now, instead of thinking about how I’ll be sleeping right next to Derick in a full-size bed. It couldn’t have been a queen or king? As I grab a few necessitates from my bag with shaking hands, Derick watches me. I avoid eye contact. Once in the bathroom, with just a door separating the two of us, I brush my teeth slowly, then I shower just the same in the all-white confining space, tucked away with steam and suds behind a thin clear curtain.

  I’m safe from the awkward task of sleeping on the edge of a bed next to a guy I wish was affected as deeply as I’d been from that kiss, from just... him.

  It was enough to make me want to only kiss him for the rest of my life.

  He’s probably kissed many the same.

  I can’t stay in here forever... and I’m tired.

  By the time I emerge, dressed in clothing I’d taken with me to change into (a cotton tee and jersey shorts), Derick is sitting on top of the pilled comforter, his back resting against a lifted pillow against the headboard, one of his arms behind his head, the position accentuating his strong build.

  Dammit.

  He brings his arm down and rests his hands in his lap, grinning at me. “Have a nice shower?”

  “Mm-hmm,” I mumble, tossing my toothpaste and toothbrush into my bag. I take the small duffel off the bed and set it down in a faded red cushioned chair in the room. “Were you going to take one as well?”

  He begins to get off the bed. “I suppose I should.”

  Through my peripheral view, I follow him as he heads toward the bathroom, taking his shirt off as he does.

  My heart has sped up again.

  I look down at my outfit, wondering if I should change into something thicker, less revealing. These shorts had been chosen for comfort reasons since jeans were the only other option in my bag. I sigh, feeling silly over worrying about my clothes. Derick doesn’t care what I wear.

  I slide under the comforter, resting my back against a pillow leaning on the headboard as Derick had done, covering my bare legs. Though tired, I can’t yet sleep. I look at the now empty side of the bed, at the crinkles in the comforter and pillow from where he’d been lying. His side won’t be empty for much longer.

  I take deep breaths, aiming to calm my nerves as the water in the shower runs beyond the wall separating us. I have nothing to be nervous about. When he comes out of the bathroom, he’ll settle in bed and fall asleep. Then I will do the same. We’ll wake up and go back to Blumhaven, where I’ll return to my boring human life and he’ll massacre the High Society.

  When he comes out of the shower, he’s only wearing a white towel around his hips, something I hadn’t anticipated. Is he changing out here? Past his tattooed arms is a colored flaming eagle covering part of his chest, the orange of the fire coming off the wings bright. My heart flutters embarrassingly, seeing him in that towel, with those tattoos and chiseled muscles everywhere... and dark curls of hairs still damp from his shower travelling over his chest and down his abdomen.

  Fu...

  “Enjoy your shower?” I croak, clearing my throat after.

  He grins. “It was nice and hot.”

  I nod, unable to say anything else. When he
pulls the covers back, he drops his towel and crawls into bed... naked.

  I keep my wide eyes straight ahead on the large, faded floral painting hanging on the wall. Only the comforter covers him from the waist down, and his bare body is just inches from mine. “Aren’t you going to put clothes on?”

  If my heart wasn’t beating in an obviously nervous manner before, it is now.

  “I didn’t bring anything with me,” he admits.

  “Oh... okay.”

  Oh... okay?!

  I’ve said this like it’s totally normal, like his excuse for being naked right next to me is acceptable. We don’t even know each other that well. Maybe this is normal for vamps... maybe they’re less bashful than humans. They certainly don’t conform to the same rules as we do, so why would putting clothes on before getting into bed with a stranger matter?

  “Well, good night,” I tell him, turning off the lamp next to me and sliding down under the covers. I turn away from him, and I’m on the edge of the bed as expected. I snuggle the pillow under my head and close my eyes.

  As if I can sleep.

  The room is dark. He’s naked. I want him inside me.

  This is awful.

  He moves around behind me, the mattress shaking just slightly and creaking, before he settles. Silence ensues. Is he going to sleep? Is he facing the window on the opposite side of the room, or is he facing my direction?

  Curious, I stretch out and scoot myself farther onto the bed. Hanging off the edge for the rest of the night isn’t going to be comfortable. When something touches the side of my hip, I still, not realizing he’d been so close.

  “Careful,” he warns.

  I turn my head toward him. “Why?”

  “You might bump into something you don’t want to feel.”

  Does he mean...? Heat rushes to my already burning face.

  As he shifts his weight, the mattress moves behind me, concaving under me as he comes closer, his breath now on my ear, tickling the skin and sending shivers over me: “Unless you want to feel me.” He slides his hand over my bare leg, up to my hip, resting it there, leaving a blazing trail where he’d touched me.

  My heart pounds against my ribs almost painfully, just as a fire seems to dance across my skin, my entire body responding to him. Of course I want to feel him. It’s all I’ve been thinking about for a while now. But we’re from different worlds... and he’d already mentioned me living out my life human. Does he just want to have sex with me? Or does he want more... like I do?

  Too conflicted on the matter, I say, “Maybe we should just get some sleep.”

  “Are you sure that’s all you want?” he whispers.

  My heart pounds harder. “It’s probably for the best.”

  Probably...

  I could’ve just said it’s for the best, and maybe I should have. Probably leaves room for possibility. Probably means I don’t really mean it. It means that I don’t give a damn right now that staying away from him is for the best, especially for all the reasons I’ve already thought of for why we won’t work out long-term. With him behind me, breathing against my ear, asking me if I want him... I can’t deny that I do.

  “I don’t think that’s what you want, Hailey.”

  I lick my lips, taking a steadying breath. Him saying my name has caused me to lose even more of my resolve. What does he want me to say, and more importantly... “What do you want from me?”

  His words send another shiver through me when he breathes: “Everything.”

  “E-everything?” I whisper back.

  His hand, which hasn’t moved from my hip, moves along my side and to my front. He pulls me against him by my abdomen, my breath hitching as my back collides with his front. His breath is on my neck, his lips skimming my skin. The most sensitive part of him is pressing into my backside, his hips moving against me just slightly.

  Is he going to bite me?

  “Wh-what does everything entail?” I ask, my voice shaking. I want him to bite me. To make love to me. Everything about me has given me away – my breathing, my heartbeat, the flush along my skin, even the way my words have just come out.

  He smiles against my neck. “Tell me what you want.”

  What I want? I just want him. “I want you.”

  Derick pulls me closer to him, rubbing himself against me. He breathes in my ear once again: “How do you want me to take you?”

  He’s asking for instructions, from me? “I... I don’t know.”

  He runs his nose and lips across my neck and shoulder, making me shiver under him. “Perhaps I’ll take you every which way, then.”

  His words have heated me further, and a demanding urge has built within me, my insides shaking from it. “I’ve never...” It’s so hard to concentrate when his tongue runs across my neck. “I’ve... never...” I moan when his hand wanders to the most private part of me and touches me through the cotton of my shorts and underwear. Instinctively, I grab his hand, his fingers flexing against my palm as he massages me, plays with me.

  “Never been with a vampire?” he guesses, kissing my neck now.

  “No... I’ve never been...”

  I can’t even get the words I need to say out, as he pushes the tips of his fingers deeper into the fabric between my legs. Just as he’s done this, he’s pushed himself against me from behind again. I let out another moan, feeling desperate at this point to just have him take me.

  “Never what?” he whispers against my neck, his breath tickling my skin from a sudden laugh that escapes him.

  “Never been with anyone,” I finally manage to admit.

  He relaxes behind me, and his fingers do, too. Is he stopping? Is this a deal-breaker?

  “Is that a... problem?” I ask, eyes now open and staring at a shadowed white wall across from me.

  “No.”

  Dreading a rejection, I still ask: “Do you still want me?”

  Instead of answering with words, he moves on top of me and kisses me, his lips soft yet hard against mine. Between my legs, which I’ve wrapped around his hips, he pushes himself against me, the throbbing between them becoming profound, demanding he take me now.

  “Take me this way,” I whisper against his lips, my hands travelling over his shoulders and back, the contact not nearly enough to satisfy me. I want more. I want all of him. “I want you now.”

  I hardly recognize my own voice, it’s so laced with desire. No one’s ever made me this hot before, and I can’t wait to have Derick be the one to make the ache inside me subside.

  He pulls my shirt and bottoms off, leaving me naked under him, before he settles himself between my legs again and kisses me once more. I’ve wrapped my legs around him again, his erection pressing into the inside of my thighs.

  Eyes afire, he looks me over, his voice shaking just slightly: “This might hurt.”

  I nod, biting my lip, waiting.

  He enters me quickly, and I cry out from not only the pain, but from how amazingly satisfying it is to finally have him deep inside me. My legs tighten around his hips, and he begins to move back and forth repeatedly, the pain subsiding, leaving only a building pressure, a pleasure.

  As I watch him above me, looking down at me with the soul-consuming stare he has, his hips slamming into me again and again, I’m physically overwhelmed. I hold onto his broad shoulders and lift my hips up against him, meeting each movement, a pressure building, one that intensifies and consumes me. His lips are on mine, muffling the sound of my cries, and he stiffens above me, orgasming too.

  Chapter 4. Returning to Abnormal

  As I sit next to Derick, in the back of Madison’s car the next morning, I relive our night together. Having felt him between my legs, the hard, thick length of him filling me and bringing me immense pleasure, I can’t help but want him again. We’d taken each other twice, and just as we’d been about to have each other again this morning, Dorian had knocked on our door to get us up.

  I’ve had sex with a vampire. An actual vampire... and it’d been the most hot, risqué thing I’ve ever done.

  “We can stop somewhere for breakfast,” Dorian announces. “I’m starved.”

  There are three of us in the car that could easily pull up to a drive-thru and order food. One of us, on the other hand, can’t get food so easily.

  “What about you?” I ask Derick, keeping my voice low as I watch him.