Bailey slides my panties out of the way and runs his fingers lightly down my center, exploring my wet folds. He grinds his dick in my hand, desperate for more than my dry grip. My head falls back as he locates my clit and rubs slow, torturous circles. A moan leaks out of me and he throttles it with his mouth, tasting me with his tongue.

Tingles pour down from my navel and into my trembling thighs. My knee aches with all the tension in my muscles, but I can't help it. My toes curl as his fingers press more fervently against my bud, pinching it and then swirling leisurely.

"Bay..." I have no other words as he seals over my mouth again.

Pulling my hand free, I break our kiss and spit into my hand. Bailey smirks as I return my hand to his shaft and he twitches eagerly in my clutch. His kisses become sloppy, working down my neck as he rubs faster, sliding down my slit and back up, circling my clit. My hips buck up as the electricity in my pelvis detonates, soaking through my shorts.

"Fuck, that's hot," Bailey strokes my tender center until the flickering ends, "I'm going to cum, Max... I'm so close."

I tighten my hold minutely and then his warm liquid covers my fingers. He groans into my neck, breathing heavily and shuddering in my arms. I hold onto him a moment longer as his dick pulses and he rides the orgasm to the end.

"Shiiit..." He mutters glancing down at the mess.

"There's Kleenex behind you."

Bailey leans back and snags the box, wiping my hand for me and cleans himself up. Then he pulls his boxers back into place and stands up. My heart clenches in my chest as he steps into his jeans and fastens the belt. He doesn't grab his shirt and listens at the door before stepping into the hallway.

What in the world?

He returns with a warm, wet cloth and tugs my panties and shorts aside to clean me. He smiles to see my pink skin and then adjusts my clothes back into place. I watch him disappear again before getting up. I carefully dig out clean underwear and ditch my ruined clothes in the hamper. I just get my panties into place when Bailey returns and locks the door.

"What are you doing?"

"Just changing," I giggle.

He wraps around me and captures my mouth. I sigh into him, molding around him and relishing the feel of his abs against my hands.

"Do you want me to leave now, Max?" He licks his lips, but doesn't release me.

"I'd really rather you didn't leave."

Don't leave me...

He lets me go and jerks off his pants as I glide into the covers. Bailey slides in next to me and curls around my back. I don't know what the hell is going on between us now other than friends pretending to date and benefitting with each other. I've only ever done the friends with benefits, so I should know how this works. This isn't what I wanted with a guy this year, but I can't even act like I don't want his hands all over me.

💀

"Where is your friend?" The guy cackles, jamming three of his fingers into my desert dry slit.

I cry out and he smothers my mouth with his, drowning me in some nasty flavor of whiskey and sticky saliva. My body feels like it's splitting in half with every thrust and hard grip.

"Get off me..." I mutter around his hand.

"I'm just warming you up, sunshine," he laughs, moving his mouth to my neck, "and then I'm going to fuck you!"

Panting, I wake up clawing my way toward the wall, trying to escape the arms twisted around me. It's still dark outside and my mind is whirling as my knee throbs, loose and out of place. I flip around to find Bailey struggling to wake up, suddenly alert and staring at me wide-eyed.

"What's wrong?" He is patient.

My chest rises and falls shallowly as I shove into the wall, and tears threaten to fall down my cheeks. I whimper and cover my face before the sobs trundle out and my face wets with stubborn tears. Bailey slinks into my right side and snuggles me, resting my head on his shoulder, and kissing the top of my head.

"Bad dream, baby, that's all... I'm right here," He cradles my face in his right hand, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Bailey holds me until my crying stops and then we lie back down. He nuzzles into my chest, draping around me as I stare up at the ceiling. My eyes burn with fatigue, but I'm afraid to close my eyes. Bailey's body heat and steady breathing lure me to the edge and eventually I give in again.

💀

The rest of the week passes in a haze. Bailey and I spend every free second together and he actually helps me stay caught up in classes. I am vanishing into a hole of my own creation, getting lost in my selfish desire to pretend my relationship with Bailey is not make-believe.

Somehow, he convinces Zane to help me with geometry when I need it, but I'm starting to get the hang of it now that I'm all caught up. It's not like I am an idiot, but I fell so far behind in classes before.

During school on Friday, the Ghost Riders discuss another party, but Zane says he wants to take a break. Riette and Connor don't care either way, and Connor takes off from school after lunch. Bailey picked me up for school today, so when the final bell rings, I find him standing by my locker.

"You have me all evening," Bailey grins eagerly, "but tomorrow night I have somewhere I have to be."

"Work?" I cock an eyebrow trawling out homework and stuffing it into my bag, "are you ever going to tell me what you do for all that cash?"

"Perhaps," he smirks, "I never told Cassie, but she didn't really seem all that curious about it."

"Could we not talk about Cassie?" I hate that I get jealous when he brings her up.

"She's got nothing on you, baby," he grazes his lips against my cheek, "she doesn't have your tongue, or smell like roses, or..."

"Bay!" I shove him back, "I don't want to hear that!"

Bailey laughs, taking my bag, "not like I'm lying, but I wasn't saying it to upset you."

"Don't be such an asshole," I chide gently, slipping an arm around his waist.

"You can call me an asshole and yet I still fucking tremble when you touch me, baby," Bailey murmurs into my hair, kissing the side of my head, "I swear you fucking kill me."

"Yo, Bailey!" A senior guy hollers from across the parking lot as we walk outside, "does she bleed all over your cock when you fuck her!"

Observing his jaw clench, I grip his shirt, but he's out of my grasp in a split second. He covers the parking lot at a sprint, lunging into the guy. They collapse against an old Honda and Bailey bashes his face and stomach recklessly. Next thing I know, Zane is at my side wrapping around me protectively and Riette rockets toward Bailey from the yellow Jeep.

"Fuck, make him stop!" I wiggle in Zane's clutch, hearing the crunch of bone at Bailey's fists, "Zane, do something!"

"Riette's got it under control, Max... Sawyer," Zane insists.

"Let me go! I can do something!"

"No offense, but what are you going to do, Sawyer? You've got a bad knee." Zane hauls me off my feet and over to Bailey's blue Cheyenne, "besides, Riette's our best fighter. He'll get him pulled off before he causes any real damage."

"Real damage? I can hear his ribs breaking from here!" I writhe in Zane's hold and smack his chest, but he doesn't relent.

Zane doesn't laugh at me, but cautiously catches my wrists, "stop it or I'll have to throw you in the back of his pickup and tie you up."

"Fuck you, Zane!"

Zane's impressed snigger tickles my ear as Riette peels Bailey off the douchebag, shoving the other guys back. Bailey doesn't have a scratch on him and they slowly make their way over to us, scowling and snarling to each other quietly. At least he isn't smug about defending my honor, not that he really needs to worry about it.

"Dumbass," I hiss when he reaches us.

"What? Are you fucking serious?" Bailey is shocked that I'm mad.

"I'm used to the douchebags talking shit about me, Bay. You can't attack every person in this school for saying something about me or you'll never stop fighting." I break free of Zane and cross my arms defiantly.

"That's why he's got us, sunshine," Riette sneers arrogantly.

It's like a spike to my gut. A flash ricochets through my mind, slaying my fury in seconds.

"You're so small... You're taking all of me. It must burn you up inside, sunshine!" His breath is lava against my skin.

I choke on my own sobs, flailing my legs, and thrashing my arms. I beat against his shoulders as hard as I can, digging my nails into his skin wherever I can reach it.

If anyone notices my transitory reverie, they don't show it. Riette starts crowing about the senior guys and what he would have done if he got there first. Bailey kicks at the pavement, grumbling under his breath, and Zane wants to make a plan to really shove Bailey and my fake relationship in everyone's faces. Clearly, some of the guys are having a hard time accepting it.

"I did that Tuesday," Bailey points out, peeking at me, "I trapped her against the fucking lockers."

"Once," Riette shakes his head, "you have to parade her around here like she's a goddamn queen. You treat her like a female friend, brother. You're too much of a fucking gentleman."

"You don't have to maul her," Zane contorts his expression, "but Ry has a point. I know the party was a bad thing or whatever and there are boundaries... But like you two need to make out in the parking lot or something on the regular. Just let them see you together and they'll know it's real."

"They're not getting the fucking hint," Riette shoves Bailey.

"Fuck off!" Bailey thrusts him back, "I'm not going to disrespect her in front of all of them just so they leave her alone. The fact that she is around me at all should be their goddamn clue to stop talking about her."

"Especially to you," Zane agrees.

"Get off me..." I mutter against his briny hand.

"I'm just warming you up, sunshine," he laughs, moving his mouth to my neck, "and then I'm going to fuck you!"

A noise strangles in my throat and suddenly Bailey is in my space, shielding me from the boys. He frames my face, staring into my eyes with his baby blues, looking horrified. I lick my lips, shaking my head and try to pull back, but he only moves with me.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," my fingers quiver as I pry him off, "no... No. I'm fine, Bay. Jesus."

"You are not," Riette peers around his shoulders, "You keep checking out in the middle of the conversation. Hell, most conversations you disappear for a moment, sunshine."

"Fuck, you're tight, sunshine!"

Sword, heart, pain, blood... Everywhere.

"Riette, stop calling me s-sun... Don't call me that." I grimace solemnly.

"Sonnenschein?" Riette tries again.

"German doesn't make it any better," I hiss bitterly.

"Holy fuck, you knew that was German?" He grins at first and then it falls when he sees my expression, "shit, no problem, Sawyer."

"Let's get out of here," Bailey announces, draping around me and steers me over to the Cheyenne.

"My house?" Zane asks.

"Sure," Bailey scoops me into the seat and I slowly shift to the middle, "but let's not do homework till Sunday."

"Thank fuck!" Riette caws joyfully.

"Shut up, fucktard," Zane whacks him over the backside of his head, "you need to put in some fucking effort if you're going to pass any tests in geometry this year."

"What the fuck ever," Riette gets into the passenger's seat of the yellow Jeep.

"We're doing homework! See you guys in a bit!" Zane waves and they peel out.

"Are you sure you're alright, baby?" Bailey relaxes his hand on my thigh as he steers onto the street.

"I'm fine."

"Liar."

I huff, but don't say anything. I don't know what to say. I haven't told him the truth about the party, but don't think I am ready. That night is crystal clear to me, but I'm hoping it will turn into a hazy memory like a bad hangover.

💀

After finishing homework with Zane and Riette, Bailey rubs over me on the couch, giving me a hickey on my collarbone. I pamper his soft black hair ravenously and moan quietly in his ear. One of his fingers hooks in the collar of my shirt, holding it down where he's latched to my skin and the other squeezes against my bare hip.

I know he'd rather us be alone right now and take advantage of my drenched panties. Even I wouldn't be opposed to that, but I don't like going upstairs when we hang out at Zane's house, which seems to be often.

"Bay," I whine writhing underneath his weight, "if we take this to your house, you wouldn't have to stop at my clothes..."

Bailey growls against my chest, "you're tormenting me, Max. I know you aren't ready for that."

"We can still do stuff," I whimper when he trails his tongue up to my earlobe, "can't we?"

"Oh," he chuckles quietly, "you want me to go down on you?"

I suck in a sharp breath, "I'm not opposed to trying that with you."

"I like that you haven't done a lot of stuff, baby," Bailey rocks his hard dick into my pelvis, "fuck... I need to take a breather."

He releases my ear, panting and shifts off me. I roll to my side and let my arm hang around his shoulders where he sits on the floor. He kisses from my elbow down to my fingertips. I don't know why I am letting myself get carried away with him. If I am lucky, this fake thing can last till graduation, but no matter what, at some point this thing will end.

I don't want it to end.

It's not real! It's pretend!

"Have you two finally come up for air!" Riette hackles, walking by with his backpack and heading out the door, "bye, children!"

"I thought he was staying here tonight?" Bailey asks Zane when he walks in.

"He's got a thing tonight, too," Zane shrugs, itching his arm, "but he'll be there tomorrow."

I frown, "do you all work together?"

"Yeah," Bailey blurts when Zane opens his mouth, "yeah we do."

"Wow," I smack his shoulder playfully, "do you guys all do something illegal or what?"

Zane chortles, "what's it to you, Max? I thought you two were just pretending to give you some security at school."

Ouch.

I can't blame Zane for calling me out on his using his friend. It still hurts that he would throw that in my face. This whole thing was his damn idea.

"Jesus, shut the hell up, Z," Bailey snarls rabidly.

"You two make out here all the time," Zane shrugs by turning down the corners of his mouth, "could have fooled me. I would think you're actually into each other."

"Something wrong with that?" Bailey's hand tightens on my arm and his nails dig into my skin.

Zane shifts his pursed lips from one side to the other, "I don't think you two are on the same page. You're going to get your heart ripped out, brother."

He doesn't wait around for Bailey to retort and marches upstairs, slamming a door. I flinch and pull free of Bailey's claws. I examine the bloody half-moons, failing to say something helpful. Bailey jumped to my defense and even sounded offended. I don't know if he's upset for Zane tainting our arrangement or if he's just humoring me.

"Did I do that?" Bailey takes my arm, "shit..."

"It'd be hot if we were busy making out," I tease.

Bailey laughs, "I can always count on you to take something fucking awkward and make it moot."