Ruthless Noble by Alley Ciz
CHAPTER 7
“Looking good lately, Noble.”Coach claps me on the shoulder as I make my way out of the locker room.
I nod, not acknowledging that I’ve been using these morning workouts and subsequent practices in the afternoon as a distraction technique. Without them, I would have spent the last week stewing in conflicting…feelings brought on by Savvy’s absence.
Feelings.Blah, fucking feelings. If that’s not like taking a skate to the nut sack, I don’t know what is. I’m damn near turning into a chick with all these…emotions.
If we weren’t so close to the start of the season and more at risk for random drug testing, I would smoke a J and just be done with it, ride the wave of Mary Jane bliss to where there are no females tempting me with their defiance and pussy that can squeeze my cock in a choke hold, specifically a pussy that’s now forbidden because it’s engaged to my best fucking friend.
Speaking of which…
Where the fuck is Duke? When it was time to leave the dorm this morning, he told me he would catch up with me later, but I didn’t think it meant he was skipping the team’s morning workout.
I meet up with Banks in the hall and fall into step with him. He’s probably going to find Tinsley since the dude is obsessed, and Little Miss Scholarship should be able to provide me with some information. Thanks to our network of minions around the school, I know she was tasked with making sure Savvy kept up with any schoolwork she missed while absent.
Tinsley isn’t at her locker as we walk through the senior hallway, but when Banks starts to softly whistle, I know he’s spotted her somewhere. I follow his gaze toward the main entrance, and sure enough, there’s Tinsley hovering near the double doors, phone to her ear as she periodically looks through windows to outside.
“What do you mean she’ll be pissed when she gets here?” I hear her ask whoever she’s on the phone with when we get closer. “There’s nothing on her locker. I checked.”
She’s talking about Savvy. Interesting.
Tinsley leans to look out the glass again, shaking her head no, even though the person she’s talking to can’t see her. “I told you…they seem to have been leaving her alone since before the dinner. Though I wonder if—” Her eyes flair wide enough to reveal a full ring of white around them when she turns and spots us closing in. She visibly swallows but continues her sentence. “I wonder if it’ll get worse now that the Royal cat is out of the bag.”
Tinsley holds my gaze as she listens, nodding along as she does. “That’s one way to put it,” she says with a soft smile when all I want to do is rip the phone away and demand to know exactly who she’s talking to and what they’re talking about.
“Look, T, I gotta go.” Well, that answers one question—it’s Tessa. “I know, I know. You gave me a crash course. I’ll watch her, promise. I’ll see you tonight at The Barracks.”
“Who you talking to, Tins?” Banks asks when she ends the call, yanking the phone from her hand, holding it overhead out of reach, and pinning her tight to his body by wrapping an arm around her.
She doesn’t answer, too busy trying to climb Banks’s body to retrieve her phone without much success.
“Savvy’s best friend,” I answer for her.
“Who’s Savvy?” Banks asks as Tinsley drops down from her toes, eyes now cartoon character wide.
“Samantha,” I explain. Banks nods without questioning the correction. “The real question is”—I move to the opposite door and peer out like Tinsley has been doing—“why were you and Tessa talking about her so early in the morning?”
The hesitation and side glance toward the doors have me straightening and folding my arms across my chest in an assertion of dominance. If Tinsley thinks she’s getting away without answering the question, she has another thing coming.
“Tinsley,” I warn, sandwiching her between Banks and me.
“It’s nothing, Jasper.” Her color-changing eyes plead with me to drop it. Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
“You’re lying.” My voice lowers an octave, and Banks gives me a What the fuck, bro? look. Yes, I’m a dick, but except for one very notable exception, I don’t actively try to intimidate the female student body into bending to my will.
“Jasper…” Tinsley actually moves closer to Banks, and now I’m getting a death glare from my friend.
I don’t care. I want answers.
“Tinsley.” I bend and move my mouth next to her ear. “I hate it when people lie to me. Don’t do it.”
“Bruh…” comes from Banks as if to warn me away. I only straighten enough for Tinsley to see just how serious I am.
“You’ll be able to see for yourself any minute,” she says instead.
Fine. That’s how she wants to play it?
Without a word of apology or goodbye, I turn on my heel and stalk outside, the heaviness of the entrance door the only thing keeping it from banging back against the wall.
I toss my bag on the ground, not giving one thought or fuck to the iPad inside. I strip off my uniform jacket next, adding it to the pile of my belongings. It’s not the temperature causing me to strip. We’re a few weeks into fall, my weather app telling me we’re comfortably hovering in the upper sixties. No, it’s the frustration pulsing through my veins, burning me from the inside out that necessitates the jerky roll of my shirtsleeves until they’re folded near my elbows.
I’m pacing, or more like stalking like a panther, across the top step when Duke’s Mercedes speeds into the lot.
Fucking finally.
That’s one missing person found. Plus, he can back me up when we confront his…fiancée. Just the thought of the word makes me want to throw up in my mouth while simultaneously wanting to punch a wall.
Except…
Ex-motherfucking-cept the passenger side door opens and out steps Savvy.
What. In. The. Actual. Fuck?
I’m off the steps, clearing them in a single jump instead of wasting time walking down them individually, and at the G Wagon before either of them makes it past the rear bumper.
“Well, if it isn’t the happy couple.” I shoot my supposed best friend an Et tu, Brute? sneer.
Duke shuffles back, holding up his hands to proclaim his innocence. “It’s not what you’re thinking, brother.”
“Oh no?” I get in his face, my chest bumping against his, knuckles cracking in an effort to not connect my fist with his jaw. “Then how about you tell me what I’m thinking, brother.” I spit out the title like a joke. “Because from where I stand, it sure as shit looks like you’re more than happy to slide into my sloppy seconds.”
I’m shoved to the side, but not by Duke. Nope, that honor goes to his little fiancée. I wheel around, a raging bull ready to explode, and she’s a china shop.
One, two, three steps is all it takes. She’s backed against the rear hatch of the Mercedes, her silver hair fanning out along the matching paint when she’s forced to tilt her chin up in order to maintain eye contact.
It’s a miracle I don’t dent the back panel as I slam my hand against it, trapping her between my arm and the chrome wheel cover hanging in the middle.
I step my feet between hers, taking in the tall boots from their flat soles and up over the slouched material and two wide buckles, following them until they end and the black socks take over at mid-thigh. I want to bite the few inches of leg visible between the socks and her plaid skirt.
My hand is on her thigh, my fingers gripping her hard enough that the skin blanches around my hold.
There’s a whistling sound, and not until a crack splits the air and a burn blooms across my cheek does it register that I missed the warnings. Savvy slapped me.
Slow and with purpose, I lift my chin, rotating my face until I’m staring at her sunglasses-covered, nostrils-flaring, lips-parted, seething-but-hot-as-fuck face. My gaze drops to where her chest heaves up and down in rushed inhalations.
Thanks to my height, I can just make out her eyes hidden behind her purple framed Wayfarers, but I slide them up to sit on top of her head and out of the way.
Her hand rises again, but not to slap me. Instead, she snakes it inside her blazer and pulls out her inhaler.
Her eyes never leave mine as she shakes it and thumbs off the cap, bringing the mouthpiece to her lips, all while her How fucking dare you? glare is equal parts pissed off and hurt.
The whoosh of her medicine being dispensed combined with the hurt edge of her glower extinguishes the bulk of my ire.
I shift back to create a little bit of space but maintain my position, not willing to risk her being able to run away from me.
“Fuck—you—” Savvy pauses, eyes falling closed, the long line of her throat moving with a swallow, and inhales a single deep breath. “Noble,” she finishes, her voice stronger and steadier than seconds ago.
“Told you once wouldn’t be enough.” I smirk, feigning a sense of unaffectedness the growing pressure in my groin mocks me for.
“You’re delusional if you think that’s ever going to happen again after you’ve been spreading it around town like an old biddy.”
What? Is that what she thinks?
“And to think…” She shoves at my chest, growling when I don’t move an inch and pushing a second time, hands balling in the material of my dress shirt when it yields the same result.
I crook a finger under her chin and bring her gaze back to mine when it gets stuck on how she’s wrinkling the shit out of my shirt. “To think what, Princess?”
Her eyes fall closed, and a pained whine escapes at the endearment. I don’t need harsh words to break her.
The I hate you glare is back when she opens her eyes again, and I meet it with a No you don’t, baby smirk.
Her focus goes to the dimple in my chin as she holds off for a few more seconds. “That up until half an hour ago, I…wanted to see you.”
She did? Well, that’s…unexpected.
“Oh yeah?” My smile is too big, too self-satisfied, but like everything else, I don’t give a fuck.
The way Savvy sucks air in through her teeth tells me she does. That only makes me grin harder.
“You’re an asshole.”
I nod, manacling a hand around her wrists and loosening her hold on me, stretching her arms overhead and lacing my fingers with hers. Her back arches, her tits and hard nipples brushing my chest with each inhalation. Conscious of her asthma, I pause to take stock of her breathing, but despite her using her inhaler, it seems steady, and she hasn’t coughed once, which from the research I’ve done can be one of the symptoms.
“Let me go, Noble.”
I bury my face in her neck, savoring the sweet lime scent I didn’t realize until this moment I missed for the last week. “No.”
“Grrr.”
I smile against her skin because she grrr-ed at me. She didn’t growl, not like how her brother did with pretty much every sentence he spoke to me, but grrr-ed. I’d never say it to her face or admit it to anyone else, but that was kind of adorable.
“Your growl needs work, baby.” I kiss the soft spot behind her ear, enjoying very much when her head falls to the side, granting me better access. “You should have your brother teach you. From what I experienced, he’s an excellent growler.”
Savvy bucks against me, her knee connecting with the outside of my thigh as if she went to knee me in the balls only to have my body serve as its own shield.
“Is this the part where you want me to feel guilty? Where I should be apologizing for my overprotective big brother and telling you I don’t care what he has to say because I’m my own person and I make my own decisions?”
I’m practically giddy at the prospect but urge that part of me to cool its jets and not get ahead of itself. I may know her by a different name, but this is still the same woman who could earn a varsity letter in challenging me.
“Never gonna happen, Noble.” I don’t know if it’s due to her being back to continually using my last name or the slow, satisfied curl of her shiny lips, but something in me snaps.
“Why do you have to be the most stubborn female on the planet?” I shout.
“Why did you have to be the type of guy to run and brag to the world every time you get between a girl’s legs?” she shouts back.
“What?” That’s the second time she’s said as much, and it still doesn’t make sense.
She releases a sharp, short laugh. “Guess I should be grateful you only deem the times your dick gets wet as boast-worthy.” She looks toward the school. “Otherwise, who knows what I would have been subjected to after the gala, hmm?”
The Yeah, I know your tricks hum grates on every one of my nerves.
“I didn’t tell anyone about any of the times we hooked up.”
I get a Yeah, right lip purse. “Duke.” She says it with such finality it’s laughable, because she’s wrong.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Princess, but Duke figured it out all on his own. Right, man?” I turn for confirmation, but Duke isn’t there. He’s actually not in the parking lot at all. I was the one who went after him, and yet he gave us this moment alone.
“Fine.” Savvy huffs. “I’ll give you that one. Tess is scarily the same way.” After meeting her best friend in person, I can believe that.
“Good.” I shift forward, our fronts touching again. “I’ll take that apology now.”
“Fuck that and fuck you.” She bucks again, her back slamming against the metal of the SUV behind her in a way that would have Duke sweating if he were still here. “Duke figuring it out doesn’t explain why you told Carter—and every other Royal—that you wham bam thank you ma’am-ed me.”
What?
What is she…
Then it clicks—the hospital.
Carter and everyone else refusing to tell me if she was okay.
Being blamed for her being in the hospital in the first place.
All the events of the night—Natalie’s disdainful attitude, witnessing the closeness between Chuck and Savvy, the arguing and fucking Savvy in her bathroom, learning about the asthma, the engagement announcement—created small fractures in my self-control until it splintered apart into nothingness.
“It wasn’t like that.” I barely remember what I said to anybody. It certainly wasn’t the intentional brag she’s characterizing it as.
“Uh-huh.” Her tongue runs across the front of her teeth. “If you were hoping smashing me would earn you a place with the Royals, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
My fingers flex, my knuckles skimming along hers where we’re linked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The only thing showing interest in me will get you is an invitation into the ring with Wes for an ass-kicking.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that it’s Prince she claims will deliver the ass-kicking. Common sense assures me it’s because of his reputation as both a fighter and enforcer for the Royalty Crew, but the deeper, jealous side of me reminds me of all the times I’ve seen Savvy’s hands on him, her lips kissing him in ways that were anything but platonic.
You can’t have her, my inner voice whispers. Yes I can, I counter.
She’s not yours, it challenges. The fuck she isn’t.
The beast is back, beating inside my chest, roaring and clawing at me to claim what’s mine. Not Wes’s, not Duke’s, not anybody else’s—MINE.
Releasing one of her hands, I bring my own to her face, pinching her chin between my fingers and tilting it up to me. I pause for one beat and one beat only, to catalog her breathing and slam my mouth onto hers.
A startled gasp has her lips parting under mine. I instantly take advantage of the opening and slip my tongue inside, stroking along hers and teasing her with the barbell pierced through mine.
Fingers comb through my hair, their tips skimming the side of my face before her hand falls to rest on my neck.
I release her chin, snaking my hand inside her blazer, caressing Savvy’s side, squeezing the soft spot where her waist indents. Her body rocks forward, rolling against mine like a wave, her center cradling the hard-on trying to break free from my slacks.
Down, down, down I travel the length of her body. The soft material of her skirt bunches in my palm, and I smile against her parted lips at the needy whimper that escapes when I knead the rounded muscles of her ass.
I abandon her mouth, noting how she sucks in a deep breath as I kiss along her jaw and down to her neck. I listen for a wheeze or any sign that Savvy’s struggling to breathe, but all I hear are breathy sighs of pleasure.
Smooth skin meets the callouses years of wearing hockey gloves have formed on my palms, and I clutch at the toned muscles of her thigh. I widen my stance, hitching Savvy’s leg over my hip, my hand slipping under the hem of her skirt and grinding against her exposed panties.
“Fuck, Savvy.” She mewls as I breathe her name against her skin, latching onto her neck, flicking the ball of my piercing intermittently as I suck harder.
Satisfaction fills me at the sight of the reddish-brown mark marring her creamy skin, the center a deep purple of broken capillaries that will take days to fade.
Releasing her other hand, I cup her nape, run a thumb over the hickey, and press down. “You look damn good wearing my mark.”
Eyes darkened by blown-out pupils blink dazedly at me. “Guess it’s a shame this will be the last time you’ll ever get to see it.”
That’s what she thinks. She’ll wear my mark every day if I have anything to say about it.
Even when she’s wearing your best friend’s ring?
The taunt from my subconscious shoves me to the edge of my limits. It’s not going to take much to push me over the proverbial cliff.
I bring my hand around to the front, gripping Savvy’s throat for control and forcing her to hold my gaze, pressing on the underside of her jaw when she tries to look away.
Beneath my touch, I can feel…everything: the speed of her pulse as the blood rushes through her veins, the contractions as she swallows, and the subtle way her throat expands with each inhalation. It’s a conscious effort on my part to not press hard enough to restrict her airflow, but I manage.
We’re a clash of wills as we stare each other down. Deny it as much as she likes, she wants me. I see it every time she lets her guard fall the briefest bit. It’s in the way her eyes get caught on me, her gaze lingering when she thinks I’m distracted by other things. I feel it in all the brief moments she moves toward me, her body seeking the comfort of my touch.
And the way she kisses me? It’s ardent. It’s only happened twice, but the passion released when it does is enough to rival any sexual experience of my life.
Then there’s the sex itself—the animalistic way she unravels, her pussy clenching around me like it refuses to let me go.
In the distance, the bell rings, but neither of us makes a move to get to class.
With the foot still planted on the ground, Savvy pushes onto her toes, and our torsos connect. Taking advantage of the better alignment, I rock into her only to have something hard poke me in the stomach.
Fuck, her inhaler.
I’ve tried to be conscious of her asthma. After experiencing the utter helplessness of witnessing one of her attacks, I want to do everything I can to limit the chances of a repeat.
Why is your hand around her throat then?
“Shit, Savvy.” I drop my hand as if burned, running it over my hair with a muttered curse. This is a mess. I’m a mess.
“What?” Her eyes dart all over my face, trying to decipher the sudden shift.
This time I’m the one reaching inside her jacket, feeling around for the inner pocket, and pulling out the inhaler when I find it. “Do you need this?”
“What?” she questions again, gaze dropping to the plastic device pinched between my knuckles.
“Your asthma…”
Her eyes narrow as my words trail off, that hardened edge from earlier returning as she goes rigid. “…is under control,” she finishes for me.
“Yeah…but—”
“Jesus Christ.” She slaps open palms to my chest.
“The fuck?”
Her palms press flat, fingers splayed as she pushes, back arching against the Mercedes, hair flying around her flushed face as she shakes her head. “At least you kept your word and aren’t using it against me.”
The admission is a concession a part of me didn’t think she would ever give freely.
“But…fuck, Noble”—angrily, her hands swipe the hair away from her face—“finding out I have asthma sure has turned you into a pussy.”
A pussy? She can’t be serious.
What the hell does she want from me?
Since when does showing another person compassion make you a pussy?
What do you know about being compassionate?
“I’m a pussy because I don’t want to see you carted away in an ambulance again?” I ask incredulously.
She rolls her eyes, making me want to claw them out just so they can’t do that anymore.
“No, it’s being scared that I don’t know my own body enough not to put a stop to things if they get out of control that makes you a pussy.”
“Like you did last weekend?” I shout.
“That was different.” Her jaw hardens, defiant as ever.
My nostrils flare, my shoulders rising to my ears as I breathe through the absolute exasperation this woman ignites. “I don’t believe you.”
“Whatever you say, Noble.”
My last name falling from her lips…again—that’s it, I’m done.
I hook an arm underneath her ass and hoist her against me, the foot of the leg not already trapped over my hip dragging along the asphalt as I round the car and yank open the thankfully unlocked rear passenger side door then toss Savvy onto the back seat. She bounces once when she lands, scrambling around, hands searching for purchase on the leather interior, legs akimbo, one falling to the floorboard, the other stuck in an awkward bend from the seat back.
The hem of her skirt flips up from all the movement, and I have a clear view of her panties—white and virginal, tempting me to take her in all the dirtiest of ways.
She attempts to sit up, but I’m on her, slamming the door behind me, the bulk of my body forcing her legs to remain open as I settle myself between them and grind.
“Noble.”
Her moan is music to my ears. When her hands press against my shoulders, I expect her to push me away, but she curls them around the sides, clutching at where my triceps pop from holding myself propped above her.
There’s a faint thud as her inhaler bounces around under the seat, but it’s all but forgotten as I crush my mouth down on hers. I nip and suck at her lips, Savvy returning the favor with equal fervor. There’s nothing sweet about our kisses. Every time, it’s like a clash of Titans—thunderous explosions of need and lust in the hunt for dominance.
I have her underwear pulled to the side and two fingers thrust inside her without a hint of warning, warm wet heat hugging my digits.
Savvy mewls, head falling back, neck arching, my lips falling to her chin, my teeth scraping along the cut of her jawline.
The leg not pinned between the seat and my body kicks out, the cramped space allowing it to connect with the door.
She whimpers at the loss when I remove my fingers from her cunt, her wetness dragging along the back of her leg as I grip her thigh and bend her knee, trapping the limb over my upper arm.
Her center is spread open for me, the stretched-out lace of her ruined panties sitting on the outside of her bare pussy lips, the black metal of her VCH piercing standing out in hard contrast to the pink skin glistening with her arousal. Her pelvis is angled up just enough to allow me full access as I swipe my fingers through her slit, scissoring my fingers, driving one into her ass, the other into her cunt, and my thumb straight to her piercing, working it into her clit with the intention of making her come as quickly as humanly possible.
She wiggles her hips against the leather seats as if running away while at the same time chasing the fullness of my touch.
In and out, I work her, the plunge of my fingers punishing, as is the way I thrust my tongue into her mouth as I swallow down her moans.
My cheek drags along hers as I move my mouth to her ear, flicking the black diamond stud in her earlobe with my tongue ring. “Say my name, baby.”
Her heel kicks my back as her leg twitches in my hold. “Why?”
I bite her. “So damn stubborn.”
Her hands thread into my hair, and she yanks as she does a full-body roll beneath me.
“You know the deal.” I bring my fingers as close together as her body allows, feeling them rub against each other through the thin membrane of skin separating them. “No cheating this time. You say my name, and you get to come.” I flick over the skinny barbell pierced through her clit. “Give it to me, Savvy.”
She cries out, tugging on my hair and guiding me back to her mouth. She kisses me long and deep and says, “Jasper.”
Victory fills me as the first flutters of her impending orgasm dance on my fingers.
She cries out again, this time in loss as I rip them out of her body.
I slap a hand to the seat back and use it as leverage as I fumble around for the button that opens the center console. Diving my hand inside as the doors on it wing open, I toss the contents until I find one of the condoms I know are there.
As soon as I have the foil packet in hand, I have it ripped open, my zipper lowered only enough to free my dick, covering it and plunging inside Savvy.
We groan in unison, and I hiss as I work through the fist-like resistance.
I’ve only managed to get half my length inside her tight sheath, and she’s coming, the rush of wetness easing the last of my entry. There’s no orgasmic reprieve for my girl as I continue to pound in and out of her.
Sweat coats my skin, my uniform shirt clinging to my body uncomfortably but not slowing me down.
The tension disappears from her leg, and it falls to the crook of my elbow. I hitch it higher and drive myself deeper. Pressure building at the base of my spine is my only warning, and I swivel my hips so I graze along her swollen clit with each thrust.
My orgasm breaks free, my release filling the condom a second before Savvy’s walls grip me again as I hold myself inside her.
Two more lazy pumps of my hips and I smirk at the disgruntled sound she expels when I shift away to tie off the condom and straighten my pants.
The windows are fogged. If anybody came patrolling through the parking lot, it would be blatantly obvious what’s going on inside the vehicle. Not giving a damn about that or the fact that I’m sure first period is close to over, I hook an arm under Savvy’s limp form and reverse our positions.
Unlike Savvy, my entire lower half has to bend to fit on the seats, but it doesn’t prevent me from having her draped over me. She’s got a leg thrown across me and an arm flopped over me, fingers hanging toward the floor.
Her sated state is probably the only reason she’s being so docile, but I’ll take all I can get if she’s going to allow her cheek to rest on my chest, her eyes closed in contentment.
I run my fingers through her hair, watching how the light hits the different shades of silver, and tuck it behind her ear.
She sighs, her lips parting the tiniest bit, and she nuzzles into me more.
This is an entirely different aftermath than what I’ve experienced before, and there’s no chance I’m rushing it. The longer she’s on me, the more my scent will imprint itself on her. The thought makes me smile as I match my breathing to hers, a sure way to tell if hers is in a normal range.
It hits me that this—the cuddliness—isn’t just new for Savvy and me; it’s new for me…in general.
Except…
The longer we lie here together, the more it starts to feel like this is just a stolen moment in time.