Beauty by Patria L. Dunn (Patria Dunn-Rowe) Read Free Book Online Page A

not gonna bail on me are you?” he asked, his hand slipping from over mine to my exposed thighs.
    I suddenly felt intoxicated, my head instantly fuzzy as his fingers trailed their way upward to the hem of my dress. I’d never been turned on or pursued by a guy, so I wasn’t sure if this was how it was supposed to go, but I felt myself leaning ever so slightly into the seeking kiss he planted on my mouth. Warmth enveloped my face and I moaned just a little. It gave him the opening to slip his tongue past my lips and suddenly my nerve endings were bursting. Wetness pooled in the crotch of my panties, my skin was abuzz with goose bumps that seemed to multiply by the thousands, and my hands were suddenly slipping in to his hair , caressing those silky waves. The kiss grew more aggressive, his teeth nicking my lower lip and then pulling me into him. Panic started when I felt his hands close around the back of my head, cupping my neck.
    I was still in the car with Jeremy, but without even consciously thinking it , my mind placed me back in my room, fat and pinned down by Brice. I pushed against Jeremy’s chest, protesting when his hand s slipped lower to squeeze both my breasts. A hard knock sounded on the driver’s side window just as his kisses trailed from my lips to my neck. It was Brice’s voice I heard whispering in my ear, but Jeremy’s words.
    “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
    I blinked fast to keep the tears from falling, my body recoiling against the door when he released me, a lopsided grin on his face.
    “More of that later…” he promised, oblivious to the fact that I’d just flashed back to being raped only twenty-four hours ago.
    I wanted to run for it now, back to the safety of my room, and away from what he expected of me, but I followed, my legs stiff as I exited the car. It took everything in me not to mental ly curse Brice for doing this to me . Just when I had a chance to be with a guy or even fall in love like every other pretty girl out there, I was trapped remembering one more awf ul thing that had happened in my life .
    But…it didn’t happen to you… I reminded myself, turning the dirty memory into something a little more positive. It happened to Evelyn…and she’s gone now…
    That was enough to ease the invisible band that had constricted around my chest. I walked taller, my head held high as I followed behind Jeremy, the tips of my fingers clasped loosely in his. I pretended to ignore the envious looks I got from a few of the trashy looking girls decorating the door to what I assumed was his apartment. Hip Hop music blared from two waist high speakers just across the living room we were in now, the volume so loud I could feel the vibration of the bass in my chest.
    Jeremy tossed me his boyish grin before pointing somewhere in the direction of the tiny kitchen just ahead. I nodded as I watched him point again to an empty love seat in the middle of the room, and then give me a gentle push that way. My feet moved slowly, my body ducking and weaving between the sudden crowd that seemed to follow us in. This co uldn’t be any more than a one or two bedroom apartment, but I counted more than thirty bodies before I finally perched myself on the edge of the stained furniture.
    T his was all new to me. K egs sat out in the open like flowerpots, red Solo cups littering the dirty carpet every few inches. Some of them were trampled and cracked under people’s staggering feet , others tipped over and spilling what was left of their contents. I tried to keep an eye on Jeremy as he poured two drinks at the kitchen counter, all the while carrying on a conversation with a blonde hair ed guy, but there were too many bodies, and my neck was beginning to hurt from craning too far to the right.
    I suddenly needed to use the bathroom, and was about to go find it when some one cleared their throat just over where I was perched . My head lifted immediately and I had to blink twice to make sure that it