UNPLUGGED: a standalone novel Page 2

  Chapter 3

  Quinn

  “Are you guys ready?” Kami asks as she holds up the box for some new game that she’s brought. The guys all gripe, not liking to be taught something new, but she quiets their complaints by saying, “Stop it…you’ve all played UNO, right?”

  “Yeah, when I was in kindergarten,” Ari grumbles. She ignores him and empties the contents of the box onto the table. In the center of the coffee table is all of our contributions to the pot, which I really hope I win. Last trip, I won five out of the six pots.

  Merritt comes into the living room with a glass of what looks like Scotch on ice in his hand. He must really hate not having his phone.

  “You mind if I sit here?” he asks me, and I shake my head, tucking my feet further underneath me. As I lean on the arm of the couch, Kami is rambling away, and I find my eyes wandering, taking in glimpses of Merritt. He’s muscular, but not too big, clean-shaven and his hair looks like he just ran his fingers through it. The sleeves of his black dress shirt are rolled up, and his thighs are straining the fabric of his jeans. Biting my bottom lip, I look at his cock, and Jesus, it’s... “Any questions?” Kami asks us. I blink wildly, like a kid on the first day of school that hasn’t a clue what to do.

  Merritt passes me a blank card and a tiny marker, and I look at it, perplexed. Peeking around the room, everyone is writing on their cards, and I whisper to Merritt, “What do I do?”

  “Write a rule or something.”

  “A rule?”

  “Yeah, like something the person has to do that picks the card.”

  “Can it be anything?”

  “I think so.”

  “What did you put?” I ask him.

  “I’m not telling; she said not to.” He covers his card, and I sigh in frustration. I have no clue what to write. The only things that come to mind are just dirty. What is wrong with me? As everyone hands her back their cards, I go with it; no one will know I wrote it, right? Remove one piece of clothing, jewelry excluded.

  Kami collects the cards and then passes out our hands. “God, I feel like a kid,” Ari complains.

  “Trust me, man, this one is fun,” Jacob chimes in. “I had Kami sucking my cock the other night on every other hand.” She hits him on the back of the head, and we all laugh as she blushes, obviously still thinking about their game.

  Oh God, did someone put a card like that in there?

  As we work around the room, playing a traditional game of UNO, I begin to think this isn’t so bad, but my eyes are on the little machine that sits in the middle of the table which has our cards all inside of it, and I wonder what’ll happen when we have to use it. Then Willow lays down a card that has a picture of the machine and grabs the lever. The entire room silences, telling me that no one wrote anything nice on their cards.

  As she spins the tiny slot machine-like device, we wait for it to stop and when it does, she asks, “What does that mean?” It’s got a picture of a blank black card on it with a question mark.

  “Oh, that one means you pull a card and do whatever it says,” Kami tells her.

  “But I thought you said that we could choose who had to do it.”

  “If it gives you that option, then yeah. But it didn’t.”

  “Just pull the card, babe,” Ted tells her, and reluctantly she does, rolling her eyes and being all dramatic. With the card in her hand, she’s just looking at it, not saying a word.

  “What does it say?” I finally ask, hating the suspense.

  “Make out with anyone in the room for one minute.”

  “Who put that one in there?” I ask, and Kami says, “Were you listening to anything I said at all? I told you, you’re not allowed to say.”

  Willow drops the card on the table and grabs ahold of the sides of Ted’s shirt as she whips her hair around. I giggle, what is she a 1980’s porn star? Then she climbs on top of his lap and begins to kiss him. As I finish my drink, Merritt asks me, “You want another one?”

  “Sure.” He gets up, and I follow him into the kitchen. “Did you write that?” I ask him.

  “No, I thought you did.”

  I smirk and awkwardly look at Willow who is still going at it with Ted. His hands are on her hips, then Kami yells, “Time.” And they slowly stop.

  “Who would you kiss, if you pulled that card?” Merritt asks me, refilling my glass.

  Sipping on my drink, I look around the room, filled with all of my closest friends and know my options are limited. Really it’s Ari or Merritt, and Ari is like a brother to me, and I bet Merritt knows that, so he’s expecting me to say him. I look up at him, and he winks at me. That is his card.

  Sonofabitch!

  “It’s a hard choice between Willow or Kami, maybe both!” His mouth drops open, and I strut off to the couch. When I sit down, he’s still standing in the exact spot I left him, watching me.

  He shakes his head with a smirk on his face. “So what do I lay down?” I ask as Willow’s blue card with the machine is on the top of the deck.

  “You’ve got to either match the picture or color.” Looking at my hand, I have one card with a machine on it, but I’m not about to make that move, not until I see what else these crazy fuckers have written down. Merritt sits back down next to me, and I lay a blue six, then Ari lays down the dreaded card with the fucking wheel on it again, and he spins the machine. This time it’s got the same blank black card with a question mark, but it’s surrounded by tiny arrows. “That one means you can choose anyone to pull a card, or you can yourself,” Jacob tells him and Ari looks at Merritt.

  “For real, man?”

  “Yeah, why not?”

  Merritt grabs the machine and takes the top card out. I look over at it as he reads it. “Take a tequila body shot off anyone in the room…except yourself.” He holds his breath, and I do the same, knowing he’s gonna pick me. He won’t pick one of the other girls. He might pick Ari to be funny, although I sure as hell hope he doesn’t. As I wait, the anticipation has me questioning things.

  “Quinn?” he asks me and everyone cheers. I roll my eyes at their response and take his hand as he leads me into the kitchen. On the center of the huge island is so much liquor you’d think we were hosting a frat party.

  My heart is beating profusely, and my stomach is in my throat. I glance at the girls, and they get up, following us for a better look. “Oh, come on, you guys,” I complain as they all crowd around us. Merritt pours the shot, then grabs a lime and the salt. Now that he has everything he needs, he turns and zones in on me, his eyes carnal, like he’s about to eat me alive… or tear my pants off and fuck me.

  I swallow nervously, and he looks at my throat, gently placing the lime backwards in my mouth before I can say anything. I guess I don’t have a choice on where he places the salt. His eyes scan my body, and I swear he can hear my heart pounding, it’s so loud. With no warning, he leans into my neck and licks it slowly. I keep looking off, nervous as shit; like not making eye contact with him is going to make me any less turned on than I already am.

  He’s not giving me room to breathe and grabs the salt, pouring it on me like a pro. Once it’s added, he braces his weight on either side of me on the counter top, then says, “Look at me.” I pull my eyes away from the ceiling and zone in on him. Helpless under his control, with the lime keeping me silent, he smirks, smashing his body against mine, the bulge of his cock pressing into me, and I about gasp. Then his lips are on me again as he sucks hard, pulling up on the skin of my neck. The girls squeal, and I want to whimper, it feels so good, but I resist.

  He knocks back the shot, and I about drop the lime as he comes in on me, giving me a little nudge before his lips brush up against mine. Everyone hollers and I blush a shade I haven’t in a long time. Redder than I think Kami did earlier remembering her UNO game with Jacob.

  Men don’t typically do this to me. No, wait, they never do. I’m always in control; it’s how I get them to like me, but with Merritt, the control I normally have is s
tripped away as he owns it, suddenly making me question everything.

  Chapter 4

  Merritt

  Taking the lime wedge out of my mouth, I whisper into Quinn’s ear, “Would you still kiss one of the girls, now?” She shakes her head, and everyone shuffles back to the living room, not hearing what I said to her. I still have her pressed up against the counter with my body, completely motionless. The sexual tension between us is heavy. I’m not sure what it is about her, but she makes me want her like I’ve never wanted a woman before.

  I didn’t like how she told me that she’d kiss a girl over me. And to most guys it would probably be a turn-on, but not me, not when I want someone. I don’t share.

  Our eyes still locked on each other’s, she knocks back a swig of the tequila straight from the bottle and grabs another lime, biting into it. The juices squirt, landing on my cheek, and I chuckle at her outburst, backing off, releasing her. Immediately, she darts back to the couch, and I have to give my cock a moment to go down. Her tight ass is so hot jiggling beneath her sweat pants.

  Feeling satisfied, I refill my glass and sit back down next to her so we can continue our game.

  As turn by turn goes on, the cards keep getting worse. These people wrote some fucked up shit down. One of the cards says to remove a piece of clothing, and as I look at Quinn, with both of her feet bare, I can’t wait ‘til she picks that card again, ‘cause she’s gonna have to take off either her pants or shirt.

  “UNO,” Willow calls out, the game close to coming to an end. But not before Quinn lays down a card that activates the wheel. As we all wait for it to stop, the six cards have been reshuffled and added back in, so it’s anyone’s guess what will be picked.

  It lands on her, and she rolls her eyes, reading the card out loud to us, “Do twenty jumping jacks.”

  Both Ari and Jacob had to do it earlier, and it was pretty funny to watch them. But there’ll be nothing funny about watching Quinn’s hot ass do it. She gets up a little wobbly from so many drinks and begins. Coolly, I drink my Scotch, trying not to stare at her, but it’s hard with her tits all over the place.

  Is she even wearing a bra?

  As she jumps and we all count for her, she’s back to looking in the corner of the room. I lean back in my seat, placing my hand on my thigh. Her eyes move to me, and I have to battle with my cock to stay down. I can’t tell you how many hard-ons I’ve gotten tonight.

  “Twenty!” The room erupts, and she plops down smelling even better than she has all night.

  As we work back around, Willow ends the game, cheering as she lays the final card down and collects her winnings. The guys all toss their hands on the table, pissed that they lost and I couldn’t care less. Getting up, I decide to sneak away to check my email, hoping I’ve received the final confirmation that the Canadian deal is closed.

  Heading into the bathroom, so I don’t get caught, I haven’t missed anything new. I mean, other than the normal bullshit that always goes along with these deals. So I respond to a few emails from earlier, and when I walk back into the bedroom, Quinn is lying on the couch, her head resting on the arm and her eyes are closed.

  Was I in there for that long?

  Looking downstairs, the house is dark and quiet.

  Everyone went to bed already?

  Turning back, I feel bad for Quinn sleeping on the couch like that; she looks uncomfortable. “Quinn?” I shake her a little, and she groggily looks up me.

  “Yeah?” she asks me.

  “Come on, get in bed.”

  She nods and sets her glasses on the arm of the sofa. “I didn’t know which bed you wanted,” she says to me.

  “I don’t think I’ll fit in either,” I tell her and pull the covers back for one, and she crawls in, yawning so adorably. My eyes are on her lips, and as I cover her up, she’s already out.

  Grabbing my iPad, I sit down on the couch so thankful that I brought it with me and see an email from Ari. That motherfucker!

  To: Merritt Smith

  From: Ari Andersal

  November 02, 2016 12:23am

  Told ya, you’d get the deal.

  Attached is an email from the landowners in Canada thanking Ari for his and his company’s time, but saying that they are taking our bid on the deal. The news is fuckin’ awesome. Typing up an email to Ari, I thank him for sending me the message, then quickly email my dad to share the good news that will make his night. After I hit “send,” I rest my head back and look over at Quinn. My heart starts to pound, watching her. I don’t get what it is about her. Maybe it’s the fact that she doesn’t seem to be into me. You know that saying, you want what you can’t have? And clearly, I can’t have her. She’s anti-men and all.

  Leaving the room before she catches me watching her like a weirdo, I leave my iPad on the couch and go raid the fridge for a midnight snack and another drink. With a fresh beer in my hand, I eat a cold piece of pizza and gaze out the windows at the vast snowy view.

  It’s gorgeous here compared to the heat of Texas that I’m used to. Finishing my beer, I contemplate another, but I’m spent, I really am. I’ve been up since five this morning and need to sleep, so I trudge my ass back upstairs and quietly open the door. Quinn is still out as I grab something to change into. Going into the bathroom, I turn the shower on. Steam quickly fills the room as I brush my teeth and lose the reflection of myself in the mirror.

  Stripping naked, my cock is half hard, like it’s been all night, and I get in the shower, hoping some hot water will keep it at bay. It scalds my skin, and I let it. I need something else to focus on, my mind drifting back to earlier tonight. To the way Quinn’s skin tasted beneath my lips and how her tits bounced under her t-shirt.

  Running my hands through my hair, I pop open my shampoo…the smell of mint always makes me feel good. Then washing my body with a bar of soap, I admit it’s a lost cause—there is no taming my dick tonight; it’s not going to go down unless I get my cum out. Looking down at it standing straight up, I grip the base, stroking it tightly. Holding it firmly in the palm of my hand, the tip pulsates, and my balls tighten.

  Sitting down on the ledge in the shower, I rest my weight back on the cool tile wall and stroke myself. As I close my eyes, Quinn’s ass comes into my mind, and I’d love nothing more than to fuck it, to see her naked and have my way with her.

  She might act like she doesn’t want me, ‘cause she’s been hurt and all, but if she’d let me, I’d have her begging for more. And the second that I imagine her on her knees sucking me off, I let go, cum flying in the air as my body tenses and all the pent us sexual tension that is inside of me flows out.

  Chapter 5

  Quinn

  My mind is fuzzy as I take in the bedroom and try to unscramble the events of last night. How did I get in this bed? Heck, how did I get upstairs? Focusing on the clock to read the time, it hits me, and I remember how sweet Merritt was when he put me to bed.

  Getting up to use the restroom, I spot my glasses on the arm of the couch. As I place them on my face, I glance around and notice Merritt isn’t in here. I can tell he slept in his bed, though, with the sheets all twisted up and pillows half off the bed.

  Opening the bathroom door half asleep, there he is, on his iPad as he brushes his teeth at the same time. “Morning,” I tell him, and he winks at me. I close the door to the tiny room with the toilet.

  After I’m finished, I walk out, and he asks me, “Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah, really hard. You?”

  “Not so good.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  Splashing some water on my face, I notice he is glaring at his iPad like something is really bothering him, and I have to ask, “What’s the matter?”

  “Just work shit.”

  “See? That’s why you need to stay off that thing. For all I know, my work could’ve burnt to the ground, but I’m not stressing about a thing.” He thinks about my comment like he is actually considering i
t, and I outstretch my hand, wondering if he’ll really give up his iPad.

  “Can I at least check it once a day?” he asks.

  “No!” I shake my head and place my other hand on my hip, so he knows I’m dead serious. “Okay, let me just email my assistant.”

  I smile, loving that he is actually going to unplug. I get that it might sound dumb, but until you try it, you don’t realize the power electronics have over you.

  As I wait for him to finish his email, I brush my teeth and comb my hair. I’m pretty sure we are skiing today, so I’m not gonna bother putting on any makeup.

  Then I hear him hit send as I put my last contact lens in. I figure he’ll leave his iPad on the counter, but he walks off with it.

  “What are you doing?” I stop him from leaving. My hand hits his rock hard chest, the connection between us instantly so strong. My insides ignite the same way they did last night when he pinned me against the countertop and took a body shot off me.

  Losing myself in him, I forget all about his iPad as he trails his fingers up my arm and cups my neck. My eyes close, feeling the moment to the fullest. I’m not sure why I’m letting him touch me like this when I don’t even know him, but something inside me wants to.

  As I open my eyes, he’s even closer to me, his hot breath on mine, and I figure he’ll kiss me. Bracing my weight on the countertop, I wait…

  He slips around me and walks off with his iPad. Jesus, I wanna yell at him for leaving me panting, but I don’t. My neck is still warm where his hand held it, and I touch it myself, feeling the warmth beneath my fingertips.

  It was as if he was claiming and possessing me, in a way I’ve never experienced, but I liked it, and I’m not sure why, seeing as men have always hurt me in the end. So why would Merritt be any different than the rest?