Free Love Show by Audrey Bell Page B

broke up with the boy and he told everyone I was easy.” I shrugged.
“I didn’t sleep with anyone else after that. I didn’t want anyone to think he
had a point.”
    “I’m sorry. That’s bullshit,” he
said.
    “It’s really not a big deal. It’s
ancient history,” I said.
    “Well, I could see why you might
not want to date people after that.”
    “It’s got a lot less to do with him
than you think,” I said. “I don’t have the time, and monogamy doesn’t exactly
run in my family and—”
    “You don’t want to depend on
anyone?”
    “Exactly,” I said.
    He nodded seriously. “Yeah, see,
the thing about that though, is that people who don’t ever want to depend on
anyone, people who don’t ever want to be touched, they don’t jump into a
stranger’s arms in the rain. Even on a dare.”
    I met his warm, brown eyes. They
searched me and I looked away. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but
sometimes they do.”
    He jerked the wheel and pulled off
the road.
    “ What are you doing?”
    He put the car in park wordlessly.
    “Excuse me?” I repeated, staring at
him. “I barely know you. Pulling over on the side of the road is a serial
killer move.”
    “I’m not a serial killer.”
    “What are you doing?”                          
    He undid his seatbelt and leaned
across the seat and kissed me again. Without asking, without anything that
seemed like a warning.
    He kissed me deeply and instead of
pushing him away, I leaned in.
    I was surprised at the whimper that
escaped my lips as he moved his mouth down my neck. I was surprised at the way
my spine arched towards him and the way I wanted him to slide his warm hands
farther down my ribs to my hips. When his hand slipped under my shirt, cool
against my hip, I put my hand over it. “Wait, stop.”
    He pulled his head back and looked
into my eyes. “You want me to stop?” He kept his hand there, spread on my
hip—not a particularly sexual or private place, but it made me shiver.
    I exhaled heavily and didn’t say
anything.
    “Do you want me to stop?” he
repeated, more seriously.
    I shook my head slightly, wild-eyed
and unsure of everything except for a single fact: I liked being kissed by him.
Even when I was sober. Even when I knew he was in a fraternity with a bunch of
idiots. Even when I knew how much most relationships messed up your life, I
wanted him to kiss me.
    He pressed his lips to mine and
undid my seatbelt.
    “C’mere,” he whispered, pulling my
wrist. He coaxed me over to his side of the car, so that I was straddling him.
He kissed my neck, and I could feel my pulse racing underneath his lips. He
leaned back and stared at me. He slid one hand under my loose, flannel shirt
and up my ribs. His other hand rubbed along the side of my leg, through my
jeans. The friction was gentle, but it ran up and down my leg.
    I pressed my hips more closely to
his.
    He unhooked my bra strap and kissed
me again.
    I shivered as he slipped the straps
down my arms. He nipped at my lip and at my neck while he unbuttoned my shirt.
    “This okay?” he whispered.
    I nodded once.
    He gently slipped the shirt down my
arms.
    My bra fell with it and I looked
down at him, the light catching in his eyes. He ran both of his hands up my
ribs, and cupped one breast gently. His thumb ghosted across my nipple and I
bit my lip, and his lips kissed their way from my mouth to my neck. He
continued rubbing his thumb softly across my breast. Every brief movement
travelled like an electrical current up and down my spine.
    I exhaled a shaky breath, pulsating
with the electricity of his touch everywhere.
    “Christ, Jack…” I whispered. I
closed my eyes and dropped my head to his shoulder. He kissed my neck,
bitingly.
    I hid my face in his neck, and
laughed lightly, as his hand stroked my shivering stomach. He kissed me again,
softly and then firmly, and then he broke the kiss and smiled.
    “You’re something, you know