Typhon, p.2
Typhon, page 2
You had one of my best friends and roommate, Laney Spinner, who was classically beautiful with her light brown hair and matching light brown eyes. She was taller than me at five-foot-six, but that’s because she had legs for days. Her personality also matched her perfect looks. Laney was going into social services after graduation, and that was a testament to how awesome she was.
Still, while Laney was pretty, you still had the Hastings Martins and Sutton Hadleys of the world. Those girls were so stunning that they made you stop in your tracks just to get a good look. Then there was Kincaid Black, and, Jesus Christ, if ever there was a girl who could stop traffic, it was that girl.
Where Hastings Martin had platinum blonde hair and hazel eyes, and Sutton Hadley had dark auburn hair and green eyes, Kincaid Black had black hair, like mine, but instead of dark blue eyes that were my pairing, Kincaid had black eyes that made her look exotic and a bit otherworldly. It wasn’t lost on me how her last name was Black, too.
There was also Kincaid’s reputation to consider. I’ve never spoken with her beyond a polite hello in passing, but the word on campus was that she didn’t suffer fools easily and the fucks she gave amounted to zero.
Now, while I didn’t run with the elite and beautiful crowd, I had a few good friends and plenty of acquaintances that have made my years at Hales a really wonderful experience. Plus, I’d done it all. I’d done the dorm living, the partying, the spring breaks, all that stuff. The only thing I hadn’t gotten involved in were sororities and fraternities. It had never been my thing to belong to something just for the sake of belonging to it. If the sport, club, team, or whatever, didn’t have a purpose that called to me, I didn’t bother with it.
As for guys, I’ve dated my fair share, but none of them had really stuck. However, I wasn’t too disappointed in that. College was just an extension of high school where you were still evolving and becoming the adult you wanted to be. To get serious so young didn’t seem wise to me, though I had nothing against serious relationships or at what age they developed. However, just like going to separate colleges could break up a high school couple, starting your new careers could break up college couples if your dream job was in New York, but your partner’s dream job was in Texas.
I might be able to survive a heartbreak, but I still didn’t want to go actively looking for it.
Besides, I’ve been going to HU for three years now, and I’ve yet to meet a guy who fired me up on all levels. The three guys I’ve slept with since going here had done their best to fulfill me sexually, but either our interest hadn’t panned out or our personalities. Thankfully, my virginity had gone to Dale Century during our summer before he’d left for the Army, and I’d left for Hales. He’d been my high school boyfriend-on and off-for two years before we’d parted ways for good. It had been sweet and perfect, and that gift had belonged to Dale. He’d been a great guy and friend throughout it all, even during our off times.
Now, while I wasn’t looking for lightening in a bottle, I did want sparks. I wanted something a little more than basic arousal that you could get from anyone if there was enough alcohol in your system or your dry spell was long enough.
Laney and I shared a small off-campus apartment, and while I’ve never judged her, she constantly had company, and I often envied how she could completely let go like that and just have fun with her choices. I wasn’t overly serious, but I couldn’t just sleep with guys if I didn’t feel some sort of deeper attraction for them.
Now, I didn’t need fireworks or sonnets or anything like that, but I did want passion. I wanted real passion to where I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to want a guy so badly that I felt like I couldn’t breathe if he wasn’t near. Crazy? Maybe. Heartbreak written all over it? Definitely. However, while I wasn’t looking for heartbreak, I’d risk it if just to feel that passion at least once in my life.
“This is going to be our best year yet,” Laney exclaimed as she waltzed in through our front door.
I shut the dishwasher door and pressed the wash cycle button to get it going. I turned to face her, a little smirk on my face. “What’s his name?”
Laney smiled as she made her way into our small kitchen. “There is no guy,” she denied. “This year, I’m all about me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back against the counter. “Not that I care how you have fun, Laney, but you’re telling me that you’re going to go an entire year without penis?” I shook my head. “Don’t believe it.”
We had a small kitchen table that could only accommodate two chairs, and Laney plopped herself down in one of the chairs and grinned up at me with her elbows on the table. “It’s true,” she insisted.
I looked at my friend and wondered how we could get along so well with us being so different. Physically, I was her complete opposite with my black hair, blue eyes, short stature-I was only five-foot-three-and I had curves where Laney was curvy but slim. She bordered that line where she could go without a bra if she had to, but she still ought to wear one. Plus, she was proud to show off what The Good Lord gave her. I had confidence, and I knew I wasn’t ugly, but I gravitated towards privacy more than openness. I didn’t mind PDA, but I preferred not to overdo it.
We were complete opposites in looks and personality, but I just loved her to death.
My arms dropped to my sides. “So, why this sudden turnabout?”
She shrugged a shoulder, and I thought I saw something flash in her eyes, but it was gone so quickly that I might have imagined it. “It’s time to get serious,” she replied. “I spent my freshman, sophomore, and junior years sowing my wild oats fantastically. It’s time to get real about my next step.”
Something sounded off, but I couldn’t disagree with anything she’d just said. “Well, I have no doubt we’re going to rock our senior year, Laney,” I predicted.
Laney grinned up at me. “We got this, girl.”
I nodded. “We got this,” I agreed.
Chapter 3
Stone~
The initiation ceremony was this Friday, and my father’s phone calls have increased over this past weekend. Every call was in the disguise of checking in on me, but he’s never checked on me continuously before, so he wasn’t fooling anyone.
He knew it, also.
Jonathan Lexington was as brilliant as they came. The man was a Wallstreet banker and financier, and he hadn’t made billions being stupid. My mother, Tami Lexington, was what you expected the wife of Jonathan Lexington to be, and they made the perfect power couple.
My mother was arm candy, and she spent a fortune every year to make sure she looked the part to perfection. While they had both given up on their wedding vows ages ago, they were still very dedicated to the Lexington empire they’ve built. A younger, prettier version of my mother was not going to come along and ruin what she’s built. Same could be said for my father. He had no problem with my mother straying as long as he still held her leash tightly in his fist.
Still, while my mother’s job was to look good on my father’s arm, she wasn’t simple like a lot of socialite wives. Tami Lexington was just as formidable as her husband, and together they made one hell of a team.
Evident by this upcoming Friday night’s activities.
However, if there was one thing that could be said of being raised by a man who viewed obstacles as challenges and a woman who viewed ambition as a religious calling, it was that I didn’t know how to quit or settle. I was only twenty-two, but I had stopped being young on my fourteenth birthday when I’d been told what was expected of me. From then on, it had been nothing but focus and determination.
If there was something I wanted, nothing could stop me from getting it.
Also, even though I knew my initiation class was made up of the best of the best in my generation, I still wasn’t intimidated. I’d get a feel for each guy and go from there, and the only way the girls would come to matter was if they ended up together. At that point, I’d have to reevaluate and research the girl’s background a bit more. Again, Kincaid Black was the only wild card among them.
Plus, the rules were simple: you didn’t fuck around with your girl unless you planned on marrying her. That was the only condition to approve a relationship with your chosen female. You had to marry her if you planned on sticking your dick in her.
There were no exceptions.
That non-negotiable rule came into play about thirty years ago when one of the chosen females had become a woman scorned and had threatened the entire organization’s foundation. Pillow talk had made her privy to all kinds of confidential shit, and that had made her dangerous. The rumor was that when she’d been cast aside by her sponsor, she had worked her skills on his father. Both being high-profile and powerful, she had been bathing in a fountain of information that she should never had known.
Another rumor was that she had taken her own life before she could cause any irrevocable damage, but I suspected the girl hadn’t met her maker voluntarily. That was just me, though.
So, now, if you got involved with your chosen female, you’d better have plans to marry her. Since a lot of guys didn’t want to get tied down before the money really started rolling in, and they started basking in the high life, every man since then has kept things strictly professional.
Or so those were the rumors.
I hadn’t been concerned with the players until these past few years, though. I could give two fucks what happened thirty years ago. All I cared about were the recent years, and how I needed to use the past to shape my future.
Right now, I was on my way to Business Strategies, hoping to avoid another phone call from my father on why he thought it’s a bad idea that I was opting not to choose a girl for my initiation. My reasons were endless, but-
All thoughts came to halt as a body crashed into me, and I was certain I would never be the same again. As a matter of fact, I knew it.
My right arm wrapped around a soft, lush female form as I steadied the both of us to keep us from falling. “Oh, God,” came an embarrassed female voice. “I’m so sorry.” I’d been about to tell her it was okay, but then she looked up at me, and my entire world stopped.
It.
Just.
Stopped.
The energy sizzling beneath the surface of my skin was not my imagination. The blood rushing through my ears was not a casual reaction. The pressure in my chest was not normal.
Dark sapphire eyes were looking up at me and I knew her face. I didn’t know her, but I’ve seen her around campus from time to time.
The maybe once.
I’d never really paid her much mind, but that was because I hadn’t sought out any females. My future has always taken precedence over pussy, so I partook when I was in need, and that was about it.
But now?
I walked us forward until her back hit the building wall, and I was looming over her. Her eyes were wide, and she looked…spooked. But, fuck, she was beautiful this close up. I’d always thought her attractive when she’d fallen into my visual space before, but holding her like this, her face looking up at mine…she was breathtaking.
The arm I had wrapped around her tightened, and I let my backpack fall off my shoulder as I planted my other hand on the building’s wall next to her head.
“Are you okay?” I asked, very aware that my voice sounded rough and unfriendly.
Her blue eyes danced over my face, and I almost groaned as her tits pressed against my ribs. She was almost an entire foot shorter than I was, and my shoulders were wide enough, and my body was large enough to practically hide her from everyone else’s view.
My dick started getting hard.
She closed her eyes and shook her head, presumably snapping herself out of her stupor, and I loved how her black hair danced around her perfect fucking head. She had no bangs to distract from her face, and it looked to hang straight, stopping just below her shoulders. Her brows were just as dark and arched over a pair of cobalt-colored irises. Her nose was straight and dainty, and her cheeks were rosy, and fuck my life, her lips were full, pink, and immaculate. All of it enhanced by flawless, alabaster skin.
“I…I’m f…fine,” she stuttered. “Are…are you okay?”
Not really.
“I’m fine,” I lied. I was nowhere near fine. I was as farthest from fine as a man could get. Nothing turned shit upside down like getting blindsided.
“I’m…I’m so sorry, so, so sorry,” she repeated, still stuttering. “I…sh…should have been pa…paying better attention.”
I wanted to kiss her.
I wanted to kiss that stutter from her lips. I didn’t like seeing her act nervous around me. Granted, I had her trapped between my body and the wall, so there was that.
“What’s your name?”
“My…my name?”
I leaned forward, crowding her a bit more. “Yes,” I replied, low and impatient. “What’s your name?”
She started nibbling on her lower lip, and I almost took over for her. “Uh, Rylee,” she finally answered. “Rylee Madden.”
I gave her a tight nod to let her know I heard her. “I’m Stone Lexington.”
Her face turned a pretty shade of blush. “I…I know,” she said in a low whisper, and I almost smirked.
She knew who I was.
I finally stepped away and pulled my arm from around her waist. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She let out a deep sigh, almost as if she could finally breathe again. “I am, thank you,” she assured me. “I really am sor-”
“It’s not a problem, Rylee Madden,” I said, interrupting another apology. “No one was hurt.” Rylee smiled up at me, and any chance of her getting out of this unscathed just went up in flames.
“O…okay,” she replied. “I’ll…I’ll see you around.”
I took another step back, and I watched as she readjusted her backpack, then hurried off to wherever she had been rushing to. The second she was out of sight I pulled my phone out.
“Yeah?” the voice on the other end greeted.
“I want everything you can find on Rylee Madden, a student at HU,” I instructed. “I want the same kind of background as the recent ones you’ve done, and I want it by Wednesday.”
“No problem,” Chicago, my PI, replied before hanging up.
I guess I was picking a girl for Friday after all.
Chapter 4
Rylee~
It’s been two days, and I still couldn’t get my brief encounter with Stone Lexington out of my head.
For a lot of reasons.
The first being that he was Stone freakin’ Lexington. Admittedly, all I knew was gossip and tabloid nonsense, but none of that took away from the fact that Stone Lexington was too hot to look at without going stupid. It was like looking at the sun; you could only look at him in the face for a few seconds before your eyes started to cross and you had to look away to save yourself from going blind by the vision.
The boy was scorching.
Though, I didn’t exactly look like leftovers, I also knew Stone was way out of my league. His family’s wealth ranged into the billions, and even if he didn’t come from a family rich enough to be famous, his looks put him in an entirely different hemisphere from us mere mortals.
It was weird because, describing him on paper, you’d think there was nothing special about him, but that wasn’t true. He had dark brown hair that he kept short on the side, but long enough on top to run your fingers through. Plus, if I thought the guy was vain enough to get highlights, that’s what I’d accuse him of doing. His brown hair had dimensions that hair color commercials always promised you but never delivered on. His eyes were a rich chocolate color, and because I’d been trapped by his body the other day, I had seen that they were surrounded by thick, long lashes. The light played off them in a way that had made his eyes appear to freakin’ sparkle.
Then there was just the whole of his face. The fluid brows, the straight, Romanesque nose, the cut cheekbones, and the strong jaw that all came together to form the perfect masculine facial appearance. Plus, Sweet Baby Jesus, those lips of his. It had been a struggle not to just latch onto them when he had asked me if I was okay.
Also-even though he’d been fully clothed-he’d had his body pressed up against mine during our encounter, so I’d been able to feel muscle every-damn-where. His arm around my waist had been strong, sturdy, and hot. His six-foot-something had towered over me, and I knew that, if he’d ever lost his senses and found me attractive enough to sleep with, wall sex would easily be on the menu.
Plus, as if all of what I’ve already listed wasn’t enough, his voice was deep and dark enough to make a girl’s panties just melt right off. Since that fateful day, I’ve fantasized about what the boy must sound like in bed. I also wasn’t ashamed to admit that my hands might have been down my panties once or twice while I’ve entertained that particular daydream.
There was also that frustrating humming that I’d been trying to ignore since Monday. When Stone had wrapped his arm around me to keep me upright, my entire body had hummed with this feeling of sizzling electricity. Like in a romance novel, his touch had ignited something in me, and I had wanted to beg the poor guy to take me where we stood.
It had been an awakening that could only lead to some serious heartbreak if I ever found myself stupid enough to be around him again.
Stone Lexington was that passion that was a bad idea to female hearts everywhere. Trust me on this. My heart and ovaries have been arguing over this for a couple of days already.
“Earth to Rylee,” Heather sing-songed. “You still with us?”
I shook myself out of my thoughts and looked at the three girls sitting with me in the university’s library. Heather was looking expectantly at me while Felicia was just smiling. Laney was too busy to pay attention, tapping away on her phone.
We’d gotten together to study for our Linear Algebra class as we’d all agreed to last week. Studying with people who were passionate about the same thing you were brought about an amazing energy, and that excited energy could make all the difference in how well-prepared you were for your courses and exams.
