Bad Reputation Read online

  Bad Reputation

  K.B Nelson

  kbnelsonbooks.com

  Contents

  Copyright

  Blurb

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Epilogue

  Also by K.B Nelson

  Contact

  Copyright © 2015 by K.B Nelson

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Blurb

  She knows better. She just doesn’t care.

  On the verge of college graduation, Apple Malloy finds herself entangled in one last game of manipulation, deceit, and sexual corruption with her ex-lover, and constant enabler, Brick Valmont. The bet? That she can seduce the professor who had failed her the semester prior before Brick can seduce the innocent daughter of a sitting U.S. Senator.

  If Apple emerges victorious, Brick will be forced to admit she's better at these cruel games they play. If she loses, she must sleep with him one last time before graduation.

  But when the tables are turned, and Apple finds herself falling for the man she’s supposed to destroy, all bets are off. And as the games quickly spiral out of control, one thing remains certain; nobody escapes unscathed in this titillating story of manipulation where nothing is as it appears.

  Bad Reputation is the first book in the Bad Reputation series, and is loosely based on the 1782 classic novel, Dangerous Liaisons.

  Prologue

  FOUR YEARS AGO

  His fingers were interlaced with mine, holding my hand above my head and against the cushion of a hotel pillow. His eyes bore into my own, reveling in taking what was his.

  I was his, and it was beautiful. A little painful at first, but I knew that was to be expected. I thought to myself, about how I was lucky to be losing my virginity to someone who loved me. I loved him in return.

  His name was Mason, and he was the guy that every girl in high school wanted, but he chose me. I spent years at that school pining after him, praying that someday he would give me more than a passing look. It was in the early morning, and before the first bell, when he first approached me in the hallway on some random Monday.

  The letter jacket he wore around his broad shoulders was a status symbol of something unobtainable. That’s what I thought. But with a smile and the kindest of words, he asked me to the movies one Friday night.

  Our relationship took off, much to the shock and confusion of everyone around us. He was the golden child and I had been branded as nothing more than trailer-trash since junior high. Falling in love wasn’t difficult. It was as easy as learning to play checkers after already conquering chess.

  Two months later, he carried me into prom and gave me a night so magical that I imagined I had dreamt it. I wasn’t fairy tale material.

  There we were, in that hotel room and the world had finally begun to make sense. With every slow, measured thrust of him inside me, I felt the connection grow stronger. I knew, without a shadow of doubt, that he loved me. I was complete for the first time in my life.

  When we were finished, and he had climaxed inside the sheath of a condom, he rolled onto his back. We both lied there, watching as a ceiling fan spun in circles above us. I followed the blades of the fan with my eyes, only peeling my attention away when Mason reached down to pull the condom off his cock.

  Even after having sex, it still felt odd and wrong to be in such close proximity to a cock. It had been inside of me, and a right of passage had been crossed. I became a woman in that hotel room—that’s what society said. Still, I knew it would take time to grasp the loss of innocence, and the beginning of something anew.

  I clutched the sheets around my body and rolled out of bed, making a quick sprint to the bathroom. I needed a shower before I closed my eyes, cuddled in the arms of the boy I had grown to love.

  I made it quick, cleansing my entire body in a mere few minutes. All I wanted was to fall asleep, because for the first time my reality was better than my dreams. I turned the water off and dressed in a hurry before pushing the door open.

  The bed was empty, with the comforter thrown to the side and a white slip of paper lying in the center. Cautiously, I reached down, grabbed the paper and read it out loud.

  Apple,

  It’s not easy to say this, so I thought I’d just write it down instead. Graduation is in a few weeks, and I think we’re just headed in different directions. Also… Mike bet me five hundred dollars that I couldn’t make you fall in love with me before prom. I think it’s safe to say I’m much richer tonight than I was yesterday.

  Thanks for the lay,

  Mason

  P.S. You were good, but could definitely use a little more practice

  1

  PRESENT

  Brick taps his long fingers along the steering wheel. Beneath the glow of passing streetlights, he almost looks innocent. What a fucking joke. That boy hasn’t been innocent since the first time his dick got hard. It’s been a downward spiral since he realized he could stick his dick wherever he wanted, with whomever he wanted.

  Behind those fucking beautiful emerald eyes is a demon. He eats women for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can’t help but feel sorry for the women who accidentally fall onto his plate during brunch.

  He’s as magnetic as a lithium battery that floats a little too close to the sun. Everyone wants him. Many have him. Nobody comes out from a one-night stand with him unscathed. In the space of one night, he’ll capture your heart and then shred it in front of the entire world.

  He’s tall, with the kind of modern ruggedness that women line up in droves just for a chance to touch. The tattoos that line his right arm to the crook of his elbow tell a thousand different stories—all of which are true—but the women who fall for him never stop to read the narrative. The tattoos above his elbow doesn’t really mean jack shit. It’s a tapestry made of an abstract collision of colorful shapes.

  His hand fondles the knob of the shifter long before the gears are ready to turn. He thrives on being in control, always moving chess pieces in his mind. I can see the gears turning in his mind. There’s a smile that hitches patiently across his lips, drawing attention to the perfect slant of his shaven and masculine jawline.

  It’s people like him that turned me into the woman I am today.

  I’m a bitter bitch.

  I’m a woman scorned.

  I manipulate the shit out of men like Brick long before they realize they wield that kind of power. In many ways, Brick and I are the same person with different anatomies.

  We use people.

  We seduce people.

  We destroy everything and everyone we touch. And we enjoy every second of it.

  “If I recall correctly, your last stunt left yo
u with a broken heart,” Brick says, jumpstarting a conversation I had tried to initiate just a few minutes prior.

  “You do recall correctly.” I adjust in my seat, pushing my body so that it rests slightly against the door. I’m able to get a better view this way. “That won’t happen again.”

  He takes a quick glance at me and his smile widens further, exposing the straightest set of teeth you’ll find in North Carolina. “You were in love with him.” He chews into his lip and shakes his head. “I knew it.”

  “That was the first time, and like I said, the last.”

  “He nearly destroyed you,” he says followed by a light laugh. This is the Brick I love—the same Brick I despise. He shifts the car into fifth gear as we merge onto the highway. The road around us is eerie with only a few other cars on the road. That’s to be expected at four in the morning.

  “I remember,” I say dryly.

  “Yeah?” His brow furrows and his eyes remain fixed on the road, but his hand trails to my leg. He palms my flesh, making his way past the hem of my jean shorts. “I had to fuck the pieces of your poor, shattered soul back together.”

  “That also won’t happen again.” I reach down and grab his hand, squeezing it hard before pushing it away completely. There’s a popular saying that gets tossed around like a hot potato—the heart wants what the heart wants. Well, my pussy wants what my pussy wants, but I also have the power to say no, pussy, no. “I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with him. He was a shiny, sexy toy and everything escalated out of my control. I also wasn’t expecting him to creep off and fuck every other blonde bimbo on campus.”

  “You ruined him,” Brick says with another laugh. “You stole his virginity and opened him up to the wonderful world of sex, drugs and rock and roll.”

  “I like to think he was ruined long before I set my paws on him.”

  “You mean your mouth, right?”

  “I’m not going to deny that I give the best blowjobs on this side of the fucking Atlantic.” I shift my body toward his and dance my fingers along his thigh. “That’s probably what happened. I blew his fucking brains out with my mouth.” My hand finds his inner thigh and I begin to caress him.

  He widens his hips in anticipation of what comes next. “You think highly of yourself.” I know him well enough to know that’s a challenge. He wants me to prove myself.

  “Oh Baby,” I whisper against his ear. “Don’t act like I never made you scream.” I cup my hand around his dick, squeezing him through dark denim. He shifts backward against the seat, correcting his poor posture in the process. He rakes a finger across his nose and exhales sharply as his cock begins to throb.

  “There was a time…”

  I curl my fingers underneath him and press hard against his balls.

  He gasps. “There was a time when I was living in such a dark place…”

  I palm him through his jeans, getting a kick out of the way his mouth draws open with my every touch. “That dark place was you by the way, back then you could have made me scream.“

  My hand traces along his hardening shaft. It curses and throbs, begging to be set free of its denim cage. I squeeze the head.

  “God dammit,” Brick yelps.

  “It sounds like I can still make you scream.”

  He reaches down with his right hand, and scrambles to undo his silver-plated belt buckle. It’s a struggle for him and I can’t help but look on in amusement. I’ve got him where I want him—squirming. There’s nothing in the world he wants right now more than my mouth around his cock. There’s nothing I want in the world right now than to deny him that very same thing. Just because I said no to my own urges, doesn’t mean I can’t tease his.

  Once his belt is undone, he steadies the wheel so that we’re driving in the straightest line possible. Once the course is set, he hooks the fingers on both his hands into his jeans and boxer-briefs and slides them down his hip.

  His cock springs to life, taunting and tempting me in the darkness. My eyes remain fixed on the thickness and the only thing that stops me from going down on him right here are the sudden flashes of blue and red lights.

  “Fuck,” he cries out and throws his hands back onto the wheel. We come to a slow crawl as we veer onto the shoulder. He hurries his hands to pull the jeans back up, but before he does, I reach over and give him a few strokes.

  Guttural moans are thrown from his throat as the cop slams a door behind us. Brick grabs my wrist, a physical enforcement that I need to stop. I comply wish his wishes as the strong beam of a flashlight bounces across the rearview mirror.

  He finally manages to pull his jeans back up around his ass, but his raging boner threatens to poke right on through. “You’re such a tease.”

  “You’re the one that made me stop.”

  “Hilarious.” He pushes his finger on a button above the door-handle and lowers the window as the officer approaches. “Speeding and swerving aren’t felonies, but I really don’t want to pay the ticket, and I really can’t afford any more points on my record.” He looks my way wearing the cutest pout I’ve ever seen on the face of a devil.

  “I’m not going to blow him.” I know where the conversation is heading and I’m going to cut it short. “He’s not my type, anyway.”

  “Fine.” He smacks his lips and drapes his arm along the frame of the door. “Maybe I will.”

  “Please do.”

  The officer places one hand on the hood of the car and leans down, shining the light of Jesus Christ upon us. To my amazement, he’s quite the looker and around the same age as my next target, the enigmatic Jensen Moon—more on him later. But I’m still not going to blow this cop to help Brick, of all fucking people, avoid a ticket. Instead, I’ll watch with ecstatic glee as he squirms in his seat.

  My favorite pastime these days.

  * * *

  “Two points to go and I lose my license,” Brick says as he follows me into the house I share with an annoying roommate. “I can’t lose my license.”

  “Yeah,” I mumble under my breath. “I couldn’t think of a worse fate.” From behind me, I feel the cool spring breeze blowing through the door. I turn to face Brick. “Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to close the damn door?”

  He palms the knob and crushes his teeth against his bottom lip. “Is that an official invite to come in?”

  “Are you a fucking vampire?” He doesn’t respond with words. Only a sly grin. “Close the door and creep to my bedroom. I don’t want to awake Lydia.”

  Brick chuckles to himself and begins to close the door gently before slamming it. “Oops.”

  I shake my head at him, half-annoyed, but fully prepared for what comes next. Nothing is as it appears as I hook my pointer finger and command him to follow me. He does as told, tugging a bleach-white tee over his head as I push my bedroom door open.

  “It’s been forever since I’ve been in this room.” He shifts past me as I flip on the light switch and close the door behind me. He reaches for the zipper of his jeans and manages to unzip as he glides backward onto my queen-sized—how appropriate—bed. His long hands grip the width of the mattress as he kicks one crimson shoe off after the other.

  “Don’t get too comfortable,” I warn him and place my earrings on a tall circular stand. “This won’t happen again.” Out of the corner of my eye, I catch him stuffing his hand into his jeans, rubbing his own cock and trying to lure me into his trap.

  “Come on, Apple,” he moans. “I’m horny as fuck.”

  “I’m thinking.” I press one foot against the back heel of the other and slip out of three-inch heels. When I regain my bearing, I make a quick adjustment to my posture. I must remain in control even with my lower stature.

  “You’re not still obsessing over that professor of yours, are you?” Brick leans back onto his elbows and stalks me with full eyes.

  “We’re more alike than you care to admit.” I say with a shrug before turning and slipping out of my cocktail dress. I can feel h
is gaze burning a hole through me. “You can’t quit obsessing over me, so what’s the difference?”

  “The difference is that I can have you.” Sheets scuffle as I hear his feet land against the cherry floors. Soon, his breath swims across the nape of my neck and his hands latch around my feminine biceps. “I’ve had you before and I’ll have you again.”

  “What if I tell you I’m saving myself for him?”

  “That would confuse me greatly.” His cock presses through the opening in his jeans and against my back, and his teeth nibble against my ear. It’s not my intention to do so, but I shift backward against him, craving to feel his touch. He’ll always have this power over me. His hand trails to my stomach and his fingers flick at the tip of my black panties. “You know it’s never going to work with that teacher of yours. I hate playing the same damned tune, but it might be time for you to retire from this business of misery. Do you really want to go through that heartbreak again?”

  He’s made his way in—the palm of his hand caresses me from beneath the fabric that should have kept him out. I pull away from him before he’s able to win. He can’t have me, but I have to let him think he can.

  Turning to face him, I press my own palm against his chest and guide him backward to the bed. “This time I’ll be different. Summer is right around the corner and I’m not about to leave my senior year legacy tarnished.” Once we reach the bed, he pushes his jeans down his hips, but before he can free himself completely, I push him backward with a forceful blow and take a seat in his lap so that we’re face to face. “Instead of being remembered for being forced out of Kappa Zeta Bullshit-eta, I will be remembered as that girl who did the impossible.”

  “Yeah. We’re talking Olympic-like odds here.”

  I throw my arms around his neck and he steadies himself with his hands pushed against the mattress. “Every girl on campus wants him. He’s like the ultimate prize of every young girls fucked up daddy fantasy. I’ll be the one to claim him.”