Compulsion: Magnetic Desires Read online

  Compulsion

  Magnetic Desires

  Misti Murphy

  Copyright © 2015 by Misti Murphy

  Edited by PageCurl

  Cover Design by Double J Graphics

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real events, people, or places is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without the permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for review. If you have not purchased this book from Amazon or received a copy from the author, you are reading a pirated book.

  This book may contain mature content, sensitive subject matter, filthy language, and nuts. If you find yourself suffering adverse reactions such as; inability to sleep, cravings, sensitivity to heat, or carpal tunnel syndrome please feel free to contact the advice line at [email protected]

  If cravings become an issue and you’d like to know when you can get your next hit, signup here.

  Please do not continue reading if you are under the age of 18 or if this type of content is disturbing to you.

  About This Book

  Orion’s been in love with his best friend Clo since high school. But he found himself stranded in the friend zone and unable to work out how to get her to see him as more.

  When Clo catches her husband cheating she turns to her best friend Orion for support, only to find he wants more than she’s willing to give.

  While Orion shows her that not all roses have thorns and not all men are pricks, Clo must decide if she can let go of the past and open herself up to a second chance at love.

  Table of Contents

  About This Book

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Mailing List

  Other Books

  Excerpt

  Contact Me

  Acknowledgement

  About The Author

  Dedication

  To every woman who ever believed that receiving flowers meant 'I'm sorry.' This one's for you. May you find someone to teach you that not all roses have thorns and not all men are pricks. And if not, buy yourself some flowers. Go on. You deserve it!

  Chapter One

  "Right, it looks like it’s working."

  A man enters into view of the camera. He runs a hand through his scruffy, caramel-colored hair. His green eyes sparkle, and he smiles, showing straight white teeth. He waves and mutters to himself, "Okay, looks like I’m ready to go then."

  Pulling a stool up in front of the camera, he perches on it, his abs flexing as he rests his hands on his knees.

  "Hi. First, I want to address the reason why I’m making this video half-dressed. You see, once I’m finished here, I have an important thing to go to." He shifts on the stool and clasps his hands together. "I’m not ready for this like I thought I would be. I guess you never know how these moments are going to affect you until it’s time."

  He plucks invisible lint from his pant leg.

  "Have you heard of a magnet? Not the kind you stick on the fridge, but the kind of person who makes the whole world cease to exist. They draw you in, and you forget everything else. You know you should break away, but you can’t. It’s chemistry in its purest form. There’s no way to escape the attraction."

  His mouth tugs up at the corners. "I still remember the first time I saw her..."

  August 2004

  "Come on, Zack. You’re not that lucky." Chris snorted.

  Listening to my friends talk about the girls Zack had banged over the summer kind of made me want to punch him in the face. Instead I focused on scratching my initials into the tabletop, while he talked about them like they were nothing more than places to stick his dick. I swallowed down the bitter taste of keeping my mouth shut.

  Almost seventeen years of friendship and I could barely stand the guy. Stupid jockhead jerk. When had he turned into such a douche?

  "How about you, Orion? Did you get any?" Zack pulled me into their conversation.

  I shrugged and continued scratching. Sure, I’d slept with my fair share, but there was a difference between Zack and me. I’d seen the way he ignored them after he’d gotten in their pants, and I’d listened to them while they cried on my shoulder. I didn’t understand how he could have so little respect for the opposite sex. Maybe I’d been raised differently, but I could never treat a girl the way he had.

  "What about the football team? Are you going to join this year?"

  And follow you down the road to douchebaggery? "I don't think so."

  Heads together, the guys went back to their conversation, and I fiddled with the end of one of my dreadlocks until a slim blonde stopped at the desk in front of mine.

  Leaning forward, I nudged her. "Hey, Ems, how are you?"

  She turned around to glare at me before her gaze flitted to Zack, who was still engrossed in his conversation with Chris. Her lips twitched, and she dropped her gaze to her top and began to unravel a loose thread on her candy pink T-shirt.

  She’d been one of Zack’s conquests over the summer. Miss First Half of the Second Week. I glared at him, still pissed he’d managed to get her to sleep with him.

  Balancing my chair on two legs, I stared at the back of her head. Before summer, Ems and I had been friends, close friends. I’d been thinking of asking her to be my girlfriend before she got with him. After he finished with her, she’d stopped talking to me.

  None of it made sense. Other than Zack’s football jerk status, there was no reason for the girls to fall over him the way they did. The last conversation I’d had with Ems had been after Zack dumped her. She’d sniffled into my shoulder, and cried about how it wasn’t fair. I’d asked her why she’d slept with him.

  With watery blue eyes, she’d gazed up at me. "He says the right things, Orion, and when he does, he looks at you like he means them."

  She’d left after that, and she hadn’t talked to me since. I stared at him, trying to understand what she’d meant. All I saw was a boy pretending to be a man. A guy I could no longer think of as a friend.

  Final bell for homeroom rang, and the rest of the class filed in. Mr. Phillips entered the room and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his thin nose. "Okay class, quit the chatter. Let’s get this roll called and get the important bits out of the way."

  Phillips took his seat, his long legs splayed out beside the desk. He started calling attendance in alphabetical order. Halfway through roll call t
he door opened—

  Chapter Two

  There’s a knock on the door, and Orion looks away from the camera. "What is it?"

  A man’s voice calls from outside, "Hey, it’s almost time to go. Are you ready yet?"

  "I’ll be a couple more minutes," Orion yells, before turning to the camera.

  "So, I was sitting there while Phillips called the roll. Twiddling my thumbs as I considered how to make the best of my final year, when she breezed into the classroom. The moment I saw her, I knew my life was never going to be the same. Phillips announced Clodagh to the class. She looked like... a freaking angel, with that halo of red hair, and I knew she was meant to be mine."

  He gets up from the stool and opens the sliding door of the wardrobe. Reaching inside, he pulls out a white formal shirt and slips it on while perching on the stool. "But, it wouldn’t be much of a story would it, if the boy got the girl in the first few moments. You see, I got nervous sitting there thinking about asking her out, so when the bell rang, instead of running toward her, I ran away."

  August 2004

  She sat two rows away, and it felt as if there were miles between my body and my heart. It seemed to have left my chest when she walked in. I rubbed at the fluttery feeling, trying to ease it. Yeah, I’d dated before, but never once had a girl made me feel my entire world was supposed to orbit around her.

  I couldn’t stop staring at the auburn hair that hung in a loose wave to her waist. Skin-tight jeans showed off the delicious curve of her ass, and I wondered what she would look like without them. Removing her jeans in my mind made my mouth water, and I licked my lips, while I stripped her of her tank top. A lump of rock filled my throat, making it hard to swallow while I imagined what it would be like to kiss her. What would she feel like under my palms? Her pale skin would be smooth, supple, and I caught myself stretching my fingers in her direction.

  Shit, I needed to reign in my imagination. I stared at my desk. Think of your mother, washing dishes, anything. It didn’t help. My gaze kept flicking to her, and the embarrassing erection I sported only got worse. Hell, I was in the middle of a classroom full of my friends. Could things get any worse?

  No one should wonder if things could get worse. It’s inviting trouble. All I wanted to do was approach the new girl and talk to her, though I wasn’t sure speech would be possible around the desert clogging my throat. Instead, I was stuck trying to adjust the annoying bulge in my pants and hoping no one cottoned on.

  The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom. The others headed to class, but I needed a few minutes to get under control. Holding my books in front of my crotch, I sped into the corridor and found the closest exit into the yard. I took a few deep breaths, thankful no one seemed to have noticed my hurried departure or the reason why.

  My cock did not want to cooperate, and took forever to go down. I could go home, and have a cold shower, but I wanted to ask the new girl out. Fresh meat never lasted long among the boys at Reverence High, and I had every intention of being first in line. That was if I could get my tongue to work, which might be an issue, as it seemed to have swollen to twice its size. I’d also need to keep from thinking about her without her clothes. Becoming aroused in front of her wouldn’t help my cause. Slapping my hands against my legs, I gave myself a pep talk on the way to class. I could talk to her. Of course, I could talk to her. I’d never had issues talking to girls before, and she was a girl. A beautiful girl, who made me lose control of my own dick, but still, only a girl. Just go up to her and ask her out.

  I hurried to class, knowing that if I was more than ten minutes late, Miss Prism would watch me like a hawk all class. Skipping class ran through my mind, but I needed to be where the new girl was. She had me wrapped around her little finger, and we hadn’t even spoken to each other.

  Miss Prism scowled at me as I slipped through the door. Her hands on her hips, she began her favorite lecture on tardiness. My attention wandered to the angel who had stolen my seat, while I pretended to listen to Miss Prism. I would have been happy for her to sit there, if her seat was actually my lap. That would have been fine with me. She could sit on my lap any time she wanted.

  I grinned at her, tuning out Miss Prism’s speech. Zack’s hand dropped down between the desks, and she stared at it before putting her hand in his. My gut clenched as my grin faded. Was he passing her notes? There was no way this was happening. I forced air into my lungs. He was not trying to hook up with the new girl. Yeah, right.

  Miss Prism directed me to take a seat in the front row. Zack worked fast, but surely, he couldn’t get into new girl’s pants before I got a chance to talk to her first.

  Twisted in my seat to glance over my shoulder at her, I got called out by Miss Prism, again. If she had to call on me once more, she’d send me to the principal’s office. Pulling out my books, I slumped in my seat and scowled. It was turning out to be a great start to the year. I focused on Miss Prism and tried to pay attention.

  The bell rang, and I packed up my books. Staring up at me from the cover of my English textbook was a girl with a halo. My shoulders drooped. I didn’t have any notes for the assignment on Romeo and Juliet that was due in two weeks. Instead a picture of Clodagh covered the page.

  Gathering up my books, I made sure to hide my drawing under the others, and waited by the door to speak to her. Please don’t make a fool of yourself. I scraped my hand through my hair. Everything would go right.

  Then she stood right in front of me, and I willed my tongue to work and my mouth to form words. Be smooth. "Hi."

  "Hi," she said in a shy, melodic voice.

  "You’re Clodagh." This was going to go well, if I could only manage her name.

  "Clo," she said, "my friends call me, Clo."

  "Clo." It rhymed with glow, and she definitely had that about her. "I’m Orion."

  "Oh good, you guys have met." Zack put his arm around her shoulder. I gripped my books and fought the desire to slam them against the side of his head. Why did he have to come off as such a sleaze? She couldn’t be enjoying his attention, could she?

  It appeared she was. She beamed up at him as they wandered into the hallway.

  "Are you coming, Orion?" he called over his shoulder, and I followed behind. How the hell had the girl I wanted ended up with my not-so-best friend?

  Chapter Three

  Orion hits his fist on the stool. "If only I’d gotten to her first, but I didn’t."

  He does up the buttons on his shirt with nimble fingers. "If I could have had that time with her, I would have taken it. Hell, if I had another shot and could be the man I am now, I’d make it happen. I wouldn’t have let him have her, but I wasn’t the man she needed me to be. Not at that point anyway."

  August 2004

  I dumped my bag by the door. Mom would have a fit if she found it, but she seemed to enjoy yelling in a way I couldn't understand, and was always telling me off anyway. Too frustrated and confused by how the first day of school had gone, I could care less if I got chewed out at home as well. My stomach growled, and I went in search of a snack.

  Being consumed with the gorgeous redhead unsettled me. I wasn't a fan of the way my heart jumped, like a bad drummer; making my palms clammy, and my brain disconnect from my mouth.

  Not normally an awkward person, being unable to convey my thoughts was troubling. I was proud of my ability to be clear and concise in monosyllabic answers, but today communication had failed me. Um, and uh were not useful, and I’d developed a weird stutter.

  The whole day had been like one of those chick flicks Mom liked to watch. I had a crush on Clo, and I didn’t want to think it, but the L word kept sliding into my thoughts. It seemed far-fetched, but the girl had this crazy effect on me.

  It was physical. It had to be. That was why when I pictured her naked, my body jerked to attention. Yeah. It was nothing but a physical reaction. I was still embarrassed, but thankful no one had been aware of what happened.

  It didn’t matter. She was with Za
ck, though it didn’t make sense that she would go for him. It had to be because being new, she didn’t know better. It wouldn’t take her long to realize what type of guy he was.

  I scrounged through the fridge for things to stick between two slices of bread, and made a passable double-decker sandwich, which took less time to eat than it did to create. Snagging a bottle of soda to wash it down, I went into the backyard. From the racket coming out of the garage, I could tell Dad was home.

  "You’re home early," I called out. Dad stood on an old milk crate as he bent over the chassis of his beloved Pontiac GTO. I kicked at one of the tires with my foot. The old car, like my father, had seen better days, but it was still a beautiful car.

  Dad glanced at me as he kept working. "Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Zack?"

  I shoved my hands in my pockets. "I’m changing it up this year."

  "Fair enough." He ran a grease-streaked hand through his silver hair, causing it to stick up in a crest. "You can give me a hand."

  "Sure." I tossed the bottle into the trash and went to stand beside him. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Damn it." He lost his grip on the spanner. It fell through the engine bay to the floor. "For starters, you can get that for me, then she could do with an oil change."

  Getting down on the concrete floor, I slid under the already jacked up car and passed the spanner to Dad before I got tools. For as long as I could remember, I’d worked on cars with Dad. I could change the oil with my eyes shut, not that I would unless I wanted to take a swim in the black goop. There were three generations of mechanics on my father’s side, and I loved working on cars. But unlike the rest of my family, I didn’t want to make it a career. It was something I loved to tinker with.

  "Hey Dad, I thought I might start coming to the garage after school to help out for a while."

  Dad grunted. "I think I can find you something to do."

  He was proud of me, not that he’d say it. He wasn’t the type of man to open up.

  "I need some help around here too, if you're up for it? If helping out won’t mess with your school work."