The boorish comment from the cashier pushed Riley over her tolerance limit. Her temper burst out of her body like an explosive detonation. She began to open her mouth to lash out at the disrespectful woman behind the checkout counter. I flattened my hand over Riley's face to keep the words from spewing out. She was already a headcase this morning and would regret her outburst when she came back to her senses.

I didn't want to spend the rest of the day chasing her around the house to keep her from returning to the store to apologize to the woman.

I wrapped one arm around the temperamental girl and pulled out money from my pocket.

"I got this."  I pressed my lips softly against Riley's cheek as I held her feet firmly on the ground.

I threw a few wadded-up bills on the counter in front of the clerk. She shook her head with a scowl as she straightened them out and began counting.  The droopy-faced lady counted three times just to make sure I wasn't trying to short-change her. She handed me some coins back and I shoved them back into my pocket.

"Thanks," I said as I let Riley go.

The irritated blond stood there with her arms crossed and tapped her foot on the ground as I grabbed the plastic bag off the counter. Riley stormed out of the store without even bothering to check to see if I was following her.

It was sickening how much pleasure I was getting out of watching her get all worked up like this.

I quickly followed her out of the store to catch up to her. My long legs helped me get to her quickly and I looped my arm around her waist so she couldn't escape again.

"Got a short fuse today, Beautiful?" I asked as I leaned some of my weight onto her.

"Didn't you hear that lady?"  She snarled and smashed her feet against the ground. The sound was echoing throughout the almost empty parking lot.

"Yeah, I think she needs to get laid." I teased.

Riley stopped without any warning and she gave me a little shove off her. I didn't expect the move but was able to catch myself before I tripped over my feet. When I lowered my eyes down to her, there was a dark challenge deep in her eyes as she glared back at me.

"Well, you should go back in there and help her out. There are a couple more girls still in there who you didn't get a chance to flirt with."  She countered.

I bit back the inappropriately timed laughter threatening to erupt.

That was really what her snarky attitude was all about. It had absolutely nothing to do with the nasty woman who couldn't keep her mouth shut. Riley didn't like that other females gave me attention.

Someone was feeling a bit possessive this morning and it wasn't me for a change.

Riley didn't need to worry about that. She was the only girl getting my attention today.

"Are you jealous?" I took a step closer to her and ran my fingers up and down over her arm.

"No." Her eyes went down to the ground. Riley wasn't a natural liar. Anyone within a thousand feet of her would have been able to call her on her bullshit. She was stark raving mad about it.

"You are. You should see how green your eyes get when you're envious. Jealously looks good on you, baby." I leaned down and pushed my mouth against hers.

"You're an ass." She said between gasps as she kissed me back.

I kissed her lips one final time as she melted into me. I had to stop touching her or we would never make it out of the parking lot.

"True. But that's exactly why you like me." I let her go and walked around to the passenger side of the car to open the door for her.

Riley's mouth was hanging open in shock as she processed what I had just said to her.  She knew it was true and that was why she didn't even try to deny it. Riley was the type of girl that wouldn't ever be satisfied with ordinary and boring. She wanted the drama. She craved the thrill that only someone like me could give to her.

Riley rolled her eyes at me. I don't even think she realized how often she pulled that little move on me.

She climbed in and I shut the car door behind her.  It was time to get this nightmare over with and get back to the fun part of our day together.  Riley and I were going to go home, do what had to be done, and then continue our weekend hookup until we drained it out of our systems.

My thumbs were drumming on the steering wheel to the music on the radio as we headed back to the house. The music was a decent distraction for me and filled the silence nicely. 

Riley, on the other hand, was growing more tense by the second.

After a few minutes and a couple of stop signs, I glanced over at her to make sure she was still doing alright. Riley had opened the bag at some point and pulled the Plan B pill package to reread it.

Her face had lost any trace of color it had and her eyes widened as she mouthed the words on the back of the box silently to herself. She flipped the box over a few times, reading every single word she could find.

What about taking the pill was freaking her out so much? Most girls did this shit all the time without even hesitating. Some chewed the stuff up like candy.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Not really." She admitted as she flipped it over again.

I was glad she was being honest with me about it, but there were no other options for us right now. Kids were not something I wanted and it would be better if we took care of this now instead of waiting to see how the situation played out.

I grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and squeezed it until my knuckles turned white. My irritation was flowing freely through my body.

Riley was teetering on this and I had to do something to stop her before she changed her mind.

I opted for the softer approach to guide her to the right decision without pushing too hard. She was too jumpy and spastic right now to listen to reason and I couldn't tie her up to force it down her throat. She needed to feel like this was what she wanted and I had to figure out how much more convincing I needed to do to get her there.

I gritted my teeth and said the words I knew would work even if I didn't mean them. 

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to. Just because we did it once without a condom, that doesn't mean it will happen." My tone sounded nice and sweet, but my head was screaming at her to quit being stupid.

"We can't take the risk. Let's go back to the house." She sighed defeatedly curled in on herself.

I nodded to let her know I understood.

Riley stayed silent the rest of the drive. I wasn't much in the mood for conversation either. I had a horrible feeling pitted in my stomach. Something about this situation felt off and it wasn't because of anything she was doing.

It was me. I felt off about it.

The house was empty when we pulled up, which was a huge relief.  Riley and I needed some privacy and ducking her brother and her annoying stalker would have only added to the intensity of the situation. Having her alone would give me an opportunity to make sure she went through with taking the pill. She could still backtrack and I would have to start all over again at square one with her.

Even if I had to get her drunk again, I was going to find a way to make sure that pill got into her stomach.

I ran my hand along Riley's back and nudged her through the door.  As soon as we were inside, she went straight up the stairs with the pharmacy bag in her hand. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a quick glass of water for her to drink.  I needed to hurry up and get upstairs so she didn't flush the pill down the toilet when I wasn't looking.

Riley was sitting on the closed toilet seat when I stepped inside the door. The box was torn open and lying on the ground. She was fumbling with shaking hands as she attempted to rip open the package that kept the pill in place. I placed my large hand over her trembling fingers and took the plastic and foil container to help.

The plastic tore easily in between my fingers, but I had a lot more experience with these than she did. I used to sneak cold medicine when I was between bottles of pills and couldn't get anything else to get a boost from.

I dropped the little round white pill in Riley's palm.

Her green eyes were shining and wet like she was holding back tears. She took a deep breath as she looked at me and placed the pill on her tongue. She held it out a little as she took the glass of water from my hands and pressed it to her lips.

My body shuddered with relief as I watched her swallow it down.

She went through with it. It was over. We could go back to using each other without the weight hanging over top of us.

Riley doubled over and held her hands over her face. Her pain-filled sobs bounced off every single wall and surface, driving a spike into my gut.  Riley was young and all things good. She wasn't ready to be in my kind of world where shit like this was normal. I should have been more careful and cautious with her.

Fuck, I should have never even touched her in the first place.

"Please don't cry. I am really sorry." I apologized to her.

The apology wasn't for the mistakes we made. It was because I should have been stronger and stayed away from her. I shouldn't have put her in this situation in the first place. 

I stood there with my hands in my pockets and watched the girl cry. I didn't know what to do other than just be there in the room in case she needed me. She looked exhausted, like she was going to fall over onto the ground any second. Riley needed to go lay down and sleep this off like a bad high.

I took her hand and helped her up from the toilet. I had to get her back in my room and behind closed doors until she settled down. If anyone came home, I didn't want them to catch her in the bathroom crying with me staring over top of her like a creep.

Riley started walking out into the hall. She wobbled a lot like she was out of it and had forgotten how to walk. She was coping with her unease by shutting her brain down. 

I bent down and grabbed the package off the floor. I had to hide it someplace before anyone else got home.  I couldn't throw it in the garbage and run the risk of someone seeing it.

Riley's legs were about to buckle when I caught up to her. I held her up by her arm and inched her down the hall slowly towards my room.

"You should lay down and get some rest." I shut the door behind me and guided her over to the bed. I dropped the empty package on the ground and used my foot to slip it under the edge.  I would have to dispose of it the next time I left the house.

Riley collapsed down and tucked herself under the covers to hide away from me.  I wasn't going to let her be alone right now, even if she begged me to leave. I slid my shoes off my feet and invited myself down right beside her.

I scooted my body close to hers and pulled her backside into me. Riley was breathing softly and her eyes were closed, but her face still held signs of the stress she was refusing to let go of. I kissed her shoulder and neck until my lips were numb and swollen.

I tumbled off the edge of consciousness, giving in to restless sleep.

I jerked awake moments later when the bed shifted and the warmth left my side. Riley was tearing the blankets back and trying to climb over my legs to get off the bed. Her face was twisted up in agony. She was sweating and clutching at the center of her abdomen just below her belly button.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to figure out what the hell was going on with her.

"I'm going to be sick."