“It doesn’t have to go into your arse. I told you, bisexual men only have anal—”
“Jake, I nearly fucking died. Can I have a break from your polymorphous perversity for just one night?”
Even I heard the thread of exhaustion in his joke, my arms tightening around him. Jake settled back down against Billy, I could feel it in the link, but obviously in a way that was more acceptable to him, because Billy’s body went limp. The others joined us, settling on the bed before Aen drew a blanket over the lot of us.
“Sleep,” he told me when I peered up at him, heavy eyed. “Look after your quintet. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
It was hard to determine if that was a threat or a promise, but the weird tiredness inside me didn’t allow for further inspection, which was perhaps why his hand went to my hip.
I wondered who was lying behind me, but when he touched me tentatively, I felt it. Johnno came tumbling down the link, along with his excitement and fear and anger and need and reticence. I placed a hand over his, dulling the connection somehow, and then dragged him closer.
“What was it like?” I mumbled, sleep reaching for me now.
“Me?” Billy asked, and I nodded. “Like sinking into a sea of blackness. You know you’re falling way too deep, but you just don’t care. Not until you reached for me.”
That should have scared me, but I couldn’t seem to summon the feeling as I sunk into the dark myself.
Chapter 17
Going forward, I wanted to be woken with kisses every damn morning.
They were just light little presses of his lips on my skin. Not prompts, not shaking me awake. Just tiny little butterfly touches that slowly and surely drew my awareness up out of sleep and back here to him. I felt one at the corner of my mouth as my eyelids fluttered, another on my cheek as they flicked open. It took me a little while to reconcile the dark shape above me, my demon lover. Billy paused, looking down at me.
“Sorry, I—”
I shut him up with a kiss of my own. Just a close mouthed one, a gentle press, but he had other ideas. His hand cupped my head, forcing me harder against him, deepening the kiss, his tongue tracing the seam of my lips and surging forward when they parted. I found my body grinding against his, wanting, needing to get closer.
We kissed until we were breathless, and then we drew apart, looking at each other.
“I…”
He kept trying to speak, but the moment for that was over, something he seemed to realise. He nodded to himself, then reached out, peeling the blankets back just a little, his eyes taking in every bit of what he revealed before his hand landed on my collarbone. I felt a little embarrassed, since he’d never touched me like this before, but that soon faded. His focus, the slight shift of his hand, that got all of my attention, but mostly it was this—the warmth of his skin against mine, so unlike last night. I could feel blood pulsing through his palm, carrying heat from him to me. I covered his hand then drew it up, placing a kiss on its centre. He swallowed, those eyes boring into mine before surging forward.
It felt like we could just spend the day doing this—giving each other long slow kisses, studies in the shape of our lips, the feel of them between our teeth, the thrust of our tongues. I grabbed his hair in great wanton handfuls, just relishing in the soft slip of it between my fingers.
I’d been able to do this the whole time. I’m not sure, if I’d crawled over to Billy back in the bus, whether he’d throw me off, but he’d been there all along, ready to be reached for, but somehow now, now was when this had to happen. I couldn’t seem to get enough of touching him, letting my fingers drag across the stubble on his chin, tracing the shape of his lips before he caught them between his teeth, suckling on the tips.
“I need—” he said finally.
“I know.”
“But—”
“It’s OK. I’m OK.” I frowned at that, last night’s horror bleeding in. “Are you OK?”
He smiled, a small fleeting thing, and grabbed my hand, placing it on his chest so I could feel it. Traitorous heart, its erratic thud last night had terrified me, but now it beat evenly, like a drum. My hand wasn’t satisfied with that miracle though, pulling free of his grip to drag my fingertips across his satin skin, his rigid muscle. Millions of girls had photos of this chest pinned up on their walls, and I felt a feeling of reverence as I traced the taut lines of it. He watched me like a hawk, like somehow, I’d give myself away.
“I’ve only ever touched a person in need or want,” he said, and my eyes jerked up to meet his. “I touched them to feed the beast, feed her. I touched them because I was hard and wanted to empty my balls. I touched them to ensure their loyalty to Hartley.” Two fingers landed on my bottom lip, pushing inside slightly to meet my tongue when it flicked out. “It hurts to touch someone in love. So much so, I wonder how people bear it. I didn’t realise that.” Those dark eyes flicked to me. “But now it hurts more not to touch you. Can I, Kira?”
Had any of them ever asked me for that? I couldn’t think, my brain clogged by his heavy incense scent, but something flared hard inside me, something that had him smiling. He took a deep breath in.
“Fucking sugar cookies. If you had any idea how embarrassing it is to get hard to the smell of baked goods… We had it on our rider for a while after you left. Didn’t work though, just left me aching and dying for a taste.”
“So taste me.”
I blurted the words out, caught in the hypnotic snake stare of his, thoroughly under his spell. And there was a spell about the room. It was empty now, I realised, everyone having exited at some point in the night, the bed returning to its usual size, the diffused light creating a cocoon like environment enhanced by the creep of our shadows across the wall.
“You don’t know what you’re inviting into your bed, little girl,” he growled, some of that alien black presence returning to his eyes, despite Lilith remaining coiled like a snake in my guts. She shifted at that though, making a pleased little sound.
“So show me.”
His hand wrapped around my wrist, pinning it against the bed, even as he rubbed the sensitive skin. He loomed above me, a dark figure now, the shadows peeling off the walls at his call. The air felt cooler, like I’d be able to exhale great clouds of vapour if I tried, goosebumps prickling, my nipples pulling tight. I heard the whispers of a million voices as he covered his body with mine.
My hand went to his hair as I felt the rasp of his breath against my skin, right before his tongue flicked out. He licked one nipple, making me squirm and want more before switching sides and doing the same. The caress grabbed my attention, but when it was there, it was too soft, too fleeting to do what I needed. He chuckled as I wriggled, then teased at the skin, tracing the tight little wrinkles of my areola, circling the aching points, only to move again.
I wanted more, and I told him so, trying to use my grip on his hair to force the issue, but he just locked all his muscles, not moving until I flopped back onto the bed. He grinned at that.
“You want more, baby? I’ll give you more.”
His eyes glittered as he gestured for them to come, his shadows rushing across the floor and the bed, to come and swallow me whole.