"So you were sent here," I muse. "Maybe someone's protecting you from Riekki and her crazysauce?"
"Mmm. Perhaps."
I think for a moment and then venture, "Is it possible that you're not supposed to return home at all? That whoever sent you here wants you to stay?"
He props up on one elbow, looking down at me. His gaze devours me, and for a moment, I think he's going to kiss me and we're going to fuck and he'll forget all about answering me. But Kassam just shakes his head, thoughtful. "If that were the case, would I not be split? I was very aware every time the High Father tore me into the four aspects of myself. Right now, I feel like…Hedonism only. I am a left-over shard from my world, and I think I must get back. You could be right that someone brought me here to hide me, but I have been gone millennia. My worshipers will have dwindled to nothing. And if a god has no one to pray to him…what happens then?"
"I don't know," I admit. I think about the woman at the bar and offer, "Lachesis—she said she was fate of this world. She suggested we think about who sent you here, and we'd find our answers there."
"Lachesis?" Kassam's eyes go wide and the thoughtful look disappears from his face, changing to one of worry. "She approached you?"
Is that…bad? "She was at the bar, smoking a cigarette. She told me that my mother was—oh god, my mother." I've been unconscious, and I haven't passed on Lachesis's warning. I grab Kassam's hand. "Where is my phone?"
"What is a phone?"
Oh boy. Frantic, I sit up, pushing him aside. My head throbs—the pain focused around my nose, and I jump from the bed. "The phone. You know, the square thing I'm always typing on? Please, Kassam, I need it." Like most people nowadays, I don't see the need for a landline, and right now my phone is my only way to get ahold of my mom. She checks her email maybe once a week, so that won't work. Did I leave my phone in the bar? In the parking lot?
"Wait, Carly, we need to talk about Lachesis. I don't like that she's coming to you—"
"My phone," I cry again. I grab a pair of jeans from the floor, shake the nesting cat off of them, and shove my foot through one leg. "Lachesis gave me a warning for my mother. Said she has to stop reading our cards. That she could hurt herself. I have to call her and tell her to stop—"
"I do not have your small box," Kassam says apologetically. "It was important?"
I press my hands to my face and then wince, because that hurts like the dickens. I finish shoving my jeans on and stumble toward the bathroom, just in case my phone ended up there somehow. The moment I flick the light on, I reel in horror at my face. My nose is swollen twice its size, and there's an ugly bruise on one side of my brow and scratches along my jaw, probably where I hit the gravel. Good lord, I look rough.
No phone, though. I'll lament over how bad I look some other time. I race back into the bedroom and hold a hand out for Kassam. "Come on, we have to find a phone somewhere. I've got to call my mom and warn her."
He gets up from the bed lazily, languidly, and I'm hit with a blast of need that makes my knees buckle. "Carly," he murmurs, pulling me into his arms and palming my breast through my T-shirt. "It will be all right. Do not panic."
"Need…to help…Mom," I pant, even as he rolls my nipple under skilled fingers and plucks at it. "You're distracting me."
"I cannot help myself. I need to touch you." Kassam toys with my nipple, his expression hazy with arousal, lips parted just inches away from mine. "I think my magic is drained and the only way I get it back is giving in to my curse." The smile he gives me is so sexy and hungry that it makes me squirm. He pinches my nipple, fingers light enough that it makes me gasp at the sharp sensation. "Help me focus."
Focus? When he's touching me like this and I just want to drop to my knees in front of him? I moan, pressing my face against his bared, tanned chest. I'm inches away from his nipple, and it'd take nothing for me to lean over and lick that small, dark bud and see how he reacts. I slide my hand to his cock and my wrist feels curiously light. I glance down at it and notice scratches on my skin, encircling my wrist.
"Oh," I breathe, lifting my hand to examine it. As I do, Kassam takes my wrist and latches onto it, sucking on the tender skin of my inner wrist. "Oh, fuck, that's hot."
He tongues my pulse, the heat in his eyes full of promise. "Help me focus," he says again. "Carly, please."
I'm entranced by his mouth on my wrist. "Sure," I mumble. It's hard to think when he's touching me like this, his lips tracing the red scratches on my skin. "Scratches…"
"From your bracelet, yes. I took it off when you were hurt."
Bracelet. I squint at my skin even as he rakes his teeth over my flesh, sending shivers directly to my pussy. I should be wearing a bracelet.
Oh fuck, my quartz bracelet. I pull out of his grasp and touch my ears—the quartz earrings are gone, too. "Where's my jewelry?"
"Took it off." He thumbs my nipple again.
I bite back a whimper, but somehow I manage to pull free. "Can't think like this," I gasp. "Hedonism…"
"I know," he purrs, and when I take a step away, he grabs my hips and pulls me back against his cock. "We can contact your mother after I make you come."
"First," I pant. "Need to call Mom first." I scan my messy room, and when I see the jewelry on the floor next to an orange cat's flicking tail, I nearly sob in relief and disappointment both. I grab the quartz jewelry, clutching it to my chest. The moment I do, some of that delicious, twisting need fades. The fog clears from my thoughts and I glance at Kassam.
He palms his cock, watching me with eyes the color of smoke.
Okay, mental note, don't look at Kassam when I'm trying to get ahold of myself. I get to my feet and fasten one of the bracelets on his wrist. "I need to think straight," I remind him. "We can't do this right now."
Kassam nods, still rubbing his cock. "Too much," he murmurs. "I used too much of my magic. Even as it drained, the curse hit me like a bolt of lightning. It's still hitting me right now."
I can tell. He's still rubbing his shaft through his sweatpants. And god, I want to do the same. I stare as he drags his fingers up and down his length, outlining it through the soft material, and I've never wanted a man to flip me around onto my bed and rail me so badly.
"New plan," I say breathlessly. "We call my mom quickly. Make sure she's okay. Then we come back here and we fuck until dawn."
A sensual smile plays at Kassam's mouth, and he squeezes his length. "Very well."
It should absolutely not feel like I've somehow lost a bet when he agrees to that. Yet somehow, it does. I rub the crystals as I put them on, wishing they were a little more potent. But there aren't enough crystals in the world to counteract what Kassam is throwing off. Not enough in two worlds, probably.
14
My neighbor does not look thrilled to see me. If anything, he looks slightly terrified. "Y-your face," he mumbles as I come to the door. "What—"