“Next week.”
Chapter
Fourteen
“How are you feeling?” The mattress sinks down under Ethan’s weight. He brushes my hair back and gently presses the thermometer against my forehead. “Fever is down.”
Since I just sat up, I start coughing and hold up my hand. “Better,” I say between coughs. “I don’t sound like it, I know.”
“You gotta get all that crap up and out of your chest.”
Nodding, I sit up even more and lean forward, coughing so hard my head hurts. “Ugh. This sucks.”
Ethan rubs my back. “I know. I feel bad for you, babe.”
“I do like you taking care of me.” Smiling, I turn toward him. “It’s nice.”
“And I like taking care of you. Which I’m going to do the rest of today and again tomorrow. Because you’re not going to wake up and be all better,” he adds, knowing how stubborn I am when it comes to this. “I meant what I said about going after demons when you’re sick. You’re not able to react as fast, and coughing like that is kind of a dead giveaway when you’re trying to hide.”
“That is a good point. I was really hoping to sit in on one of Ruby’s classes tomorrow.”
“You have all next week.”
“Speaking of next week,” I start and lean back, taking Ethan’s hand in mine, tracing one of the tattoos on his forearm. “Harrison is coming for a visit.”
“Oh, nice.”
“Yeah…”
“I thought you’d be happier about your brother coming into town.”
“I am, but he’s going to be here for a while this time. Well, maybe. He has some sort of marketing presentation to do and if it goes well, he’ll get a promotion and will be moved to the Chicago office, which means he won’t have a place to live for a while and asked if he can stay here while he checks out the city.”
“It’s a bit of a drive, going back and forth, though when I lived in Chicago I knew a lot of people who commuted from this general area. The cost of living is a lot less.” Ethan mused.
“Right. He said he’ll be in a hotel on Monday and Tuesday since he’s presenting those days. T hen he’ll come here for the rest of the week and should find out about the promotion by Friday.”
“I do not envy anyone who works an office job like that,” Ethan muses and I agree. “We have the room. He can stay as long as he needs.”
“You don’t mind?”
“He’s your brother, of course not. And we already have one roommate, why not add another?”
“I love you,” I say with a smile. “Is there any leftover soup from the other night?”
“There is, and I think Nik was lonely because he spent all of yesterday evening cooking and baking.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.”
“I guess,” Ethan grumbles but I know he appreciates it.
“Between you and Nik I rarely have to cook.”
“Between myself and Nik your cooking isn’t very good,” Ethan teases and I laugh because it’s true. I get up and we go into the kitchen so I can heat up a bowl of veggie stew that Nik made. I flip through one of the books Ruby gave me as I eat, taking notes of stuff to add to my Book of Shadows. There are still blank pages in the back, but I hope anyone else who gets this book after me learns the basics at school.
Keeping true to my word, I spend the rest of the day resting and end up falling asleep again around dinner time. I wake up to find Ethan in the kitchen, making my favorite vegetarian chili with cornbread. Nik is sitting cross-legged on the island counter, listening to Ethan tell him a story about the time he and Sam were hunting something called a rougarou in Louisiana. We eat in the dining room, going back to our normal evening routine.
Ethan cleans stalls and I feed the horses, and Nik is cleaning the kitchen when we get back inside. Normally, I’d help, but both Nik and Ethan tell me to go rest. Having no issue getting out of cleaning, I go into the living room and get comfy on the couch with Hunter. We all watch a movie together and then I call it an early night.
And I really do wake up feeling better the next morning, but still make an effort to rest as much as I can. It pays off because I’m back to feeling normal by Friday, and I’m meeting Ruby right outside the Covenstead door at noon today to sit in on her afternoon classes.
“Have you heard from Sam?” I ask Ethan as I run a brush through my hair.
“She texted this morning. They really have nothing,” he tells me, running a towel over his body. I watch him in the mirror, admiring how his muscles flex as he moves.
“I’m not surprised, though if some run-of-the-mill person killed Hector, there’s a murderer on the loose and that’s concerning.”
“Right? Especially considering how clean the crime scene was, well, other than leaving the murder weapon nearby.”
“You think it was left on purpose.”
“It definitely was. There’s not a trace of DNA on anything else.” He wraps the towel around his waist. “An autopsy was done and the reports should be released soon. Whatever that yields could be the biggest clue we get.”
“Let me know if you hear from her about that.”
“I will.” He comes across the bathroom and kisses me, snaking one of his arms around my waist. He’s still all hot from the shower, and I put my brush down, spinning in his arms.
“You smell good,” I tell him, leaning in and breathing in the woodsy scent of his body wash on his skin. Ethan buries his face against my neck, feeling his lips brush against my neck is all it takes to turn me on. I pull the towel from his waist, licking my lips as I look at his cock. It’s hanging flaccid between his legs, for now, but it’s still an impressive sight.
Slowly, I move my gaze up his abdomen and look him right in the eye as I step forward, taking his cock in my hand. His eyes flutter shut as I continue to stroke him and I watch him grow hard in my hand. Knowing I’m the one he’s getting hard for makes me wet, and m y pussy is begging to be touched. I drop down to my knees and take his cock into my mouth, swirling my tongue around the tip, lapping up the precum.
Ethan groans, one hand going to my head, taking a tangle of my hair. I speed up, taking him all the way to the back of my throat.
“Fuck,” he moans, pulling back just seconds before he comes in my mouth. He grabs my arms and brings me to my feet, so close to coming I know he’s going to get right to it, and I’m more than ready. I’m wearing a green sweater dress and haven’t yet put on my leggings. Ethan takes me around the waist, bunching up my dress, and spins me around so my ass is against him. I grip the bathroom counter, letting my eyes close when he slips his hand inside my panties, feeling how wet I am for him. He teases my clit, gently rubbing it before he slips two fingers inside me, going right to my g-spot, moving his fingers in slow circles until I’m almost there.
Then he yanks the material to the side and enters me, thrusting in hard and fast. He plays with my clit as he fucks me, holding off until I come, pussy contracting around his cock. He moves his hand back, holding onto my waist, and thrusts in deeper. I get hit with another sensation of pleasure when he comes inside me, filling with even more warmth.