“If you feel anything like how you taste, I’m warning you, get out now.” He placed his forehead against mine. “Because I won’t let you go.”
I smiled against his lips, but then he thrust inside me with a low growl and the only thing I could do was gasp at the feel. It wasn’t unpleasant, but he was deep, and I swore I felt him everywhere. I wrapped my legs around his waist, tugging him, begging for him to ease the tension building inside me. He filled me with more tension, an ache that made my eyes roll back and traveled to the tips of my toes. I was tingling all over as he moved, my chest expanding as I gripped his arms tight. Soon I felt an explosion of emotions go off inside me. It had never felt like that—like art—colorful and raw.
“Fuck, Amelia.” He thrust again. He pressed his forehead against mine, eyes shut tight as he came to a stop. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“Please don’t stop.”
“I’m not letting you go.” His eyes popped open, meeting mine as he pulled out and thrust again. “I never want to let you go.”
“So don’t.” I grabbed his shoulders and moved to his tempo.
We held each other the entire time, looking into each other’s eyes as if scared the other would disappear. I came like a firework going off in the dead of night, loudly and trembling. He followed in the same fashion, his grunts decreasing as his strokes died down. He let himself fall over me until we were chest to chest, but held himself off to the side to not burden me with his weight. Our hearts beat against one another’s, having a conversation that was too deep for either of us to voice aloud right now. The only time we left the bed was to clean up and start again, as if needing to satiate the ache that had been building between us. When our bodies were tired and we finally decided on sleep, he kissed my shoulder and held me close. It was the best sleep I’d gotten in weeks.
Chapter 35
I stretched my arms over my head with a loud yawn and looked over at Logan, who was still sleeping. I bit my lip as I smiled. Honestly, if he hadn’t stayed the night, I would have thought I dreamed it all—his mouth on me, his hands, the way he watched me as I climaxed. It was all so raw, so real, and even still it felt like a dream. I pushed myself out of bed, grabbing my phone as I headed to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, messy hair, flushed skin, wearing Logan’s college t-shirt that was entirely too big on me and I was never giving back. I smiled again. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt this happy.
As I started brushing my teeth, I checked my texts, expecting my mother to have texted me twice, as usual. It was always the same: good morning, sweet pea, followed by, Lincoln is still resting. Resting. I’d gotten used to it, but it wasn’t something I enjoyed. The only reason I didn’t argue with her or tell her to stop calling it that was because I knew a part of her was saying it for her sake, not mine. Today, there were no texts. It was eleven in the morning.
When I finished brushing, I decided to call her. Her phone was answered on the second ring, not by her, but my father. Because of all of the recent information I’d heard about him, I had cut communication with him. Normally, I was a daddy’s girl through and through, always texting and sending him random I love you’s throughout the day, but how could I continue that now? After all the rumors I’d heard? And that’s what I hoped they were—rumors, but I couldn’t just erase them from my mind.
“Hey, sweet pea. You haven’t called your dad in a long time,” he said. “How have you been?”
“Okay.” I took a breath. “How’s Lincoln?”
“They’re in the process of waking him now. We’re all barely breathing over here.”
“Who is we all?” I crossed an arm over myself as I paced the bathroom. I didn’t want to go back into the room and risk waking up Logan.
“Your brothers, mother, grandmothers and I.”
“Wow. You guys didn’t even think to invite me to this? I didn’t realize it was a family affair.” I frowned, trying not to let it get to me, but I felt the tears form anyway as my emotions took ownership of Lincoln. “He’s my brother. He’s my best friend.”
“You’ve been through a lot, Amelia. We don’t want you to stress more than you already are. You’re in school and we all agreed that you need to enjoy your life in college.” Dad was using his soft, placating voice now.
“Yeah, well, congrats. I’m having a grand old time here at The Lab.”
Dad chuckled lightly. “They initiated you.”
“I’m sure you knew before it happened.”
“I did.”
“I heard a lot of rumors about you. None of them good.”
He was quiet for a beat. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
“Not even when there’s proof?”
“Sometimes what people try to sell as proof is nothing more than baseless lies.”
“Pictures don’t lie.”
“Pictures tell you what you want to believe.” His voice was even more hushed now. “If you want the truth you go straight to the source. I’m assuming in this case, that’s me. So ask. Ask what you want to ask and stop trying to play Sherlock with the Valentine girl and whoever else you’ve found to play along with you.”
I stopped pacing. He knew about Hailey? How could he possibly know what we talked about? My mind raced. Ella. Ella Valentine must have told him. Maybe Hailey and her mom had the kind of relationship that consisted of telling each other everything. Or maybe those little cameras I’d seen in the coffee shop caught audio. A thought occurred to me then. Had Lana ever been to the coffee shop? It seemed like everyone on campus had been. Why would Lana be the exception? I made a mental note to ask Hailey when I saw her.
“Were you with Lana?” I asked my father, and held my breath as I waited for his response.
“Anyone at The Eight and who goes to The Lab for events can tell you that I was mentoring Lana. She was a bright student and wanted to get into media when she graduated. Yes, I helped her.”
“Were you with her, dad? With her. Please don’t make me say the words aloud.” I shut my eyes, not bothering to wipe the tears falling down my cheeks.
“I was her mentor, Amelia,” he said. “That’s the beginning and the end of that.”
“Okay.” I breathed out. Did I believe him? No, but I wanted to. I really, really wanted to. I wiped my face and bit down on the tip of my thumb as I leaned against the counter. “What’s going on with Lincoln now?”
“The doctor hasn’t come back out. We’ll keep you posted okay?” he said.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“And, Amelia? Don’t mention anything about the mentorship or The Lab or The Eight to your mother. She’s already been through enough.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me, and hung up the phone without saying another word. The knock on the bathroom door had me wiping my face faster. Logan opened it slowly. He looked so sexy, with disheveled hair and a lust filled expression on his face as he took me in, wearing his t-shirt. Whatever he saw on my face made him sigh heavily. I could only imagine what a mess he saw, but I didn’t care, because as he wrapped his strong arms around me the only thing I could do was breathe him in and pray that I could keep him forever.