I gasp and cling to him as he sinks inch by inch deeper into me. Stars explode before my vision. I’m shocked by how he fits inside of me. So damn tight, and yet so perfectly.
When he reaches his hilt, he stops, and then we’re both kissing each other with a desperation that’s unmatched. His hands cup my breasts, then tease the tips in a way that has me grinding against his cock as he groans my name against his lips.
But every time he starts to get loud, I press my tongue into his mouth, and the sounds of his pleasure and mine mingle together. A perfect meeting of two people who have known each other forever, and yet are still learning to please each other.
As his hands continue to tease my breasts, I finally snap and draw my mouth from his. Using my hands against his shoulder for leverage, I lift off of him and come down hard over and over again while we both bite down our sounds of pleasure.
But the faster I move, the harder it is to stay silent. The more out of control we feel. Before long, I’m working him in all the right ways, sliding against him so he hits my clit just perfectly.
My hands move to my hair, and then I’m pulling on the strands as I ride him harder and harder before finally crashing over the edge. He grabs my hips and presses me down onto his cock as I lose control, wave after wave hitting me until he cries out my name and explodes into me, his warm cum filling my channel.
For several long seconds we continue to move together, riding the waves of our pleasure until I at last collapse on top of him.
We lie together, breathing hard, our hearts racing together.
“That was…” he begins. “Better than I ever dreamed about.”
“Really?” I say, sighing and snuggling against him.
“Yeah, I’d jerk off almost every night thinking about you in this bed with me, but it was never this good.”
I lightly smack his shoulder. “You did not!”
He chuckles. “Oh, I did.”
The mood’s broken when Reid bangs on the door. “Hey, we’ve got to get back before classes. You guys up?”
Aiden freezes, his eyes locked on mine. I have to bite back a giggle, as if we’ve been caught doing something, even though Reid definitely knows we had sex. Any other time, I’d invite him in, but Aiden and Reid’s parents might overhear us.
“We’re...up,” I manage after a second. “We’ll be there soon.”
Aiden shakes his head slowly. “On the one hand, he’s my brother and I’d die for him. On the other hand, sometimes I really fantasize about murdering him.”
I laugh, and we cuddle together for a few more minutes before the two of us get dressed and head downstairs. A sudden pit forms in my stomach as we approach the kitchen. I’d felt Aiden turn distant again last night; it felt like he came alive a little when we left for the academy, and I didn’t think that had anything to do with the gods. I think it was just because he left his family behind, and with them, some of the way they’ve seen him. It all makes me want to protect him, even if he’s six-foot-something and looks intimidating as hell if you’re not friends with him.
But when we walk into the kitchen, his mom looks up from the stove and her face brightens. “Aiden!”
He stops dead, just for a second. Then he keeps moving as if nothing happened. “Morning, Mom. Is there coffee?”
He’s already getting two mugs down from the cabinet above the coffee pot, which anyone could see is full.
“There is. I wanted to see you guys off with a good breakfast, at least. Do you have time? I made bacon, and that stuffed french toast you like.”
“You haven’t made that in years,” Aiden says.
“Don’t be dramatic,” she says with a laugh as she carries the dish of bacon over to the kitchen table. “I don’t think it’s been years. And anyway, you and Reid are both competent in the kitchen. You could make your own french toast.”
“It’s not the same,” Aiden says, and she looks at him with her smile dimming, as if she knows as well as I do that they’re not really talking about the french toast.
“I know,” she says, “and anyway, you don’t have to. Your mom will always cook for you. I’ve got to do something to entice you to come home and visit, now that you’ve left.”
She tousles his hair before she returns to the oven to get out the french toast.
“Are you feeling alright?” Aiden asks.
“I’m fine,” she says. She puts the pan on the table too, then turns to him. Her lips part, as if there’s something she wants to say, but she can’t. She’s still smiling as she turns away, but there’s a sudden sheen of tears in her eyes. She starts to fuss with nothing, looking in the refrigerator for something I don’t think she’ll ever find.
I look sharply at Aiden, wondering if he saw it too. For a second, he just stands there, staring at her back, his jaw tense, his arms crossed over his powerful chest.
Then, abruptly, like a decision, he asks, “Mom?”
“Yeah?” She straightens from the fridge, but doesn’t turn around. Her voice is so cheerful that it doesn’t sound real.
“Turn around,” he says.
“Goodness, you’re bossy,” she teases as she turns, wiping her eyes quickly and smiling as if no one will notice.
But he’s already pulling her tight in a hug, and when he does, she wraps her arms around his neck and starts to really cry.
“Aiden,” she says into his shoulder.
“I know, Mom,” he says. “I know.”
For a while, they just hold each other.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Van
We’re sitting in what I guess I’ll call my new car, flying down the winding dirt road leading back to the reform school. In the back seat, Aiden, Reid, and Wilder are crammed together like sardines. The three of them all appear to be sleeping, but I know enough to know that at least one of them is probably pretending just to avoid having to chat with each other.
Beside me, Izzy sits with her head thrown back, her long caramel-colored hair rippling around her in the wind from the open window. I try to subtly watch her out of the corner of my eye, but I don’t think I’m being as subtle as I thought. Normally with women, they were just sort of there. I could change one out for another and not notice the difference. But with Izzy… Well, there’s no one like her. I’d never quite figured out what drew me to her, but it was as strong as a rope between us.
It was hard not to stare all the time. But when she had her eyes closed like she did now? I just drank her in. Because while all this “god shit” might be enough to make any normal person feel unsure how much time they had left, I always kind of got the sense that the clock was ticking for me…faster than it was for anyone else.
“Do you think the godslayers will be back?” Izzy asks.
I frown as her eyes open and connect with mine. Of course she knew I was watching her. “Does it matter?”
“It matters if they’re waiting to kill us…”
I try to shrug away the tension that seems to rise between my shoulder blades, but I don’t let Izzy know I’m worried about the godslayers too. I won’t add to her stress. “I’m pretty sure we can take them out if we need to, either way, so let them come.”