The beer is pulled from my hands and a soda takes its place; I look up and watch as Tucker takes a long pull from my beer, and a warm feeling fills me.
“Lighten up, Tuck. The girl can drink if she wants to,” Tom says, looking me up and down.
“Unlike you, fuck boy, I pay attention. Trust me, she’d rather have the soda.” He’s not wrong, and it makes me feel… good that he even noticed.
“Long live, saint Tucker.” Tom mock bows before stepping closer. “Stop trying to be someone you’re not, seeing as I help more of your cast offs than you do.”
“Enough, for crying out loud. I have had the worst few weeks and all I want to do is have some fun. So, either lighten up or fuck off,” Aeron says a little too loudly, before tossing his bottle onto the sand.
“Okay, you want to have fun. Let’s blow this fucking place then, we’ll have to leave now though before the parents arrive,” says Tucker. The Harkwright parents being here, well, it makes me want to run away and hide.
“What do you say, Little Zero? You can either come with us or go back to our room. Just make sure you keep the door locked if you stay.” Aeron is looking at me with kind eyes as he skims his hands up and down my arms. My little half truth seems to be forgotten.
“You mean I can choose?” A choice that doesn’t involve spreading my legs? Yeah, I like those choices.
“Just because you’re stuck with Aeron over there, doesn’t mean that this can’t be a holiday for you, too. Come on, Moonbeam, choose to have some fun.” I don’t know why I have so many nicknames, but I like that Tom has one for me and that’s all kinds of fucked up.
“What the heck? You only live once. I’ll come,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster.
“Not yet, but later you will,” Aeron all but growls in my ear and my cheeks heat for a whole other reason.
I thought I got off lucky when Tucker claimed shotgun in Aeron’s car. Who better to ride with than the guy who had kept me safe so many times? I mean, in my mind, Tom is the safest bet… I really need to stop making rash judgements because I’m white knuckling the ‘oh shit’ handle with all my might right now.
“Will you relax? I’m an excellent driver,” he says with a smirk as the speed picks up, and there’s an excitement shining bright in his gaze.
He doesn’t look bored now!
“Can’t you just slow down a little?” I plead, and he does, dropping the speed down from ninety miles an hour to eighty-five.
“We will not crash or get arrested. I just need to have a little fun before we join up with the others,” he says easily as he drops the speed, before taking a sharp turn that sends me hurtling toward him.
“How is this fun?” I snap, as I right myself right before we come to a stop in the middle of nowhere.
I can still hear the sea, so we couldn’t have gone too far, but all I can see is grass, the odd tree, and a few flowers lit up in the headlights.
“Come on, Moonbeam. Do you not know how to have fun? You’re with Aeron, of all people, and I can’t imagine he’s boring,” he says lazily as he relaxes back into his seat, and turns his head to look at me.
“My idea of fun is baking, shooting something with a bow, or spending time with D. As for Aeron, well, he’s something alright,” I mumble the last part but I doubt he missed it.
“That’s fine and all, but where’s the fun?” He places his hand over my mouth to stop me from responding. “Baking is pretty much life to you, Moonbeam, you live to bake and create. Archery is alright, but it’s done in a controlled environment, where’s the excitement? The risk? As for D, she’s good people, but you can’t always trust her judgement, but at least she takes a risk. What do you do? Name one thing you have ever done that held even an element of danger. And then tell me, if at any time, did it excite you?”
His eyes are blazing and I understand it now, he gets off on the adrenaline. No wonder he always looks bored, he probably is. Although, I wonder how I’m supposed to answer with his hand still over my mouth.
“Come on, Moonbeam… do something.” There’s a shadow lurking in his stare, something dark that calls for me to do something reckless. The only thing is, reckless isn’t in my nature.
So, all I can think to do is lick his palm and his answering laugh as he pulls his hand away makes it worth it.
“The only real risk I have taken is deciding to come to the Academy. Every day since has just given me more. I may not be exciting in your eyes, Tom, but I still do things that are hard. The only difference is, your decisions don’t have any consequences. l bet all these risks you take aren’t even really risks in the grand scheme of things.” For fuck’s sake, Luna, I give up. Stop forgetting yourself when you’re around these guys. They are not safe.
Okay, despite my inner voice, I wonder if I can take a second right here and pat myself on the back. Not just for saying it, but for not becoming a stammering fool - as the bullies used to say.
“You think everything is easy for me, Thirty-Four? For all of us Harkwrights?” No nickname this time, I guess I’ve annoyed him, or at least insulted whatever view he has of himself.
“N-n-no I n-n-never s-said that.” Damn it, I was doing so well.
“Look, I know it can’t be easy to sign yourself away for three years, especially with the attention you’ve garnered. The thing is, you chose to enter the Academy. No one forced you into it. So, think what you will about me, but I face more consequences than you’d ever realize. You chose to sign your life away, I wasn’t that lucky.” His eyes are on fire for a different reason now, the excitement is long gone. Hot anger has been left in its place.
“I didn’t mean to judge. I guess, I just assumed the Harkwright guys come here and have their fill.”
“The thing about assumptions, they’re rarely true. Well, my good mood is shot to shit. Anything else you want to ruin? How about Aeron? I’m sure you can rub a good heaping of salt in his wounds too.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. Do you not understand how hard it is to be around you guys? Half the time I’m being told what to do, and the other half, I’m being told I can make some choices for myself, but even they have stipulations. I can choose who I give myself to, but Emmet has decided it can’t be to Aeron. I can say no to other Harkwrights, yet all it does is award me more animosity from everyone else. What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to think when it comes to all of you? And I’m sorry I made assumptions about the person you are, but…”
His mouth is on mine before I can say anything else. Everything is gloriously blank, I can’t think, all I can do is feel.
He pulls away slowly before unclipping my belt and hoisting me onto his lap. I can’t protest or even say anything before his mouth is back on mine and my fingers are threading through his hair. My nails drag across his scalp, and he moans deep in his chest before fisting my hair and pulling my head back. He isn’t rough; it feels so fucking good, it’s as if he knows my limits better than I do.
He pulls back once more and places his hands on my lower back, holding me close enough that my chest is pressed against his.