Chapter 18
CHASE
We lazily make out for what feels like hours, reacquainting ourselves with each little inch of skin with our fingers. There’s all the time in the world; it’s just him and me here, after all. Easton grows impatient, rocking his hips in earnest and mewling like a kitten.
Chuckling, I mumble against his lips, “What is it, sweetheart? Need something?”
He growls, imposing all the fear of a baby bunny rabbit. “You fucking suck.” It comes out as more of a whine than anything. I struggle to swallow the laugh bubbling in my throat. He makes me so goddamn happy, it’s about to explode out of me. It’s abnormal, really, to feel this much for one person.
When desire pushes him into grouchiness, I’m sure I’ll die with this same smile etched onto my face for eternity. “Please.” It’s nothing more than a barely-there whine, but it hits me in the chest either way.
Grumpy and well-mannered is my favorite combination.
“Please, what?” I roll on top of him, trailing kisses along his jaw.
Easton’s long fingers dig into my shoulders as he wiggles. “You’re the worst,” he gasps when I find the sensitive spot on his neck.
So perfectly reactive.
I may be the worst, but I know how to tease what I want out of him. By the time I make it down his bare chest to lick the crease of his groin, I’ve got him well on the way to unraveling. He’s panting, squirming, and less than sixty seconds from cussing me the fuck out.
Beautiful.
“Put your dick in me already. Fucking please.”
Easton is flushed from his navel to his cheeks, and I’m in no rush to put him out of his misery. The restraint is teasing me as much as it is him, but the thought of taking him apart slowly is an offer I can’t refuse.
When he’s sick of my shit, he tosses a bottle of lube from the nightstand directly at my head. I dodge it with a laugh. “What’s the matter, baby?”
His pretty blue eyes are pure fire. “If you don’t start prepping me for your cock, I’m gonna do it myself and make sure you watch but not touch.”
I love him most when he’s unafraid to bite back; it shows he isn’t scared of me. “Cruel,” I note. “I can get behind that.”
Because I’m also at the edge of my control, prepping him is a thorough but quick affair that has him spewing cuss words and broken words of cries in equal measure. With great effort, he pulls himself up on his elbows to look at me through pale eyelashes. “At the hospital, nothing.”
Well, that was almost a full sentence. “Care to elaborate there, Chaos?” I ask, searching for the bottle that disappeared somewhere in the sheets.
He takes a deep breath, reorienting himself with reality. “They tested me at the hospital. I didn’t have anything.”
Oh. Oh. “Are you saying you want to skip condoms?”
Relieved, he collapses into the pillow. “Yeah, that. Fucking finally.”
“It’s just you and me here,” I echo, engrossed in the idea. Nothing in-between us. Christ. Easton practically glows in the dim light, like the source is somewhere inside of him rather than the insufficient moon. “You sure about this?”
It’s a big deal, made even more so by the history looming over our heads that I’m trying really hard not to think about.
Easton bites his lip and nods, blond hair gleaming.
“I am, but you don’t have to be. I won’t be upset if you’re uncomfortable about it, we can keep everything the same—no worries. ”
It’s hard not to laugh at the absurdity. “Sweetheart, the last thing you should be worried about is me not wanting to fuck you bare. I’m just trying to ensure that you’re thinking straight and not feeling like this is something you have to do.”
Here I am, knees planted firmly on the mattress, no less than a thousand feet away from him in this moment, scared to get him too touch-drunk to make a sound decision.
Easton scrambles up and crawls my way. “I don’t have to do anything with you, that’s why I want to.
” His hand cradles my face, the seriousness in his features making my chest ache.
“You’re gonna believe me one of these days, my love.
Every single thing about you is different.
I look into your eyes and have never felt safer. That means something, doesn’t it?”
“A whole fucking lot,” I rasp. Enough reassurance, and certainly enough talking. I need him so badly that it might kill me. “Hold your legs,” I instruct after he practically falls backwards with one last heated kiss, just as over waiting as I am. “I wanna see this.”
Finally, I find the fucking bottle, slick myself up and press against his entrance.
One firm push that draws a delicious gasp from Easton, and I’m inside him.
Perfect, velvety heat surrounds my cock, making my head go fuzzy.
There’s no tearing my gaze away from the place we’re joined.
Fuck, it’s been a long time. When my hips meet his ass, my lungs scream in need of oxygen, but I resist in favor of falling into the ocean blue eyes that look a lot like home. “You still with me, Chaos?”
He blinks heavily, as dazed as I feel. “I’m good. So good. So, so good.”
After a few deep thrusts to make sure he’s adjusted, the last remaining shred of my self-control snaps. His fingers dig into my shoulder blades as his legs lock around my ass, making damn sure I don’t get any ideas about gaining decency any time soon.
Not a fucking chance.
The pace I set is brutal and unrelenting.
“Look at you, taking my cock like you’re made for it,” I force out through gritted teeth.
Sweat burns my eyes, but I don’t slow down.
There’s no way with the sounds coming out of him.
Sweet little half moans like he’s trying to remember to be quiet but simply cannot hold them back.
It doesn’t take long for the pitch of them to change from ruined ecstasy to desperate. “Chase, please,” he begs beautifully. “Oh, god. Please.”
I assure him that I’ve got him, reaching in between our slick bodies to wrap my hand around his weeping cock. After a few strokes, he’s practically sobbing, pleading for his release.
He is made for me.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Be a good boy and come for me.”
Only moments later, his back arches as his body tenses, painting our abdomens in white ropes of cum. The scorching heat around my own cock becomes unbearable, and I’m not far behind him as I paint his insides with my release. My ears go underwater as shockwaves roll through my nerve endings.
Afterwards, when I’ve managed to get us cleaned up and cuddled up under the blankets with my last remaining brain cell, Easton lays his head on my chest, and I’m overcome with a profound feeling of rightness.
Like it was supposed to end up here—with corn-silk hair against my lips, and an unwavering determination to do anything and everything in my power to keep him falling more in love with me every day, as long as it means I get to have this.
~~~
The coffee sits uneasily on my stomach as Blake gives me a full rundown of what I missed at the station yesterday.
With there being another innocent life on the line—besides the one I love—does not go over well with me.
He’s just a kid. He can’t die for this, can he?
As much as Easton shouldn’t, neither should a seventeen-year-old who got snatched up by a fucking pedophile.
My best friend sitting beside me looks distinctly green, swirling the liquid in his mug rather than drinking it. I’m not much better.
“So what do we do?” I ask.
She braces herself on the counter, and I try to prepare myself because whatever she’s about to say, I’m not gonna like it. “We should probably be realistic about this. Either we sit back and hope the cops find him first or we make a move.”
I saw that coming. I definitely hate it. “What kind of fucked-up choice is that?”
“You think if we bait him with Easton, he’ll focus on that instead of the boy.” Brady’s voice is cold, detached in a way that raises my hackles.
It’s an effort not to raise my voice. I don’t want to wake Easton up. “You cannot be fucking serious, Blake. Hasn’t he been through enough?” My jaw aches from clenching my teeth together. But, surely, she wouldn’t suggest something so asinine.
“Chase, don’t even start with me. You ask what we do. I hate it as much as you, but we both know that Easton won’t be able to live with himself if Asher dies.”
I see why people take up smoking; I really fucking do. “He will be able to live with himself because he won’t be dead, which is what could happen with your stupid idea.”
“I’m not saying we let him go out alone, dumbass. I’m saying we bait the hook. Maybe Easton and I can start running together in the mornings. It’s not as obvious as if one of you was with him. We’re both runners.”
Gently, oh so gently, I set the mug down before I crack the damn thing. “And what happens when he ambushes the both of you? Think you can take on a grown man like that?”
“I can, actually. At least long enough to attract attention. This is my neighborhood, Chase. The people who live here know me, which is why I think it’s a worthwhile idea.
There is no one nosier than well-off people in a small community, so if he figures out how to get past security, then we’ll be notified.
But it’s something to preoccupy him, hopefully upset him so he gets sloppy.
If he sees Easton out living his life, not being scared, then maybe he’ll make a mistake the cops can catch.
Plus, I’m getting a private investigator on it. ”
After digging my knuckles into my eye sockets for a solid thirty seconds, and have an internal debate that I’m not proud of, I say through gritted teeth, “Only if Easton is fully informed and agrees. I won’t have him be in the dark about any move we make.”
Brady adds, “Keep him alive, Blakely. I mean it. You keep my brother alive and don’t you dare get yourself hurt either.”