Chapter 23 – Ava Jade
AVA JADE
S hit. I fell asleep too fast.
I knew it the moment I opened my eyes, hearing the faint sounds of a deep rumbling voice coming from the closed closet door across the room.
Groaning, my arm stretched to the opposite side of the bed, feeling cool empty space where Corvus should’ve been.
Fuck .
I was going to be out a hundred and fifty bucks.
My eyelids peeled back, adjusting to the glow of late evening light.
Evening?
I quickly rolled to the other side of Corvus’ bed, his engine oil and spice scent filling my nose as my legs slipped over his tightly tucked sheets to snatch my phone from the nightstand.
I flinched at the brightness of the screen, seeing that it was past eight in the evening before peering back to the closet door. He wouldn’t have stayed in here for eight hours, would he? We got here around eleven, and I was probably passed out by twelve.
My muscles ached, protesting the movement as I swung my legs from the warmth of the covers and off the side of the bed, touching my toes to the carpet. I leaned forward, pressing my palm into the hollows of my eyes.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept this long.
The three hours I’d gotten last night plus however many I’d had now equaled a greater amount than I’d probably had since I was a fucking toddler.
And I’d done the sleeping next to another human being. Twice.
What was happening to me?
Inside the closet, something crashed and the door pushed open, an angry Corvus quietly stepping through to avoid waking me. Behind him, his mic was knocked against the wall, hanging from the stand awkwardly like he’d tossed it away.
He stopped in his tracks, seeing me sitting up in bed. “Fuck,” he grunted, throwing a fist through his hair. “I didn’t wake you up.”
I shook my head. “You didn’t. But you should’ve. Why’d you let me sleep so long?”
He gave a one shoulder shrug, and I noticed he was already dressed again, the boxers and t-shirt he’d slept in now joined by a pair of faded black denim jeans. “You needed it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “That wasn’t the point. The point was?—”
“Sparrow, I just woke up.”
“What?”
“About an hour ago.”
I couldn’t contain my triumph as a relieved grin spread over my face. “Really?”
He nodded, seeming just as shocked himself. “Yeah, really.”
“I knew it,” I muttered to myself. “Those fuckers better pay up.”
Despite having just slept for what I had to guess was a pretty good amount of time, Corvus still managed to look exhausted as he crossed the carpet and sank onto the edge of the bed with a deep sigh.
I crawled back across the tangle of blankets to sit next to him, indicating the tossed mic in the closet. “What went on in there?”
His jaw clenched. “I had an idea for something new and I thought…”
“What?” I asked when he didn’t finish. “You thought what?”
He fell back onto the bed to stare at the ceiling. “There’s no point,” he said numbly. “Primal Ethos is dead. Besides, the gang needs me right now. I shouldn’t be wasting time?—”
“Shut the fuck up. Don’t be stupid. Primal Ethos isn’t dead, not unless you let it die.”
His expression darkened, his gaze never leaving the ceiling. “You don’t get it, Sparrow. It’s over. The Bone Man—the mystery of him—that was the allure. Without it, I’m just another jackass with a microphone.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed, and his forehead creased, betraying a rage he usually kept tampered down.
“I’m sorry but that’s fucking bullshit. Have you looked online at all since you were outed?”
He didn’t answer. It was answer enough. He hadn’t.
I shook my head. “You should. If anything, they’re even more mad for you now than they were before.”
I wasn’t going to let him do this. He was too talented to throw this all away. With or without Diesel’s permission, he needed it. Pushing to my feet, I grabbed both his hands, dragging him up from the bed. “Come on, show me what you were working on.”
“We need to check in with Diesel.”
“He can wait another hour.”
“Sparrow—”
“Just do this for me, okay? Show me what you’re working on. Maybe I can help. And then as soon as we’re done, I promise you we will go and check in with the others.”
His resistance weakened as I hauled his ass to his feet and toward the closet, dragging him into the small enclosed space with me. I dropped his hands and lifted the mic back into position, fiddling with it until it sat properly in the stand.
“Okay. Now show me.”
“It’s just rough shit. It isn’t even finished yet. It’s… it’s missing something, but I can’t fucking figure it out.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Was Corvus James nervous to show me something? It wasn’t a look I’d seen on him before. It was… kind of cute.
I reached past him and shut the door behind us, feeling a tingle go up my spine at the feeling of being in a confined space, of him being so close I could feel the press of him like a physical touch even though we were nearly a foot apart.
“I’m waiting,” I prompted him, looking up at him coyly from beneath my lashes. Fuck. Had he always been this tall? In the tight space, he seemed to tower over me, and from the way he was looking at me, I could tell his mind had gone to a similar place as mine.
I swallowed. Cleared my throat.
Corvus smirked before lifting his phone from his back pocket to tap the screen, bringing up what appeared to be some rough lyrics in a notepad app.
“Since you’re here, mind giving me some rhythm?”
“Hmm?”
He hit a section of not padded wall with the side of his closed fist to create a simple beat, showing me what he meant.
I stepped closer, copying the beat until I had it right and he could lower his fist.
Surprising me, he reached up and caught the string dangling from the light above us and tugged it, plunging us into darkness.
The rhythm of my fist on the wall faltered and my pulse picked up, but I recovered quickly, my belly tightening as Corvus began to hum into the dark.
A deep sound that I felt all the way to my toes as he moved through the opening of the song.
He began to sing, filling the small space with his voice so fully that he could have been singing inside of my head. His rough voice ricocheting through my body as he sang of being stronger.
About how he thought he’d made himself into something that couldn’t be affected. Couldn’t be broken. Couldn’t be hurt. How he never saw me coming.
The lyrics hit me hard. I could’ve written them myself, and when he began the chorus again, my voice rose to meet his, feeling the truth of the song flow through me like I was nothing but a vessel.
Our voices trailed off as one, and I was left momentarily breathless, body aching. Pulse throbbing with a need so pure it could’ve brought me to my knees.
“ Sparrow, ” Corvus whispered, and I felt him grow nearer in the pitch darkness. His knuckles brushed down the back of my arm, making me shiver and a little gasp escape my lips. “I think you were the thing that was missing.”
Rough fingertips found my temple and skated down the line of my jaw until they rested against my lips, making them part.
“You were always the thing that was missing.”
He pressed this thumb into my mouth, a slight groan on his lips as he slid it against my tongue, pushing to the back of my throat until I moaned.
“Tell me you want me,” he said, so close I could feel his breath fanning over my lips as he withdrew his thumb, wetting my lips with it.
He moved fast, gripping the back of my neck to haul me closer, until I could feel the brush of his lips against mine when he spoke again. “ Tell me .”
“I want you,” I muttered breathily, my panties already soaked, thighs squeezing at the hot ache between them.
“Good girl.”
A ripple of unexpected gratification raced through me, making me shiver.
His lips pressed to mine, hot and full as they pried mine apart to allow his tongue entry. My back slammed against the padded wall, wrists held against the wall to either side of my head. I moaned into his mouth as he pressed into me, letting me feel the hard length of him against my belly.
I struggled against his hold, needing to be closer. Needing to take off the layers of clothing separating us, but he held me there, hands tightening around my wrists.
“Now, Sparrow,” he chastised. “Did I tell you that you could move?”
My mouth parted, but no words came out. I’d never given over control like this before, but something about letting myself go, about handing that control over to him and not having the burden of it on my shoulders turned me on so much it fucking hurt.
I wanted him to make me his. I wanted to relinquish myself to him. And it scared the shit out of me.
“You will not move,” he said, and a stuttering breath left my lips as he released my wrists, and I kept them there, high above my head as he traced a light line down them with his fingertips. Down past my shoulders, over my breasts, down my waist to the elastic band of my panties.
He hooked his fingers into them and pulled them down painfully slow. I tried to wiggle my hips to help him along, but he placed a warm palm flat against my lower belly and pushed, holding me still as he used his other hand to finish removing them.
“C-Corvus,” I said, my voice breaking on his name as my arms started to lower of their own accord. I needed to touch him. Needed to feel him inside me.
Warm breath fanned over my greedy little cunt, and I bucked against his hand, my own hands delving into his hair to find something to hold on to.
He grabbed my wrists and spun me, pressing my chest to the wall as the sound of leather rushing through denim echoed in the darkness and his belt was wrapped tightly around my wrists, binding them together at my back before he flipped me back around.
Corvus kicked my legs apart, and I groaned as he laid a kiss to the sensitive skin of my inner groin.
“Stay still, Sparrow,” he told me, and I cried out as he closed his mouth over my wet heat, tasting me, his tongue flicking over my swollen clit.