Chapter 22 #2
“Aren’t you the one always telling me restraint is a waste of time?” I murmur, stepping closer. “I decided to follow your lead.”
Levi hums, eyes glittering. “Careful,” he says, tilting up his chin. “Follow me too far and you’ll end up tangled in my sheets.”
“I’m counting on it.”
And then I kiss him. He makes a sound somewhere between a gasp and a laugh, and kisses me back, warm and eager. His fingers curl into the front of my coat as he presses close, grinning against my mouth.
“You know,” he whispers when we finally pull apart, breath ghosting across my lips, “for someone who said no to drinks earlier, you’re definitely giving late-night bad-decision energy.”
I arch a brow. “Is that what this is?”
He shrugs, mischievous. “Depends on how long you plan on staying.”
Levi unlocks the door and we step into the shop. It smells like eucalyptus and soil. He flips on the low light by the register, casting the space in a soft amber glow.
“Did you have fun tonight?” I ask, trailing after him.
“Mm-hm,” he hums, kicking off his boots. “Dominic kept ordering something called a ‘Bittersweet Bottom.’ I think it was mostly tequila and whatever mixer the bartender could find.”
“I want a taste,” I murmur, stepping closer.
Levi looks up at me, cheeks flushed, but his gaze is sharp. Grounded. He leans against the counter, eyes dropping briefly to my mouth. “So taste.”
I pull him by the lapels of his coat, kissing him slow and searching at first, then deeper. His mouth parts against mine, and I groan at the faint sting of alcohol lingering on his breath. He tastes like tequila and citrus. Sweet and sharp and completely disarming.
When we break apart, he’s already breathing heavily, his body melting against mine.
“This is a nice surprise,” he whispers, arms draped over my shoulders.
“Like I said, I wanted to see you.” I brush my thumb along his cheekbone, savoring the feel of him in my hands again.
Levi tilts his head, that soft, cocky grin tugging at his lips. He leans in, mouth barely brushing mine. “It’s okay to admit you missed me.”
“I did,” I breathe.
He hums low in his throat, eyes flicking toward the spiral staircase. “Show me,” he says, voice gone velvet.
“Oh, honey. That’s not something I can answer with words.”
Levi starts up the stairs, one slow step at a time. “Is that so?”
We hit the first rise and my knees meet wood. Automatic, like gravity finally got its say.
“Hayden…fuck.” His hand grips the rail. “Here?”
“Here,” I rasp, looking up at him. “I need to taste you right here.”
He drops onto the step, unbuttons with clumsy urgency, legs parting like an invitation. I drag his jeans and briefs down just enough, and his cock springs free, flushed and semi-hard, already glistening at the tip.
I glance up at him, lips brushing the curve of his thigh. “This is what I’ve been thinking about all night. You. Just like this. Falling apart for me.”
Levi’s reaction is immediate. His head tips back, hand flying to the railing. “Oh, fuck yes,” he gasps. “Look at you on your knees for me.”
I suck him deep, letting the rhythm build, tongue flattening, my fingers anchoring on his hips.
His praise hits me like a brand and my own cock throbs.
But I stay right there, taking him deeper, letting him guide me.
The shop smells like eucalyptus and clean dirt; it gets under my tongue when I breathe around him.
He groans, voice rough. “Didn’t think the mighty god of death would be so easy to bring to his knees.”
That one line unspools me. I’ve been worshipped, feared, obeyed. But this…on my knees for him, his hand in my hair, my shadows climbing the banister like a blackout curtain…feels like choosing, not surrendering.
For so long, I’ve been half alive, half waiting.
Because the only thing that ever mattered was finding my way back.
Back to the underworld. Back to who we all were before the Act.
And now, here I am. On my knees. Not bargaining or fighting, just…
living. And for the first time, I don’t mourn what I’ve lost. I revel in it.
In him. In the way he sets fire to every cold forgotten part of me.
Maybe that’s what I’ve been missing all this time. Not a loophole or a throne.
This. This fire. The wanting. The man who made the dark feel worth coming back to.
Levi’s hips roll forward, control slipping. His eyes burn down at me. “Take it deeper, baby. Let me see how much you want it.” A streetlight streaks through the window, illuminating the freckles that dot his stomach.
I moan around him, swallowing more of his cock, and his hand tightens in my hair. “Holy fuck,” he growls, breath ragged. “You’re mine like this, Hayden. You know that, right?”
I don’t speak. I can’t. I just keep sucking him in, chasing the sound of his breath hitching and the way he moans my name.
I hum around him, the vibration making him twitch. I pull back for just a second, mouth slick, voice wrecked. “And you’re mine.”
He pulls back again, hand still tangled in my hair. With deliberate control, he eases himself from my mouth, the tip of his cock resting against my lips.
“Fuck,” I whisper, barely audible.
“Shh,” he answers. “You’re not done.”
With one hand still fisted in my hair, he trails the head of his cock slowly across my bottom lip. Back and forth, his sweet pre-cum slicking my mouth like a signature.
He taps it lightly against my lips. Once. And then again.
“Open,” he demands. “Pretty mouth. Show me.”
I moan, lips parted and desperate, my breath catching as he slides back in, inch by inch. My lips stretch around him again, my throat relaxing as he uses my mouth for his pleasure.
“That’s it, baby,” he mutters, his hand cupping my jaw. “Just like that.”
I match his rhythm and let him use me. He groans, his entire body tightening above me. His hands grasp the sides of my head, fucking my face as his chest rises and falls in uneven breaths. “That’s it,” he grinds. “Swallow it all, baby. Deep breath. Let me feel you take every fucking inch.”
I take him deeper, so deep I gag on his cock, but I breathe through it. Levi’s hips twitch with every stroke. I slide a hand under his thigh, roll his balls, tugging the way he likes, and he nearly sobs.
“Hayden, I’m gonna…” he chokes.
I hum in response, holding him there and watching with awe as he tips right over the edge.
He breaks with a sharp, perfect sound, spilling his sweet cum into my mouth, whole body shuddering as he rides out the aftershocks of his orgasm. I take it all, swallowing every single delicious drop, one hand still stroking him through it, the other steady on his trembling thigh.
When he finally opens his eyes, he’s wrecked. Flushed and beautiful and mine.
I press a kiss to the inside of his knee, then rest my forehead there, catching my breath. Levi slumps back against the stairs, panting, eyes heavy lidded as he looks at me, a lazy grin tugging at his lips.
His fingers brush my jaw, voice still rough. “Pretty sure I just saw god.”
“He’s busy,” I say, grinning against his skin. “But he’s thinking about you.”
Petals from the shop floor cling to his ass as he stands, and I pluck one free, slipping it into my pocket. His lips curl with amusement.
“And what are you doing with that?”
“Adding to my collection,” I tease, patting the pocket with the delicate flower.
He laughs, pulling me into another kiss, messy and desperate. “It’s like you’re trying to be the death of me.”
I kiss him back, slower this time. “Why fight type?”
Behind us, the shop is quiet. Ahead of us, his loft awaits. For once, it doesn’t feel like walking toward an ending.
It feels like a beginning.