Pain is temporary. His mark is permanent
You know how people say once they get a tattoo, it’s addictive?
I call bullshit. That hurt like a motherfucker.
I won’t be doing that again. I know, I know it was a rough spot, but shit.
I was whimpering like a baby while Rivers went on and on about her girlfriend and the daughter they just adopted.
Such a sweet story, but wrong timing to tell it.
Oliver walks to the side table, picks up a pen, and starts sketching. I step closer and peer over his shoulder.
The Lyra constellation. Underneath it, a Latin phrase scrawled in his handwriting:
Perditus in te.
Lost in you.
“So, you know, even when I don’t say the words,” he mutters without looking at me, “I’ll etch it.”
“Oliver,” I whisper.
His gaze meets mine, full of that dark, consuming fire. He gives Rivers the sketch. Ten minutes later, after assuring him he could have Rivers tattoo him, he finally sat down. He gets it on his chest, in the same place as mine.
“Not over your heart?” Rivers asks.
Oliver’s response is so casual. “That’s a spot for our kids.”
Rivers smiles. I sit open-mouthed. Something in my chest folds over, becoming real in a way I thought I understood.
But right now, I know it is. He doesn’t even flinch when the needle hits skin.
He probably fucking enjoys it and can fall asleep.
But then his guard would be down, and he wouldn’t let that happen.
Then he whispers, low enough only I can hear. “Marked forever.”
A few hours later, we walk up to the counter and say our goodbyes. He hands Rivers several hundred-dollar bills. Rivers blinks at it like she’s not sure she’s seeing it right.
“If we ever need anything else,” he says, casually, “we’ll come to you.”
Before she can even thank him, his hand is back on me. “Have fun, you two! Fucking crazy kids.” She laughs, but her voice sounds far away now.
The second the door clicks shut, I’m no longer walking; I’m lifted off my feet. “Oliver! What are you doing?” I laugh, clutching his shoulders. I glance down the empty street.
He doesn’t answer, just moves with a violent kind of purpose.
“Put me down.”
“No.” He grips my thighs tighter.
“I can walk, you know,” I mutter, but there’s no real fight in my voice.
“I need you.”
My spine arches as the cold metal of the car presses into the backs of my thighs, even through my clothes. His mouth crashes into mine. I open to him, matching his hunger, my tongue tangling with his as my hands fist in his shirt.
“Fuck,” he mutters, grinding against me. “You don’t even know what you do to me.”
“I have an idea.” I cup him through his jeans. A wicked smile takes over my face. “So hard for me.” I rub his length.
“Damn it.”
He drops into the front seat, me straddling him.
The door slams shut with a loud thud. We don’t waste any time before he yanks my top down so roughly that I hear the thread snap.
My breasts spill free into the cold air, and his mouth is on them.
I moan, head falling back. Every nerve sparks like I’m being shocked with thousands of needles.
“Keep making those sounds, Dollface.” He breathes against my skin. “I want every fucking one.”
We fall into each other. Hands frantic, mouths desperate for a taste. His muscles are tight, his heart a drumbeat under my palms. The glow from the dashboard lights bathes us in a soft electric blue. For a beat, we stare at each other. Nothing exists outside this car.
Then, rip. My panties are split straight down the center before two fingers plunge into my pussy, and I nearly scream. “Fuck, you’re soaked already.” I rock against him.
“Ride my fingers,” he commands. “Show me how fucking bad you want it.”
He watches me like a man starved, every flick of his wrist perfectly timed. He curls them, finding that spot, and I see stars. My fingers dig into his shoulders as I move up and down.
“I need you inside of me. Now.” I reach down, undoing his belt with shaking hands.
“Desperate slut you are.” His cock springs free, hot and hard and perfect.
“Slut for you.” I lift myself just enough to line him up. He grips my hips and pulls me down in one brutal thrust.
His hand fists in my hair and yanks me forward into a kiss that tastes like sin. “Mine.” I switch from rocking against him, my clit rubbing against the short hair on his pelvis, to bouncing. My hand holds the roof to keep from smacking my head as he adjusts enough to give me better access.
I can’t tell where I start and he begins; he’s so deep. Filling me in a way only Oliver can. “Cut off my breath, choke me.”
It’s as if my words unleash him. Like I asked, his hand comes up around my throat, fingers pressing into the sides as he thrusts up from under me.
Air is gone, light dances, vision swims as the blissful nothing takes over.
Just as I’m about to succumb to the darkness, he releases my throat.
Air floods my lungs in a wave of overwhelming sensation as I shatter with a loud cry.
He doesn't stop until he spills into me with a groan, his head buried in the crook of my neck.
His breath is hot and harsh against my skin.
He brushes my hair back from my damp face. “You have the best fucking pussy I’ve ever had.”
“And you…” I pant. “Have the best dick.”
“Good. It’s the only one you’ll ever have. This life. Every life after.”
I lean back for breath.
Beep.
I jump. A second passes. Then another. Then I laugh wildly. He smiles, the kind of smile that can light up a room if he lets it. I lift myself, his cum dripping out of me onto my thighs as I settle into the passenger seat.
“This isn’t the right time,” I say, grabbing my ripped underwear and cleaning myself up. Throwing the pair on the rearview mirror, I turn to him. “But we need to talk about Serena.” I tug the seat belt across my chest.
Oliver’s hand pauses on the gearshift. “If that doesn’t kill the mood.”
“I’m serious.”
He starts the engine. “I know what she said.”
“How…” And then it clicks. I turn slowly. “Archer?”
“Yes.” He checks his mirrors, then looks at me. “He got access to the camera footage.”
“Of the front desk?”
“Mm-hmm.” He pulls us out of the parking spot.
My stomach tightens. “It’s weird, right? I mean…she’s obsessed with you.”
“I had Callan watching her today.”
“And did he see anything?”
“No, but I also dug into her background after she planted the video in your room.”
“And?”
“She got in on a scholarship with a mandatory campus job attached for all four years. Similar to what Vienna has. The caveat is that there’s also an agreement with Jeff, head of admin. A scheduled meeting. Every day.”
My brows knit. “A meeting for what?”
Oliver’s eyes flick to me. “What do you think?”
Gross.
“And,” he continues, “she was removed from her last high school for stalking a boy who turned her down.”
“Oh my god.” I stare at him. Then the thought hits, and my mouth moves before my brain can stop it. “And you didn’t do a deep dive on her before you started whatever that was with her? Like you did with me?”
That earns me a scowl and a sideways look. “No. Because I didn’t care about her.” His gaze cuts back to the road. “I’m rethinking that now, considering how this is affecting you.”
“So, what are we going to do?” I ask. “Confront her?”
“We will do nothing.”
“Oliver—”
“I’ll handle it.” His tone leaves zero space for negotiation. I let out a sharp, strangled sound. “Lyra. She threatened you. She went into your room.”
“You are one to talk,” I snip back.
His hand lands on my thigh, and he takes a large inhale like I’m being unreasonable. “Let me worry about it. You’re not getting dragged into her instability.”
“Great,” I mutter, staring out the window as campus lights come into view. “Another unstable person after me. At this point, there could be a club.”