Chapter 25 #2
“Yeah, or—I don’t know,” her friend continues, raising a brow, “in the middle of the night? Maybe by breaking into her house and watching her sleep?”
Ezra puts his hand over his face, covering his mouth as he tilts his head in question at her before turning his attention to Berlyn with a stern expression. “I thought the stalking wasn’t that big of a deal and was someone sending you gifts?”
“Did I say that?” Berlyn asks, looking anywhere but at Ezra. “I don’t recall.”
“Berlyn,” he scolds, drawing out her name. “Do we need to be worried about you?”
Wow, he’s good. Even I almost believe there’s no way he could be the one stalking her and I was there when he cut out the guy’s liver.
Berlyn waves him off. “The cops are keeping an eye on me.” Almost as if on cue, a patrol car turns onto her street, driving slowly down. When they pass Berlyn’s house, she waves and they wave back. “See,” she emphasizes.
Ezra continues to study her. “We have an extra room at our place if you’re not safe here,” he offers.
“That wasn’t a no,” her friend says before Berlyn can say anything about the offer.
Without warning, an orange and cream blob flies past my face and smacks right into the side of her friend’s head. My eyes widen as pumpkin guts get stuck in her hair and Berlyn starts cracking up at my side.
My brothers are as speechless as I am even as she turns slowly to face Berlyn. “What the hell, B?” she asks, picking strings of pumpkin off her face.
“You wouldn’t drop it,” Berlyn manages to get out through bursts of laughter.
Her friend rushes to climb to her feet and Berlyn squeaks, jumping to her own. “I’m going to drop you,” her friend shouts, chasing after her as Berlyn runs across the yard.
A chuckle slips past my lips, and once it starts, it’s hard to stop. Both Ezra and Jude join as we watch the girls chase each other until Summer finally tackles B to the ground, rubbing her pumpkin covered hair against Berlyn.
It may have been an unconventional way to get her to listen, but it works. Summer doesn’t bring up the stalkers again. Though both of them are now covered in pumpkin guts.
Berlyn sits at my side, quietly humming under her breath as she carves along the lines of her ghost outline. She doesn’t cut out whole chunks of the pumpkin though, only cutting out slivers around the shape so the candlelight will illuminate the ghost once she’s done.
She knocks my knee with hers, raising a brow and looking down at my own design and I nod, focusing back on it.
I take longer than anyone else, not that anyone is surprised when they peek over my shoulder and see what I’m creating.
I want my design to be illuminated, shaving pieces of the pumpkin off at different depths to add shading and texture to my haunted house.
Only the windows and moon are fully cut out, allowing for the light to spill through brighter.
By the time I’m done, everyone has gone inside except for me and Berlyn. She sang softly the entire time I worked, only watching with an intense fascination. It made the whole experience that much more enthralling for me. Her sweet scent mixing with the earthiness of the pumpkin.
She gasps when I use a fine pointed knife to add in the final details on the grave stones. “Holy shit, Weston,” she praises.
I grin, dropping the knife and looking over the pumpkin. It’s not perfect. The depth I shaved is too much in some spots and not quite enough in others. It’s hard to tell without the light inside to make the whole design glow, but I have a feeling the shading will be off.
That’s okay though.
“That’s the best pumpkin carving I’ve ever seen,” Berlyn says, grinning and shaking her head. “I’ve never thought about actually carving it like a sculpture. I’ve only ever cut chunks out.”
I shrug, but can’t stop grinning as I meet her gaze. “The video gave me the idea,” I tell her and she smacks my shoulder.
“You’re incredible,” she continues, leaning over me to get a closer look at the haunted house scene. Her warmth and scent wraps around me, her words making me feel like I’m flying. I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier than at this moment.
“Thank you,” I respond sincerely, needing her to hear the words. Hear the happiness in my voice. Know what kind of effect she has on me.
Berlyn turns to say something but pauses when she realizes how close we are. Her breath catches and she freezes, so damn close I can almost taste her. Our eyes lock and I can see all the questions, worries, and doubts flying through her mind.
She starts to pull away, but I can’t let her. My hand moves almost with a mind of its own, cupping her cheek and keeping her in place. I smirk, feeling a string of pumpkin under my hand. It’s not so bad now when I have her too.
“Don’t push us back out,” I whisper, rubbing my thumb over her lip.
Berlyn’s hazel eyes dilate, the gold flecks overpowering the green as desire shines through them. “There’s a lot you guys–”
“We don’t care,” I cut her off. Even if we weren’t her stalker. Even if it was someone else and she wanted to have all five of us.I wouldn’t love it, but I would give her absolutely anything she wanted. As long as I got to have her too.
“West,” she says my name like a plea. A plea for what, I’m not sure.
I move slowly, giving her enough time to pull away, but she doesn’t. Her eyes grow wide before closing and I press my lips to hers.
She’s such a good girl, opening for me immediately.
My tongue slips into her mouth and everything feels perfect as I kiss her like I need her to live.
I do need her to live.
Nothing will ever be enough with her. I’ll always want more. More of her. More time. Everything.
Berlyn sighs into the kiss, her body melting and I wrap my free arm around her, fully pulling her into my lap. Her arms come up and wrap around my neck and I smile into our kiss.
A slow clap starts but I ignore it, completely lost to Berlyn’s kiss. I wish I could take more of her. Strip her down and taste every inch of her skin all over again. Right here. Next to the pumpkins and skeletons that decorate her lawn.
My brothers have other plans.
Berlyn squeals as she’s pulled right out of my arms and I grumble, looking up to find her now in Jude’s arms as he spins her.
“Are you done fighting this?” he teases her.
Her eyes fly back to me still on the ground, all the doubts still there, but the desire stronger. “There really are–” she starts to protest again and Jude shakes his head, kissing her to shut her up the same way I had only moments ago.
She melts into his kiss almost as fast as she did mine, wrapping her legs around his waist as his hands land on her ass to keep her up. Jude’s kisses are almost violent and she leans in for more, taking every bit he gives her and silently begging for more.
Ezra watches with a satisfied smirk on his face, giving them a moment before he joins them. This time it’s Jude who is grumbling when Ezra takes her from him, but he doesn’t fight him.
Berlyn is breathless now, her cheeks flushed, eyes bright, lips glistening and parted as she looks up at Ezra with wonder. His hand comes up and he peels some of the pumpkin strands from her cheeks and hair with a small. The move somehow reverent as he caresses her now clean cheek.
“Stop thinking,” he whispers. “Just feel.” He kisses her forehead. “Let us handle everything else.” Kisses the tip of her nose. “We’ll make sure you get everything you want and more.” His lips meet hers and she doesn’t hesitate to let him take control, kissing her breathless.
A wolf whistle makes me turn around and there’s Summer beaming as she watches her best friend making out with Ezra. “Finally,” she cheers.
Berlyn laughs against Ezra’s lips and when he pulls away, they’re both smiling.
“Now come inside,” Summer calls excitedly. “You can’t fuck her on the lawn.”
“Summer!” Berlyn shrieks, making all of us laugh.
Jude wraps his arms around B’s waist, kissing her temple. “We should go inside though,” he agrees. “We made an epic pillow fortress.”
“It’s a castle,” Summer argues, still from her spot on the driveway.
I grab Berlyn’s hand as we walk towards her.
She sighs, leaning into my side, the cutest smile on her face, a dazed look in her eyes.
Summer can’t stop beaming as she stares at her best friend.
Even I can’t relax my expression back into a neutral one.
Berlyn is ready for us to make all of her fantasies come true. She’s accepting us as us.
My gaze lingers on the lawn but I force myself to focus only on her.
I’ll come back out to clean up the rest of the mess while they watch their movie.
Classic or not, I don’t think I want to watch it.
I do want to see this castle or fortress or whatever it is that Jude was so excited about. Want to see Berlyn’s reaction to it.
More than anything, I want to steal one more kiss.