Chapter 25
MATTEO
Preston sits cross-legged in the church cellar, a few feet from the pentagram, levitating five pebbles off the ground. He keeps most frozen in the air with his powers, orbiting one around the others.
The Saints are gathered on one side, closer to the door, and I stand with the Sinners on the other side, watching Preston perform his trick. Alexei’s the only one missing—he went to pick up food for everyone, which is why we’re not broaching more substantial topics.
Yet.
It’s been less than a week since our encounter with Syphor, the entity that controlled the Saints and the other guys at Alpha Alpha Mu.
Since Finnegan and Cody were released from the hospital, some members of the Saints and the Sinners have been communicating more, but everyone agreed we needed time to process what happened before regrouping the following Wednesday.
Now the Saints and Sinners are swapping secrets and tips about their powers.
As Preston continues displaying his talent, sweat slides down his face, trickling from his jaw.
His expression twists up, and he grits his teeth before dropping the pebbles, which rattle as they hit the cement floor.
He catches his breath as if he’s been doing bench-press reps at the gym.
It’s clearly not as effortless as when he was using his powers at the frat house.
“See?” Preston says. “It’s more of a strain to concentrate on keeping the others up and then moving just one. Also requires more focus. But it helps me do things that used to take a lot more concentration.”
“But this doesn’t account for what we saw you do that day,” Luke tells him.
“Cody and I were texting about this,” Preston says. “Syphor had a better understanding of how to use my powers because he’s from the Rift, which we always called the Other Side…that’s how it’s written in the Manual.”
The Manual is their version of the Sinners’ Bible, which, as he said, they discovered in the wall at Alpha Alpha Mu. Unlike the Sinners, they don’t know where this mysterious notebook came from, but given what’s happened since it’s been in their hands, it can’t be anything good.
“That’s how I was with Kysar,” Cody says. “He could heal Alexei through me, pretty effortlessly, in a way I can’t without him.”
“So Pres can’t just hoist one of us into the air again right now?” I ask. “Like you did with Alexei?”
“I could get some of you up for a bit. Cody’d be a breeze,” he says with a smile. “But not without using up a ton of energy. It would take me out for a week or so.”
“From our conversations,” Cody says, addressing the Sinners, “and just knowing what Luke is capable of, if Syphor thought I was the strongest, I can’t even imagine the kind of power possessing me would have given him.”
“Who knew our little Cody would be the most powerful of the group,” Brad says playfully.
“I knew how powerful you were,” Seth says without hesitation, and he and Cody share a glance. Their eyes are lit up, their lips curled into subtle smiles in a way that leaves me wondering if there isn’t more going on between them than they let on.
“So clearly, we have a lot to learn from each other,” Brad tells the Saints.
“Eh, well, we clearly have a lot to show you,” Preston says, “but you haven’t really shown us what you can teach us.
” His delivery is particularly cocky, something I’m more familiar with than what he was like right after they escaped Syphor’s grasp.
“Kidding,” he adds. “I definitely think there’s a lot to gain by teaming up.
And we’re happy to share what we’ve learned if you are willing to do the same. ”
There’s been talk from Brad and Cody about how I need to start training with them.
I haven’t had a chance to really get my head around what that looks like or even to grasp what I can do outside of what happened with Syphor.
I can’t exactly start jumping into people’s heads all over the place, but knowing that something even worse than Syphor could be coming, I’m willing to try.
A sound from upstairs catches my attention, and excitement pulses through me. “I’ll be right back.” I have to keep myself from taking off at a sprint, trying to play it cool as I head upstairs.
Alexei approaches with two bags in his hands. He’s less than a foot from me when his gaze catches mine, and I close the distance for a kiss. Placing my hands on his cheeks, I slide my tongue in his mouth.
We’re shameless with our licks and nibbles, and I squat with him as he sets the bags down before I urge him against the wall, pushing the thick erection beneath my fly against him, offering a thrust he reciprocates.
Makes me think of the many fucks we’ve shared since last week.
The fucks we might never have had another chance to share if Syphor had followed through with his plan.
I finally pry away from Alexei and inspect his expression.
After Preston delivered the news that the Saints won’t be able to help him with information about his brother, he struggled for a few days, but there’s that light in his eyes again.
My Alexei’s coming back to me, slowly but surely.
However long it takes, I’m here for him.
“I’ve only been gone fifteen minutes,” he says.
“If you’d have let me come with you, I wouldn’t be going through withdrawal.”
“You’re being ridiculous. You don’t see me when you’re in class…or when you’re giving Uber rides…or…”
He’s right, but… “I always see you in the evening. Usually under my sheets, maybe doing naughty things under them like you did last night when we were watching…damn, I can’t even remember what we were watching. That blow job was so good.”
He laughs. “That’s sweet of you to pretend you can’t remember You, but you were able to catch me up just fine after I swallowed your load, so excuse me for being suspicious.” As I smile, he says, “Now you’ve got that mischievous grin on your face.”
“Mischievous? I’m mischievous?”
“Yes, you are. Mainly when you have something sexy in mind.”
If only he knew the sexy things I had in mind for him right now…
“Guilty as charged,” I tease, sliding my hands down to his ass and gripping. “But it’s a nice distraction from the hypervigilance and ominous feeling that something terrible is right around the corner.”
“I know what you mean,” he says, his expression turning serious. Trauma’s a real motherfucker.
“Hey, lovebirds!” Brad calls from the cellar. “We got a bunch of starving guys down here!” There’s a familiar playfulness in his tone.
“Sounds like the way he would have talked to you before all this,” Alexei notes.
“Yeah. He’s been much better since everything exploded last week.”
“Same with Luke.” His brows rise. “And I’m loving this room-swap thing we’re doing.”
Since all this went down, we’ve stuck with the sleeping arrangements we made after I was possessed by Farras, and it’s definitely been the best for our sex life.
“I’m sure they’re loving it as much as my dick is loving it.”
Alexei snickers. “My ass is loving it too.”
I lean close and lick up his lips.
“We’re so fucking selfish,” I say, sliding my hands up his ass and creeping them under his boxers as I slide back down. “We should be getting food down to the guys.”
“We’ll have all night after this,” he reminds me before licking inside my mouth, then nibbling at my bottom lip. As he pries away from me, I free his ass, grabbing one of the bags while he takes the other, and we head downstairs to feed the guys.
While everyone’s eating, I catch Alexei up on what we discussed while he was grabbing food.
Cody’s a quarter of the way through his sub, when he says, “So…now that everyone’s here, I figure we should discuss the Kysar situation.”
Finnegan glances around uneasily, which Preston notices, saying, “We don’t like the idea of you guys reaching out to this entity. That’s what we did, and clearly, it was a mistake.”
“I understand where you’re coming from,” Cody says, “but Kysar helped us destroy that creature last semester.”
“And ours wanted to destroy it too, but just so it could have you for itself. You don’t know that Kysar is actually trying to help you.”
Good point. I don’t know anything about this entity, but after seeing what Syphor was capable of, I have to wonder.
“I know it’s hard to trust after what happened,” Luke says, “but he has helped us. He hasn’t done the sorts of things you describe with Syphor.”
“Maybe he’s been trying to earn your trust,” Preston says.
“We don’t know anything about these things on the other side.
Ours called himself a guide too. I don’t think we should fuck with that.
I get working on our powers. I think I speak for all the Saints when I say I’m confident Syphor was getting ready for something…
something big, but we should keep this between the people in this world who know what’s up.
I don’t think we should trust anything coming from someone inside the Rift. ”
Cody and Luke exchange a look. Based on conversations I’ve heard between them, I know they have faith in this mysterious Kysar. Whether that’s wise or not is yet to be determined.
“We’ll put a pin in it,” Cody concedes. “I don’t want to take it off the table just yet. If something’s coming, Kysar might be our only chance at fighting it.”
“But promise you guys won’t try to contact him,” Preston says. “Unless we all agree that’s something to do.”
Cody bites his bottom lip, then nods. “I think this is something where I’ll defer to the Sinners’ decision, but I’ll be open to hearing what the Saints have to say if and when we decide that’s necessary.”
Preston’s gaze wavers as he studies the expressions of the rest of the Saints. “I can accept that, as long as you discuss it with us first, so if Kysar tries to do what Syphor did to us, we can be ready for it and stop him.”