25. Kaylor
25
KAYLOR
T hanks to Maddox, I had another reason to toss and turn all night as if I needed another problem to worry about when the moon came out. I already saw too many things in the shadows. And on top of it, the note in my locker weighed heavily on my mind.
I hadn’t decided if it was wiser to keep the note a secret or confide in Kreed. I didn’t know Raine well enough to consider him an ally. Maddox and Mason weren’t exactly a helpful duo. Unless it involved embarrassing or hurting me, they were useless.
My fingers clenched against the weight of the note crumpled in my fist as I sat in bed, wide-awake. Sleep was impossible with my mind racing in too many directions.
The note. Maddox’s threat to break into my room. The fact that someone had tried to take me days ago.
It was too much.
I didn’t want to be alone.
The decision was rash, reckless even, but I threw the covers back and tiptoed out of my room, clutching the note as if it had the power to strangle me in my sleep. Kreed’s room was just down the hall. His door wasn’t closed all the way, just slightly cracked.
I hesitated.
Would he let me stay? Would he take the note seriously? Or would he tell me it was nothing? A joke? Would he turn me away and tell me to go back to my room? Tell me it was nothing? A trick? One of Maddox’s games?
Probably.
It could very well have been Maddox who slipped the note into my locker when he had me pinned against it. I could almost hear him laughing about it, but that didn’t stop me from pushing Kreed’s door open. If it was Maddox, I needed to know.
“Kreed?” I whispered, stepping into the darkness.
Silence.
The air was still as my eyes adjusted to the shadows, searching for movement, but the bed was untouched, the blankets perfectly made.
He hadn’t slept here.
A frown tugged at my lips. It was late. Where the hell was he?
Not my problem. That was what I told myself as I turned around, ready to slip back to my room and pretend none of this had ever happened.
Except I didn’t make it far.
I collided with something solid. A hand clamped over my mouth, cutting off my startled gasp. Panic struck like a bolt of lightning, my body stiffening, my blood turning to ice.
No.
Not again.
The mask. The dark clothing. The sharp, assessing eyes peering at me through the holes—familiar in a way that sent my blood running cold. I was ready to fight, ready to claw and kick and?—
My breath hitched as the figure reached up and pulled the mask away. It was his silver eyes that brought on the familiar tingling of awareness.
Kreed.
Relief hit so fast that my knees nearly buckled. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed the second his hand dropped from my mouth.
He shook his hair before his eyes fastened to mine, hollow in the gloom, like a door half-shut. “I could ask you the same thing, little raven. What are you doing in my room?”
I didn’t have an answer. Not one I wanted to give him. Because the truth was, I had come to him for comfort, and that scared me more than any masked figure lurking in the night.
He wore head-to-toe black, which wasn’t crazy for him since black seemed to be his favorite color, but my attention snapped back to the fabric dangling from his fingers.
The mask. Like the ones my parents’ murderers had worn. I felt the blood drain from my face. “Where were you?” I demanded.
He flashed me a humorless smile. “Not your business, little raven.”
My hand lashed out, snatching the mask from his fingers, holding it up between us like a weapon. “Why do you have this?”
His eyes glinted. “Because, in case you haven’t noticed, it’s fucking freezing outside.”
I didn’t believe him.
Was it possible Kreed was involved in my parents’ deaths? Or the attack at the club? It didn’t make sense, though. He’d been there. He’d beaten the guy up, and I’d seen his face. I didn’t know what dots I was trying to connect, but they weren’t lining up, and yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was missing a key component.
“You’re lying.”
I thought about the note, the paper crumbled in my hand. I planned to show him. I wanted to see his reaction and if he had any idea who would have slipped into my locker. But now…
No. Not yet.
Not until I was positive I could trust him.
I needed to figure out what the note meant before I let Kreed in. Who they were as the note referred. The people trying to hurt me? The Corvos? Someone else?
Coming to Kreed’s room might not have been a good idea. Had I let my feelings for him sway me? Make me see him differently? I thought I knew who Kreed was. The good. The bad. And the ugly. But staring into those star-studded eyes, I was no longer sure of anything.
His head angled to the side, regarding me. “What if I am? But I’m not lying about the cold. It’s below zero tonight.” He brought the back of his hand to my cheek. “Do you feel that?”
Ice. His skin felt frozen, stinging my cheek. My arm wanted to lift and place my warm hand over his, stealing the chill from him.
Kreed grabbed the knitted accessory from my fingers, taking a step forward so our chests nearly touched. “Maybe you like the mask.”
“Kreed. Don’t.” I swallowed, my heart still unsteady from the initial shock, but I refused to back down.
Something in the glint of his eyes changed when I said his name. “You do that on purpose, don’t you?”
I lifted my chin defiantly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Now who’s lying?”
I watched how he moved, calculated and taunting, but I wasn’t afraid. Not of him. The mask, maybe. But not Kreed.
His fingers ghosted over my wrist, deliberate and testing. I didn’t pull away.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, narrowing my eyes.
“Testing a theory.” His mouth pressed to my neck in a wintry kiss, his lips a conflicting frost to the blistering heat of my skin like seasons colliding, winter and summer coming together.
He drew the mask over his head and down onto his face. My heart skipped, a ribbon of panic snaking across my chest. It’s Kreed , I reminded. Just Kreed.
His lips brushed mine again, so light I barely felt it. “Is it the mask you’re afraid of or me?”
My pulse fluttered for utterly different reasons. “It doesn’t work. I’m not scared of you.”
“Close your eyes,” he murmured.
“It won’t make a difference. Even if you stop talking, I can smell you. My body knows yours. My lips…” I swallowed.
The corners of his mouth curled. “What about my lips?”
My chin lifted, pulling on courage I didn’t have. “I know how you taste.”
His pupils dilated. “You think you can pick me out?” he asked, referring to Maddox’s stupid game in the church’s cellar.
But unlike the Raven Night, I wasn’t afraid. “Test me.”
He chuckled, dark and quiet. “And risk these lips touching someone other than me? They don’t kiss anyone else,” he said as he dragged the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip, parting it from the top.
Something in my chest snapped. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t like to share. If I’m not kissing anyone else, then neither are you.”
His fingers fell from my mouth, but his gaze lingered on my lips. “Possessive looks good on you, little raven.”
“So, are you?” I challenged, purposefully tilting my head so our mouths aligned slightly closer.
“Am I what?”
“Going to kiss me?”
His lips twitched.
The air shifted between us. The tension that had always been there, sparking beneath the surface, ignited.
I should’ve turned and walked away. I should’ve.
But I didn’t.
Instead, I pressed my palms to his chest, feeling the steady thrum of his heart beneath my fingertips. “Screw it,” I whispered into his mouth, watching his eyes flare. “I’m tired of waiting for you to decide.”
“Kaylor—”
I cut off whatever he was about to say by rising onto my toes and pressing my mouth to his. I caught the darkening of his eyes right before our mouths collided.
It was reckless. It was a mistake. It was everything I shouldn’t be doing.
And yet, I didn’t care.
Kreed didn’t hesitate. One second, he stood there stunned, and the next, his hands were gripping my waist, his fingers digging in as he yanked me against him and reclaimed my mouth with a fierceness and ruthlessness that I was sure meant to frighten me.
It didn’t.
The joke was on him. It had the opposite effect.
The kiss turned from hesitant to hungry to desperate. He feasted on me as if he’d been starving for a taste; his restraint buckling. Not-so-gentle fingers fisted into my hair, tugging my head back, giving him better access, and he wasted no time slipping his tongue into my mouth.
I gasped as he backed me up, stumbling, neither of us willing to break apart, not even when the backs of my knees hit the mattress and we tumbled onto his bed. The mask was the first thing to go. I shoved it off him, needing to see his face, the sharp angles and eyes staring back at me with an intensity that sent my pulse into chaos.
“Tell me to stop,” he rasped, his breath warm against my lips.
I shook my head, tugging at the hem of his shirt. “No. Don’t you dare, not unless you want me to hurt you.”
He groaned, and then his mouth was on mine again, his hands everywhere, pulling, tugging, slipping beneath layers of fabric as clothes were tossed aside in hurried, frantic motions so he was only wearing a pair of black boxer briefs that left little to the imagination and I was in just my lacy underwear.
This was insanity.
But Kreed made me crazy.
I didn’t want to think.
I just wanted him.
His gaze roamed over my body, taking in every detail of my nakedness, lingering over my budding nipples that only tightened under his gaze. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
My fingers traced up his torso, following the lines of his tattoo. “I want you to show me.”
We were behind a closed door in his room, and I had no idea if Kreed locked it when he came in. Interruptions seemed unlikely, leaving us in a tempting situation. I didn’t have the willpower to walk out of this room. To stop kissing him, touching him, breathing him. Despite the consequences, I wanted this. I wanted him.
At least for tonight.
Tomorrow, I could go back to hating Kreed Corvo.
He had the power to make me forget who I was and the danger waiting for me outside this room, even if only for a few hours, and I would take it, take all of him.
“I thought I told you to stay out of trouble.” The hunger in his eyes made me want to find out.
My chest rose and fell with every breath, but the one thing I wasn’t was afraid. “You also said I’m the trouble. And if that’s true, I don’t want to make trouble with anyone else.” His pulse thrummed under my lips as I pressed them to his neck.
“Kaylor,” he groaned and pressed a kiss to the scar on my shoulder.
A shiver rolled through me as his head dipped. I fucking melted into him, pushing my fingers into his hair, and held on for dear life as his mouth closed over my nipple.
His tongue flicked over my tight bud, and I moaned, pressing myself deeper into his mouth. He felt so damn good, my breasts growing heavy and aching for more. The sweet torture between his hot mouth and the cool air when he switched to the other side had me on the verge of begging or threatening him. It was a toss-up between which.
I needed to do something with my hands and mouth before I lost my mind. My nails skimmed down his chest to the flat ripples of his abs. He had the most breathtaking body. Not too muscular that his muscles were too big for his head but this perfect balance. His strength was almost deceiving. I’d seen what he could do with his fists on more than one occasion. Kreed had a quiet, dangerous temper, but I’d never felt safer in my life than when I was with him.
I loved the way his abs constricted under my featherlight touch and the way his breath caught as I moved lower, skating the edges of his boxers. A smile curved on my face as my fingers slipped inside, closing around him.
Kreed dragged a hiss through his teeth, his head tipping back as if he were in pain—or maybe restraint. His eyes flickered shut, the muscles in his jaw tight, straining. But I didn’t stop. I tightened my grip, watching his reaction like a predator watching its prey. The way his body trembled beneath my touch and the way he exhaled in a broken rasp, sent a vicious thrill through me.
The throb between my legs pulsed, intensifying with every slow stroke of my hand. God, I want him. The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. This wasn’t just some reckless attraction. It was something far more dangerous.
Kreed’s lips brushed my shoulder, his teeth grazing my skin, before pressing a slow, deliberate kiss over the scar that marred my flesh. A contradiction—gentle and possessive all at once. “I might’ve been wrong,” he murmured, his voice rough, barely restrained.
I dragged my fingers over him, taking my time. “About what?”
His teeth raked over my skin again, this time harder, as if punishing me for testing him. “About you staying out of trouble.”
Beads of his arousal glistened at the tip of his shaft, and for the first time in my life, I had the urge to take him in my mouth—to taste him, to claim him in a way that went beyond control. But moving would mean losing the sinful exploration of his lips on my body, and I wasn’t ready for that to end. Not yet.
His mouth traced a scorching path up my neck. “Are you implying you’re trouble?” I whispered, my fingers squeezing to see him react.
He chuckled darkly, a sound that made my stomach clench. “Not implying. I am trouble, little raven.” His tongue flicked against my earlobe before he sucked it between his teeth, making me gasp. “And if you keep doing that, I won’t be able to show you just how much trouble we can get into together.”
Before I could tease him further, he grabbed my wrist and pinned it to the mattress, shifting down my body. His head lowered between my breasts, and I barely bit back a moan when his tongue flicked against my skin.
I let him take control as I wasn’t finished exploring him. He’d unlocked something in me—this insatiable hunger, this desperate need to feel, to consume, to be consumed. I didn’t just want him. I needed him.
His hands skimmed up the insides of my thighs, his fingers trailing fire along my skin. “Fuck, you’re soft,” he muttered. “I don’t think I’ve ever touched anything this smooth.”
My teeth sank into my lip to stifle the moan threatening to break free, my body betraying me as my hips arched toward him. “Do you have protection?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached for the nightstand, grabbed a foil packet, and twirled it between his fingers as he settled back over me, his weight deliciously heavy. “Are you sure?”
If he stopped now, I might actually cause him bodily harm instead of pleasure. I snatched the condom from his hand, tearing it open. “I’m sure.” Maybe I’d regret it tomorrow. Maybe this was the worst decision I’d ever make. But right now, none of that mattered. Tonight, I only wanted to live in the moment with Kreed.
His expression darkened like he knew exactly what he was doing to me. He rolled the condom on, positioning himself between my legs. I tilted my hips, desperate, but he took his damn time, teasing, torturing.
If he’d asked me to beg, I would’ve. Thank God, he didn’t.
He pushed inside me, inch by excruciating inch, his body stretching mine in a way that made my nails sink into his back. My breath caught in my throat.
His eyes locked on to mine, and for the first time, I saw something raw in them—something vulnerable—something that mirrored the chaos inside me. The way he looked at me, as if I were the only thing in his universe, shattered the walls around my heart. It was as if he understood too well the depth of my pain and was more than willing to absorb it.
“Jesus,” he ground out, his forehead pressing against mine. “You’re so fucking tight.” He pulled out slowly, his strokes torturous, teasing, forcing a moan from my lips.
I smirked despite how close I was to unraveling. “Don’t tell me Kreed Corvo can’t last more than two minutes.” My words were ironic, considering I was so damn close to tumbling over the edge. My own pleasure teetered so much that if he hit the right spot I’d be the one who couldn’t last.
His laugh was sinful, breathless. “You ever had multiple orgasms, little raven?”
No, but I wasn’t about to admit that to him when he seemed sure of himself, but damn, if he didn’t make good on it. The first consumed me before I could get my snarky reply out. My back bowed on a gasp as the waves of pleasure rocked through every cell in my body. Like a prayer, Kreed’s name passed through my lips over and over again.
He sealed his smug mouth over mine. Possessive. Commanding. Branding. No one in the world kissed like Kreed did. He didn’t hold back. He gave everything in just a kiss. Truthfully, it was more than just a kiss. It was everything, made me feel everything. Weak. Buzzing. Whirling. Humming. Floating. Above all, consuming desire.
Our bodies moved together in sync, lacking any weird awkwardness or clumsiness to find a rhythm. It was as if we’d done this a dozen times before.
My fingers tangled into his hair, needing him closer, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense since we were as close as two people could get physically, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more of him.
And when the second orgasm tore through me, I shattered completely. The world tilted on its axis, and if it wasn’t for the mattress pressing into my back, I swore I would have fallen to the center of the earth.
Kreed followed seconds later, his body stiffening, his grip on my waist bruising as he buried himself deep, letting out a guttural groan that sent another shiver through me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The only sound was our ragged breathing. Our bodies were still tangled together, and our skin was slick with sweat.
Then reality came crashing back.
Holy. Crap.
What the hell had I done?
I’d just slept with Kreed. How had I ended up here? In his bed? In his arms? Tangled with him?
Poppy was wrong. Kreed definitely didn’t have a problem kissing during sex, and I’d been a fool to think this would only happen once. Because I already craved more. Not just the sex but him. Kreed Corvo—the moody, infuriating, dangerous asshole.
There had to be worse things than falling for my godfather’s son.
Like being killed. Or abducted. Or?—
I swallowed hard.
This wasn’t the end all be all.
And yet…
It felt like the beginning of something I could never come back from.
We lay in bed, the sheet barely covering us, my head resting on Kreed’s chest as my fingers traced the ink on his arm. The warmth of his skin seeped into me, grounding me in a moment I wasn’t sure I wanted to hold on to—or let go of.
I was taking a tour of his tattoos. My fingertips skimmed over the raven etched into his skin. “This one…the raven. Is that for the Crew?” I asked.
His body stiffened beneath me. Just barely, but I felt it. “Don't ask questions you don't want answers to,” he murmured, his voice a low warning in the dark.
My fingers curled against his arm, listening as his heart beat steadily under my cheek. “Who said I don’t want to know? I want the truth. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
His breath came slower now, measured. A beat of silence stretched between us before he exhaled. “The Crew isn’t just some name. It means something to each of us. Different things. But also the same. A level of respect. Honor.”
“Like family,” I said, tilting my head up to look at him. “But not like the one you have in this house.”
His jaw tensed. His eyes, dark and unreadable, flicked to mine. Then, after a long moment, he nodded. “Yeah, I guess.”
I wanted to press. To dig deeper. To pull out whatever it was he wasn’t saying, but I’d learned if I pushed too hard, he’d shut down. He’d shut me out. And the idea of him closing that door between us, after everything that had just happened, sent a bitter sting through my chest.
So I let it go.
For now.
I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to an empty bed. The sheets were still warm where he'd been, his scent clinging to them, to me. I lay still, listening to the sounds of someone moving around the room, a whisper of fabric as he pulled on his sweatpants and hoodie. He didn’t know I was awake, and I did not move to alert him. Instead, I watched through half-lidded eyes as he ran a hand through his hair, the muscles in his back flexing, the tattoo spanning his shoulder blades faintly visible in the dim light.
Had I appreciated the view of his bare ass before he covered it up?
Hell yes.
Why shouldn’t I?
He had an incredible ass. Delectable. And my fingers still remembered the way it had felt beneath them, the taut muscles clenching as he moved above me, but now he was gone, and I hated how empty the bed felt without him in it. I told myself to go back to sleep. To bury beneath the covers and pretend like last night hadn’t unraveled something inside me, but the longer I lay there, staring at the ceiling, the harder it was to ignore the gnawing unease in my gut.
Why had he left?
Where had he gone?
Something about the way he moved, the quiet precision of his steps, the way he’d waited until he thought I was asleep before slipping out… It wasn’t normal.
I should’ve followed. Should’ve thrown on his hoodie and stalked him through the house like the crazy person he probably already thought I was.
Instead, I rolled onto my side, clutching the sheets, trying to hold on to the last remnants of his warmth, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever Kreed was doing had something to do with the note in my locker. I wasn’t sure if I was more afraid of what I’d find if I dug too deep…
Or what would happen if I didn’t.
Holy. Crap. I’d slept with him.