29. Piper
29
PIPER
Ant flies me home in the dark. Floating above the streetlights, the darkness surrounds us. I trust him completely to navigate, not just because I know his night vision is excellent. I know he would do anything to keep me safe. By the time we get to my front stoop, my damp hair has gone from ‘frizzy’ to sticking to my skin.
Ant sets me down gently. I’m still wrapped in his jacket. My stomach sinks as his hands release me. I don’t want him to leave.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod. “I’m happy. So glad I got to meet Presley. I’m just relieved everything went so well. Thank you, for everything. For all of it.”
“What are friends for?” he asks.
I laugh. His expression doesn’t change. It wasn’t a joke.
Right, we are just friends. Crap. Even after he fingered me in Loch’s office? Even after he met my parents? Even though I’m falling in love with him? Does he not realize?
“Piper.” He moves his wings to guard me better from the rain. “Would you like me to stay?”
His voice is so low that I can barely hear him. I avoid the urge to lean in closer. Instead, I wrap my arms a little tighter around myself.
“Stay?” I ask hopefully. He’ll barely fit into my tiny bed. Is that where he’s planning to spend the night?
“Across the street.” He gestures to the rooftop opposite my bedroom window. I laugh again and his antennae tilt toward me.
“Oh,” I laugh lightly. “I thought I saw you there once before. Looking through my window. But I think it was just an air conditioner.” I end the sentence with another laugh.
“I do bear a striking resemblance to a large metal box.” He smiles. “Would you feel better with someone watching over you tonight?”
I’d feel better with him in my bed. “I don’t want you to stand outside in the cold rain.”
“I don’t want your ex bothering you again.” His voice hits a dark tone.
“He won’t.” I don’t even convince myself with that sentence. “Maybe stay, just for a little while, until I fall asleep?”
His wings shake in the rain, throwing water droplets everywhere. His shirt is soaked through, plastered to his body. “As you wish.”
And in a blink, he swoops away. There’s nothing in front of me but a memory of him. Was that a Princess Bride reference? Was he trying to say…
I retreat into my apartment, determined not to think about him standing in the cold rain. Watching me.
I shower until I feel warm again, holding my head under the spray and letting the heat of the water sink into my bones. I move to my bedroom and toss the towel onto a hook on the back of my door. Then I freeze. My curtains are wide open.
Crap. What is wrong with me? I’ve got to remember to close my curtains. Even if the idea of him seeing me is a bit exciting.
Is he still there? I start to reach for the towel and stop myself. A glance at the window shows that there is a shadow. A figure standing on top of the building across the street, watching me with a pair of glowing red eyes, drinking in my naked body.
I swallow hard, then cross to the window, still naked, and reach up to the lock, very pointedly unlatch the window, and crack it open. The noise of the rain is more prominent in my bedroom now. I stretch my arms high over my head. Putting my body on display.
Ant’s shadow doesn’t move.
I spread myself across the bed and reach for my vibrator. I’m just going to do what I would do any night of the week, I justify to myself. Any time I couldn’t sleep, I’d pull out Old Faithful, turn her on, slip her between my thighs, and find that perfect spot with just the right setting that makes my whole body light up. I allow my thoughts to drift to dark fur, wide-spread wings, and a deep purr. I tilt my hips, increasing the speed.
I know he can see me. He can look if he wants. My big beautiful Mothman.
The sound of the rain gets louder, and there’s a creak of wood and plastic. I chance to open my eyes, just as Ant slips into my bedroom.
The sight of him steals my breath. So tall he barely fits into my room. His wings cannot spread all the way open, and the tops of them almost brush the ceiling. Water drips across my dark carpet and second hand furniture. His suit is gone. He’s wet and naked, just like me.
“Piper, what do you think you are doing?” His voice hits a low register that sends chills through me.
I groan at the sound of him. He stalks across the room, like a predator. The feeling of him in my room, wanting me, is oddly soothing.
His large hand lands on top of mine, his fingers wrap around my whole hand, guiding the tool between my legs.
“What do you think you are doing?” he repeats. “Showing off like this? Showing off my sweet pussy?” He moves his wrist, tilting the vibrator to angle it slightly differently. I am already so close, so primed and ready. “Anyone could have seen you. Anyone could have crept in here.”
I’m fighting the urge to giggle, and the noise comes out more like a moan instead.
Ant releases a low purr and moves so that more of his body is over top of mine, bracing one hand above me on the headboard.
“You greedy woman. You want all the fun for yourself. Who said that you could show off like this? Those tempting tits. Those luscious thighs. If you wanted to come, all you had to do was call me. If you wanted me in your bedroom, in your cunt, all you had to do was say something.”
“Something.” I manage to blurt out with a little giggle.
He smirks, and leans back to take me in. My view of him is highlighted by the streetlight through my window.
I shiver. He doesn’t touch me anywhere except my wrist that controls the vibrator. He tilts it slightly in one direction, and then the other, changing the pressure until I gasp under him. Something inside me is scared to touch him, to move without instruction. I just wait, letting him take control.
A low purr rumbles through his chest. The noise does something to me every time. My bed creaks as Ant shifts his weight until he is completely over me.
That’s when I come. The tightness spreads through my body, my mouth releasing a gaspy little shudder, and my legs clenching together. I start to pull my hand away, but his grip around my wrist tightens.
“Was that it? Do you think that’s all you are going to give me?” He moves his hands and my vibrator. “You haven’t even said my name. You haven’t even told me who you belong to. Say my name, darling. Tell me who is in charge of your pleasure.”
“Ant,” I breathe.
“Who’s pussy is this?” He grins.
“Yours,” I choke out.
“And do you think you can come again? For me.” He moves my vibrator in a tiny circle, keeping the sensation on my clit, and I gasp. His smile is so wide.
I nod eagerly. Even while his hand works at making me squirm.
”Good girl,” he murmurs. “I hope you are ready to work for it.”
Then, the vibrator is gone.
“Hey!” I protest with a laugh.
“Laugh all you want, pretty girl. I’m not going anywhere,” he growls. “I’m here just for you, and when you are finished, I am going to take what’s mine. I’m going to use that perfect pussy anyway I like. Now stick your ass in the air for me.”
I laugh again but nod eagerly, and then with deft hands he flips me over. One hand presses gently on my shoulder blades, while the other massages along the curve of my ass until he dips between my thighs, grazing across my pussy with each gentle stroke of my leg.
“Be a good girl for me, Piper. You are going to fuck my fingers until you make yourself come, and then I am going to fill you with my cock.”
I shift on the bed, moving my ass up into the air.
“There’s my good girl.” He slips his fingers easily into my wet pussy, curving inside me to stroke my walls. His thumb moves to graze my clit.
“Now, use me, Piper,” he growls. “Grind that sweet pussy on my hand and make yourself cum.”
It’s so easy to do what he says now, turn off my brain and let him be in control. I move my hips backward against him until the pressure and the roughness of his hand send a delightful spark through me.
“Feel how wet you get for me? How easy it is for me to use you?” He purrs and that only sets me off more.
I can’t see him, but I can hear the grin in his voice. I grind my hips against him, the solid comfort of his fingers. He’s so good, so warm and solid. I lose myself in the feeling. Letting my thoughts fade and my body take control, slowly at first, and picking up pace as the feelings roll through me. His fingers pound into me, while I moan and drool and mutter his name into the pillows in between profanities. I come at least once, in a powerful flash through my body, but I don’t let it stop me, continuing to fuck his hand with aggressive enthusiasm until I can barely breathe.
He finally pulls his hand away with a little growl, leaving a void inside me. I can barely moan in protest before he is wrapping his hands around my hips, jerking them up and back so he can wrap his claspers around me, holding me in place while his aedeagus begins a slow powerful penetration. Filling, and twisting, and pushing his thick heat into me.
“Fuck, Piper.” He groans my name over and over while he takes me. His hand wraps around the back of my neck to hold me in place. My body is too relaxed and weak to do anything but succumb to him. I wouldn’t move even if I could. I love the way he fills me, the way he claims me. I love the way he says my name, like I am the only thing in the world. I love the way he praises me and provides for me. The way he gives me everything I could ever want.
He comes with a rolling shudder that fills me with heat.
This time, I feel tears prick at the corners of my eyes before he’s even pulled out.
I roll into the pillow, trying to hide my face from him.
But Ant’s hands wrap around my chin and pull me to look at him.
“My flame,” he whispers. His face contorts with concern, his fingers wiping at the corners of my eyes. “What stupid thing have I done wrong this time?”
I shake my head, not wanting to admit I’m only overwhelmed by my own emotions. “It’s nothing. I’m tired of being mad at you. I don’t want to pretend anymore.”
“What are you pretending?”
“That we are just friends. I want—to be more than just friends.”
“More than friends?” he asks. “Like what?”
“Like—” I pause, feeling a long strain of conflicting emotions. Everything has gotten so indefinably complicated—the texting, the sex, the presents, the feelings of guilt, like I am taking advantage of his kindness.
“Like— best friends?” he asks with a gentle chuckle.
“Ugh.” I push him away playfully.
He grabs my hand and pulls it to his mouth, pressing a little kiss to my knuckles. “What do you want?”
“Just hold me? Please.”
“That was never optional.” He rolls onto his side so that his wings drape over the edge of my bed, and tucks me into his arms. I push my face into his chest, breathing in his vanilla scent, and letting my fingers play along his wiry muscles. His arms stroke along my back and his gentle purr hits my ears. “What if we went to the wedding next weekend together?”
“Aren’t we already going together?” I ask.
“What if I bring my girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yes.” He chuckles.
“Do you want to call and ask her?” I tease.
He tugs my face to look at him again. “I think I am asking her right now.”
My heart is beating so hard I’m almost embarrassed. I’m sure he can hear it—that he knows exactly how excited and nervous I am right now.
“I can come.” I nod.
“Good. I want everyone to see us, together. As a couple.” He presses his face to the top of my head. “You were never just a friend to me, Piper.”