Chapter 5
Leo
My phone rings just as I’m leaving my last class of the day, and I know who it is without needing to look.
Everyone else just sends a text, but not dear old Dad.
The sun is already low in the sky, painting the horizon in reds, oranges, and yellows.
It could be a beautiful night, but I know this call will just put a damper on it.
I should give up the hope that he’s calling to check on how I’m doing, because every single time, I’m disappointed.
Someday I’ll have the courage to break this cycle; today just isn’t one of them.
I pull out my phone, taking a deep breath, and swiping up to answer.
“Hi, Dad.”
“Leopold.”
“How—”
“Has the letter come yet?”
I stop walking, the world moving around me while I stand frozen, annoyed, and disappointed.
“No, it hasn’t come yet. I—”
“I have eyes everywhere, son. This girl you’re seeing had better not be interfering with our plans.
They will call for you, and you had better answer it.
Understood?” My defenses rise, my spine straightening.
It’s one thing for him to control and bulldoze me, but I won’t sit back while he makes Mia out to be something she isn’t.
“Mia would never interfere. She’s supportive. She’s—”
“I didn’t ask. I was reminding you. I’ll check in soon. Don’t disappoint us.”
The call disconnects without any further conversation or goodbyes, and I quickly shove it into my pocket.
I’m so fucking sick of hiding, so tired of living the life he’s curated and created for me.
I have no interest in being recruited into Crimson Veil, and here I am, waiting for the call to become an initiate, to pledge my life and that of my children to fuck knows what.
I just wish I had the courage to stop it before it’s too late.
The moment I’m back in my dorm, I pull off my T-shirt, lay down a drape, and set a new canvas on my easel.
Tension flows through my veins like a live wire, electric, sharp, and painful.
Something needs to give. So, I hand myself over to my paints, focusing on the sunset, blending shades of orange, yellow, and red against the deep-blue sky.
Hours go by, and I don’t realize it until Mia appears in the doorway of my room. She’s a breath of fresh air, an oasis in the desert, the sun on a cloudy day. Even if she would argue that until her last breath.
“Hi.”
“Hi, pretty girl. Want to see?”
“You know I do,” she says with a smile. Mia saunters across the room, kicking off her shoes before stepping onto the drop cloth and rounding the large easel.
Her hands fly to her mouth, her eyes shimmering with tears.
It’s something that I’m so attracted to about her; she’s so responsive and expressive in everything she does.
So unapologetically herself, feeling every emotion in abundance.
“Do you have any idea how talented you are?”
“Mmm,” I hum as I study the side profile of her face. I still haven’t painted her yet, but it’s something I’ve been dying to do. It just has never felt like the right time, almost as if something was missing and keeping me from it.
“I mean it, you should be doing this with your life, sharing your art with the world.” I could get into it with her, tell her about my lack of meaningful conversation with my father earlier, bring up, again, how I hate the way my life is being planned out for me, but I don’t want to do any of that.
Right now, all I want to do is share my art with her.
I swipe my pointer finger through the red paint, dragging it slowly down her arm.
There’s an audible hitch in her breath that’s an instant turn-on for me, my body waking up, my heart rate increasing.
She turns to face me, gathering up her long chestnut hair and clipping it back.
Then she’s dipping her fingers into the blue, delicately swiping them over my bare chest, slowly circling my nipple.
It hardens to a stiff peak quickly, arousal trickling through my veins, my cock rapidly hardening in my jeans.
Our eyes hold each other hostage, then my mouth descends on hers like I’m starving. We’re a mess of lips, tongues, and hands as we wrestle each other out of our clothes. She meets me in the middle, just as desperate, just as needy.
When we’re completely naked, I reach for more paint, this time a pretty yellow, coating my hand and then gripping her breast with it, leaving my handprint behind.
It’s so fucking sexy. I lean down, sucking her clean nipple into my mouth, flicking it with my tongue the way she likes.
Cool, wet hands stroke over my shoulders and the back of my neck, and I can feel the drip of the thick paint as she drags it over my skin.
We fall to the floor, and I gently lay her on her back, her legs falling open. She doesn’t need to ask. My mouth salivates as I pepper kisses over her skin, smearing the paint with my hands as I go. She’s the most beautiful work of art I’ve ever seen, the most perfect canvas.
Her bare pussy glistens in the light of the room as I come face-to-face with the apex of her thighs. Her painted hands grip her breasts, cleavage spilling through her fingers as she gropes herself. I don’t look away as I take my first long lick through her folds, her taste coating my tongue.
I moan into her flesh, my lips suctioning around her clit, sucking in little pulses.
“Leo, Oh, god, just like that, yes!” Her moans get louder, and I slide my hands under her, lifting her ass in my palms for better access to eat her pussy. I live for having my head between her thighs, my tongue against her silky center. She’s fucking heaven.
This is peace. My art. Mia. Quiet.
She squirms in my hold, a hand leaving her breast to hold the back of my head. Mia plants her feet flat on the ground, lifting herself up further, hips gyrating, holding my mouth where she wants me as she fucks my face.
I inhale her rich scent, lapping between her lips as she rolls her hips. It’s so fucking hot, my cock throbbing against the ground, precum spilling from my tip. I get so goddamn hard when her pussy is in my face, especially when she takes charge like this.
It only takes a moment more before she screams out, her back arching, her swollen little clit throbbing against my tongue as I suck it between my lips.
When she lets herself sag to the floor, I quickly grab my jeans, pulling out a condom and rolling it on. She’s a vision covered in paint, lips puffy, eyes heavily lidded and clouded with lust, tears streaking down her face. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.
I’m on her the next moment, cradling her head between my palms, kissing down her jaw, sucking on the skin of her neck as I rut against her, ready to sink in deep.
“Leo, stop, stop. I need to tell you something,” she pants. Like a bucket of ice water was dumped over my head, I pull back the moment she says stop, worry and concern replacing my arousal.
“What’s wrong? You okay, baby?” My cock throbs against her damp inner thigh, more than ready to sink into her tight heat.
If she’s got something on her mind right now while we’re about to have sex, it can’t be good.
I sit up on my elbows, brushing some of her matted hair out of her face. “Talk to me.”
“You’re not gonna like it.”
“Try me.”
“I fooled around with Parker.” If I were a betting man and told to guess, that would have been it.
I feel like I’ve been in a throuple situation without the benefits of a threesome since Mia and I got together last year.
I know he exists, I know she’s only ever been with each of us, but I pretend like hell he isn’t in the picture.
I don’t share, and I sure as fuck don’t share the woman I’m in love with.
“When?”
“Today.”
“Baby, you’ve been in class all day.”
“He kind of snuck into my class.” Jesus Christ. The fucking nerve of this asshole.
“What happened?”
“He fingered me in the middle of class.” That relentless, dumb fucker.
“Did you come?” Mia’s eyes widen in surprise. I lift my hips, lining up the tip of my cock with her entrance. I gather her wrists in my hand, stretching them above her head. “Did you come for him, Mia?” I slam home, filling her tight pussy in one hard thrust.
“Yes!” Fuck.
I thrust into her hard and deep as she wraps her legs around my waist, meeting me thrust for thrust. My free hand is everywhere, sliding up her smooth side, spreading the paint further.
“This pussy is mine right now, pretty girl. I guess it needs reminding.”
“Yes!” she screams as she grips onto my shoulders.
“Mine!” I roar as I pound into her tight heat, grinding my pelvis against her clit with each thrust. Her arousal leaks down to my balls, the erotic wet slapping sound of our bodies coming together echoing around us.
It only takes a few more thrusts before Mia screams out her release, her pussy clamping down around my cock.
I thrust once. Twice. Then I’m pulling from her body, ripping the condom off, and watching as my cum erupts onto her stomach, mixing with the swirls of paint.
“Fuck, pretty girl, you should see yourself right now. A masterpiece.”
Mia laughs softly, her arm falling over her eyes as she works on catching her breath.
After a few moments, I scoop her up, carrying us to the shower, where I reluctantly wash off my artwork.
We bathe in comfortable silence, taking our time getting dressed.
When Mia’s stomach grumbles, I know I’ve got to leave the comfort of the room and get her food.
“You stay here in bed, I’ll go get us something to eat. I won’t be long.”
When I step out of Grimsley Hall, the last person I’m expecting to come face-to-face with is Parker. The absolute arrogance of this guy, combined with his complete disregard for Mia being with me, pisses me off to no end.
“Hey fuckface. What part of Mia isn’t with you are you not understanding? You think showing up in the middle of her class to finger fuck her is a good idea?” I yell.
Parker has the audacity to smirk at me, covering his stupid fucking perfect smile with his hand as he stops in front of me. Smug bastard.
“Yeah, a great idea, actually. I made her come in the middle of her lecture. Sue me. She enjoyed it, gushed allll over my fingers.” I can’t help it, all I see is red. I shove him hard in the chest, sending him backward a few paces.
“Why can’t you let her go? She’s with me!”
Parker gives me a look that says he isn’t convinced, a cocky, sly smirk spreading across his face. “Is she? Are we sure about that?”
“Pretty sure I just left her naked in my bed after fucking her into oblivion. Yeah, Parker, she’s with me.”
“She’ll never just be with you!” he yells as he steps into my space, shoving me back. “Just like she’ll never just be with me. Get the fuck over it.”
I’m two seconds from punching him, but we’ve already got quite the audience of onlookers, and the last thing I need is to be put on probation for fighting. “Fuck you!”
“Any time, buddy.”
I stomp off, irritated and pissed off with the interaction, his last words ringing through my head.