Chapter 19
Leo
I’m woken up by someone putting a blindfold over my eyes and yanking me from my bed.
At first, I fight them, throwing a hard haymaker blindly and connecting with someone who grunts and cusses under their breath while pain ricochets through my hand and up to my elbow.
I kick wildly until I’m pulled to stand, my hands jerked behind my back.
It’s then that it hits me. The isolation trial.
Fuck. I was expecting it to come, but dear ole dad didn’t say they come in the middle of the fucking night.
At least Mia isn’t here; that would have terrified her.
I have a split moment of worry for Parker. He’s going to think I kept this little bit of information on purpose, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I stumble in darkness, feet shuffling around me as The Keepers navigate us through Grimsley Hall. The cool air outside never comes, so I know we don’t leave the building. We walk down stairs, turning tight corners that force me to lose all sense of whereabouts and direction.
The next thing I know, I’m being forcibly pushed to sit, my ass connecting with a hard surface under me.
“Count to thirty. Then you may remove your blindfold,” a voice I just barely recognize bellows. His tone is deep and foreboding, and as his steps retreat, I quickly count in my head.
Thirty. Twenty-Nine. Twenty-Eight. Twenty-Seven. Twenty-Six. A door slams, my body instinctively flinching. Twenty-five. Twenty-four. The hard click of a deadbolt locking into place is heard next, followed by another one. Then it’s silence. Twenty-three. Twenty-two. Twenty-one.
“Fuck this shit.” I hear the words, familiar and alarming, and a nervous chill spreads across my body.
“Leo?” I rip off my blindfold, coming face-to-face with Parker.
His dark green eyes seem to glimmer with mischief and way too much excitement, given the situation.
I should be surprised we were put together, but I’m not.
The school works in mysterious ways, and I’ve realized that Parker showing up isn’t a coincidence anymore.
Which means, we’re being tested against each other. A test I can’t fail. Right?
“Didn’t expect them to violently drag me from my bed,” Parker states with an accusatory glare. I shrug.
“Me either, actually. But we aren’t supposed to be talking.
” I stand from my chair and take in our surroundings.
It’s a larger dorm room, twin beds on either side, and a small kitchenette.
There’s a door off to the side of the kitchenette that must lead to a bathroom, because there’s no way these people are that barbaric that they’d make us use a pot or some shit for the weekend.
“The lack of windows is concerning.”
“Don’t you know what quiet means?”
“I can think of a way you could get me to be,” Parker insinuates. I roll my eyes at him, checking out the damage I did to my hand from punching whoever I made contact with. My knuckles are already blooming with bruises.
“Is your head always in the gutter?” I ask him, shaking out my hand and heading to the kitchen in search of ice.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to be talking?
” he counters. I shoot a glare his way. He’s wearing a pair of low-slung sweatpants, grey, because why the hell wouldn’t he be, sans T-shirt.
Because of course. My eyes roam over his chiseled pecs, dipping down across each hard-earned ab, and settling on the bones of his pelvis and that deep V.
My cock lengthens rapidly, and I quickly turn away from him to hide it.
I locate ice, dropping a few cubes into a towel and setting it over my sore hand. The heat of Parker’s eyes burns into the side of my head, and before I know it, he’s standing right behind me, his chest pressed so close to my back that I can feel the warmth radiating off him.
Parker reaches around me, his fingers gripping my wrist, guiding me to turn.
His touch is surprisingly gentle as he moves the ice and inspects my hand.
I don’t pull away, my heart lodging itself in my throat.
Tension crackles between us, my breathing picking up.
Parker seems unaffected, as usual, and I wonder what I’d have to do to rattle him.
“What happened?” I study Parker’s face for a moment before answering. His eyebrows are pinched, his lips pursed. He rotates my hand from side to side as he surveys the damage.
“Punched one of The Keepers,” I laugh. His eyes bounce back up to mine.
“No shit?”
I pull my hand away and take a few steps back from him.
“Yeah. Think I connected with a skull because the pain was instant. “I’ll take this bed,” I say, pointing to the one on the right. “Now shut up so we can survive this.”
“What are we supposed to do with our time?” Parker has the audacity to smirk, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
“You aren’t serious.”
“Don’t stand here and pretend like you haven’t thought about me like that. I’d even go as far as betting you stroke yourself when you’re all alone to thoughts of me.” He prowls me, and I retreat, backing up farther and farther. “Dare you.”
“Fuck you, Parker. You’re pretty full of yourself, aren’t you? We aren’t even supposed to be talking to each other. Fuck your stupid dare.”
He presses me against the wall, his hand flat against my chest. I know he can feel how fast my heart is racing right now, the proximity, the picture he’s painting, it’s all too much.
“But you don’t deny it,” he whispers, his voice low and tempting.
All the air in the room evaporates, and I struggle to pull in needed oxygen.
Ever so slowly, his face leans in, and I brace myself for a kiss, but at the last minute, he skips my lips, instead, dragging his nose over my jaw.
The shiver that runs through my body is his answer.
I can’t deny it. He pulls back just enough to look at me, his green eyes darting back and forth between my own.
We share air, the tips of our noses brushing against each other.
Energy crackles between us, lights flickering, our chests heaving.
A thunderclap rattles the windows, a storm raging just outside our little bubble.
I’m supposed to be in this room, this trial, as the son of an Ashcroft, a name that has meant something for generations.
A name that comes with certain expectations, a life that was planned out for me before I was even born and had a choice.
The only thing that’s keeping me from breaking that cycle is fear of the other side.
But I need to take that leap. Maybe Parker’s right, maybe what Crimson Veil really wants is for us to make independent choices, rather than letting our names choose for us.
I’m falling for Parker. I have been. I know I want a relationship with Mia and him. A real one. Where we’re all together. I just need to let go and give into this single moment and figure out the rest as I’m faced with it. Fuck it.
Then I’m kissing him.
Parker doesn’t seem stunned; there’s no moment of hesitation, just an immediate, desperate response, meeting me in the middle.
His hand curls around the back of my neck, anchoring me to the spot.
I reach for him, my hands sliding up his sides until I’m pulling him closer, our bodies flush against one another.
My heart pounds against his chest, like it’s trying to claw its way out to find Parker’s.
I hold him impossibly close as my body melts into his, my hands exploring his soft skin, the muscles of his back, and his strong shoulders.
His tongue delves into my mouth like he’s been waiting forever to finally kiss me.
I know because I feel the same. Kissing Parker is transcendent, and if I had any doubts before this moment, they’ve been completely erased.
As his lips move over mine, his tongue pillaging my mouth, he systematically obliterates every coherent thought and worry that plagued me.
Everything feels . . . right.
“Fuck, baby, you taste better than I ever imagined,” he whispers against my lips.
He’s quick to pull my T-shirt over my head, tossing it somewhere behind us.
I tremble in his arms as his lips trail wet kisses over my jaw, descending down my neck and over my collarbone.
Deft fingertips dip into my sweatpants, pushing them down over my hips.
He never stops kissing me, his tongue lashing at my nipple.
Pleasure pulses through my veins, my head swimming with desire.
I quickly kick off my sweats, leaving me completely naked in front of him. My cock jerks at my abdomen, beads of precum leaking from my tip and matting the short hair at my pelvis.
“Bend over, let me see this ass. I’ve been dreaming about it for way too long.
” Parker doesn’t give me a moment to think, the hands on my hips turning me and sliding up my spine with just enough force to get me to obey.
I bend at the waist over the counter as the flat of his hands run up my back and down again.
My head lolls to the side as goosebumps scatter outward, a chill of arousal rushing through my veins, heating my face, and making my dick throb.
His hands travel south, massaging over the globes of my ass.
Then his mouth is on me, and the moan slips free from my lips.
He starts between my shoulder blades, peppering open-mouthed kisses down my spine, over my ribs, and lower.
He stops at the base of my spine, dragging his tongue back and forth in a gentle tease.
My hands ball into fists, as my body coils tighter.
He kicks open my legs, spreading me farther. I want to instinctively clench up, knowing that he’s getting an unobstructed view of my ass and balls right now. But something tells me not to. I want this just as much as he does.
The hands on each of my cheeks spread me open farther, and I take a deep breath, my entire body trembling.
“Fuck. Look at you. Wish you could see how sexy you look right now,” he mumbles, his lips brushing against my skin. Parker takes his time, tormenting me, winding me up so tight I might blow before he even gets his mouth where I want him the most.
As he kisses each cheek, my hips start to move of their own accord, my hard cock leaking all over the countertop as it throbs against the cool material.
“That’s it. I want you needy, so desperate for me you can’t think straight.
Are you going to be my good boy, baby?” Fuck me, I couldn’t form words if I wanted to.
He doesn’t have any idea how much his dirty talk affects me on a deep, primal level.
He wants my head empty? I’m already there.
So instead of words, I fucking whimper. “Ohh, poor baby. You need my mouth on this tight little asshole?” My entire body trembles, his words caressing over me like silk wrapped around thorns.
My voice cracks when I finally get the word out. “Yes.”
“Such a good boy. You want my mouth on you, all you have to do is ask, baby, and it’s yours. I’ve been dreaming about it for far too long.”
Then he finally gives me what I’m such a desperate mess for.
Parker spreads my ass open wide, and I arch my back, so fucking needy at this point, I don’t care if he knows it.
It’s no longer a game, a dare. I want him so fucking bad it hurts.
The next thing I know, Parker spits right on my hole, his thumb brushing across the puckered spot, sending a jolt of electricity through my veins.
I feel so worked up, so alive. He alternates with each of his thumbs, rubbing over the tight rim, teasing me, watching how I respond.
“You look so fucking good. It’s better than I imagined. Now I just wonder how you taste.” Then his tongue is sliding over my taint and up my crack, not stopping his ascent until he’s lapping at my rim.
“Oh shit, that feels . . . oh fuck, yes, Park, yes,” I moan. He eats my ass like he’s starving for it, like it’s been on his mind all day. My cock throbs painfully, and I start to thrust against the counter, my precum a sticky mess.
He presses his tongue in, and I about lose all sense of my body. It ignites something inside me that I can’t explain, loosening all my inhibitions, all my stress, the pressure, the worry. I feel fucking free.
I moan, wanton and wild as Parker devours me, losing myself to everything he’s giving me.
He pulls my hips forward so he can reach around me, his strong hand curling around my aching cock. All I can do is hang on as he strokes me from root to tip while his tongue alternates between swirling around my rim and fucking me with it.
I hang on for as long as I can, willing my orgasm away, not wanting this to ever end.
But my cock thickens, and a long, low whine escapes my lips.
Parker turns me quickly, and then I’m looking at him on his knees for me, his mouth suctioning over the head of my cock, devouring me like he can’t get enough of this either.
His tongue never stops moving, working along the thick vein on the underside of my cock.
My head swims. He’s fucking wrecking me. Destroying me in the best possible way.
I grip the counter for purchase, my legs shaking as my orgasm surges forward.
“You’re making me come, Park, fuck. It feels so fucking good.
” My fingers comb through his wild blond hair, pushing it back out of his face and holding his head between my palms. My hips thrust forward, slipping my cock down his throat.
He doesn’t gag, doesn’t pull back, the hands on my hips urging me to keep going. “You want my cum?”
Parker hollows out his cheeks and sucks.
Hard. I’m a fucking goner. My orgasm slams into me with the force of a tsunami breaking at the shore.
He sucks me off, fingers digging into my hips, as I unload, filling up his mouth with my cum, the pearly white seed leaking out of the corner of his lips.
I don’t dare look away, wanting to fuse this memory into my brain to play back later.