24. Pandora
PANDORA
I feel languid after the good meal and the good wine. I was worried that a fancy restaurant dinner could get boring, but I’d had a good time tasting all the foods and teasing Blaze and Asch both.
The wind runs through my hair as we drive back. I have my phone out, but I scowl when I see River hasn’t responded to the pictures of dinner I’d sent him.
If he was going to be pissy about being left out, he should have come along.
“Are you tired, Pandora?” Blaze asks.
I put my phone away and smile at him. “Nope. I could go all night.” I twist in my seat to look at Asch. “So could you, right?”
Asch has been acting standoffish, too. As much as I try to include him in my flirtations, he hasn’t been very responsive. He looks up at me from his phone, and I realize he’s been scrolling it instead of paying attention to Blaze and me.
“What?” he asks.
“Blaze asked if he should drop me off at home,” I say.
Blaze scoffs. “I did not. I asked if you were tired.”
Because he’s not driving us back to campus. I noticed he missed the turn a few blocks ago.
That’s so presumptuous of him, to take me somewhere else. Or maybe I’m supposed to be worried about what he plans on doing with me now, but I have a good idea.
I don’t have to spell it out, do I?
…It’s sex. Blaze wants us to fuck.
“Where would we go if I’d said yes?” I ask him. “What if Asch is the tired one?”
“Asch is not going to say he has a headache,” Blaze responds immediately.
“Maybe Asch does have a headache,” Asch retorts.
Blaze’s hands tighten on the steering wheel.
Oh dear. Trouble in paradise? All because of me?
That shouldn’t amuse me as much as it does, but I guess I do enjoy knowing that I’m important enough to cause trouble for them.
“If Asch isn’t feeling well, we should find a place for him to lie down,” I suggest. “Is there a hotel nearby?”
“You can drop me back at the frat house,” Asch says. He seems about to add something else, but he closes his mouth instead and drops his attention back to his phone.
“No, that’s way too far away,” Blaze says, like campus isn’t just a ten-minute drive even with the small detour he’s taken. “Look, there’s a hotel right here!” He pulls into the small entryway of a nearby hotel and stops the car.
We both turn around to look at Asch.
“It looks serious,” I say to Blaze. “If we don’t hurry, Asch’s face might be stuck like that.”
Blaze nods. “Yeah. He needs a good dose of something to help him loosen up.”
Asch makes an irritated sound. “Anyone who told you that you’re funny lied to you, Pandora,” he retorts. “And you’re not helping, Blaze. ”
Blaze gets out of the car and opens the door for Asch. “Come on. There’s a bed waiting for you inside.”
I go to join Blaze, extending my hand for Asch. “There might be pussy waiting for you too. I guess it would depend on whether we think it’s medically necessary.”
I hear the valet, standing nearby, suppress a laugh.
“Fucking hilarious, both of you,” Asch mutters, but he gets out of the car without taking my hand. He slides his phone into his back pocket and straightens his suit.
“I’ll go get our key,” Blaze says. He kisses my cheek, hands his key to the valet, then heads inside.
I wait until he’s gone to put my hands on Asch. He tenses and avoids my gaze.
“Come on, Asch,” I say. “Don’t let your bad mood and stupid thoughts spoil the evening.”
Asch looks down at me, his expression still distant. “You wanted Blaze,” he says. “Well, congratulations. He’s yours.”
There’s something raw there, something I want to poke at and see if he flinches away from.
“Do you think it’s bad to want more than one person?” I ask him.
I know what people have said about my parents. They don’t flaunt their unconventional relationship, and attitudes now aren’t what they were twenty years ago, but there are still a lot of people who don’t understand.
I want to say that I don’t give a fuck, that what other people say never bothers me, but that’s the me now.
When I was a kid, I had a much harder time listening to people calling my parents perverts or weird or gross.
Okay, and also, as a kid I wasn’t really able to violently shut up the detractors. Things had gotten so much better once I had real strength to fight back.
Asch smiles, but it’s not the kind of smile I want to see from him. It’s strange and distant, like he’s put me away in a box and refuses to let me come out. “No. ”
I wait for him to continue, but for several long seconds, that’s all he gives me.
Finally, he sighs, his shoulders dropping as he deflates. “Blaze wants you, Pandora, and you want Blaze. You’re the first woman he’s been interested in like this in as long as I can remember. Take the win.”
“What win?” I ask, genuinely confused now. “You think Blaze would drop you for me? I’m pretty sure he still likes you more than me, you idiot. Also, did you forget River? I didn’t. If I thought he’d show up, I’d invite him right now too.”
Asch eyes me. “So… What? You want all three of us?” he asks skeptically.
“Why not?” I say stubbornly. “Who says I can’t?”
Because I do want them all.
I want River, who gave up his finger for me.
I want Blaze, who matches my wild energy.
And I want Asch, who’s hiding darkness underneath that calm exterior.
Asch’s hands go to my hips, and he abruptly drags me closer to him. “Blaze doesn’t share,” he murmurs. “Maybe with me. Maybe. But with River? You can forget that.”
I grin widely and give him a brief kiss. “You think Blaze has a choice? Who would win if we got into a fight, Blaze or me?”
Asch runs a hand down my spine before resting it at the small of my back. “There are reasons I haven’t wanted the two of you alone together,” he murmurs. “I don’t trust you. I never have.” He holds me close to him anyway.
I giggle and grab his ass. “Don’t worry, I promise not to break Blaze’s heart.”
That’s a lie.
If it turns out Blaze is involved in Rachel’s disappearance?—
But I don’t want to think about that scenario.
I can’t think about it.
My mind refuses to believe that Blaze and Asch could be responsible. Logically, they can’t be, right? They were freshmen last year. They barely knew the area, and they’d have been busy with pledging.
Rachel’s diary never mentioned two guys, either, and no way would Blaze have done anything without Asch.
So, logically, neither of them is the mysterious person Rachel met.
Even if Blaze does know a lot about that stupid flower.
The front entrance opens, and Blaze walks out, holding a card key.
“You two ready to get upstairs? We still have to cure Asch of his malady,” Blaze drawls, his eyes flicking over Asch and I and our close proximity. It sounds like he’s joking, but there’s a hint of bite there.
Angry that he’s being left out? Jealous of me, or of Asch?
I step away from Asch, but I take his hand in mine so he doesn’t get stupid ideas about running away.
“Yep! Lead the way. For the noble purpose of curing Asch.”
Asch lets me lead him into the hotel foyer, and while he casts an inscrutable look at Blaze, he seems to have accepted that neither of us intends to let him mope and sulk around while we enjoy our night.
“Let me guess, you booked the honeymoon suite,” I say in the elevator.
Blaze looks over to Asch, then grips my shoulders. I barely have time to gasp before he presses his lips onto mine. I’m trapped between Asch and Blaze while Blaze devours me.
Asch nuzzles my throat from behind, his hands going back to my hips and squeezing tightly enough to coax a moan from my lips. Whatever strange mood has been gripping him tonight seems to falter and collapse as he works in tandem with Blaze to steal kisses as the elevator travels up.
“Honeymoon suite was booked,” Blaze says in between kisses. “Had to get a deluxe king instead.”
He pushes his hand past the fabric of my dress to cup my breast. The disadvantage of this outfit is that I couldn’t wear a bra with it.
Oh, who am I kidding? It’s an advantage. I did this on purpose.
I moan and give in to his kisses, opening my mouth while he thumbs my nipple. I grind back, and I can feel the beginnings of Asch’s erection.
The elevator comes to a smooth stop, and the door opens. Asch doesn’t step back, though. This time, he’s the one who takes my hand, and he leads me out and after Blaze.
“Room 803,” Blaze says, but he keeps one hand on me too, groping me while we make our way to the room.
Asch’s fingers run along my side, and I giggle at the sensation while Blaze attempts to get the door open.
“You need help there?” Asch asks while he kisses my neck.
“Nope. I’ve got it.” Blaze swipes the card once more, and the door finally opens.
He grabs me, pulling me into another fierce kiss.
His tongue runs along the bottom of my lip in between gentle nibbles, and I groan, opening my mouth for him.
I expect him to plunge his tongue in immediately, but he takes his time.
When I try to pull him closer to me, to grind against him, he puts his hands on my hips and keeps me in place.
I make a small sound in protest. This isn’t fast and rough. This is slow, sensuous, but my body zings with pleasure regardless.
“You want to keep making out in the middle of the hall?” Asch asks, although there’s no bite to his tone.
Blaze breaks the kiss and looks at Asch. “Why not? We should show the world how hot we are.”
Asch grins at him. “Do you remember when we got kicked out of that one restaurant?” he asks, and while he’d been positively miserable and pathetic before, he looks alive in this moment. Mischievous, amused — and sexy.
“I don’t know why they were so stuffy about it,” Blaze says. He takes my hand and borderline drags me into the room.
I end up stumbling thanks to the high heels I’m wearing, and I crash against Asch with a laugh.
“Hey, handsome,” I say to him. “Thanks for the save.”
“Hey, beautiful,” Asch says, and his eyes are dark and intent upon mine as he smiles at me. He wraps his arms around me. “Want to know why we got kicked out of the restaurant?”