Chapter 24 Bash
BASH
The research library is dark when we slip inside, the only light coming from the low lamps scattered across the long study tables.
I’ve had this planned for a while, but I didn’t expect it would be for our first time.
I don’t want to wait after almost losing my girl tonight.
I want to make tonight unforgettable, overshadow every bad memory she might hold on to.
I flex my fingers against her ribcage and because I’m a fucking man in love with her, I let my fingers brush the side of her breast. Fuck.
I’m not going to make it to the actual plan because all I want right now is to haul her against me and fumble around until we figure out how well we fit together.
She looks up at me, half suspicious and half amused. “What about the cameras?” she asks.
My hand drifts down her arm, then back up again. I find the silkiest strands of hair, and my fingers play absently with the curl at the ends as we walk.
“I hacked them the day I moved here,” I say simply.
Livy’s eyes widen. “You what?”
“So I could watch you when you weren’t in your room,” I admit with a shrug. “I turned them off from my phone before bringing you here tonight. I can make them static so if anyone looks, they just see an empty library. You know, just stalker things.”
She stares at me like she can’t decide if she should be horrified or impressed. Then she rises onto her tiptoes and cups my face.
“You’re absolutely ridiculous, but I love it,” she whispers.
My chest swells at her words because this is all I want in life. I want to be good for her, I want her to love me. I want to be everything she needs in this life.
Livy stays close beside me as the heavy metal door shuts quietly behind us.
“I’m probably going to regret asking you this,” she starts, and gives me a knowing look.
I know what she’s referring to. When she was getting changed, she asked me if we should report what happened with Nathan to the police, and I told her that they’d never find a trace of him even if someone did report it.
She brought up Ronan, and that she was worried he would tell.
I’d leaned in close and said that they’d never find his body either if he opened his mouth.
She needs to understand the people in my circle and that she never has to worry about anything ever again.
“Hit me with it. What do you want to know?” I say, and I just can’t keep my hands off of her. She’s close enough to me that I can feel every time she takes a breath, and yet I miss her. I need her closer, and I’m getting agitated that I can’t sate that desire.
“How can you even get in here after hours?” she whispers, glancing around the huge room.
I like the way her eyes light up when she sees a library.
I know she wants to be a researcher eventually for missing persons cases.
I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that becomes a reality for her.
I think she enjoys digging through the archives and finding the missing pieces of information, but I think more so than that, she wants to help people that have had the same trauma she endured.
Even though she’s been in this building more than probably anyone else on campus, something about the books excites her.
And that excites me.
I smile and pull her a little closer, my hand settling at her waist as we start walking slowly between the tall shelves.
We stopped by her room on the way here so she could get some shoes and change out of Juniper’s dress.
“I can do anything,” I tell her quietly, because that’s true.
I’d move fucking Heaven and Hell just to see her eyes light up like this.
She rolls her big green eyes up to give me an incredulous look, and I take the opportunity to drop my face to hers, brushing my lips there gently.
I can’t help sliding my hand down her back and squeezing her ass.
Fuck, she’s soft and perfect, and I just need her in ways I’ve only been able to imagine at this point.
“Anything?” she quirks an eyebrow at me playfully, and it’s in this moment that I realize how resilient my girl really is.
To be grabbed by that fucker Nathan, find out that he may or may not be her brother and the only father she knew probably wasn’t actually related to her and still be smiling up at me?
She’s so fucking strong, and I realize now that while she would have been safer if I’d been by her side all this time, she has taken care of herself.
I’m just here now to take over because she shouldn’t have to do those things. That’s my job now, and I take it very seriously.
I know my eyes must darken when I look down at her because I’m feeling absolutely feral for her
But she has other plans, because she giggles…
pulling away from me before I anticipate it.
She’s running away and looking over her shoulder as she makes her way up the spiral staircase that leads to an expansive selection of books.
Her voice is melodic as she calls out, “If you can do anything, then say something nice about Jeremy.”
The biggest fucking grin spreads across my face as she disappears.
She’s got jokes, apparently, but I’m slow to respond because I’m watching her ass move in that short pink dress she threw on tonight.
She paired it with the cutest fucking white socks and tennis shoes.
She thinks she looks casual, effortlessly cute, but I’ve never wanted her more.
Sure, she looked fucking gorgeous in that tight black dress and heels, but this?
I’m going to buy her this dress in every fucking color and fuck her in every one of them.
She’s already out of sight when I call out, “You’re going to pay for that when I catch you, baby. ”
I can hear her whisper giggling and shuffling around, trying to find a hiding spot. She understands why I’ve brought her here, but the innocent wonderment she possesses does something to me. She doesn’t know everything I have planned though, she can’t possibly.
I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing, but I’m looking forward to learning with her. I’m going to teach her how to please me, and I’m going to devote my entire life to giving her every single thing she wants.
Starting with tonight, because really, this was her idea, but I’m betting she isn’t expecting me to be this prepared.
I know exactly where I left it.
My fingers slide behind the row of books, brushing dust and worn spines until I feel the smooth edge tucked back where no one would ever look. I pull it free slowly, my pulse already starting to pick up like my body’s been waiting for this moment just as much as I have.
My cock strains against my jeans like it knows tonight is the night. I’m finally going to be deep inside of my girl, making her cry out as he comes all over my dick.
Days.
I’ve been thinking about this for days. Since the night I wore the mask for her and she mentioned the library.
The mask flickers to life in my hand, casting a low green glow. It’s just enough to be seen. Just enough to let her live out this fantasy of being chased.
I don’t know where she’s hiding yet, but I don’t need to. There’s something in my chest that tightens when she’s close, something instinctive that pulls me toward her.
I drag the mask over my face, adjusting it until it sits right. The hood of my sweatshirt comes up next, swallowing the rest of me into darkness so all she’ll see is the glow.
Let her feel it.
Let her anticipate what I’m going to do with her.
My boot hits the first step of the spiral staircase harder than it needs to.
The sound echoes.
I do it again.
Slow. Measured. Intentional.
I want her to hear me coming for her. She wants her good, not-so-little stalker to find her.
I don’t rush it because this slow build, this stretch of tension is half the reason I brought her here in the first place.
I know exactly what it does to her.
The waiting.
The not knowing when I’ll reach her.
The way it will wind her up until she’s already breathless before I even touch her.
I climb higher, listening, letting the silence work for me.
Then I hear her.
A soft shift. The faintest sound of fabric brushing against wood.
My focus sharpens instantly.
Found you, baby.
I step off the staircase and into the alcove, moving slower now, dragging it out even more as I turn my head, scanning the rows like I don’t already feel her eyes on me.
Oh how the tables have turned since the first time I watched her in this very library.
She’s watching every step I take, and I’m reveling in it.
And like a jolt of lightning she moves, but all I see is a flicker of pink fabric between the shelves, and that’s more than enough.
My entire body tightens.
Fuck.
I take a step toward her, slow, controlled, letting the moment stretch as long as possible.
She slips out from between the shelves, and the second her eyes land on me…on the mask, she gasps.
It’s soft. Breath catching. Not a trace of fear. She wants this, she wants me.
That knowledge hits me straight in the chest and settles low in my stomach, heavy and immediate.
Her eyes are wide, locked on me, pupils blown, lips parted like she forgot how to breathe for a second.
God, she looks so fucking good like this.
That dress is a problem that I need to get out of my way. Soft pink, barely there, and every shift gives me a glimpse of more skin, and it’s driving me insane.
My girl knows exactly what I’m going to do to her because she turns and runs. Something feral and wholly possessive snaps tight in my chest as I watch her take off down the aisle.
I follow.
I could catch her in seconds if I wanted to, but I don’t. I’m letting her lead the pace, to show me when she’s ready to be claimed.
I want her to feel me behind her. Want her to hear the steady, unhurried sound of my steps getting closer, want her to wonder when I’m going to stop playing and actually part her thighs sink all the way inside her heat.
Mine.
I let her get a little further, watching the way she glances over her shoulder, checking for me, making sure I’m still there.
I will always be right here, baby.
She turns down another aisle, and the second I see where she’s going, I know.
Dead end.
Perfect.
I slow even more as I follow, dragging this out for both of us, letting the tension coil tighter with every step until I finally reach the end.
She’s already there.
Back against the shelves.
Waiting for me just like I’ve waited for her.
Her chest is rising and falling, breath uneven now, and her eyes find mine beneath the mask immediately like she couldn’t look anywhere else even if she wanted to.
I tilt my head slightly, just enough for the light of the mask to catch differently in the dark.
I step closer, and she doesn’t run.
One step.
Two.
Three.
And just when I’m close enough to reach for her…
She drops to her knees, her dress pooling on her thighs.
My entire body goes still as she sinks down further to rest her ass on the back of her feet. Her thighs part slightly, and her eyes never leave mine.
Fuck.
My hand comes up, bracing against the shelf above her head as I close the rest of the distance, boxing her in, surrounding her completely.
She leans into it.
Of course, my girl does.
Her hand slides up my thigh, and I don’t move.
I can’t, because she’s got all of the control right now. I’ll give her anything she wants and nothing less.
She tilts her face up to me, and my cock jerks at the words that leave her pretty lips.
“Teach me.”