Elle
None of this was a part of the plan, but fuck it, I’ll circle back to it later.
The aftershocks of my orgasms are still pulsing through me as I sprint from the studio and into the night air, my duffel bag flapping wildly at my hip as adrenaline surges through me.
Gant is right.
There is something primal, feral inside of me when it comes to him.
I like the chase.
I like his blunt, filthy talk.
And I like the way he touches me. The way he makes my soul want to vacate my body before it slams right back in.
I spin around and my ponytail whips me in the face from the force as I search frantically for a place to run. A place to hide.
The thing is, I want to be found.
And I only want Gant to catch me. Not the prowling security guards waiting for curfew in ten minutes.
The wind howls, and a chill runs down my spine as I look at the swaying treetops of the forest. In the dark, their branches extend towards me eerily like broken fingers, and yet I find a thrilling comfort at the thought of running into their embrace.
I’m losing it. Gant’s making me lose it as I run toward the forest line and the crunching sound of my trainers against Beaulieu’s pristine lawn transitions to muted thuds against the dark earth.
The more the wind howls in my ear, the faster my heart beats as I run through the speckled moonlight and towards a small clearing where I can see the full moon in its entirety.
It’s especially gorgeous tonight—bright silver and full and calling all the wolves.
I freeze, grabbing onto a tree trunk to steady myself and my breathing. Are there wolves in this forest?
Or just Gant?
He certainly could be classified as one.
I move three sixty around the trunk, glancing over my shoulder on every other step for signs of him. But I’m all alone.
Or so I think for a few nerve-wracking seconds because then, I hear him.
Grasping the trunk tighter, I press myself flat and try to listen over my racing heart. His muted steps are coming from my left…
No, my right.
No…
Goosebumps break out across my skin as I wait. As reality sinks in and my adrenaline that’s been balancing like a seesaw plummets, I plunge into pure fear.
What the fuck am I doing?
I can see a sliver of Maple House peeking between the trees and my head yells at me to run towards it. But my heart has eyes of its own and they’re zoning in on something else hiding amongst the vines behind me.
The old greenhouse.
It’s not glowing tonight with its thousands of candles but its dark walls are glittering in the moonlight, calling for me to enter and wait there where it’s safer from other wild animals. But why the hell would I want to finally uphold my end of the interlude in there?
A place that’s creeping with creatures.
A place Gant undoubtedly does a host of fucked up things like torturing Sylo, who I had yet to apologize to.
Why would I want to submit to him there?
Because it’s crawling with darkness.
Just like you’re crawling with desire. With the unknown.
The steps grow louder, but as I continue to listen, I realise it’s not human steps. It’s padding. Like an animal stalking me...
Petrified, I turn left, ready to bolt back to Maple House, but my foot catches on a tree root. I fall back, hard, my tailbone screaming as two glowing eyes hover over me.
They’re not an icy blue or coal black like it’d anticipate such a beast to have, but they’re just as terrifying despite their warm golden hue.
Zoi.
With the shadows encasing most of his face, he looks like a literal demon. A beast of the night, but then his snarl drops and suddenly I can’t see each of his pointed teeth. His brow smoothens, making his eyes look less crazed and more round and innocent. Then his breathing eases from hunting mode to playful panting, and he sits.
We stare at each other unmoving.
Is he waiting for Gant?
“Did Gant send you,” I whisper
I’ve never been around dogs before. I don’t know their cues, but Zoi nuzzles into my hand and lays his head on my chest, forcing me to lie flat on the ground.
“That’s not fair,” I breathe when I can’t get him to budge. “It’s cheating actually…”
Zoi lets out a little whimper.
Had I offended him? Tentatively, I stroke his furry head.
“Okay, maybe you decided to join in on the fun on your own?” I glance around the trees. “Is this where Bae hides you?”
Zoi barks at his owner’s name but quickly settles down again, his tail wagging back and forth.
“I hope not. I hope you run around and then sneak back to the dorms where it’s warm. Then again, you look like a wolf descendant. Made for the forest and the cold. I mean, I think all dogs are related to wolves, but you seem recently related.”
Why am I talking to a dog? Then again, Zoi seems to understand me because his golden eyes are boring into me, trying to communicate something I’m not picking up on. That’s when his snout nudges my gym bag.
Right. I had a piece of ribeye in there from the dinner Zedd had just made for Stassi.
I fish it out and toss it a few centimetres away to lure Zoi off of me. But I don’t make it to my knees before strong arms wrap around me. One around my neck, the other around my waist, suspending me off the floor and crushing me against a strong chest.
I want to fight him off and I want him to hold me.
I want to win and I want to lose.
I squirm and kick out of instinct, but Gant only squeezes me tighter, the pressure on my neck making me feel lightheaded.
“Why would you hide in the open?” Gant coos in my ear, carrying me towards the very place I’d finally decided to run towards.
The old greenhouse.
The door’s already open, waiting for us.
When we get inside, he lets me slide to my feet but I sway against him as I gasp for air. He barely lets me inhale before he presses his lips to mine. He only breaks the contact to roll my leotard down my waist, followed by my tights until I’m completely exposed and he’s still completely dressed.
“What are you—”
I watch as he binds my wrists faster than I can blink, faster than I can protest.
“I didn’t get to undress you yet.”
“What’s stopping you?” he asks, leading me to the table and pushing me back onto it.
Fuck, he looks sexy poised over me as he works to secure my hands to a table leg. My tights have just enough stretch that I can still lie in the centre.
“You’re tying my hands?”
“You have a mouth, don’t you?” he asks, leaning down so his hair tumbles forward.
The man is beautiful, painstakingly beautiful, if nothing else.
“Be a good girl. Show me how you can use it.”
He sits up on his knees, pulls his shirt over his head, and then leans forward, close enough to my lips so I can grasp his dangling drawstring with my teeth.
But I take far longer than I need to pull the knot loose and watch the waistband slip down his hips slowly, painfully slowly until they settle around his muscular thighs.
I was wrong. He’s more than painstakingly beautiful. I can’t even put into words what exactly he is at all as I trace the deep etching of his abs, made deeper by the shadows. Then I follow the V cut on his hips that point to what I’ve been dreaming about for months. What I’d just insulted and what’s pointing at me accusingly.
I’ve never been overly attracted to the dick pics I’ve seen online. All I cared about was if it was thick enough to make me believe that the girl bouncing on it wasn’t faking. Gant’s definitely thick enough.
Maybe too thick.
I follow the slightest curve upward to the glistening tip that shines in the moonlight. A drop slips onto my chin and Gant smiles wickedly.
“You look…” he says, his voice dripping with arrogance. “Afraid.”
Eyes locked on his, I lean forward and run my tongue along the underside of his cock, feeling every vein. “Of what? Me sucking your soul out?” I ask before kissing the head that jumps. “You said I knew how to call it back. Remember?”
There it is again, his eyes that somehow managed to turn even blacker as he thrust forward until his head splits my lips and he slides deep into my throat.
I surprise myself when I don’t gag. When I breathe through my nose and keep calm as he threads his fingers through my hair and lifts my head to meet him with each thrust until we establish a rhythm. Three deep strokes, then he’s pulling me off to breathe for a half second, watching the sticky strings of saliva drip from his cock and my lips onto my chin, then my tits admiringly before repeating it all over again.
His eyes are fighting to stay open as he stares at me through hooded lids, but I’m fully focused. Fully trained on watching what he likes not just because I want to please him but because I like, no love how he encourages me.
“Such a good girl,” he says, reaching between my legs and I don’t fight him as he strums my clit. “Just another inch.”
I gag, but he doesn’t let up.
“The first time I explode, I want it to be inside of your sweet pussy. Get ready for me again. Water for me.”
He pinches my clit and I jump, moaning around his width and relishing in the pain as he tugs my head, working himself deeper. When he finally pulls out, he replaces his cock with his fingers, already coated with my wetness. He pushes them deep into my throat, massaging my tongue before smearing them over my lips.
I can smell myself, taste myself mixed with him and he must want the same because he kisses me like he’s never kissed me before, sucking on my tongue and my lips like he can’t get enough.
When he finally pulls away to stand over me and kick off his sweatpants, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better view, but immediately I’m cold.
Immediately, I want his warmth on me, over me and in me.
Settling between my knees, he grips them, spreading them wide to stare at my pussy glistening in the moonlight.
“So fucking pretty.”
“Please,” I squirm as he rubs his head against my clit. “Do it.”
“Why?”
That’s the last thing I expect him to ask.
“Why what?”
“Are you giving me your first?”
I squint up at him, but his face is covered in shadows.
“The interlude.”
“Is that the only reason?”
What the fuck is he playing at?
“Does it matter? Someone has to be first, eventually.”
“Someone?”
I try to search his eyes, to no avail. It’s like the irises have bled into the blackness, veiling his face.
“Are you resuming your twenty-one questions or something? Because we can talk later, can’t we?”
“I need to know now. What do you mean by someone?”
“What, did you think you were super special?” I snort but I immediately realise it’s the wrong thing to say if I want to ride what’s stabbing my entrance.
Time ticks on and he’s not pushing into me. He isn’t bantering with me like he normally does. He isn’t doing anything, just watching me, or so I think. He’s just a faceless void now.
Of everything…I didn’t think this could be one of his weaknesses.
“Look,” I say, breaking the silence. “We’re attracted to one another. That’s it.” I don’t believe it even as I say it. “You don’t get a special place in my heart, Gant.”
“Only in your cunt?” His voice is emotionless.
“Don’t tell me demons are sentimental?” I ask incredulously. “What do you care? A win is a win. First prize.”
He pulls back, his jaw ticking. “I’d rather come in last.”
“What?” I ask, utterly flabbergasted as he pulls the knot on my tights and frees my arms. “You have to be fucking joking.”
But I can tell he’s one hundred per cent serious as he gets down from the table.
“You agreed to the interlude. You said if you caught me… You said you wanted—”
“It feels wrong to be just someone.”
I gasp incredulously, jumping to my feet. “You suddenly have morals? You suddenly feel right from wrong? Need I remind you that you’ve made my life a living hell for months?”
“And what’s mine been?”
“I don’t know,” I say after a long pause because I’m utterly perplexed as to why this is all going so wrong. “But why should I care?”
We stare at each other for a long moment and then, a feminine, high-pitched shriek tears through the night, followed by padding and then a big thud that cracks a glass pane.
I jump out of my damn skin, my hand flying to my racing heart as I run towards the sound, towards who I know could hit such an ear-bleeding high note.
But when I make it to the lightning bolt splintering the glass, no one’s there. All I spot are the shimmering crystals on Rin’s headband, and her heels kicking up dirt as she runs back toward campus, Zoi nipping at her skirt.
I knew it was a possibility she’d follow us from the studio. From the window where she’d been hiding with my phone. My phone that I’d disabled the Wi-Fi and mobile data settings on, only giving her access to my camera. To what she needs for Beaussip. Her phone’s in my gym bag.
Still, I’d hoped the dark forest would deter her.
Slowly, I turn around to face Gant, wondering what lie I could conjure up to explain why Rin had been trailing us. Maybe I could gaslight him and blame Rin’s presence as his doing since she must be obsessed with him to always do his bidding. But I quickly realise there’s no need to lie at all because Gant isn’t here anymore. He’s physically present but his mind is far away.
The moment between us is gone.
He’s gone.
Literally.