Chapter 17 Wylder
WYLDER
My monster is caged once again. Turns out that letting him free to chase Neo through the woods satisfies like nothing else has ever has.
Who knew I needed that?
Neo, apparently.
I even manage to get some sleep after making sure we’re both wiped clean of dirt. I was too tired to bother with a shower, knowing that in the morning, I can request fresh sheets from Dotty.
And with Neo back in my bed, tucked up against me, I go out like a light. He’s safe. He’s with me. Everything is okay.
It’s only when I open my eyes the next morning and see the state of my room that I realize everything is very much not okay.
“Fuck,” I rasp, my voice thick with sleep. “Dotty’s going to kill me. I mean, she might literally bury me in the backyard.”
Neo yawns from where he’s using my chest as a pillow. “No way would she do that. She adores you. We can fix it.”
“She doesn’t, and it’s past fixing.” My lips pinch as I take in the broken furniture and the dents in the wall. What the fuck was I thinking?
It’s simple. I wasn’t. For the first time in my life, I lost control.
It was Neo who brought me back.
He props his chin on my chest, blinking up at me owlishly. “So we go shopping and get new shit. You’re richer than Croesus and have appalling taste in home decor. If you ask me, you’re long past due to redecorate. This just gives us a good excuse.”
I tug at his hair fondly. “Brat. Are you saying you have better taste than me?”
“Fuck yes, I am. I have excellent taste, unlike you.”
“I have good taste.”
Neo makes a show of looking around the room comically. “Where?”
I tug his hair again until his attention returns to me. “I chose you, didn’t I?”
His jaw drops at that. “Excuse me?”
“You’re the one in my bed right now,” I say, my spare hand sliding down his body to palm his ass. The ass I fucked so thoroughly last night. It makes me shudder slightly thinking about it. Who knew I’d enjoy fucking a man? Especially when it’s Neo, someone I don’t have to behave differently with.
Where I don’t have to cage the monster.
“Which means I’ve chosen you,” I continue. “So if you’re saying I have bad taste, then you’re just insulting yourself.”
“I don’t think that makes sense.”
“Does to me.”
Neo flushes, toying with my chest hair. I’m getting better at reading him. Right now, I suspect he’s embarrassed. “Fucking me once doesn’t equal choosing me.”
“It does if I say it does.”
He meets my eyes and smiles ruefully. “You’re a little intense sometimes. You know that, right?”
“Only sometimes?”
He pinches my nipple, and I hiss.
“Okay, all the time. But you get what I mean.”
I do. But over the past few weeks, Neo’s done something to me. Being around him has changed a fundamental part of me.
I suspect permanently.
“Do you have an issue with me choosing you?”
Neo sighs, shoving up into a sitting position. “Come on. Be serious.”
I prop myself up on an elbow, frowning at him as he grabs his pants from the floor and shoves them on—the pants he dropped last night before asking me to chase him. What’s changed between then and now? Fuck, I don’t want to go through the guessing game again. I’m terrible at it.
“I am being serious. Do you not want to do this again?”
Neo mutters under his breath before turning to face me. “What do you want, Wylder?”
His question is so direct that it catches me off guard. I have no time to articulate my thoughts, tripping and stumbling over my answer. “I want… I mean…can we…”
“That’s what I thought,” he says bitterly. “Okay, we really don’t have time for this. I have a feeling this is going to take a while to digest, and we need to tell the others what I found last night.”
He’s right. Why wasn’t that my first thought? Normally, I would’ve had us all meet right away. Instead, I chased Neo through the darkness like a man possessed.
Maybe that’s what’s going on. Maybe I can blame that.
No, that’s not right. I’ve always had this demon inside of me.
Neo’s just the one to beckon him forth and set him free.
“We do,” I agree, slipping from between the sheets. With the monster calm, I’m able to analyze and plan. My mind is whirring away, organizing the information we have and strategizing how to deal with it.
But I’m also thinking about the blue-haired brat who’s attempting to sneak out of my room. Turns out I’m quite good at multi-tasking when one of those tasks is Neo. Probably helps that he’s spent weeks distracting me. My brain is just used to accommodating him.
With my longer legs, I reach the door before he can leave. I close it with one hand, just as I did yesterday in the office. “Where are you going?”
Neo doesn’t face me. “To my room. I need to shower.”
“I have a shower that works perfectly.”
“Yes, but you’ll be in it.”
I press my lips beneath his ear, and smile at Neo’s shiver. “Is that a bad thing?”
Neo gently bangs his head against the door, and my smile grows. He’s discovering it’s not as fun when the shoe’s on the other foot. “I thought you were straight. What happened to make you go from that to asking me to join you in the shower?”
“You happened,” I say simply. My tongue swipes at the delicate skin. Fuck, he tastes so good. Addictive. “Don’t say you’re backing down now, Neo. Not when it’s just getting fun.”
He turns to face me with a sigh, but there’s a small smile on his lips. “What kind of monster have I created?”
I flash him a dangerous grin. “You didn’t create him, Neo, you just set him free.”
I lead him into the bathroom, stepping over items I smashed onto the floor as carefully as I can. Neo, however, catches his foot on something and curses, causing me to turn around and pick him up. He goes easily, his legs wrapped around my waist, his arms twined around my shoulders.
“Honestly. Fuck off with this damsel in distress shit,” he says, but he doesn’t struggle, just lets me carry him into the bathroom and set him on the counter.
“Don’t move,” I say as I turn to the shower and flick the water on. Steam billows from the glass enclosure as I see Neo stand up, clearly not obeying me.
He only likes to do that if he suspects orgasms will be involved.
“Do you ever do as you’re told?” I ask in exasperation.
“Sometimes.” He flips me off, and I stride toward him, grabbing his hand and pulling that finger right into my mouth.
His lips part, and he lets out a groan as my tongue swirls around his knuckles.
“God, are you going to suck my dick too?” he asks as my mouth pops off of his finger.
I touch his chin, gripping it tightly and forcing him to look at me.
“Maybe I will.”
“Fuck,” he murmurs as I let go and work on helping him back out of his pants. He’s blessedly naked a few minutes later, and so am I. He’s gaping at me, his eyes roving over my body. I let him walk around me, his fingertips trailing over my skin, making it break out in goose bumps.
“Damn it. You’re really hot naked, too.”
“Thank you,” I say as my monster puffs up slightly. But he’s tired too, satiated from fucking Neo earlier.
“Yeah, you’re welcome.”
He glances down at his body and then back up at me.
“You sure you like this?”
I pull him into me and let him feel my cock hardening against his stomach.
“I fucking do. Now get in the shower so we can inform my brothers about what you found.”
He bites down on my pec lightly, and I hiss as he pulls away, striding into the shower stall. I follow him through the steam, my fingers finding him and pulling him against my body.
He grinds back against my hard cock as I rest my lips against his thundering pulse, my hand dragging up and down his naked chest, finally cupping his cock and stroking.
Neither of us has bothered washing yet. I just want to touch. Just once more before I have to button myself back up and face the future.
“Want me to show you something?” he gasps as I reach down and tug on his balls. They’re firm and hard, waiting to be emptied.
“Does it involve both of us coming?” I ask as I nip on his ear.
He nods and turns in my arms, standing up on his tiptoes and dragging his cock against my own.
“Let me wash you first. Then you can wash me. And then I’ll give you your reward.”
I don’t even argue, just let him lather up his palms and get to work, scrubbing every inch of my skin, his fingers touching every part of me, even the hidden ones.
The ones I’ve never let anyone near.
When he finally runs his fingers through my hair, bubbles sliding down my cheeks, he leans up and tugs my hair back, rinsing me off.
“There. Your turn.”
I blink at him through wet lashes and then reach for the soap, taking my time with him as well. Thank fuck for the gigantic water heaters we have in the house. I let my hands explore, unable to keep myself from pushing a finger into him and making him groan.
“Fuck, don’t do that or I may come, and I want to do that together.”
I blink at him and slowly pull my finger out, letting him step under the water to rinse off. He’s wet and slick, and I want to lap at all of his exposed skin, even his cock.
But before I can, he steps toward me and guides me up against the wall.
“Ready for your reward?” he asks, and I hold on to his waist tightly.
“Yes.”
“Okay, well then, brace yourself. I think you’re really going to like this.”
He grins and then steps up against me, bringing our cocks together, his hand wrapping around them and stroking. My legs shake, my eyes unable to look anywhere else but where we connect.
“Fuck,” I murmur, my eyes flicking up to meet his.
His cheeks are flushed, his pupils dilated.
I reach up and cup the back of his head, pulling his forehead against mine as he works us over the edge. Together.
He comes first.
But I come harder.
And then we sag against each other, our breath mingling. He smells like bubblegum and vanilla.
I’m in a haze when I finally step from the shower, and as the steam dissipates, so does the fog I’ve been living in, the detrimental haze.
For the first time in a while, my mind is completely clear.
Clear and ready to destroy Umbra once and for all.