Chapter 27 Riley
Riley
Istared at Grayson from across the room, my hands shaking at my sides.
I had so many feelings: love, anger, regret, lust…
. they were all too much and I had to work to swallow down every bit of need I felt to let all of them out at once.
Every time he said those stupid fucking words, ‘I’m sorry’, I wanted to take them and shove them back into his mouth.
They were just words and once they left his lips, once they were out in the world and floating around, they didn’t mean much anymore.
I couldn’t do anything with those words.
They were just fucking words.
My mouth dropped open a bit, taking in a small breath.
Grayson remained silent, flicking his eyes from River to me.
I glanced over his features, at every inch of him and he looked defeated and upset.
His deep brown eyes seemed to always have this look of pleading whenever I granted him my attention and something inside my chest sparked.
Just let me know what you want, I’ll do anything.
My lips pressed into a hard line and I peeked over my shoulder at my boyfriend. “We’ll be fine. You can go.”
I caught River’s skeptical expression and then he nodded, giving Grayson one last look and then stepped out of the room. The door clicked and I brought my hands up into my braids, lifting them off my neck and then letting them fall. My gaze fell to the floor, staring at my feet.
“Just tell me what you want, Riley.” His tone matched his eyes. Pleading, again.
I blinked and before I knew it, I was walking over to him. I slipped off my dampener ring this morning, leaving it in River’s room. My hand was still shaking, but now it was just tiny twitches of my fingers as I skated them over his arm, across his chest and towards his throat.
“What do I want?” It was a simple question that held so much weight.
“I want my life back, I want my best friend back, I want that ‘ignorance is bliss’ feeling back.” He lifted his hand up to try to comfort me, but I swatted it away.
My fingers traced his Adam’s apple. He watched me closely; his eyes trained on my every movement.
I examined the way he swallowed under my hand.
“You want to know what I want from you, Grayson?”
“Yes, Riley, just tell—” His last words came out choked when I wrapped my hand around the front of his neck.
I used my powers to put pressure around his throat, pressing and pressing.
I started to move forward, forcing him back with more of my power so that he stumbled backwards.
I made it quick so that his back hit the wall and I kept him in place.
I wasn’t choking him enough so that he would suffocate, but it was enough to get his attention.
He wasn’t clawing at his neck the way my mom had.
What happened with her was uncontrolled, but this…
this was different. My powers didn’t feel overwhelming in this moment, like they had with her.
I felt like I was back in River’s bedroom with just him and I, his face between my legs with that sensationally content feeling.
I stood up on my tip toes and trailed my nose along his jaw.
“You worked for Chancellor Fowler and Oliver St. James; you gave them your loyalty. You were scared, you thought you had no other options, so you did what you thought was best, hmm?” I pulled back, slowly nodding my head. “Say yes or no, Grayson.”
“Y-yes.” His answer came out strangled, but it was clear enough. I was giving him enough air, feeling his pulse point along my fingers.
I let my nose rub against his, our lips barely touching. I pressed my body more into his chest, feeling his heart thump. “You made me feel safe. And now you want to know how we get back to that place, how you earn me and get back in my good graces?”
His breath was against my lips. “Yes. Y-yes.”
He wasn’t pulling away from me and he wasn’t scared of me. It felt like he was pushing towards me, like he was leaning into the force I had against his throat. I shoved my powers against his chest, jolting him back against the wall. He let out a groan, closing his eyes.
“Everything you gave Chancellor Fowler, every ounce of effort you put into all the fucked up things they asked of you, you give that to me. You don’t answer to them anymore; you don’t owe them anything.
” I brought my face back to his, letting my tongue come out and flick against his bottom lip.
“I want your loyalty, Grayson. That’s how you get me. ”
His eyes opened and they were filled with this kind of unbridled desire that I couldn’t look away from.
I liked where I had him, the power I had over him and from the looks of it, so did he.
I never let my eyes leave him when I placed my free hand at his stomach, sliding it down until I could cup my hand around his erection.
He hissed the minute I made contact and the sound sent a shiver down my spine.
“I want your shadows to never be used against me again. You get my heart and those shadows will protect it because part of it will be yours,” I started to rub him through his pants, my teeth sinking into my bottom lip.
He remained against the wall, taking in small breaths against the strain on his neck, but his eyes pierced into my soul.
His eyebrows furrowed when I rubbed harder, “and you’ll be mine. You’ll be my good boy again.”
I nearly thought I heard him whimper. I fumbled with the buttons on his jeans, unzipping them and plunging my hand inside. He was so hard and I added a tiny bit more pressure to his throat. “Can you do that?”
He was panting now and his lips pressed together each time I stroked his cock. “Fuck, yes, Riley. You have my loyalty. You’ll always have it. I’m yours, I’m your good boy.”
I let out a satisfied hmph and ripped my hand out of his pants.
I used my powers to shove him away from me.
He sucked in a breath when his throat was released and watched me.
I turned around, but I didn’t plan on leaving the room.
No, I was getting what I wanted. I sauntered over to the mattress, settling down on top of it.
I bent my knees so that the hem of my dress inched up and slid a little up my thighs.
Grayson noticed every single thing, running a hand through his hair.
One of my braids fell into my face and I left it there, sticking my tongue out to lick at my lips and watch him.
He started to come over, but I lifted my hand letting the force from my magic stop him.
He gave me a confused expression but didn’t make a move to challenge me.
My eyes slowly moved to the floor and then back up at him. I tilted my head to the side, giving him a small smile. “Crawl.”
He reared his head back, taken aback by my demand.
“I want your loyalty and I want you to crawl to me. Crawl to what you want the most.”
His chest rose and fell as he regarded me for a moment.
It was like he had to readjust to understand what he was seeing, what was happening right in front of him.
On the outside I said my demands and I didn’t hold back, but on the inside, I was a bundle of nerves.
I had never been this forward. It was different when I was being playful and giving them both the go ahead to have their way with me, but this was me knowing that I somehow held a lot of power over Grayson and using it.
I wasn’t trying to be malicious and I didn’t want to hurt him. I wanted to be the reason why he stopped and thought about his decisions from now on. He wanted me and I couldn’t help but want him too, but I’d been through far too much to make things easy.
He looked at the floor and as if it was in slow motion, he descended to the ground. His knees hitting first and then he bent over, placing his hands flat in front of him with his head down
“Hmm.” I hummed, looking over to the door. “Make sure he knows what’s happening.”
Grayson brought his head up, following my eyes. “River?”
I smirked at him. “Yes, River.”
“Whatever you want.” He looked away from the door and back at me, staring straight into my eyes.
My breathing started to increase as I watched him start to crawl over to me.
One hand in front of the other, he moved with this sexy elegance that I didn’t think was possible.
It was almost like he wanted to impress me with how well he could obey.
The sudden urge to rub my thighs together for friction surprised me and I could feel myself getting more and more turned on.
He got closer and closer until he was right in front of me.
I spread my legs a bit, so he could get between them.
Grayson sat back on his heels, his fingers flexing as if he was itching to touch me, but he kept them on top of his thighs.
I leaned over, taking his face in my hands.
I tilted his chin up and ran my lips over his.
His body shuddered and I sighed with a kind of satisfaction I didn’t know I could feel. “You are very obedient.”
“For you, always,” Grayson declared, adoration in his tone.
I dragged my hand into his hair, letting his silky dark locks fall between my fingers. His face scrunched in a bit of pain when I tugged on his hair, keeping his face up. “All your loyalty, all your effort, is mine.”
“Yes,” he answered, trying his best to nod under my hold.
“Say it.”
“All my loyalty, all my effort is yours.”
I used my other hand to cup his cheek, my thumb running over his lips.
“I give you my heart back and you take care of it. You come to me if you are in trouble, you let me—us—help you.” I tried not to let my voice crack, feeling a strain in my chest from the effort I put in.
I didn’t want to see him or any of them end up like Marianne or my dad.
“I promise. I’m with you. You. Have. Me,” he enunciated every word, throwing each one at me and hoping they would hit.