17. Selena
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Selena
The Seaview Motor Lodge was a horseshoe of rooms around a parking lot, lit by one buzzing sign with the S burned out.
EAVIEW.
That was more accurate. It might once have had a sea view, but now a high-rise condo sat between it and the ocean.
I pulled my hoodie up over my head, despite it still being a balmy eighty-five degrees outside, and knocked on the door of 14 like I was trying to make some illicit drug deal.
This felt worse.
He opened the door barefoot, in gray joggers and nothing else, a towel around his neck, his hair wet, and the worst part—the genuinely unforgivable part—was that he didn’t even pose.
He just leaned on the doorframe and looked at me like I was right on schedule.
“Torres.”
“This is a transaction,” I said, and I wasn’t sure if it was more for me or him.
“You mentioned that.”
He stepped back to let me in.
The room was cleaner than I expected. Board bag in the corner, a stack of RipTide promo boxes he was clearly using as a makeshift table, one antique motel lamp holding on for dear life.
“You want a drink? I have water and a sponsored beverage I’m contractually obligated to offer you.”
No. Don’t smile. That wasn’t cute.
“I’d rather drink the parking lot runoff.”
“That’s the spirit.”
He sat on the edge of the bed, leaning back on his hands, and watched me.
I didn’t move closer.
“Soooo, down to business.”
I’d rehearsed this on the drive over. This was business, but I at least owed it to him to be honest. “You remember what happened in the van.”
“Vividly.”
“The magic. The—” I gestured at the air, which did not help. “Surge. It turns out that when I’m…around you, in a specific capacity, I get charged up.”
“Yeah, Tanner told me about that.” He said it mildly, like he boosted witches through their vaginas every day. “Dolphins gossip. It’s their whole culture.”
I lost my place in my prepared speech.
“You knew?”
“I suspected. Then I was assaulted by a flock of seagulls an hour after you were sitting on my face, soooooo.” He shrugged, and the motion traveled through a lot of muscle groups that I certainly wasn’t watching. “I figured.”
“And you’re fine with that? Being used.”
Something flickered through his expression, there and gone. Then the grin came down over it, smooth as a tide over footprints in the sand.
“Depends. What’s it for?”
“What?”
“The power. You’re not charging up to levitate some bottles, Torres. You came to a motel you clearly find disgusting—”
“It’s fine—”
“—you knocked on my door like a repo man, you prepared this little speech. You need power for something. What is it?”
I considered lying. But he was already inside the operation whether I liked it or not, and some stupid, honest part of me wanted to see his face when I said it.
“RipTide moved its compound onto a turtle nesting site. I’m pretty sure they are burying our complaints.
It’s dangerous for the hatchlings.” I lifted my chin.
I was going to be honest with him, but he didn’t need to know about the tournament, my tournament.
“I’m going to make the beach so expensive they move.
I need power to do it. That’s the exchange. ”
Chase looked at me for a long moment. The grin was gone, and what was under it was worse, because it was interested.
“Oh, they are definitely suppressing the complaints.” He paused. “You’re going to sabotage my sponsor, using me as the power source.”
“Yes.”
“While I’m here on their dime. Performing in the competition they’re paying for.”
“Yes.”
“That’s the offer. I provide—services—and in exchange I get nothing, the company paying me gets bled, and you don’t even pretend to like me.”
“Correct.”
He flopped back on the bed and laughed. It resonated in his chest, booming.
“God,” he said. “Finally.”
“…Finally?”
“Do you know how long it’s been since anyone wanted me for something interesting?” He propped himself up on his elbows. “Everyone wants El Tiburón. The smile, the attitude, the big wave surfer. You want a battery for eco-terrorism. Torres, this is the most exciting thing anyone’s ever offered me.”
“It’s not eco-terrorism. And—”
You shouldn’t want to be used like this.
I cut myself off.
This is just business. Don’t make it weird.
“And?” He raised an eyebrow.
“And…you’re an asshole.”
“I know, but I’m going to help you save the turtles. So I’m also a hero.”
Smirking, he stood up and moved closer.
“You’re insufferable.”
I reflexively took a step back, and his eyes darkened.
“I know.”
He took another step closer.
“Your stupid surf competition is taking over my beach and making me take extreme measures.”
“I know, baby.”
He wrapped a hand around my waist, drawing me against him.
“Wait, are you hard right now?”
“You’re yelling at me. Am I not supposed to be?”
He leaned in and nipped just beneath my jaw, sending a jolt up my spine.
I put my hands on his chest and pushed him back.
“Ground rules. This is not a relationship. Nobody knows. It ends when the compound moves.”
“Counteroffer,” he drawled, his hands settling on my hips as if they’d been waiting this whole time. “All of that, sure. Plus, you keep pretending you hate me.”
“I do hate you.”
“See? Now you’re just flirting.”
I grabbed his jaw and static jumped the gap before I even touched him, a bright crackle off his skin, and the lamp guttered. His pupils blew wide, darkness consuming his irises, so I couldn’t forget he wasn’t entirely human.
“There she is,” he said softly.
“Shut up and fuck me, Perez.”
The bulb in the lamp flickered off.
The dark didn’t slow him down.
Shark. Great night vision. Right.
Within about half a second, his mouth found the exact spot under my jaw where my pulse was giving me away, and he smiled against it.
“Your heart’s loud.”
“That’s adrenaline. Pre-terrorism nerves.”
“Sure.”
He tugged me down onto the bed and rolled, and I let him as his hips settled between my thighs.
“For the turtles.”
“For the turtles,” I agreed, and pulled his mouth onto mine.
His kiss was all lazy confidence until he felt an opening, and then he snapped, claiming my mouth and tongue with his.
My shirt came off, and the whole time the charge was building under my skin, that crackling static everywhere we touched.
Like my magic had been starving and knew it had been handed a buffet.
His hands mapped me like he was memorizing terrain. When his thumb dragged across my nipple, I let out an embarrassing sound.
“You like that?”
He did it again, watching my face this time, which was so much worse. I bit my lip to keep from reacting, and his brow furrowed. Then he ducked his head, replacing his thumb with his mouth, pulling my nipple deep between his lips until my stomach clenched.
I got a fistful of his damp hair and tugged, because if I let him set the pace he’d take all night and enjoy the leverage. This was business, and business had timelines.
“Look at you.” He chuckled, finally lifting his head. “So serious.”
“Shut up.”
“Make me, bruja.”
He had all the power here, and it was driving me insane. I needed to even the playing field.
“I want to come on your cock this time.”
“Fuck, I love it when you talk dirty,” he groaned against my collarbone. But instead of moving up, he kissed lower. “I want to taste you again first.”
He hooked a finger under the edge of my running shorts and panties, dragging them down before settling between my thighs. He’d clearly driven me insane, because my hips bucked toward him instead of fighting him as he guided my thighs over his shoulders and dove in.
I squirmed as his tongue circled my clit, slow and steady, like he had all the time in the world. The magic beneath my skin sparked, but it wasn’t the same as before. I was going to need more than his tongue, and I didn’t want to think about the long-term implications of that.
So I rolled my hips against his face, harder than I would have with any other partner. I could tell by the pleased sound he made against me that he was enjoying teasing me.
“Come on,” I moaned.
He hummed low, sucking my clit into his mouth while rolling his tongue against it over and over. My back arched until he let go, grinning.
“You’re so wet, baby. You need this bad, huh? Not just for the magic.”
“Stop teasing me then!”
“Mmm, but I like how needy you sound. Almost like you like me.”
“Don’t get any ideas, pendejo.” I smacked his back with my foot.
“Careful. Keep talking like that and I’ll come before I get you off. We can’t have that now, can we?”
He leaned down again, his lip piercing rolling back and forth over my clit until my toes curled.
“Chase…I need more.”
Finally he pulled away, his face glistening as he licked his lips. He sat back and tugged down his joggers. What sprang forth was huge, a bead of precum already leaking from the tip.
I tried to school my face, but he obviously saw.
“You should see my other form.”
“What?”
Clinically insane. I’d gone dick crazy and all my words were gone.
He just chuckled, wrapping his hand around his length and gave a few rough strokes until he twitched.
“If you want this, ask nicely.”
That knocked me back into reality. I clenched my jaw, and static magic arced visibly between us. His eyes lit with amusement.
“Tell me what you need, baby. Use your words.”
“Fuck off.”
He dipped his head and bit my thigh, hard, and I hated how it made me pulse.
“Those aren’t very nice words. Try again.”
“Chase…please…”
I couldn’t meet his gaze. I’d never been more embarrassed in my life, asking for dick like some crazed fan. And he had that stupid fucking grin again.
He moved over me, his lips grazing my ear.
“Now, was that so hard? My good girl.”
“Do not fucking call me that!”
He laughed again.
“Oh, don’t like that?”
He knocked my knees apart with his thighs, and as he leaned in, he slid his cock through my pussy, bumping my throbbing clit.
“What do you want me to call you?”
He pressed against my entrance, but no more.
“Just fuck me already, would you?”
I bucked my hips again, trying to find some relief, but his hand snapped down, stilling my hips.
“Patience, baby.”
But I heard it this time, the strain in his voice from holding back.
“If you are using me, let me fuck you how I want.”
I let out a groan, but he finally—finally—pushed into me, and the sound got deeper, needier. Golden light buzzed against my palms where they braced on his skin, and it traveled from there straight between my legs.
He was big, and even as wet as I was, it was slow going as he pushed in inch by inch. He rolled his hips in slow, deep circles as he worked himself into me. My nails bit into his shoulders as he eased deeper, a pathetic whimper escaping me.
“I know, baby, I know. Fuck, you feel so good.”
I felt his teeth graze my neck, sharper than they had been moments before.
When he finally sank all the way in, the entire room thrummed—a low note through the floor and windows, the lamp cycling on and off with the same frequency.
It resonated through him, thick and deep, him groaning into my shoulder, followed by the magic flooding into the hollow like a king tide, filling every scraped-out channel until I was lit to the fingertips.
I’d forgotten what full felt like.
“Hey.”
His hand came up to my jaw, tilting my face up to his. Even wrecked, his eyes tracked me carefully.
“Still with me?”
“I’m fine.”
“Selena.”
He said my name softly, as if he was afraid of breaking me.
I tried to look away, but he held me tight and brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, more sparks of magic shimmering where he touched, lighting us both up.
“You’re glowing.”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Good.” He rocked his hips and set about making it worse.
He found the rhythm that made my breath go ragged and then held it, steady and relentless, murmuring filth—“greedy witch” and “louder, no one’s renting room 13”—while everything around us turned to chaos.
Bottles flew all over the room, the lights continued to flicker on and off with each thrust, and the drawer in the nightstand flew open, the Holy Bible smacking into the opposite wall.
“Chase, don’t stop.”
The charge had nowhere left to fill. It was cresting, all of it, everywhere, my body shaking as wave after wave crashed through me, and he drove me through it, his mouth at my ear.
“I’ve got you, baby. Show me what you’ve got.”
The orgasm was like being swept up in a tidal wave.
The lamp blew with a pop as golden light filled the room, lighting up every ridge of muscle in his chest and neck.
Chase groaned my name into my neck and followed me over, his arms locked around me like I was the one charging him, and for one long, glowing moment the entire Seaview Motor Lodge ran on us.
The bottles came down, soft thuds in the dark. Outside, the EAVIEW sign buzzed back to life with, I’d find out tomorrow, its S miraculously restored.
We both lay there, panting slowly.
“So,” Chase said finally into my neck, “same time tomorrow, or do the turtles only need you Tuesdays and Thursdays?”
“I hate you.”
“You’re still glowing.”
I glanced at my hand. Gold to the fingertips, enough power humming through me to do a lot more than surface a few buried pipes.
“It’s for the turtles.”
“Mmm.” He rolled us and pulled me into his chest, and the truly unforgivable thing was that I let him. “Tell them I said you’re welcome.”