Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Izzy
The next morning, I wake up early to find Aiden staring out the window.
Rain drizzles steadily against the glass, and his hands are shoved in his pockets, which only serves to emphasize the width of his shoulders above the lean taper of his waist. Even dressed casually in jeans and a black t-shirt, he looks like something out of GQ. I can’t believe he’s mine.
Then he turns, and there’s sadness etched across his chiseled face for just a second before he smiles, as if he’s just realized I’m awake. But I saw it.
“Morning, Iz,” he says, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning over to brush a kiss across my forehead. “Layla says the clan is watching over the house now. We can head back to school.”
“Do we have to?”
He purses his lips to one side; whenever he makes that face, it reminds me of the mischievous boy that I knew was buried deep inside the beautiful, tortured man. “I want to tell you that we could run away together.”
“We could go someplace no one’s heard of the gods.” I lay back onto the pillows, tugging him with me. “Someplace with a beach.”
His lips lift at the corners. “You know I hate the beach.”
“But I’ve always wanted to live by the ocean.”
He curls his arm around me, and I nestle my head into his shoulder.
“Fine. For you. I’ll go live on the beach.” He sighs as if it’s a hassle to give into me, even though we’re both playing make-believe.
There’s nowhere on Earth that we can outrun being the gods.
I trail my fingers down his chest, feeling his hard pecs, the ridges of his abs. His abs tighten faintly, as if my touch does something to him. Some of the tension he carries eases. If it takes the sadness away, I’ll keep touching him forever.
When he turns his head toward me, I’m ready for his kiss. His lips brush mine, full of certainty; there’s nothing tentative this time about the way he touches me, as if he knows how much I want him.
The two of us trade quick, fevered kisses as his hand cups the back of my head. I love the feel of his fingers threaded through my hair, the way he kisses me like he needs me, like I’ll never be alone again.
He grips my hips in his hands, pulls me on top of him, and I run my hands over his shoulders as I lean down to kiss him. Even through his jeans. I can feel the hard press of his cock against my thighs, and I smile against his lips.
“Do you really want to do this in your childhood bedroom?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says. His dark-lashed eyes meet mine. “I’ve got so many bad memories in this house now, Iz. Let’s make a good one.”
There’s nothing to say to that, so I just kiss him deeply, letting my hair fall around our faces like a curtain that can shield us from the rest of the world.
When we finally break our kiss, I push back from him and slowly draw off my shirt. His gaze drinks in my every movement, and I’m not sure if I’m just imagining it or if my hearing is better now, but I swear I can hear his heartbeat pick up.
Dropping my shirt onto the floor, I climb off of him and slowly take off the rest of my clothes before reaching for him and helping him out of his own clothes. When he lies back on the bed, naked, his skin almost golden beneath the rays of the sunrise, I pause, and just stare at him.
His mouth quirks into a smile. “God, I never imagined you’d look at me like that.”
I move closer and climb right back on top of him, holding back a moan at the feel of his hard body beneath me. “I always looked at you like that. You just…didn’t notice.”
My head spins, and it’s hard to draw in a breath as I let my hands glide over the muscles of his chest. There’s just something...intoxicating about Aiden when his guard is down.
“You never noticed me…looking at you either.” He’s breathing just as hard as I am. “I saw you. Every day. I saw you happy. I saw you sad.”
I lean down and kiss the soft space beneath his ear. “You should’ve been with me.”
His hands trace down my back, then grab my ass, pulling me against him. His hard length is suddenly pressed between my lower lips, and he drags me back and forth, the motion making every hair on my body stand on end.
“I’ll…always hate the years I wasted, not with you.”
“Damn it,” I say, grabbing his broad shoulders. “I thought you were hot before. Sensitive Aiden is…irresistable.”
“Good,” he groans, then lifts me and eases me onto his tip.
I gasp and cling to him as he sinks inch by inch deeper into me. Stars explode before my vision. I’m shocked by how he fits inside of me. So damn tight, and yet so perfectly.
When he reaches his hilt, he stops, and then we’re both kissing each other with a desperation that’s unmatched. His hands cup my breasts, then tease the tips in a way that has me grinding against his cock as he groans my name against his lips.
But every time he starts to get loud, I press my tongue into his mouth, and the sounds of his pleasure and mine mingle together. A perfect meeting of two people who have known each other forever, and yet are still learning to please each other.
As his hands continue to tease my breasts, I finally snap and draw my mouth from his. Using my hands against his shoulder for leverage, I lift off of him and come down hard over and over again while we both bite down our sounds of pleasure.
But the faster I move, the harder it is to stay silent. The more out of control we feel. Before long, I’m working him in all the right ways, sliding against him so he hits my clit just perfectly.
My hands move to my hair, and then I’m pulling on the strands as I ride him harder and harder before finally crashing over the edge.
He grabs my hips and presses me down onto his cock as I lose control, wave after wave hitting me until he cries out my name and explodes into me, his warm cum filling my channel.
For several long seconds we continue to move together, riding the waves of our pleasure until I at last collapse on top of him.
We lie together, breathing hard, our hearts racing together.
“That was…” he begins. “Better than I ever dreamed about.”
“Really?” I say, sighing and snuggling against him.
“Yeah, I’d jerk off almost every night thinking about you in this bed with me, but it was never this good.”
I lightly smack his shoulder. “You did not!”
He chuckles. “Oh, I did.”
The mood’s broken when Reid bangs on the door. “Hey, we’ve got to get back before classes. You guys up?”
Aiden freezes, his eyes locked on mine. I have to bite back a giggle, as if we’ve been caught doing something, even though Reid definitely knows we had sex. Any other time, I’d invite him in, but Aiden and Reid’s parents might overhear us.
“We’re...up,” I manage after a second. “We’ll be there soon.”
Aiden shakes his head slowly. “On the one hand, he’s my brother and I’d die for him. On the other hand, sometimes I really fantasize about murdering him.”
I laugh, and we cuddle together for a few more minutes before the two of us get dressed and head downstairs.
A sudden pit forms in my stomach as we approach the kitchen.
I’d felt Aiden turn distant again last night; it felt like he came alive a little when we left for the academy, and I didn’t think that had anything to do with the gods.
I think it was just because he left his family behind, and with them, some of the way they’ve seen him.
It all makes me want to protect him, even if he’s six-foot-something and looks intimidating as hell if you’re not friends with him.
But when we walk into the kitchen, his mom looks up from the stove and her face brightens. “Aiden!”
He stops dead, just for a second. Then he keeps moving as if nothing happened. “Morning, Mom. Is there coffee?”
He’s already getting two mugs down from the cabinet above the coffee pot, which anyone could see is full.
“There is. I wanted to see you guys off with a good breakfast, at least. Do you have time? I made bacon, and that stuffed french toast you like.”
“You haven’t made that in years,” Aiden says.
“Don’t be dramatic,” she says with a laugh as she carries the dish of bacon over to the kitchen table. “I don’t think it’s been years. And anyway, you and Reid are both competent in the kitchen. You could make your own french toast.”
“It’s not the same,” Aiden says, and she looks at him with her smile dimming, as if she knows as well as I do that they’re not really talking about the french toast.
“I know,” she says, “and anyway, you don’t have to. Your mom will always cook for you. I’ve got to do something to entice you to come home and visit, now that you’ve left.”
She tousles his hair before she returns to the oven to get out the french toast.
“Are you feeling alright?” Aiden asks.
“I’m fine,” she says. She puts the pan on the table too, then turns to him.
Her lips part, as if there’s something she wants to say, but she can’t.
She’s still smiling as she turns away, but there’s a sudden sheen of tears in her eyes.
She starts to fuss with nothing, looking in the refrigerator for something I don’t think she’ll ever find.
I look sharply at Aiden, wondering if he saw it too. For a second, he just stands there, staring at her back, his jaw tense, his arms crossed over his powerful chest.
Then, abruptly, like a decision, he asks, “Mom?”
“Yeah?” She straightens from the fridge, but doesn’t turn around. Her voice is so cheerful that it doesn’t sound real.
“Turn around,” he says.
“Goodness, you’re bossy,” she teases as she turns, wiping her eyes quickly and smiling as if no one will notice.
But he’s already pulling her tight in a hug, and when he does, she wraps her arms around his neck and starts to really cry.
“Aiden,” she says into his shoulder.
“I know, Mom,” he says. “I know.”
For a while, they just hold each other.