Chapter 7
LETTIE CRANE
When I told my brother that I could deal with my own shit, I forgot to mention that my own shit was actually getting cryptic messages from my ex. If Bones knew that Skyler was threatening to ruin me if I didn’t come back to Hemlock Prep, he would probably burn the whole school down.
I had the fortunate and unfortunate luck of being born into the Crane family. With two psycho brothers and a father with more power in Melancholia than most people even know, being the bubbly, perfect daughter is a survival tactic. And it has been a challenge.
But I’ve watched my mother fake it for years.
The light can only hold so much darkness…
The weight of it on my shoulders is what I’ve had to protect and endure.
Whether it was by pretending not to listen when my father gave take-care-of-it orders over the phone, or by looking the other way when Bones came home from school with bruised knuckles, or even by acting like Felix’s outbursts at the dinner table weren’t more than just dinner theater.
I drank the poison, read the tea leaves, and bought the damn T-shirt.
Crane business was dark, but it was for the men.
That was the lie they told and the one I told myself.
But it wasn’t until I let Arlo Erebus stick his tongue down my throat while he fingered me on the back of the school bus one morning that I realized what it was I really craved.
Newsflash, it wasn’t Arlo Erebus. Or any boys, for that matter. Living that kind of lie can either destroy you or make you the best performer on the planet. I became the latter. And then eventually I believed it myself.
But now, as I stand in the middle of the town square with car exhaust still wafting up my nose, gripping my phone like it’s a noose around my throat, that Crane darkness creeps back in.
The craving claws at me. And no matter how loud that voice inside my head screams at me to turn around, I find myself heading directly toward Skyler’s studio.
I haven’t spoken to her or seen her in over a year. I had left Hemlock Prep and settled into Tenebrose Academy without looking back. I made new friends and eventually started to forget about the horrors I’d left behind. Until that night at Duff’s.
I knew I shouldn’t have come back to Ever Graves for break. I should have stayed at the Nest at Tenebrose. Especially since Libra finally escaped Absentia Asylum and was back in Raven’s Gate. I should have hung out and partied with her all summer.
Instead, I decided to come home to Ever Graves. I was feeling homesick. Especially after Bones told me our abuela’s health was deteriorating. I knew the risk. I fucking knew… But I came back anyway. I thought I could avoid them. Her.
But then they were at Duff’s that night. I told Mia I wasn’t feeling well. And that wasn’t exactly a lie. Watching the three of them gawk at me and whisper to themselves from across the room was making me physically sick. After everything we did… I was subjected to a mean-girl vibe in a dive bar.
The closer I get to her studio, the angrier I get. She better have a real good fucking reason to bother me after all this time.
My stomach knots. As I face the bright red door, hesitating and completely rethinking why I’m here, I almost make a run for it. But I knock anyway. Fuck it. My heart races as I hear her pad across the floor.
When the door jerks open, my breath hitches. Fuck. She looks… This fucking bitch. I hate that I still want her. Get it together, Lettie. She never loved you. “Skyler. You have some nerve blowing up my phone like this. I thought I told you to leave me alone.”
Her blue eyes sparkle, playful like the smug grin that pinches her lips.
In a short white cotton strapless dress, she shows off the remnants of her tan, still holding strong despite summer being long over.
Her skin glows, effervescent like champagne.
It only makes her blonde hair look even more like spun fucking gold.
It cascades down her back in loose waves.
I force myself to hold her gaze. To not let my eyes wander down to the curve of her hips. My heart cannot afford the break again.
Skyler doesn’t flinch at my tone. She steps forward and pulls me into a warm embrace. “Hello to you too.” Scents of suntan oil, honeysuckle, and warm lemon custard envelop me. She is summer. If only I could bottle it up and take it with me. Fuck. I want to drown in it.
I don’t hug her back though. “We’re past that, Sky. Explain yourself.”
Like the sneaky bitch she is, she manages to scoot around me and close the door, locking us both inside her off-campus studio.
I try not to let the memories flood me as I take in the pink leather couches we danced on, the giant rose window that lets in just the right amount of light at sunrise, the stained glass casting a kaleidoscope of colors across her white marble floors.
The way we slept on them in that exact spot so we could feel the warmth of the sun glistening on our bellies in the morning. I’d wake to her lips on my…
“We had some good times here, didn’t we, babe?”
I jerk back as her hand reaches for me. “Don’t call me that.”
She stalks forward, relentless, her eyes practically cackling with mischief. “You used to love it when I called you that. You still do. You know how I know?” She bridges the gap between us and nudges me back toward the breakfast table. “Because you’re a terrible liar,” she whispers.
When the edge of the table hits my thighs, I know I’m in trouble. “Back up, Sky. You texted me that it was urgent, so I came. Now get on with it.”
She licks her lips as she gazes at mine. “This is urgent, Lettie. I’ve missed you.” She dips her head into my hair and inhales. “I still need you.”
I gasp when she pushes me back until I’m halfway on the table. “Sky, stop. I’m not playing these games with you anymore.” And yet I can’t seem to get around her. I’m intoxicated again. Right back to square one. Fuck me.
“Shhh, lie back.” With one hand on my belly, she presses me down flat and hoists my skirt up around my waist with her free hand. “Mmm, you know that’s my favorite color.” Her mouth waters at the sight of my pink lace panties.
I try to sit up, but she pushes me back down. “Let me up, Sky. I don’t want you anymore.”
She giggles. “Such a bad liar.”
She pulls my panties up and taut until the crotch becomes a hard string settling in between my pussy lips. She smirks before she lowers her face between my thighs. “Remember how loud you used to scream for me, babe?”
Fuck. I’m so fucked. I grip the edge of the table as she drags her warm, soft tongue up the length of my slit, wedging my crumpled panties in farther. The act sends me spiraling, clenching my pussy as if that will help to deflect the pleasure that I’m too scared to feel.
“Fucking hell, Sky… We shouldn’t… fuck. Oh gods!” I arch my back and practically levitate off the table when she wraps her glossy lips around my clit and sucks. The pointy tips of her nails, like daggers, dig into the flesh of my hips, drawing blood as she hums against my bundle of nerves. Fuck.
I rock forward, unable to resist rubbing myself against her thick lips even as the fury inside me grows. “How could you, Sky? I told you we were done,” I rasp. After the vile acts we committed… how fucking dare she make me feel this way again.
She snickers and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand before she pulls her own panties down. “Shh, my naughty girl. Let me make you cum again. For old time’s sake.”
I can never say no to this girl. Fuck. I roll my shoulders back, conceding. I hunger for her. For this. I’m needier this time, more desperate than ever to touch her again.
She licks her lips, savoring the taste of me on them before she climbs onto the table.
She lifts one of my legs over hers and twists sideways so she can rub her pussy up against mine.
She holds herself there, stilling as she presses.
And every desire I’ve been keeping locked up explodes like a lit match in a barrel of gasoline.
She purrs like a kitten. “Ahh, that’s my girl. So fucking wet for me.”
I can’t stop shaking. “Please. You’re killing me.”
She chuckles but holds her position, immovable. Stubborn as a fucking ox. “Always so impatient. Relax. Breathe. The buildup is just as good as the climax. You remember. So hold still for me and take it like you always do.”
I used to love her games. She knew how to draw out my release longer than anyone in the history of fucking.
She’d have me on my knees begging, crying, screaming for her to fuck me harder.
And just when I thought I would die from inaction, that’s when she’d strike like a snake finally ready to devour its prey.
She’d rub me raw, over and over again, until I nearly blacked out.
And now she was doing it to me again. Reminding me just how fucking toxic we were and how much I craved every second of it.
She pulls away, taunting and teasing me while I ride the edge of pleasure. “That’s my girl. You’re doing so good for me.”
“Please,” I beg. I lift my hips, reaching for her, but I can’t bridge the gap with the angle she’s taken on her knees.
“Shhh, here you go, my love.” She sucks her finger, releasing it with a pop, before slowly pushing it inside me. “Ohhh, fuck,” she murmurs. “You’re tighter than I remember. And so. Fucking. Wet. Mmm. You’ve been a good girl. Not letting anyone else play with your pretty pussy.”
I claw at the table, scratching my fingernails over the wood until it splinters. I clench around her as I pump my hips up and down. This woman makes me want to throw away my vibrators and curse them for not being able to satisfy me the way she does.
“Sky, please. You’re going to give me a fucking embolism.” Sweat pours down my body, pooling in little streams between my breasts and down my belly.