Chapter Forty-Seven #2
I feel like ever since the forest, we’ve become closer.
There’s a sense of camaraderie and respect between us that Moira and I never would have managed to reach.
We’re almost equally matched for strength, but our skills vary enough that we get to learn off each other and when we do need to fight, it’s never boring.
We go our separate ways once inside the bathing chambers. She’s called over by two other girls and I go off to find a quiet place to rest my muscles and wash all this paint off me.
I spot a familiar face next to an empty pool. Jed’s eyes open lazily just as I’ve stripped down to my black underwear and bra and my toes are dipping into the water of the vacant bath next to him.
‘Hey, Silver.’ Even his voice sounds lazy.
‘Hey, Jed.’ I hiss as I lower myself down and breathe in a waft of salty steam.
‘Why are you blue?’ he asks, humour dancing in his eyes.
I look down, watching as some of the paint starts to flake off and separate from my body. I rub at my skin. ‘Training exercise. You never had to do this?’
‘No, I can’t say I have,’ he chuckles, ‘and by the looks of it, I’m glad for it. You look ridiculous. It’s all over your face.’
‘It is?’ I groan, then scoop up some water in my hands and use it to rub at my cheeks. When I look back at Jed, he bursts out laughing. He swims over to the edge of his pool and leans over so he can help.
I hesitate for a moment before deciding that I trust this person. He was special to my brother and if Lukas trusted him, maybe I could as well.
‘Here.’ He reaches across and rubs his thumbs across my cheekbones and over my forehead.
I find myself watching him. His wet lashes that look darker than usual, his high cheekbones and square jaw.
There’s always some kind of smile etched onto his face and a jovial glint in his eyes.
I wonder if that’s what Lukas saw and liked in him.
I start to wonder if he ever would have told me about Jed, or if he worried that I wouldn’t like him.
I do.
‘This looks … cozy,’ Sebastian’s deep voice says from above us.
Jed ignores him as he rubs at my temple one last time before pulling away. Meanwhile my eyes can’t help but rise to his.
‘Jed was helping get the paint off my face,’ I say, feeling like I need to explain why his friend was touching my face. Which I can picture looks rather intimate from where he’s standing.
‘Is that so?’ He sends a sharp look in Jed’s direction.
‘What can I say? I’m a helpful kind of guy.’ Jed shrugs, grinning from ear to ear. Cocky little shit.
‘Oh yeah? You want to wash mine off too then?’ Sebastian strips off his shirt and drops it at his feet, right on top of my clothes. A claim if I ever saw one.
‘Don’t even think about getting in my bath and putting paint in here. Plus, I’m naked.’
My brows raise. He is? ‘How naked?’ I hear myself ask.
‘I can stand up and show you if you want.’
‘She doesn’t want that,’ Sebastian growls, pinning Jed with a dangerous look that has my thighs clenching.
‘I don’t know,’ I say thoughtfully, feeling a little mischievous. A smile tugs at my cheeks as the calming effects of the crystals beneath me start to work their way through my body. ‘I think I want to see if he’s telling the truth.’
Jed shrugs again and starts to rise. ‘Very we—’
‘Show her your dick and I’ll cut it the fuck off,’ Sebastian bites, pointing at Jed to sit down.
My core floods with heat. Oh Stars, why do I like that so much? I turn so my back is to Jed and rest my head against the edge of the bath, trying and failing not to look out of the corner of my eye at Sebastian’s naked torso.
Jed just laughs and relaxes back into the water. ‘You’re awfully moody today.’
‘Yeah, well that’s what happens when my grandfather shows up in the one place I thought I’d never have to see him,’ he says bitterly, then kicks off his shoes and tugs his pants down, leaving him bare chested, with defined abs on display and in navy briefs that show off how thick and corded his thighs are.
He then proceeds to lower himself into my bath that is a lot smaller than Jed’s and sits right next to me.
He turns slightly, so he can face his friend.
‘What was he in Prof’s office for?’ I hear Jed ask as I close my eyes, trying to regulate my breathing. But that idea goes out the window when I feel calloused fingers start to skim up and down the outside of my leg beneath the water.
‘Nicks didn’t say. He left before I got a chance to speak with him,’ Sebastian answers as if he hasn’t started to rub small circles along the inside of my knee.
My eyes open. I stare at the side of his face. His upper body is turned to face Jed, and one arm is up over the edge of the bath, propping his chin up with his fist. The other is on me. He doesn’t look my way, just continues his conversation, his face giving nothing away.
Slowly, I start to feel his hand trail higher up my leg, stopping every now and then to rub circles with his fingers or knead at my flesh and massage my aching muscles, as if he knows they’re sore.
I stifle a groan when he squeezes a particularly tender spot.
He hears me, I can tell, because his sentence falters just for a second, and then he’s doubling down.
Kneading the same spot repeatedly until I sigh, feeling it relax under the pressure of his strong hands mixed with the magic of the crystals.
His hand moves up once more and all I hear is the rush of my blood in my ears when I feel the tip of a finger graze my covered slit.
His hand pauses, realising what he just did.
Finally, his eyes meet mine and they’re molten.
I thought he was unaffected by how he has been touching me, but looking into his eyes, at the intensity in them – I know I’m mistaken.
He watches me like he’s waiting for me to push his hand away.
Like he’s seeing if I’ll tell him to stop or move to the other side of the bath to get away from him.
But I don’t. I can’t. There is a feral need for his touch that has been building within me.
Ever since his thumb traced over my skin as he drew blue circles on my pants – having his hands on me is all I can think about.
It’s probably why I have a lot more bruises on my body than I should.
Because I couldn’t bloody focus when I could still feel him there.
We watch each other for a moment, waiting to see what the other will do. He doesn’t move, and I realise that he won’t. Not until I let him know where my head is.
So, I let my legs fall open.
I swear I hear a low rumble build in his chest as his eyes drop to where he can see them beneath the water. His hand squeezes my inner thigh as if he’s trying to hold himself back. I don’t want him to, I realise. Because I’m aching for it, for him.
That little trail of his finger touching me was the biggest tease of my life and now I need more. ‘Touch me,’ I mouth to him. His eyes blaze. ‘Please,’ I beg.
I hear him mutter a curse beneath his breath. All of this is happening while Jed is going on about something I lost track of minutes ago.
A second later I feel him. Sliding his hand up to cup my sex. My eyes close involuntarily.
‘Stay quiet,’ he whispers in my ear, shifting closer before he jumps straight back into conversation with Jed.
Slowly, I feel two of his fingers start to run up and down my seam through my underwear. He does this over and over, before bringing them up to make circles over my clit. I bite my lip to stop the moan that threatens to slip free.
My legs spread wider; he gives my mound a squeeze and it feels like some kind of reward, as if he’s praising me. It only drives my need for him wilder. As if he can sense that I need more. More of him, more of this, of whatever he’s ready to offer me – right now.
His fingers stroke up and down, massaging in a fluid rhythm, working me into a panting mess until I feel him pinch my clit. Hard.
This time, my gasp is loud. My whole body jerks, causing my butt to slide off the seat and drop me lower into the water. My hands stretch out, one grabbing the edge of the seat, the other gripping onto Sebastian’s thick thigh, before I use them to push me back into a sitting position.
‘You good, Silver?’ Jed asks.
My cheeks flame.
‘Y-yeah,’ I squeak. Glowering at the way Sebastian’s shoulders start to shake with laughter. ‘Just stubbed my toe on the bottom of the bath,’ I lie and it’s fucking terrible.
Jed’s reply is lost on my ears as Sebastian eyes drop to my chest. He licks his lips like he’s picturing taking my nipples into his mouth, and I want to swallow enough water to drown myself.
I squirm as he returns to applying pressure over my clit, then slides lower and begins rubbing circles right over my entrance through the fabric of my underwear.
My breathing turns shallow, and my legs start to tighten.
Each time he teases my entrance with his firm fingers, I feel it start to pulse and clench around emptiness.
Whatever the two of them are talking about has turned to white noise in my head. I swear if a swarm of shadow walkers stormed in right now, I’d barely react. All I can focus on at this moment is the pressure building in my lower stomach and between my legs.
He hasn’t even breached my inner walls as I start to rock my hips against his hand, desperate to feel him inside me. His thumb reaches up to my clit and presses down, making me see stars.
My eyes squeeze tight as my ass leaves the inbuilt seat of the bath again. He stifles a chuckle before he pushes me back down and resumes his torture on my clit.
I suddenly hear another voice approaching and my eyes flare wide, reminded that we’re not the only ones in here. Oh fuck.
I turn my head to find a guy crouching on his haunches as he sparks up a conversation with Jed on the other side of his pool.
‘Turn back around,’ Sebastian quietly orders against the side of my head.
‘But—’
‘Now, Ria.’ My stomach flips. I do as I’m told. ‘Good girl,’ he whispers into my hair, voice like gravel. ‘Now talk to me, make it look like we’re having a conversation while I stroke your little pussy and my friend sits right beside us.’
‘I hate you,’ I lie, body tensing when he pinches my clit.
‘Sure, you do.’
His fingers start to move faster; the urge to squeeze my thighs closed takes over. But his other hand snakes back into the water and holds them open.
‘Fuck, you’re shaking, sweetheart.’
Sweetheart.
My eyes roll into the back of my head.
He slips off the inbuilt seat beside me and moves to crouch in front of me.
‘What are you doing?’ I manage to mumble, faintly aware there are people behind me.
‘Moving, so I can do this,’ he says seconds before I feel his other hand snake between my legs.
A long finger slides down the seam of my underwear then with a tug, he pulls it aside.
He holds it there, while he uses his other hand to run his fingers through my arousal.
The second he feels how wet I am, he growls. Deep and low.
‘Keep talking to me, they just looked over here,’ he pants.
‘I’m going to reach into my clothes and stab you with my dagger that’s underneath them if you don’t hurry up and make me come,’ I threaten through gritted teeth. How’s that for talking?
‘You promise?’ He licks his lips.
My mouth drops open.
Suddenly, I hear Jed call out to Sebastian through the pounding of my heart in my ears. Something about leaving with his friend and catching us later. I’m not exactly sure, all I know is that I’m glad they’re gone. Because now we’re alone.
The knuckle of Sebastian’s finger teases my entrance while his other hand pinches my clit.
My mind goes blank. Again, his knuckle works its way deeper, until he’s hitting my inner walls.
I feel myself start to contract around him.
Desperate to feel him fill me more. But then I start to feel heat lick at my core as my legs start to tense.
‘I can feel you clenching,’ he whispers. His eyes have a lustful lazy look to them; his bottom lip is wet from where his tongue snakes out and licks it. I want to lean forward and bite it.
‘Seb—’ I pant, my voice barely audible. Realising I’m about to come and he’s not even inside of me.
‘I’m going to …’ The second the words try to escape past my lips, my walls start to pulse and a scorching heat bursts all the way down to my toes.
My hips rise from my seat; my mouth drops open as my climax explodes through me.
It takes immense effort not to moan loud enough to fill the entire bathing house as Sebastian’s fingers guide me through my orgasm, coaxing every squeeze and shudder from me as he looks at me with fire in his eyes.