24. Summer
Chapter Twenty-Four
Summer
M ax sighs heavily behind me. “You going to keep blowing me off?”
I stop in my tracks and glance at him over my shoulder. “What?”
“Why do you get so weird around me? Just cause we fucked a couple of times?” he asks.
I look around, checking to make sure no one heard, but it’s just us in the corridor, and even if they did hear, so what?
“Max, I?.?.?.” I turn to face him, unsure what to say.
“We’re friends, right?”
I nod. “We are.” I think we are, at least.
He’s gone, Summer.
I need to get over that. It wasn’t Max’s fault. It was my fault.
He shrugs. “Then why complicate things?” He moves in closer and wipes a tear from my cheek, one I hadn’t even realized had escaped. “I like being friends.”
Unable to help myself, I wrap my arms around his waist and bury my face against his chest. Max is my friend. He understands me, sort of. He is here for me, and he is a good person. I need him. He makes me feel alive.
Max doesn’t miss a beat before wrapping his strong arms around me and holding me tight. “I got you,” he says, squeezing me a little.
I revel in him and his scent of clean laundry and aftershave. After a long moment I pull back, looking up at him.
“Better?” he asks .
I nod, and my gaze flicks to his mouth, my lips tingling. I’m about to pull back when Max leans in, brushing his lips over mine. The kiss is soft, gentle, nice, and it makes me want more, but I force myself to pull back.
“Max.”
He glances around before walking me backward. My back presses against a door, and he reaches behind me to push it open. He lifts me and carries me into the broom closet before closing the door, leaving us in almost complete darkness.
I swallow. “Max?—”
Max claims my mouth again, this time kissing me deeper, a little more insistently, pulling a moan from somewhere deep inside me.
“We shouldn’t—” I gasp into his mouth when Max wraps my legs around his hips.
“Shouldn’t?.?.?.” He slides his fingers along the underside of my thigh, causing goose bumps to rise on my skin.
“Fuck it,” I curse softly. “This is the last time,” I relent and slam my lips to his again.
Max chuckles into the kiss and rips my panties off.
“I’m starving,” Max says as he closes his pants and I button my shirt back up, struggling in the low light. “Something about a good fuck makes me hungry.”
I blink at him, completely astounded by him. Unable to fathom how I could have fucked him again, I push him out of the way and pull the door open. I yank my skirt down and go to flounce out, but trip over a fallen broom handle in my haste, barely catching myself on the doorframe.
“Leaving? After that orgasm? Ungrateful,” Max says from behind me. The humor in his voice makes me bristle all the more because it was a good orgasm, a really good orgasm.
“Never again,” I call back over my shoulder. “Asshole,” I throw at him for good measure, and his laugh follows me down the corridor.
I consider going to my next class, but given that I’m covered in berserker bruises, pantiless, and in a bad mood, I decide it’s better to just go home. If I get expelled, so be it. I’m already ahead on my coursework for Celestial Studies, anyway .
Alice is leaning against the wall outside Manananggal Hall, a large grin on her face. She’s obviously decided to cut her next class too. “Well, well, well?.?.?.” she says as she pushes off the wall and hurries to catch up to me.
“Don’t,” I warn. I really need to stop sleeping with Max.
Alice is skipping next to me. “I mean, those broom closets are super slippery. Never know whose dick you’re going to fall on.”
I keep walking, not even looking at her. “Not one more fucking word.”
Alice laughs and pops a bright red lollipop in her mouth. “I’m just saying, I’ve fallen victim to those floors.” She sucks loudly. “Slip, slip, dick, dick.”
“Oh? I have heard that shifter dick can be tricky,” I throw back, trying to piss her off, but she doesn’t bite.
Alice nods. “I’ve heard that berserkers grow everywhere.” She drags out the last word, and I glance at her, throwing my most venomous glare her way.
“And I heard that shifters have hairy balls.”
Alice takes another suck of her lollipop. “I’ve heard that berserkers bang like beasts.”
“You’re a dick,” I say, but the tension has eased from me, and my lips pull into a smile. I can even feel a laugh close to the surface.
Alice loops her arm through mine. “I mean, inquiring minds want to know.”
I roll my eyes and pull my phone from my bag, scrolling.
“Checking those DMs?” Alice asks, peeking over my shoulder.
I quirk a brow at her.
“You know, to ask for another berserker bounce?”
This time I burst out laughing, and Alice does too, but all my humor flees when my phone pings with a message from the stranger.