45. Summer
Chapter Forty-Five
Summer
“ A good start,” the headmaster says as his runic circle disappears. He’s barely winded and seems almost exhilarated by the match.
“Fuck,” I pant. It annoys me that I’m ready to pass out from exertion, while he doesn’t have a single hair out of place, but it does make me want to get better at this. He conjures a white towel and holds it out for me.
“Thank you,” I say, taking it from him and wiping my face and neck.
He nods and summons two bottles of water. Handing me one, he takes a long drink before looking at me again. “You need to continue your sparring outside combat class. Combat might be enough for your classmates, but they’re not facing what you are.”
“I’ll speak with Max.”
“Despite everything, you’d hold up against a lower-ranked demon currently. We’ll work our way up to their regent.”
I’m pretty sure there is a compliment in there somewhere, and my cheeks heat a little in response. “Thank you, sir.” I look at the towel. “I’ll wash this for you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it,” he says, holding out his hand.
He probably has an army of attendants at home, willing to cater to his every whim.
Yet at the same time, I can’t see the cold, aloof headmaster allowing anyone into his space.
I hand him the towel, and he drops it, disappearing it to wherever it needs to go.
With another wave of his hand, he opens the portal behind me, and we step back through to the exact spot we left from .
“Till next time, Miss Tuatha De Daanan,” he says with a small nod before pushing into a run again.
I sigh heavily. While I’m physically and mentally exhausted, I know I need to get this discussion with Max over with.
The headmaster’s concern was real, and he had reiterated the need for me to keep training.
Even so, my steps drag as I walk toward the gym.
I’ve not seen Max since I cried on his shoulder about Rafe.
The stranger had practically threatened me about spending time with Max, but I don’t care at this moment.
Rafe is my priority, and he needs me to protect him.
I step into the cool, air-conditioned gym, and Max glances at me from the reception desk. His eyebrow lifts, and he studies me, trying to read my expression. Whatever he sees isn’t what I meant to convey, because his lips curl into a half smile, and he moves in the direction of his office.
I don’t follow him, still hovering between the desk and the door. I cannot get distracted right now.
“Actually, can we talk out here?” I ask.
Max stops immediately and turns back, walking toward me.
“Sure. What’s up?” he asks, his voice warm and his eyes filled with curiosity.
This is something I admire about Max—nothing fazes him.
He is as amenable to chatting in the middle of the gym, where we can’t get naked and sweaty together, as he would have been if we were naked and sweaty in his office.
Max doesn’t take it personally. He just goes with the flow.
I don’t know why I am feeling nervous, but my stomach knots a little. “I’m hoping you can start training me again.”
Max blinks. “Like, actually training? Or sex training?”
I gape at him. “Actual training. Do I seem like I need sex training, ass-hole?” I grumble, but the knots inside my stomach loosen, and I realize, thanks to the sparkle in his eye, that he said it to put me at ease. He wanted me to bite back at him.
He shrugs. “I wasn’t judging, but everyone could use a refresher course,” he says.
I glare at him. I’m pissed but definitely more comfortable. “You know what? Never mind, asshole.”
What an ass. I’ll find literally anyone else to train me.
Max chuckles. “You want to spar? I know you’re rusty.”
I grumble and glance at him. His smug smile deepens my annoyance, but I’ve also missed this, the verbal sparring we do before, during, and after our training.
I may have acted as if I were about to leave, but we both know he would stop me.
Rolling my eyes, I shove past Max into the sparring room, and he follows me.
I can feel the smirk on his stupidly handsome face.
I grab my sai. “I trained already this morning, so I’m a little sore.”
Max grabs his broadsword, swinging it in a careless arc, warming up his wrist. “Whoever you fight will not care if you’re sore, on your cycle, or injured.”
“So we’re being a dick today? Okay, cool,” I say, stretching my already aching limbs.
And my mind briefly wanders to when I’ll next be due for my cycle.
Fae don’t have it nearly as much as some species.
I think it’s been eighteen months since my last period, and I shudder at the thought of getting it now.
There is every chance I would murder Max. And the stranger. And everyone.
Max’s smile is wicked. “You like when I’m a dick.”
“I don’t like you, full stop.”
Max’s gaze flicks down, his smile deepening. “Tell your nipples that.”
I look down at my sports bra and see that my traitorous nipples have tightened very obviously through the material.
Max bellows out a laugh. “I don’t know what’s funnier, that I was telling the truth or that you checked.”
“It’s just cold in here,” I say, covering my chest with my arms.
Max smirks. “Sure. Though wouldn’t that mean my dick would be shrunk, not hard?”
My core tightens, and I force myself not to look down to confirm. Max takes advantage of my flustered state and swings his sword at me. The blade is a blur, and I barely manage to block the attack.
Max doesn’t skip a beat, pushing me back one step, then two, until I start to lean into my instincts and anticipate his moves.
While I start off rusty, it surprises me how easily I remember all our work from last year, muscle memory kicking in.
Though those muscles are much slower and weaker than before.
Slowly, I start to get my edge back, and I manage to back him against the wall, one of my sai pressed against his throat, the other poking into his side.
“Let me make one thing clear, Romulus.”
He smirks, lifting his chin, and I press the sai deeper into his throat.
“You and I have had sex a few times. It will not happen again.” His full lips pull into a deeper smile. Damn, when did I start looking at his lips ?
“It’s really unfair to bring that up when you have me backed up against a wall,” he says, pushing his hips forward, letting me feel just how much he is enjoying this. My shallow breaths drag my still-hard nipples against his chest. “You know how much I love a girl who can kick my ass.”
I meet his gaze. His eyes are dark, with a flicker of green pulsating behind them.
I push away from him, tightening my fists around the handles of my sai.
I am trying to put some distance between us to clear my head, but Max grabs the waistband of my shorts and yanks me back, pressing his hard cock against my ass.
He brushes his lips along my neck, just beneath my ear.
“Want to go to my office?” he growls, sending a shiver through my entire body.
“No, we’re not having?—”
Max bites my earlobe, and my words end on a low moan.
He leans his sword against the wall and gently pries my sai from my clenched fists before dropping them to the floor.
Taking my hand, he leads me into his office.
He is on me the moment the door closes behind us, his lips claiming mine.
I moan into his mouth, savoring the firmness, the insistence of the kiss.
Max nips my lower lip, the small sting lessening the haze of desire that has shrouded my mind.
“Max . . .” I moan, pulling back.
Max answers with a low growl, his dark eyes glowing green.
He dips his head and kisses me again, his tongue tangling with mine.
Wrapping his arm around my waist, he walks me backward until my thighs press against his desk.
He lifts me, resting my ass on the desktop and pressing me back.
I hear things crash to the floor as they are pushed off the edge, but I can’t bring myself to care as Max rips my shorts and panties off in one quick moment.
I let my thighs fall open in invitation, and he wastes no time in getting himself naked and blindly finding a condom.
Somehow, his lips never leave mine as he manages all of this, and I hate to admit how lost I am in his kiss.
My body needs this. I need this release, this pleasure, this distraction. Gods, I need not to want this.
Max thrusts into me, and I cry out, my nails embedded in his shoulders.
I throw my head back as he yanks my sports bra down, and his lips move to my nipple.
He bites down on the sensitive flesh while he caresses my other breast. My eyes roll in pleasure as he continues to pound into me, over and over and over .
I need this. I need to feel alive. I need to feel alive without the stranger.
“Max!” I cry out as his fingers dig into my hip, bruising me.
He pounds into me, and the desk quakes beneath us.
I grip the edges, hoping to hold it together, or maybe I am holding myself together.
I don’t know. A low keening whine comes from my throat, and I swear it feels like his cock is swelling, growing inside me.
It was stretching me before, but now?.?. . fuck?.?.?.
We both gasp for air when Max breaks the kiss.
He nuzzles his face against my neck, kissing and biting, and I tip my head back, aching for more.
I rake my nails down his muscular arms, and a shudder rolls through his body.
Max hooks my knees with his elbows and grips my hips, yanking me to the very edge of the desk.
My breath whooshes out of me with his next thrust, and my cunt throbs with both pain and pleasure, my orgasm coiling like a spring.
He slams into me once, hurtling me over the edge, and I scream, coming hard around his cock.
Max’s own orgasm comes less than a second later, and he roars into my neck.
I pant, clinging to him, my whole body trembling.
I feel Max’s body shrink a little, slowly returning to his normal enormous size.
He groans into my neck and slowly lowers my legs before pulling back to look down at me. He looks completely sated.
“Hungry?” he asks, his brow covered in sweat.
My lips twitch at the absurdity of this situation.
I am stretched out on his desk, half dressed, with my legs spread wide and his cock still buried inside me.
I am still trembling with aftershocks from a mind-bending orgasm, and he is asking me if I want food?
But then my stomach grumbles. When was the last time I ate?
“Actually, kinda.”
Max nods and slowly pulls out of me before taking off the condom and striding into the bathroom attached to his office to dispose of it.
I am still right where he left me when he returns, walking around his desk.
He opens a drawer, and I tip my head back to watch him from my upside-down vantage point.
“I got some burgers in my desk. Want one?” he asks, his expression serious.
Why are boys like this?
“How long have they been in your desk?” I ask, and slowly sit up, sliding to the edge of the desk.
Max rolls his eyes. “It’s my packed lunch for today. Dick.”
Packed lunch? I briefly wonder why he doesn’t go to the cafeteria, and then I remember some of his beef with Connor. Has Max had similar struggles to mine?
I shrug, trying not to draw attention to my thoughts. “I’ll have a bite,” I say, fixing my bra and pulling on my panties and shorts.
Max pulls on his shorts and sits down in his chair before pulling out his lunch bag. He unzips the navy-blue canvas bag, pulls out a large burger, and takes a huge bite.
“Nothing better after a good fuck.”
“Good?” I ask, leaning against his desk and eyeing the burger, my stomach grumbling loudly this time.
Max smirks around his mouthful of food. “Angling for a compliment?”
I roll my eyes and pluck the burger from his hand, taking a small bite. It’s actually pretty good, even if it’s cold.
“Great fuck, then.”
My lips twitch, and I put the burger down on his desk. Grabbing his face, I kiss him hard and then whisper into his lips, “That was the last time.”
Max moans. “You’re giving me a complex. I get hard now when people say last time .”
“Oh, other people say it?” I quirk a brow. “Good, you’re getting used to it, then.”
“Such a dick,” Max says with a chuckle, and kisses me again.
Something about this feels a little too personal, a little too familiar. I can feel the tension building, and I am relieved when someone knocks on the door.
“Looks like you’re late for your class,” I say, pushing away from the desk.
“Until next time.” Max winks at me and swats my ass as I pick up the burger and turn to leave his office.