131. Summer
Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One
Summer
I collide with Alice as she walks up the path to the house, assaulting her with love and kisses. It’s been four weeks without her, and it’s been unbearable. Alice squeals, wrapping her arms around me tightly.
“I missed you too,” Alice says as I keep kissing all over her face. She lets me, and that’s how I know how much she’s missed me.
“I missed you. I missed you. I missed you,” I chant, clinging to my best friend.
Eventually I stop and pull back, looking at her. She looks the same, but even though I can’t put my finger on it right now, there is something different about her.
Alice links her arm through mine as we walk up the path and into the house. “Tell me what I missed. The court gossip has been boring. I need a better informant.”
I laugh. I’ve called Alice almost every night we’ve been apart.
“Honestly, we’ve all just been studying.
” Exams are approaching fast, and I feel less prepared than last year, though I’ve been working hard over the past month.
“I bumped into Max last week. It wasn’t great.
” I have been to the gym a couple of times, but not as often, and I am careful not to spar with Max.
It has helped that he has been in the midst of his own grueling study regime.
“What did he say?” Alice asks with a wince.
“Nothing really. It just felt weird.” I shrug, and Alice flops down on the couch. “I’ve also barely seen the stranger. ”
“That is really weird,” Alice quips, quirking a brow.
“I’ve been studying, and he’s distracting.” I sigh. He’s also been chasing a lead on one of those threats. We’ve been pretty good at not being intimate, but every time we see each other, it’s a little harder. So instead, he’s focusing on the people keeping us apart to meet our year-end deadline.
“Distracting, huh?” Alice snorts.
I sigh heavily and sit next to her. “Yes. Plus, while I’m enjoying the advanced courses, I missed so much at the start of this year, I’m still chasing my tail to catch up.”
“You’re still at the top of your classes,” Alice says, throwing me an exhausted look.
I roll my eyes. “I just feel like I need to study more. Last year I gave Connor such a hard time about it.”
Alice chuckles. “You know, one of my favorite things about you is how much of a geek you are.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “Though I always get a little concerned around exam time. No sex makes you unpredictable.”
“Stranger and I aren’t having sex.”
“Still?!” Alice’s head snaps up, and she looks at me, her eyes wide. “I thought you were joking.”
I blush a little and shake my head. “Not joking.”
“So hold on, how long has it been?” Alice asks.
“Since I had sex? Fuck, a long time.”
Alice lifts her eyebrows, looking almost impressed. “And Annwn is still standing? Whoa.”
I roll my eyes.
“Don’t you find it, like?.?.?. wildly hot that you have no idea who he is?”
I exhale. “It is, and it isn’t.”
Alice shakes her head in disbelief. “Being able to fuck and not know if you see him every day, not having to say hi or care about his feelings, is a dream scenario to me.”
“I do want to, believe me. I want him,” I clarify. That definitely isn’t the problem. “But I know we should wait.”
“Wait for what?”
“For him to tell me who he is.”
“Booo! Anonymous sex is hot,” Alice scoffs .
“He doesn’t want anonymous sex,” I say, and neither do I, though there are times that I want to say fuck it and have him blindfold me before having his way with me.
Alice boos more.
“He wants commitment.”
“Even noncorporeal men are the worst,” Alice hisses.
“He did help in Dr?culea.”
Alice shakes her head. “And you didn’t even have we almost died sex.”
“Well, I passed out.”
“Have you guys done anything?” Alice asks, lifting an eyebrow.
My cheeks heat.
“Ohhhh. So, everything else?”
“Not everything,” I say. “We’ve . . . humped . . .” I grimace at the word.
“You’re dry humping your stalker?” Alice cackles.
“Sometimes?.?.?. wet,” I say with a blush, the word slipping out.
“Wet humping is a grim term,” Alice says with a distressed groan.
“I don’t know what else to call it!”
Alice’s nose wrinkles. “Wet humping is worse than unpenetrate .”
“Well”—I shrug—“add it to my legacy.”
“These epitaphs are going to look great on our shared gravestone.”
“You’re planning on dying?” I ask, glaring at her.
“No, but if I’m going, you’re coming with me,” she says. “And I’m talking extinction-level event where we accidentally read the book of the dead and awaken the old gods or something, and they smite us.”
I laugh because it sounds completely plausible. I check the clock and sigh. “I have to go. I have an exam in twenty minutes.”
Alice grimaces. “Which?”
“Aztlan Runes.” It’s one of the few classes I feel confident about at this moment. Though it is also one of my most advanced, so most of my catch-up work was for it.
Two hours later, I leave the exam hall feeling fairly confident about how it went. I turn on my phone, and it pings with notifications. I open the -stranger’s messages first.
Unknown
How was your exam, princess?
Summer
It was fine. Some challenging questions, but not bad.
Unknown
Do you feel more relaxed now that it’s done? I know you were working hard for this one.
Summer
Maybe a little.
Unknown
Then come home and we can spend some time together.
I smile, and after checking that none of the notifications are important, I put my phone away and head home to the stranger.
I am nervous to see him, but I’m not sure why.
Maybe because it’s been a while since we’ve spent much time together, but the closer I get to the house, the more I realize that the nerves are actually excitement.
I go upstairs to my room, and my stomach flutters when I see him relaxing on my bed, reading the book he gave to me for Christmas.
I pull my blazer off and drop it on the floor before climbing into bed next to him.
He wraps an arm around me and turns the page, pulling me against his side, and I happily nuzzle into his neck.
“Happy Alice is back?” he asks, pressing a kiss to my temple before turning the page again.
I nod. “Very. Though she probably isn’t very happy to be back.”
“Why not?” he asks, running his fingers through my hair.
“I may have traumatized her.”
“How?” he asks, pulling back to look down at me, surprise lacing his tone.
My cheeks heat, and I change my mind about telling him. “Never mind,” I say, pressing my face against his chest.
“Tell me,” the stranger says, cupping my chin and tilting my head up.
“Alice and I were talking about you and me. ”
“You and me?”
I nod. “We were talking about how I get when I’m not satisfied.” My cheeks feel like they are on fire.
“And?” he asks, brushing his thumb against the warm curve of my cheek.
“I was telling her that you and I haven’t had sex,” I say, looking away.
He bites my ear, growling softly, “I think there is more to this story.” I shiver, and he nuzzles my ear. “How was this traumatizing?”
“Well, I told her we didn’t have sex but occasionally did other things.”
“Right,” he says, and while I’m not looking at him, I hear the smirk in his voice. “Still waiting for the horrific part.”
“Well, I said we only humped?—”
“Humped?” He lets out a surprised laugh, and my blush deepens, which only makes him laugh more. “Well, I suppose that’s the right term?”
“Well, she made a comment about dry humping, and I said that we’ve?.?.?. wet humped before?.?.?.”
The stranger laughs harder and buries his face against my neck, his shoulders shaking.
“I know . . .” I groan.
“Wet humping?.?.?.” he says, his whole body shaking in mirth.
I cover my face with my hands. Why did I tell him? But I suddenly realize that I’ve never heard him laugh like this ever, and I can’t regret it. It takes him a full minute to pull himself together, and then he bites my neck playfully.
I moan. “That feels good.”
“As good as wet humping?” he asks, chuckling again.
I push away from him, swatting at him when he tries to pull me back.
“Let go, you brute. I want to freshen up.” I roll away from him, but don’t even make it off the bed before he’s yanked me back beneath him.
He’s still laughing as he kisses along my neck and ear, his smile wide as he nips my throat.
I can’t help but smile in return, but I grumble to keep up the guise that I’m annoyed.
“Still thinking about it?” he asks, humor lightening his voice.
I wiggle out from under him and manage to slip out of his arms, running to the bathroom before he can catch me again.
I wash my face and brush my hair before changing into sweatpants and a cropped vest top.
He’s reading again when I walk back into my room, but he looks up at me, and I can feel the humor still radiating from him.
I have to force myself not to smile. Grabbing my Realms textbook on my way back to the bed, I sit next to him, making a point not to touch him.
He chuckles again and places the book he was reading to the side before plucking the textbook from my hands and dropping it on the floor with a heavy thud.
His arms wrap around me, and he drags me beneath him, settling his weight heavily on top of me.
“You wouldn’t be pouting, would you, princess?”
“No,” I say, resting my hands on his waist, barely breathing.
“Not at all?” He smirks and bends down, nipping at my neck.
“No?.?.?.” I bite back a moan, but I’m not sure I’m convincing.
“That’s too bad. I know what to do with pouty brats.”
My stomach flutters. “Oh?”
“Mm-hmm. I have ways.”
I do allow myself to moan this time. “Well maybe I’m pouting a -little?.?.?.”
“A little?” he asks, sucking on my neck.
I moan again.
His groan is primal. “I remember your taste perfectly,” he murmurs, dragging his teeth over my pulse.
I remember how his hands felt, how his body felt on top of me, how his lips felt?.?.?. Brushing my fingers down his arms, I frown when I feel something against his wrist. I push him back and tug his hand between us, tracing the outline of the bracelet that I gifted him.