Chapter 27
COSETTE
Three boyfriends.
I’m really going to tell my dad I have three boyfriends.
Was I crazy? I know my dad loves me to no end, and that he’s always been supportive of me. But really, Cosette? Are you just going to expect your Asian, Catholic dad to take this and accept that you went from never taking a boy home to not just one, not even two, but three boyfriends?
You are a heathen, and your dad’s going to disown you, and he’s going to be disgusted—
“Hey, beautiful.”
I turned my head to look at Siege in the driver’s seat as he pulled out of the school parking lot, hand reaching over to soothe his thumb over my forehead to straighten the wrinkles on it. Huh. Didn’t even realize that my face was showing how bad my inner monologue was.
“You okay?“
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s nothing. I’m just thinking about how I have to perfectly cook the adobo the way he likes it if I want him to soften up later,” I excused, accepting Siege’s hand and lacing our fingers together.
“You know, I’m still surprised you handled the mission at Dione’s so well when you’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.”
I laughed, knowing it was a pretty terrible lie, so I can’t even blame him for calling me out like that.
“Shut up. You want the truth now? Now, I’m just thinking about how much I miss having alone time with you.”
Truthfully, I would’ve loved riding with anyone home. A ride with Nero probably would’ve gone a little more quietly since we’re still testing the waters of our newfound relationship, and a ride with Dex would consist of me jamming to the radio while I make him begrudgingly sing along with me.
But a ride with Siege? It’s the perfect combination of calm and carefree that I needed before tonight.
“Yeah?” He asked, clearly taking what I said well, and if I were to guess? He misses having me to himself too.
“Mm-hmm. So much so that I want to ask you to take the scenic route home.”
The corner of his lips curled, and he brought my hand to his lips to place a kiss on the back of it before he single-handedly made a sharp turn to get us off-route.
For a while, I couldn’t recognize the way he was taking, driving through neighborhoods unfamiliar to me.
It wasn’t until we got to the highway, and he made the exit I could never forget, that the hairs on my body stood in recognition.
Unlike the time Dex and I had to be careful and discreet, Siege drove right through the woods and into the clearing where the once burning cabin stood now. Charred, the structure was incomparable to how it was before, surrounded by yellow police tape.
“I went back here when I was deciding whether or not I should invoke Exodus,” Siege spoke up, still not letting go of my hand. “The video Eli showed me, of you and Dex getting in, of this cabin blowing up in flames. I thought I’d lost you.
“It’s also here that I told myself. Either I walk out of the family business, or out of this relationship to never put you in such danger again. And when that second option came to me? I felt like I was back in that basement, watching that video again and again.”
His lips found my wrist, my pulse, as if he wanted to feel it as he continued, “I can’t lose you.”
It was clear that this place was traumatic not just to me, but to Siege as well. He had to believe for how many hours, days, that his best friend and his girlfriend were dead.
His lips started to travel up my arm in desperate kisses, and I couldn’t take seeing him so broken over it still, almost months after, that I didn’t hesitate to make him look at me before pressing my lips against his.
He didn’t hesitate to return my kisses, even reaching for me, and I complied, getting on my knees and moving over the center console to get on his lap and straddle him.
His kisses weren’t gentle. They were hurried, hungry, and with lingering fear. His grip was like a vice on my hips as I conveyed through my actions that I’m here, that I’m not leaving.
“Need you,” he mumbled against my mouth, and I agreed with a hum.
I needed him just as badly as he did.
My hips started to grind down against him, sending electricity up both our bodies as he reached between us to unzip his pants, pulling his length out.
Then, Siege was turning me around, legs on both sides of his thighs, before I could even process what was happening, and he pushed my panties aside and slid inside me.
I gasped, my eyes set on the burnt-down cabin through the windshield, my hands squeezing the steering wheel.
This wasn’t just sex. This was a fucked-up version of exposure therapy. Giving each other pleasure while looking at the very thing that scarred us, to replace the terrible memories. The nightmares.
Gods, I needed this. We needed this.
Without a single word shared, Siege helped me move, guiding my hips as I bounced on him.
Every movement was a step closer to our forgetting what had happened. To leave it all in the past and accept that we could make our future brighter by living in the present, together. Because we’re alive, and we can.
I felt Siege lean forward, pressing my chest further against the steering wheel but not hard enough for the horn to sound. His front was snugly against my back, lips finding the side of my neck as he whispered, “You’re mine, little vixen.”
He went harder, faster, hips bucking to meet every pull he made on my hips, so that I could feel him deep inside me with each thrust.
The AC was blowing cold air, but it was barely noticeable with how my body felt like I was burning. Like the heat that the flames emitted that night.
I was moaning, mewling and gripping onto the wheel for dear life as our skins connected again and again.
It wasn’t until I was clawing on the dashboard, back arching, and thighs shaking as a powerful orgasm tore through me, that Siege let himself go, spilling into the deepest part of me.
I felt like a wreck.
I felt like I was going to pass out as I slumped backwards against Siege.
But more importantly, I felt empowered.
Gone would be the days that I would end up thinking about this place and my body would grow tense, remembering the near-death experience that brought me and Dex closer together.
Sure, the bad memories won’t magically disappear.
Although, now? I know that after I see those flames in my head? This moment, right here, would come right after.
Just me and Siege, in his Camaro, satiated and even more in love with each other.