Chapter 13 – Ravvi
Chapter Thirteen
Ravvi
“Do not leave the room,” Declan growls, pointing into the living room of the suite. He must be talking to Cove, but Damian and I are in here too. The twins and Bellamy left to go over to their room, and it’s been pretty quiet in here since. “I’m heading down to the gym.”
“Yes, Daddy,” I say, winking.
“How the hell I ended up with you idiots…” The rest of whatever he says gets lost as the hotel door closes behind him.
“I’m going to bed.” Damian pushes himself out of the chair he’s been stretched across. He gives a weird-ass two-finger salute and beelines toward the room he picked.
Cove sits on the other end of the couch, and she turns to face me. “I think they think they were covert about giving us a minute to ourselves…”
I laugh, shrugging.
I’m not even sure what to say to that, and maybe I’m more fucked up than I thought because all I can do is blink as she scoots across the couch.
I’m stretched out in the corner with one arm on the armrest and the other tossed over the back of the sofa.
Cove comes to a stop at my side, but because of the position I’m in, she struggles to face me. Our knees end up bumping, and she gives up and repositions herself, kneeling on the cushion next to me.
I’m not sure what’s happening, but I don’t pull back as she cups my face in her cold hands. She changed into a massive Ruin T-shirt and these sexy little barely-there shorts after her shower.
My hand flies to her lower back on autopilot as she wobbles on the cushion. “I’m not—”
She brings her fingers to my lips. “I don’t want to cut you off, but I have to get this out before I lose my courage.”
I nod, studying her face.
“I’m sorry,” she blurts out, her eyes falling shut.
“I came on this tour wanting to build a foothold for my career, but I lost myself in the process. I feel like I’ve been cruel to you, and that was never my intention.
” Her pretty blue eyes pop open as soon as she’s done speaking, and I hate the pain I can see written all over her face. “I miss you, Ravvi.”
“I miss you too, Clover,” I mumble against her fingers.
She finally pulls them away, relocating them to my shoulder.
“I worry about you a lot. From the outside looking in, it seems like you put a lot of pressure on yourself. You’re only twenty-one.
You don’t have to have your entire future planned out. ”
“And that’s another problem,” she says softly. “I don’t even know if this is what I want to do with the rest of my life. I thought it was, but touring…”
“It’s a lot different than you expected it to be?”
“Yeah,” she whispers. “I still love performing, but I’m so exhausted. I’ve never been this sick for this long.”
My hand tightens on her spine. “That’s not normal touring exhaustion…”
I’m afraid to say more because every time I broach the suppressant topic, we end up in a fight. I shouldn’t have even said that much when we’re finally talking.
“No, it’s not,” she admits. “And I’m afraid of what kind of long-term damage I’m doing to my body.”
I bite my lip to keep from telling her that we’re all worried about the exact same thing. Then my head goes to why she’s been so determined to take them in the first place. Suppressants have a place in certain circumstances, but the good needs to outweigh the side effects.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you during your first heat,” I tell her, my head falling against the couch as it shakes.
“I’m even more regretful because I can’t help but wonder if that’s part of the reason you’re so reliant on the suppressants.
I’ve read up about them. You’re not supposed to take them longer than two years. ”
“I know,” she admits. “I also know my first heat after I stop taking them is going to be hell, but it’s not your fault.
My mom is the most vocal person I know about why taking suppressants is awful.
I guess I thought I’d have a different reaction?
And I did…” Her shoulders bounce, and she relocates her other hand to my shoulder as she climbs directly onto my lap.
My heartbeat picks up to what can’t be a healthy pace.
She never gets this close to me. “At least at first, I didn’t have any major side effects, but the longer I take them, the worse they get. ”
“I’ll do anything I can to help you. You know that, right?” I ask, wondering why my voice is so hoarse all of a sudden. “I’ll be there for whatever you need—”
“I’m not ready to stop taking them just yet, but I do plan to go off them after we wrap up this tour,” she says, her fingers digging into the tops of my shoulders. “And I was hoping that we could use the final couple months to get to know each other again.”
I’m probably about to blurt out something ridiculous like, “No shit?” or something even worse like, “I love you.”
Only, I don’t get the chance because she pushes her lips to mine. Her electric scent floods my nose as I suck in a sharp intake of air. To say I’m shocked would be putting it too lightly, but it’s a good surprise.
Her cold fingers trace up my neck and cradle my cheek as she licks at the seam of my lips.
I’m way too high for this.
I mean, this is real life, right?
I smile as I open for her, and she shoves her tongue into my mouth. She’s as bossy at kissing as she is at everything else in life, and unsurprisingly, I dig it.
Cove’s chest and stomach push against mine as she leans into me for support.
Okay, maybe I pulled her into me.
My hand is locked down on her back like I’m terrified that she might try to get away.
A low growl vibrates from my chest as I bring my other hand to wrap in Cove’s hair. It’s still wet from her shower, and the scent of her shampoo or conditioner hits my nose. It doesn’t take away from her pheromones in the least.
Normally Cove smells electric to me. Similar to the weather right before a lightning storm. As I breathe her in, I can pick up on those orange creamy notes Damian always mentions.
I lose myself to the meeting of our mouths.
My cock is painfully hard by the time she pulls back to breathe, and my head is a wreck. She’s been stretched up on her knees to accommodate the height difference, but she settles on my lap, and I have to bite back a groan. There’s no way she doesn’t notice how hard I am, and my face heats.
Although…
That should be a compliment, right?
Cove brings her thumb to run over my bottom lip and smiles. “That was a really good kiss.”
“Yeah,” I agree, clearing my throat.
I’d very much like to repeat that again.
Often.
All the time.
Is now too soon?
“So, you wanna see where things go?” she asks, looking up at me from under her dark blonde lashes.
Um.
Maybe?
What I really want is to toss her down on the couch, lick every inch of her skin, and make her scream my name. Which is at odds with what I preached to the twins.
My hormones are out of control.
“Yeah.” I cradle her skull in my hand, finally releasing her hair. “I wanna see where things go with us.”
A brilliant smile crosses her face, and she stretches up, kissing my cheek.
“Okay, good.” She proceeds to climb off my lap, and I struggle against the urge to follow her.
Cove tosses her hair over her shoulder and gives an awkward wave. “Night, Ravvi.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Have a good night, Clover.”
It’s always weird when we have our own rooms. From the time Damian was two or three years old, he used to run into my room to sleep with me every night.
We’ve always had our own bedrooms, and he did eventually grow out of it, but even when he stopped sleeping with me, he would come in and lie next to me.
We’d talk for hours.
Having our rooms in the hotel should feel like luxury, but I really want to talk to my little brother.
Truthfully, he’s more like a built-in best friend.
After showering, I make my way over to the room he’s sleeping in. He always sleeps with earplugs in. I don’t know how he does it. If I’m tired, I pass out, but Damian will swap out his earbuds for earplugs.
I climb onto the side of the bed, bouncing obnoxiously on my knees.
Damian lies smack-dab in the middle with his arms crossed over his chest like a mummy. It’s creepy and hysterical all at once.
I’m a cuddler, or I would be if I had anyone to cuddle with. Still, I sleep on my side with my arms wrapped around a pillow.
My bouncing doesn’t wake my dead-to-the-world brother, so I shove his hair out of the way and pluck his earplug out. “Wake the fuck up…” I hiss close to his ear. “The weirdest shit just happened, and I have to tell you about it.”
“Cove told you she loves you?” He opens one single eye, and I snort.
“God, I wish, but no. She did, however, tell me that she’s planning to go off her suppressants after this tour, and she wants to see how things go.” I slap his chest. “Can you believe that?”
He closes his eye. “This is my shocked face. Can I go back to sleep now?”
“Fuck no.” I laugh, pinching his nipple. “Now we make a plan about exactly how we’re going to woo that omega’s socks off.”
“Dammit,” he snaps, slapping away my hand. “Can’t you be annoying tomorrow?”
With how excited I am? I might not even sleep tonight.