Chapter 39
thirty-nine
“You feel so good. I can’t stay away. I’m sorry. I-I need it, baby,” a breathy whisper pants in my ear, heated and warm.
Barely awake, I clutch the sheet and revel in the pleasure coursing through my lower body that radiates down my legs.
I’m full inside. So filled with Aiden’s cock, I ache in the best way as he stretches me.
Spooning me from behind, his hips work ardently, in and out.
Rapid, like he’s been dying to finish for hours.
“Stay asleep. I’ll fuck you again when you wake up.” Grit rumbles from the back of his throat as he explodes inside me, cock throbbing heavily, still hard. Still so…so…
I reach a hand back and clasp his lower back, bringing him closer.
Instructing him not to move. “Please…” It’s mumbled and moaned.
But I writhe on him. The hot, solid length buried deep inside.
Leaning forward, I work his cock and squeeze my thighs together until the pressure hits my clit just right.
The head fits perfectly where I need him.
His hand clutches my neck, gripping gently, but tight. “That’s it. Come for me. Use me. Fuck, I think I’m going to come again…”
It sends me coursing over the edge. He thrusts harder, chasing his own high. “Yes, my sweet baby girl. Come all over my dick.”
I explode. Tears leaking from my eyes. Muscles taut, then lax. Pussy pulsing around his length, pulling another orgasm from him.
Aiden tugs me into his chest, pressing his lips against my shoulder and up my neck to my cheek. It’s not gentle. With a giggle, I swat at him, but he keeps pressing loud smacks on my skin. Sucking in. Nibbling. Biting my earlobe.
“Sorry. I couldn’t wait until you woke up.” He begins to slip out, but pushes himself back in. “Don’t move. I want to lay here for as long as I can.”
“Me, too,” I say, settling back into a relaxed state. One that I could easily…
I wake again when daylight streams through all the windows, and he’s working his hips in the same way. “You fell back asleep. I did, too. Ready for round three?”
“Three?” I ask.
He flips me onto my back, lower lip tucked under his teeth as he contains a sinister smirk. “Uh…you weren’t awake for one of them.”
My fingers brush through his messy black locks. Eyes scan his ripped frame. Cut shoulders hovering over me. Corded biceps on either side of my head. Hips parting mine as he plunges deep inside.
“Then make up for it now. Give me two orgasms.”
And he does…
“Our shower is perfect!” I shout as I leap inside, steam already clouding the glass separating it from the larger bathroom. It’s the size of a walk-in closet, framed in light from the floor-to-ceiling window that overlooks a forest of endless green and silver bark. Nothing for miles—only us.
When he enters the room, all sweaty and naked, my belly flips. Pulse spikes. I don’t think I’ve ever laid eyes on a more attractive figure. Tall. Capped shoulders. Ripped abs, tapering to his heavy cock swinging between his cut thighs. Inky hair disheveled. Jawline set to crush me.
The tattoo under his heart flexes as he sets his phone on the gray quartz double vanity.
His finger and thumb tug on his lower lip as he wanders into the water with me.
Skin still flushed from his workout, Aiden makes the area feel smaller, more intimate.
Heat from the water mixes with the warmth rolling off him, and I sidle closer.
“I fucked up,” he says, and my heart beats even harder, though there’s a hint of laughter to his voice.
“Wh-what did you do?”
“I prepped this place all week but forgot to get the most important part.”
I glance at the cabinet. “Toilet paper?”
He cracks a grin. “No, I remembered that. But I forgot food.”
His stomach growls like punctuation. The noise makes me laugh.
“You didn’t think ahead, huh?”
“Was going to have the kitchen stocked, but…got a little distracted.” He twists the second handle, unleashing another wall of water.
“Oh. And I suppose no one delivers out here?”
“And we’re in hiding, yeah…”
“Hmm…” I wonder how fast one could plant vegetables and then eat them—
“But I texted Henry. He says he’s bringing over some stuff…”
Water from his body sprays my face until I turn my back to him to wash my hair.
“You don’t sound confident.”
“I’ve seen his grocery choices,” Aiden mutters. “We could end up with Pop-Tarts and dog biscuits.”
“That’s fine,” I tease. “I’m so hungry, I’ll take either.”
“Crackers and cheese. I know you.” He laughs lightly, and it sends me into a fit of giggles along with him. “Can we have a night of cracker-free sheets?”
“That was one time. New day, new mess.”
Wafted curls of heat drift between us as he steps closer, fingertips slipping through my wet hair, massaging shampoo over my scalp. The sensation melts my knees.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous, you know that? Like…absolutely stunning.” He says it with reverence caught in the back of his throat.
“Flattery won’t feed us,” I mumble, eyes closed.
His cock knocks against my lower back until I peek one eye open. He’s lecherously licking his lips, scanning my body like he’s planning what he’s going to do to me later.
“I’m sore.”
“Mm, makes it even better…”
“I want to eat.”
“Gods, me, too. And that’s the only thing stopping me from fucking you again.”
My eyes crinkle with a smile, a burst of warmth filling every corner of my being. When he finishes conditioning my tangled, thick hair, I take my turn working through his. He has to bend halfway for me to reach.
“Why does the I in your initials have a little heart over it?” I ask, tracing the tattoo on his chest. The sight tugs at something deep—something I can’t quite place.
His Adam’s apple bobs. He doesn’t open his eyes as the water streams between us.
“It’s…partly your signature.”
“Partly mine?” I blink. “Wait, like from my diary? The one I kept at Crest?”
He reaches past me to turn off the water. The sudden silence feels sacred. Wrapping me in a heated towel, his voice dips low. “Yeah.”
“You got a tattoo of your initials, the way I wrote them?” My pulse stutters. “When?”
Kneeling, he glances up at me like a penitent knight before his queen. “The night before I went to your school. You hadn’t answered my calls or messages. I couldn’t reach you on video, and I—” He swallows. “I needed to prove something.”
“Prove what?” I ask, suddenly feeling emotional all over again.
“That you’d always be mine.” He presses a hand to his chest. “That I’d carry you here. No matter what. No matter who tried to tear us apart.”
The ache against my ribs is unbearable. “I didn’t know I’d be the one to do it.”
He ties the towel around his waist, jaw flexing before he speaks.
“I get why you lied, Ashlyn. You thought they’d send me to prison.
Or that your father would kill me.” Face serious and lips pressed firm, he threatens me with his eyes.
“But you didn’t understand; I would have done anything for you. And I still will.”
Tears sting my eyes. “I thought I was saving you.”
His arms gather me, solid and unshakable. “Then promise me one thing,” he murmurs against my hair. “Don’t ever save me like that again.”
Pressed to his heart, I whisper, “Never.”
His phone buzzes on the counter, making us both startle. “That’ll be Henry.”
I finish getting ready as he pulls up the camera feed from the front door. He heaves a heavy sigh, grabs a pair of boxer briefs, and hops on one foot while holding the phone in front of his mouth.
“How many people did you bring?”
The speakerphone blares as he continues getting dressed.
“Just me. And Lan. And Scout then said neither of us could figure things out, so she came.”
Voice filled with grit, he spits out, “No one was supposed to know about this place, Henry!”
“Lan already knew! Scout was incidental.”
“Do you want actual cooked food or not, you ungrateful prick?” A female’s voice rings through the phone. Scout, my sorority sister, is here…
“Come in.” Aiden rolls his eyes at me dramatically. “Sorry, we got more company.”
“Scout…Turner. Oh. She’s Landon’s sister,” I say, and he nods.
“Yeah, sorry, she’s a bitch, but I don’t know how to cook, and you don’t either, so we’ll make her chef for the day, then kick her out.”
I shrug. “I actually don’t mind her. And I want food.”
Aiden’s eyes follow me as I get dressed, even as he pulls a black sweater over his head.
“What?” I ask.
“I miss your neck wearing my collar.”
The way his eyes light up with the memory pours heat between my legs. “Then buy me a better one, and I’ll wear it.”
His cheeks sink in like he’s holding back a big smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
By the time I’m dressed in jeans, an oversized sweater, and soft socks—leftovers from his closet back at Theta Manor—the crowd downstairs is loud, drinking wine, and waiting on a pizza cooking in the oven. It smells divine.
“Hey!” Landon says as I hit the first floor.
Henry runs toward me and scans my face. “We’ll all go kill him for you,” he says, spotting my bruised cheek.
I reach out and squeeze his cut arm. “Thank you.”
Scout shoves a charcuterie board at me. “Hello. Thought you could use some real food instead of the stale breakfast cereal they planned to drop off.”
“Definitely,” I say, filling a plate with goodies.
Aiden shoves an olive into his mouth, then parts my lips to feed me one, too. “No telling any Betas about this place or where we are right now, Scoutie. Except Logan.”
“I’m not a traitor, Aiden,” she snaps back.
At the same time, I whisper and say, “Logan… I met him.”
“He’s my cousin,” Aiden says, voice low.
Landon swigs a drink of his beer and scoffs. “Disagree. Dating the president of Beta is definitely fucking traitorous.”
“You guys didn’t have a problem when he was Vice President. You don’t have a problem with Logan.”
“Because Ayan Dutta is an arrogant piece of fucking shit,” Landon spits out.
Aiden nods, and Henry interrupts with his mouth filled with cheese and grapes. “Ayan Dutta is your boyfriend? That guy once complimented himself on a good joke mid-delivery and clapped. I’ve been trying to top that level of confidence ever since.”
We all stop to stare. Henry blinks, swallows, and shrugs. “What? I’m just saying—Ayan treats Greek trivia night like it’s the Olympics. Dude once fell out of his chair trying to answer ‘Zeus’ before the question even finished, and still yelled it on the way down.”
Scout shakes her head, exasperated. “I won’t tell him. Or anyone.”
I clear my throat. “Did you know Julien Ellery?”
Every pair of eyes turns toward me.
Scout nods slowly. “Yeah, a little. Not well. I know Rowan, his roommate, more. It’s a shame what happened, but…”
“But what?” My voice comes out thinner than I mean it to.
“He was obviously murdered.”
“Yes!” I latch onto her eyes, the first anchor in my friend’s case. Someone who seemingly understands.
“Murdered?” Aiden asks. “I thought he overdosed on alcohol.”
“That weird guy from my psych class who you scared told me you killed him.”
Aiden freezes, eyes wide, taking an instinctive step back as the oven timer shrieks. Scout uses it as cover, yanking open the door and sliding out the pizzas. The sound of the slicer cuts through the tension.
“I had no idea who Julien was. Nah. Didn’t do that one.”
“Why would he say that then?” I ponder. My stomach sinks, lead spreading through my veins. A gasp parts my lips. “I think I recognize him…”
Aiden’s hand finds the small of my back. “From class?”
“No,” I whisper. “As the ringleader who wheeled Julien’s cage away.”
Silence floods the kitchen.
“I think…” I swallow hard. “I think Gray was the last person to see Julien alive.”