Chapter 20
chapter twenty
Morning light sneaks through the blinds, casting a warm glow across the room. I'm cocooned in Alec's arms, his breath steady and comforting against my neck. It's a rare moment of peace, where my heart feels light, almost buoyant. But as consciousness fully takes hold, so does the gnawing uncertainty about what comes next.
"Morning," Alec mumbles, his voice rough with sleep. He tightens his grip around me, and it’s just about the best feeling ever. The intimacy of his bare skin against mine sends a shiver down my spine.
"Hey," I reply, trying to keep my voice even. His lips find mine in a soft, lazy kiss that makes me want to forget the world outside this room.
"Happy?" he asks, eyes searching mine for any hint of doubt.
"More than I thought possible," I admit, the truth slipping out before I can think better of it.
“Then what’s with the Grand Canyon furrowing between your brows?” he points out, pressing his finger between them as if to smooth the worry away.
“Alec, are you really cutting yourself off from your dad?” I ask, voicing what’s on my mind.
“Yes,” he says, no doubt in his tone. “Why?”
I press my cheek against his bicep, his whole arm under my head. “I just feel responsible for your whole world turning completely upside down. You’re… you’re definitely used to a certain lifestyle, and I just…”
“Are you afraid I’m going to be poor now, Salem?” he asks with a mischievous smirk. “Afraid there will be no more expensive dresses and fancy car rides?”
My worried look instantly transforms into a glare. “You know that’s not what I was worried about.”
He cups the side of my face. “I know. I couldn’t resist. But genuinely, Salem, you don’t need to worry about my finances. With the launch of the company, things are going good. Like, really good. I can support myself now, no worries. And you, if you’d let me.”
“That’s not going to happen,” I growl.
“I know,” he says as he leans forward and presses a kiss to my forehead. “And I love you all the more for it.”
My heart swells in my chest. Damn. Alec Vanderholt told me he loves me last night. And I said those words back. And meant them with every damn bit of my soul.
As my eyes lock with his gorgeous blue ones, I feel everything. Every hard moment. Ever sour word slung. Every stolen glance. Every delicious surprise along the way.
It’s been everything.
I surge forward, lacing my fingers back through his hair as I take his lips. As I breathe this complicated man in. As I reassure myself that he is mine.
Alec’s hands come to my waist as I swing one leg over his middle. We didn’t bother putting clothes back on when we were done last night. Sleeping naked next to the man that I love is now possibly my favorite thing. But this morning, I find him hard as I straddle him. His eyes darken with desire and intensity as I square him up, and slowly, I sink onto him, his cock filling me completely.
A sigh leaves my lips as I tip my head back, already sighing with ecstasy. Alec’s hands cup my waist, and gently, he guides me up and down, setting me at a steady rhythm. My fingers lace into my hair and my eyes slide closed.
“Fuck, you’re the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen, Salem,” Alec worships as he sits forward. His mouth takes my nipple, first with his teeth and then with his tongue. He hugs me harder to him, driving himself deeper inside of me.
“More,” I beg him, feeling the surge beginning to gather. It doesn’t take much. I’m pretty sure this man could just look at me when I’m naked and I’d come for him.
And he gives it to me. He gives me every damn thing I need.
"Can we... make another video?" The question slips out before I can stop it, and I'm suddenly shy, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. But it's out there now, hanging between us like a dare. We’ve had a quiet morning since it’s Saturday. Making love all morning. Then Alec packed me up and hauled me to his apartment so he could make me brunch. And now that I’m happy and full, my tongue has freed up.
"Fuck yes." The smirk that takes over his expression is intoxicating. He leans over the counter he’s just finished cleaning and kisses my mouth. “I can’t tell you how much I love that you love filming with me.”
“If you would have told me a year ago that I’d end up with a full-blown mask kink, I would have told you you were insane.”
“Unless you want to be bent over this counter right now, and taken for round four, no more mention of the word kink,” Alec warns, arching a brow as he walks toward his office.
I bite my lower lip as I watch him go, and wonder if I’d enjoy a little light spanking while he bent me over the kitchen counter.
It always impresses me, the creativity Alec possesses with his videos. He’s creative director, camera man, lighting crew, and editor. He poses me in nothing but a t-shirt of his and my butterfly mask before a window. He sets up the lights, and takes the footage of him making his way toward me in flashes of dramatic color. He loses a bit of clothing with each flash. Until finally for the last one, when he’s right behind me, he’s only wearing his jeans.
With that mask, he changes the camera angle so it’s beside us. And my eyes flutter closed, my head tilting back, as he runs his black smudged hand up my throat. And then the music drops, and the lights cut.
Alec ends the recording, but I breathe hard as I watch him. I take a step forward, taking the camera from his hands. “Leave the mask on,” I instruct. And I back him up across his office, unbuckling his pants as we go. I shove them down his thighs just before I back him right into his office chair.
“As you wish, Dora,” he growls, something low and rumbling in his chest, and I feel every vibration as I run my hand up his smooth, perfect chest.
I hike the t-shirt up a bit as I somehow make room for myself to straddle him in the chair. His breath hitches just slightly as I sink down onto him. I smile beneath my mask, staring into those glimmering blue eyes surrounded by all that black paint. He looked so damn hot as he painted his face before donning the mask. I don’t know how to define it, why it turned me on. Maybe because he looked dangerous. Maybe because I knew what was coming. Whatever the psychological reason, I fucking loved—love, it. And when he put on that skull mask…
I ride my boyfriend. I fuck him. And I lean in and whisper in his ear, “I want you to spank me.”
He growls at that, even as a smile curls on those black painted lips. “Wish granted, my bad little girl.”
The impact of his hand against my bare ass isn’t painful. But the impact sensation? A gasp rips from my lips, followed by a delighted chuckle.
Alec spanks my other ass cheek, and he gets the same exact reaction.
Fuck. The freedom to be able to ask for exactly what I want, and the enthusiasm and praise he gives me? It’s everything. It’s everything I dreamed about since I was old enough to fantasize. I was so bottled up and suppressed for so many years. I never thought I could get to this place. Where I could ask for everything I’d ever imagined. Where it would be given to me with such eagerness, and never a condescending remark or a spiteful tease.
Only with Alec. It’s all thanks to this man.
I fold in on him, my arms wrapping around his shoulders, my lips falling to the slope of his neck. He thrusts inside me with astonishing speed and force.
“I fucking love you,” I pant against his flesh.
“And I fucking love you,” he growls. Suddenly, his hand works its way between our bodies, and his thumb finds its way to my clit. He rubs firm circles into it, never slowing his pistoning in and out of me.
And a cry breaks free from my chest as he instantly chases me over the edge. I shatter, my breath sharp and ragged and wild. And holy shit, it’s real. Liquid gushes from me as I fucking squirt as I come.
Alec’s roar of pleasure fills the room as his arms tighten around me, shuttering into me one last time.
My breath is ragged as I pant into Alec’s neck. My entire body is shaking. I feel completely spent, not a one of my muscles wanting to move.
“Fucking perfect,” Alec mutters.
Twenty minutes later, after we’ve showered and are wearing a few layers of clothes, I lie on Alec’s couch while I watch his fingers fly over the keyboard of his laptop like he's playing a damn piano. With each click and drag, the raw footage we created becomes art—our secret symphony. His eyes are laser-focused, the slight furrow in his brow proof of his dedication. It's magnetic, how he pours himself into this, into us. I can't help but admire him—the boy who hides behind a mask for the world but lays himself bare for me.
"Done," he announces with a smirk. He spins the computer around, and I blush as I watch what we just created. It’s perfect. Titillating, tempting. It’s beautiful and classy, while being such a damn tease I’m tempted to go find that glass dildo Alec gifted me for home practice. But I’ve got something so much better readily available.
“It’s perfect,” I praise him. “Post it.”
He hits upload, and switches out his laptop for his phone as he joins me on the couch. Within sixty seconds, the likes and then the comments begin flooding in like a relentless tide. Our masked escapades, a viral sensation. It's thrilling and terrifying all at once.
"Fuck, they love you," he says, pride lacing his voice.
“Not all of them,” I point out as the first of the jealous and cruel comments start coming in.
“Those ones don’t matter,” he says, clicking his phone off and setting it aside. “Your account with zero posts and three-hundred-thousand followers says they don’t.”
I give him a look, but a soft smile takes it over.
“So,” Alec says as he brushes a thumb over my cheek. “My dad is getting released from the hospital tomorrow morning.”
“Oh,” I say stupidly, my brows rising.
He just nods. “Which means I probably have to figure some things out between now and then.”
“What do you mean?” I question, adjusting my position so I can look at him.
“Meaning, my dad owns this apartment,” he says, nodding when the realization hits me. “I don’t want to stay anywhere he has control over.”
“There’s still seven weeks until graduation,” I point out. “That’s a horrible amount of time to try and find somewhere else to stay.”
“It’s not ideal,” he says in acknowledgement.
My brain is spinning, running through every possibility. No one will sign a lease to him for just a few weeks. It’s a really long time to stay in a hotel.
“What if you move into my dorm with me?” I suddenly say. I chuckle, because the thought is ridiculous. My space is tiny. And it’s about as bare bones as it gets. It’s nothing like this beautiful apartment Alec is used to.
“Are you serious?” he questions with a laugh.
My eyes meet his again. “I know it’s insane, but yeah, I actually am. It’s only seven weeks. We could swap the bed out for a bigger one. We bring your clothes in. We can make do for a few weeks, Alec.”
The grin on his face tells me the differences in our circumstances. Alec is imagining it. But he imagines it from this luxurious, huge apartment he’s been living in for nearly four years.
It’s like the two of us committing to live in just his office and half his bathroom.
“You’ve got a deal,” he shocks me when he says the words. “So long as you move in with me after graduation.”
I blink, staring at him.
And something surges inside me. Something excited. A little unsure. Extremely ready.
“Where?” I question, biting my lower lip.
“Wherever you want to go,” he says, the grin on his own face growing by the moment. “I can work anywhere that has an internet connection. So, you tell me. So long as we go there together.”
I smile like a maniac. I haven’t even introduced my mom to Alec. She barely knows he exists. But I’m one hundred percent going to move in with him after we graduate. I’m ready. I’m so fucking ready.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” I say as I tackle him against the couch, my lips claiming him as mine.