by KT Strange
I stared down at him, lips parted in shock at how fast this was going between us, and it wasn’t until his fingers thumbed over the button of my jeans that I was able to let out a stuttering,
“O-okay.”
Ten
Darcy
I really needed to stop asking myself if things were really happening. From the way Charlie was eyeing up my jeans like they were an obstacle in his path, to the shivery feeling in my gut that was screaming for some release, some pleasure, after everything that my body had endured, this was really happening.
And I wanted him, just as badly as I wanted the other guys. “What took you so long?” I asked, a flicker of insecurity lighting up in my heart. Was he really into me, into this? Or was he just going along with the rest of the pack? Charlie shook his head, his thumb dragging along the bare skin of my stomach.
"You gonna ask questions? I already told you, kid, that when I finally get my hands on you, you're not going to talk if I'm doing my job right." His eyes glowed with intensity. He reached up and flicked off the main light in the bathroom, leaving us bathed in the red gleam of the heat lamp by the shower. The breath left my lungs when he pulled open my jeans with a slow, careful reverence. "Take your shirt off," he ordered. I squirmed for a moment. "Darcy," his voice dropped low, making me shiver.
"Kay," I whispered, pulling my shirt over my head, letting it drop to the floor. A soft rumble started up, emanating from his chest as he watched me, his fingers stroking over the rounded curves of my hip-bones.
"Bra too."
"Charlie—” I shut my mouth when his eyebrows pulled together. Reaching around, I unsnapped my bra and let it drag down my arms.
"Good girl." He pressed a kiss to one side of my belly, his eyes falling shut as he did so. My head slipped back, to rest on the wall so I didn't have to see the intense expression on his face. He looked reverent, like he was having a religious experience, like he'd been thinking about this for forever and a day.
He dragged my jeans down my hips, the fabric scraping over my skin and making every inch of me shiver. As he let go, leaving the stiff denim to hug my knees, trapping my legs, it was clear he had been thinking about this awhile. Planning this. Whatever this was, my undoing in his hands. Heat fluttered in my core, licking up my belly with each slow, deliberate kiss he placed on my skin. His breath rushed out over my panties for a second before he pulled them down roughly, startling me.
A gasp squeezed out of my throat, tight with anticipation, and he chuckled, that low purr ticking up a notch.
"Wrap one of those hands around your breast, Darce, I wanna hear the noise you make when you touch yourself." His voice was relaxed with the demand, like he knew I was a willing participant and didn't need much more than coaxing to go along with his plans. Even though I was, my brain still stuttered to a stop, my hand pausing an inch from my breast. "Darcy," he said, "don't make me repeat myself."
My fingers curled around my breast, the soft skin velvety under my touch. I didn't do this often, especially not with a roommate sleeping a few feet from me at the dorm, and once I'd fallen in with the boys, I hadn't needed to. Anytime I got a little bit, um, hungry for a good time, the wolves knew before I did and I'd find myself being toppled on the nearest flat surface in the van, usually with Ace or Finn closing in on me. My awkward fingers scraped over my nipple and I shivered.
"You like that, don't you?" Charlie sounded amused, his thumb slipping over the soft spot where my folds met above my clit. I knew my face was on fire, and when I looked down, he met my eyes, a smirk playing on his lips. "You like touching yourself, knowing I'm watching, don't you?"
"You're kinda letting me do all the work here, kid," I taunted him, using the nickname he always seemed to default to me when it was just us. His eyes flashed gold when he tilted his head, and for a moment I was stuck there, my breath caught in the back of my throat. The rumbling purr in his chest died into a soft growl.
"Oh, you think you're doing the work, Darcy?" He shifted on his knees, forcing his arm between my legs, spreading them. The denim bit into my skin and a surprised noise escaped me when his fingers slid right through my folds, dragging hard over my clit. My hips jerked as the sensation overwhelmed me. "Lemme show you what it's like when I do the work then." Each of his words held dark promise, making that tight, needy feeling grow inside of me.
He spread his fingers, exposing my slick flesh to his gaze. My breath was caught in my chest; I couldn't look away even though I felt abjectly embarrassed and turned on by the fact he was staring at me in the most intimate way. My thighs squirmed, testing the strength of the denim, and finding it was too strong for me.
Charlie leaned in close and I whined, his tongue flicking out over my skin, teasing up between his fingers until he laved over my clit. Warmth, the perfect wet heat of his mouth had me rocking down hard into him, my hand leaving my chest to grab at the back of his head.
"Right there," I said, rocking my hips in a slow, familiar movement as my nails raked through his hair. His growl dropped even lower in pitch, his tongue almost vibrating against my clit. Sparks of a sweet burning sensation had me arching into him harder. I wanted to drown myself in how good it felt, in the way he was exploring me, his tongue delving down as the light stubble on his cheeks scraped my thighs.
He was taking me apart, making me bite my lip so I wouldn’t make too many loud noises and attract the attention of the other guys. I wanted this moment to be private, just us. There was something tender in the way Charlie’s fingers held me open, his fingers slipping over my damp flesh, teasing over my entrance and back up again. I wanted to stay quiet for him; I wanted for us not to be interrupted. Charlie’s tongue followed his fingers down, lapping over my entrance. A raw groan ripped right out of him, and he pressed me hard against the wall, forcing my knees further apart.
Trembling, I tried to stay on my feet, balanced precariously, my fingers tugging on his hair.
“Charlie,” words weren’t lining up in the right order, “I, that feels, c'mon, don't—” He needed to stop teasing me. The muscles in my stomach were tight, and I pulled hard at his hair. His eyelashes fluttered at me, and he gave me one, long, slow lick.
"You need something? I know what you need." He hitched his hand under my ass, helped me out of my jeans, and lifted my leg over his shoulder. I wobbled and he grabbed me, holding me still. The muscles in his bicep flexed, my mouth going dry at the sight. These guys, they could just move me around however they liked, and there was no way I would be able to escape if they were really determined. That turned me on way more than it ought to have. A small part of me wondered what would happen if I ran. Would he chase me down? A frisson of heat flashed through me at that thought. "C'mon, sweet girl. Pay attention." His hand slapped lightly on the side of my thigh, dragging me back to the the smirk on his face, his tousled hair, and the glisten of my arousal smeared on his cheek.
"Fuck," I whispered, and dropped my head back against the door. He chuckled, one of his fingers dragging a lazy path along the crease where my thigh met my body. The touch teased me, making my skin jump and muscles twitch.
"That's better. Eyes on me. I wanna see it on your face when you're on the edge." Each word brushed across my skin like a small lick of fire, bringing me up on my toes that were still on the ground. My knee bent hard, pulling Charlie in closer. I needed more than he was giving me. "Darcy," my name floated through me, his fingers skating down, swirling over my entrance. "Eyes on me."
My gaze snapped down to the top of his head as two of his fingers slipped up into me. The first stretch was red-hot and had me white-knuckling his hair in my hand, begging him with my body. He was dragging it out, teasing me, his tongue laving back and forth over my skin, avoiding my clit and not moving his fingers until I kicked my heel against his back.
"Charlie," I demanded, "move, please, something, I—”
"Right here?" He asked, kissing my clit, lips parting to wrap around it. That was exactly what I needed, and when
his fingers crooked inside me, just enough, my stomach quivered, muscles beared down on him before I cried out. I felt his arm come up to brace me, pin my hips against the wall as my hips stuttered through a hard orgasm that made me feel like everything was flying apart and converging all at once.
With a huff of air, I blinked away the red at the edge of my vision, my one leg holding me up feeling like it was going to give out. Charlie pulled his head away with one damp kiss on my thigh. He smirked up at me.
"Whoa," I breathed out, mindlessly running my fingers over the back of his head and down his neck.
"Still talking, huh? Alright." Charlie crowded up against me again before I realized what he was doing. His thumb slicked through the folds of my pussy, and my hips jerked as he touched my over-sensitive skin.
"What?" I wobbled and his fingers, still inside me, slipped out, thrusting back in. A wrecked cry ripped out of my throat, and I scrabbled with my hands to brace myself on something. I grabbed the light fixture on the wall above my head, clinging to it hard and hoping it wouldn't give out. With another slow-rough circle of his thumb over my clit, he pushed me past the overwhelming sensation of everything being too much and right into needing more of it.
"I'm gonna kill you later," I hissed out as his fingers rocked into me, palm cupping my sex, the warmth of his skin on mine exactly what I needed.
"Not if you're too tired to move," he replied, grinning at my empty threat. "Hard to murder someone when you're passed out in his arms after he's done fucking you into the sheets." My body responded to that visceral image, the idea of him pinning me down, taking me until my breaths sobbed out of my throat and I couldn't handle it anymore. "Oh, you like that, huh?" His dirty mouth sucked a hickey on my belly, licking it after like an apology. "You want that? Maybe get Finn behind you, me in front? Ace's always down for the assist, maybe get him holding your wrists above your head, right? Cash's good with his hands, all that drumming, he's got the rhythm, get his hands on you, while I fuck you—”
"Charlie!" It hit like a wave, out of nowhere, stealing the air from my lungs. I slipped, and he caught me, arms holding me, fingers still buried deep in me as he stared up from between my thighs, naked desire on his face. His words did me in, and I whimpered, trying to squeeze my legs closed, drain more of that feeling out of my weak, worn-out muscles. My orgasm ebbed, finally letting me go after he dragged his thumb over my clit one more time for good measure and I whined.
"Easy," he was hoarse, whispering, as he lowered me gently down the wall, curling me in his arms. My muscles trembled, my face finding the crook of his neck so I could hide, avoid the intensity of two hard orgasms back to back. My mouth was dr, and still, the image of the guys on me, all at once. Charlie's hand slowly worked out from between my thighs, and I winced when his fingers slipped out of me. He held me close, his rough stubble on my temple. I could feel his heartbeat jumping under his skin, beating hard along with mine.
"Uh... uhm," I swallowed to find the words and moisten my throat. "You... you need, anything?"
Charlie grunted and shifted me; the hard press of his cock was obvious.
"I'd lie and say that getting you off like that was enough, but I don't think you'd believe me," he laughed, quietly. I wanted to sleep forever, but didn't want him to think I didn't appreciate how good he'd made me feel. "No, Darcy," he sighed and stood, taking me with him. He set me on my unsteady legs. "It's going to be enough." He brushed my hair off the side of my face, tucking it behind my ear and kissed me, his lips rough, pulling away to soon. "You need to sleep. You need to eat. You do not need to worry about my needs right now."
When I opened my mouth to protest he gave me a stern look that was more suited to Eli than him. But he had managed Phoenixcry up until I'd stumbled into their lives, so he was used to ordering the pack around.
There was a small, empty feeling inside of me though, and a thread of uncertainty. I wanted to be with him, even if Wolfe had pummeled me magically for hours, and Charlie had just dragged two orgasms out of me. I wanted to be close to him, to feel him inside of me. Watching him from under my lashes, he seemed to withdraw from me, though. He was quiet as he ran the shower for me, kissing me on the forehead before he left me to clean up. He had to want me as much as I wanted him, right? He’d been painfully hard against me, and no guy did that with a girl and didn't want something for themselves after… right? I saw him in small moments too, eyeing me with hunger in his eyes that promised me once he got his hands on me he wouldn't be able to control himself.
But he had controlled himself, he'd controlled me, making me come again, and not taking me even when I would have let him. Hell, I'd been ready for it to happen. And then? Nothing. He closed the door behind him like it hadn’t even happened. I’d asked him for more and he’d shut me out. Just like that.
I ran my hands through my hair under the water, and tried not to focus on the shaky, needy feeling eating up my heart, or the hot tears that threatened to slip down my cheeks.
Eleven
Charlie
I wanted too much from her. I wanted too much, and didn’t have enough to give in return. When she’d looked down at me and moved to make me feel good, after she’d spent the day having her magical ass handed to her by a dead guy, I’d almost been a jerk and taken her to bed when what she really needed a shower and a nap. Helping me get off when every single one of her muscles were shaking would have made me the worst, most selfish kind of dick. I didn’t deserve to take from her like that, not when she was pushing herself to learn how to control her magic. I was better than that. But I wasn’t good enough at the same time. That was the problem.
That night I watched her sleep, sprawled across the sheets. The moonlight crawled through our jam-space and lit up her features and the curling spray of her hair on the pillows. She was so close to me, laying next to Ace, his arm thrown around her waist, his lips pressed to her neck as they slept. She was so close that I could hear her heartbeat, the low and gentle thump of it deep in her chest. There was nothing I wanted more than to run my hands over her skin, push Ace out of the way and get her to make those soft, urgent noises for me again like she’d done in the bathroom. There was something addictive about her scent, layered over with the scents of our pack and the subtle thread of electricity in the air whenever I was close to her. The wildness of the woods, of the moon, all of it? It was written in her blood and in her bones.
She should have repulsed me, being a witch, and the same type of people who had nearly murdered me along with the rest of our pack. As I watched her, the slow rise of her chest, the way she turned into Ace for comfort in her sleep, I knew there was nothing about her that could ever chase me away. Not even if she turned those lightning strikes on me. If only I had been better, deserving. Not a hidden coward, who’d nearly cost his pack everything so long ago. It’d been easy to hide the truth from them, but when she’d reached for me in the bathroom and I’d nearly come undone for her? I knew that as soon as she got her hands on me, I’d have to tell her everything. Everything about the night we nearly lost Ace, and the rest of Phoenix pack faded into dust and shadow.
I didn’t get much sleep that night, and felt out of sorts for the rest of the day when she went off to the record label. Spending half the day snapping at Ace and making Cash growl at me for being a prick, I buried myself in my laptop, trying to get a handle on what was going on with our social media. Chrissy hadn’t answered my emails in days.
“The fuck’s wrong with you?” Finn asked finally fed up after hours of me growling at the rest of the pack. My skin itched. I wanted to shift. It’d been so long since I’d gone for a long run, wind rifling through my fur. That and I wanted to figure out what was going on at the label. Willa stank of avoidance whenever I went with Darcy, and we all knew that shit was starting to turn sour with our label. I just didn’t know how to fix that. Troy was pissed at us over the Glory Rev tour falling to pieces. Other than being up front with him that we’d needed to get off tour for personal r
easons and wasting how many thousands of dollars the label had spent on us, there was nothing I could say. He wouldn’t accept anything but the whole truth, and there was no way I could be that honest with him. He was still a mundane, after all.
“Nothing,” I answered Finn after he cleared his throat and glared at me. I got off the couch to grab my phone off the counter on the kitchenette. “I gotta talk to Eli.”
“Maybe tell him you’re being an asshole while you’re at it, see if you can bunk in with him for a few fucking days,” Finn muttered at the edge of my hearing. I ignored him as I stalked outside of the jam space. Cash shook his head at me before I could close the door and get some privacy. Outside, at least, Darcy’s scent didn’t wrap around me, permeating everywhere and everything. Outside I could breathe without being reminded that she was better than every single one of us. That out of all of us, I deserved her love the least.
Over dinner, Darcy was full of ideas for doing small shows around Seattle, and even doing some live-streaming for our fans. She’d spent the day talking to Chrissy without telling me, and they’d cooked up some scheme to bridge the gap between the tour we’d left and the next promotional stint we’d be doing. I pushed my dinner around on the plate, my appetite dead. She sat between Cash’s legs, his arms around her waist as she pressed fries against his lips and he snapped them up, threatening to bite her finger-tips each time. Between her laughter, and the way she was casually laying out all her plans like they were serious options for us, my anger was close to boiling.
“Then I talked to Willa about maybe some cross-collab stuff, because I’m working with that new artist I was telling you about. Milen?” Darcy picked up a chicken nugget and offered it to Cash. His hand was low on her stomach, holding her tight against his groin and chest. A flicker of annoyance raced up the back of my throat.