by Skyla Madi
“Oh, fuck,” she swears with a tremor, moving more forcefully, jerking my cock without regard. “I’m gonna come.”
She moans—ridiculously loud—and I cover her sweet mouth. “I’m gonna need you to come quietly, so we don’t get caught.”
She diverts her shallow breaths through her nose with a desperate nod. I thrust against her, sliding through her arousal, but she keeps me out again, using me only to stimulate her clit. It drives me crazy. It pisses me off. It arouses me beyond belief.
“Put me in that hot, wet pussy, baby,” I demand, burying my face in her hair. I want to be inside her as she comes. I need to be inside her. “Please.”
Shivering, she lifts her leg higher and guides me right to her entrance. Gritting my teeth, I clamp one hand on her ass, grab her hiked thigh with the other, and shove myself inside her with a guttural groan, burying myself to the hilt. Cassia moans, then pulls my head back and covers my mouth with her palm. Her eyes are wide, her body suddenly dead still. I freeze mid-thrust when I hear it. The tapping of footsteps in the echoing hall outside our room. Fuck! I pull out of her and drop, tugging her down with me. She lands on my legs with a grunt, her chest facing mine, and her breathing is fast—panicked. I can imagine her expression as she watches my face, her features wide and terrified. The door hinges squeal and my stomach sinks…
…then silence.
“Caleb…” she whispers, clinging to my shirt.
I touch her hand and press my index finger to my own lips. I turn my head, pushing my cheek against the altar, as if it’ll help me hear what’s happening. Dread builds inside me, and I break into a sweat, only to be distracted by a warm hand wrapping around my softening cock. I whip my head back to her, and she adjusts her position so she’s sitting in top of me, straddling my thighs.
“Cass—”
“Shhh.” She leans in and plants a soft, dry kiss to my lower lip, stroking my cock until it’s painfully hard again. Sighing, she rubs herself against it, wetting me, and leans forward, touching her forehead to mine, her nose to mine.
“Mm,” she moans, and I snap my hand to cover her mouth, and the lights flick on.
We squint, suddenly blinded by the light, but I see her lusty lids and blue irises. I lower my hand, and she rushes out a breath. I flick my stare over the blush in her cheeks and her kissed-swollen lips. We are, possibly, less than a minute away from being caught, but she doesn’t care. And I find it so fucking hot.
Rocking her hips, she rubs her swollen, sensitive bundle of nerves against the head of my dick and strokes my shaft in her hand. Our lips part, our thighs clench.
“Yes,” she whispers, moving more vigorously, and closes her eyes.
Fuck. I grab at her dress, hiking it above her hips so I can watch her. Her legs tremble, her grip on my cock tightens, and she squeezes me between her thighs, dropping her head to my shoulder as she comes. Hard. I can’t help it. Watching her as she quivers on top of me, pressing her breasts against my chest, her gasps for air by my ear, is enough to send me over the edge. I try to push inside her, but her pussy squeezes with her climax, making it Goddamn impossible. I can’t hold it. I purse my lips against a groan as the first thread of pressure bursts from the tip of my cock. Cassia leans back, and we watch as my cum fills her lips, covering her clit and spills onto her thighs…
…and my damn pants.
She grabs my face and smooths her hands through my hair. Our breaths clash, and the threat of being caught still looms, but I don’t care. I don’t think she does either.
To my surprise, we’re swallowed up by darkness. I hear Cassia’s breath catch hopefully. I tilt my head, straining to listen to the movements of the guard. The door screams and clicks shut, leaving us alone. We wait for a second.
Two seconds.
Relief floods my system, Cassia relaxes on my lap too, and we burst into semi-quiet laughter.
“Stay with me tonight?” I ask her, smoothing my arms down the contour of her body, wondering how the fuck we’re going to put ourselves back together in the dark. I don’t even know where the hell her leggings and panties are.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” She kisses my cheek and lifts off me. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Chapter Eleven
C A S S I A
Soft lips touch my forehead, and my eyes flutter open only to immediately fall shut again. Somewhere in the room, I hear the handle of a suitcase clicking into place and the gentle squeak of a door as it’s opened, then closed. My eyelids flicker, and I peer up at the ceiling, snaking my hand across the mattress, feeling Caleb’s empty side. I groan, disappointed. I know I should get up and say goodbye, but my lids are sore and heavy. Not to mention, it’s freezing and I’m naked under this heavy, feather-filled blanket.
Eventually, I roll onto my side and force my eyes to stay open as they ache to close. My blurry vision comes into focus soon after, and I find myself staring at a flyer of the picturesque cathedral from last night. My stomach rolls with anxiety at how close we came to being caught, but that anxiety is also laced with a small, but riveting, thread of excitement. Last night was the most turned on I’ve ever been in my life. It was dangerous and reckless, but I felt one hundred percent secure and safe—the story of my life when I’m with Caleb.
On the flyer, in the inky sky above the glowing, towering spires, Caleb has sketched a graphic stick figure scene, our names scrawled above the heads. I laugh and snatch the flyer to get a closer look. For some reason, he’s drawn his penis longer and thicker than my body, and my breasts are larger than his head. If this is his art, I fear what awaits me at the studio where he works.
Vrrrrt. Vrrrrrrt.
I peer over the top of the flyer to my cell as it vibrates against the bedside table in front of a red card with my name in cursive on the front. I miss him already. Setting the flyer down on my pillow, I grab my phone and answer it with a husky, “Good morning, Marissa.”
I pluck the red card off the table with a smile, and a gift card for my favorite coffee shop on the corner of this block falls out.
“I wish I could say good morning, Cassia, but unfortunately, I can’t,” Marissa grumbles in her usual snarky, bitchy tone. “It’s not a good morning.”
“Okay…what’s wrong?” I frown, picking up the gift card. LOVE CALEB is written in giant capital letters across the front and under the black strip on the back. I have no idea why. Regardless, it brings a smile back to my face.
“I wasn’t in yesterday, as you know, and it’s come to my attention that you showed up with the pink still in your hair.”
My eyebrows shoot up. I completely forgot to strip it out of my hair last night. “Oh—”
“I’ve repeatedly told you to take it out, and you’ve refused to listen.”
Once. She’s told me once. “Sorry, I haven’t had the time. I will do it tod—”
“Abbi is covering your shift today and every other shift in the future until we hire your replacement.”
I scowl and scoff. “You’re firing me? Over my hair?”
“Have a good life, Cassia. Oh, and you should treat my cousin better.”
She hangs up. Just like that.
It’s not fair. Taylor, one of our other waitresses, had blue hair for a month before she changed it and she didn’t get fired…but I suspect this doesn’t have anything to do with my hair at all. In fact, I’d bet all the money in my savings account Nick had something to do with it. Anger gathers in my chest, like a thunderstorm. I hate him so much. I hate that I tangled my life with his. I should’ve known better.
In desperate need of a pick me up, I open the red card.
Your coffee is on me while I’m away.
I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, or how I’m going to get through it, but I’ll see you when I get back.
I’ll fucking miss you like crazy.
Your plane ticket is in the bottom drawer if you need it.
Love,
Caleb. x
P.S. Let’s go to church more often.
My lips quirk and the anger inside me dissipates. Fuck it. I leap from the bed, grab the heavy blanket, and haphazardly wrap it around me.
“Caleb?” I shout, hoping he’s still here, as I rush for the door, tripping over the fabric at my feet.
The blanket slips in multiple places, but I hold onto it for dear life and burst from the room, into the large living space. Four pairs of stares swing in my direction and none of them belong to Caleb. I pause just outside Caleb’s bedroom door and tighten my grip on my only cover, offering a small smile to Wade, Lara, Lauren, and Fiona. I clear my throat.
“Good morning.” My voice cracks. I clear my throat.
Wade deters his attention to his plate, then the wall. He looks anywhere but directly at me.
“Sia?” Fiona asks, swiping her arm across her mouth. “We can see your titty.”
I glance down at my chest and, sure enough, my right breast sits proudly on my forearm as I clench the blanket to my chest. Heat flares in my cheeks, and I turn my back to cover myself properly. When I turn around again, they’re laughing at me.
“What are you doing?” Fiona asks, pushing off the bar stool by the breakfast counter. “It’s freezing.”
“Is Caleb still here?”
She crosses the floor to me. “He just left.”
I rush to the door, but she stops me in my tracks, pinching the blanket around my ass. “Nooo, Cassia. You can’t go out there like that.”
“I just need to tell Caleb—”
“Nick will be leaving for work right now. How would we explain this?”
The mention of his name sends bitterness hurtling through me. “I don’t care.”
“Mm.” She rubs her lips together and sweeps my hair out of my face. “I’ve been through plenty of serious breakups myself, and you wanna know the number one thing I’ve taken from them?”
“What?”
“Don’t piss off your ex while your stuff is still in his apartment.”
I arch a brow. “Really? You think he’d ruin my things?”
She shrugs her narrow shoulders. “Men are petty, more so when their ex-girlfriend comes running out of the neighbor’s house wearing nothing but a blanket.”
I slowly nod. I guess she has a point.
Grabbing my shoulders, Fiona turns me back in the direction of Caleb’s room and nudges me forward. “Why don’t you call Caleb, get dressed, and then come and have some breakfast?”
She pats my bare ass cheek, her icy fingers sending me jolting forward with a gasp. I whip around, clenching the fabric at my backside. “Really?”
Laughing, she bends and grabs a backpack of mine from the floor and pushes it against my chest. I grab it as best I can, and she nudges me into the room, closing the door in front of me. I drop the blanket and toss the bag onto the bed. As quickly as I can, I get dressed into a pair of black sweatpants and a matching hoodie, brush my hair, apply minimal makeup and re-emerge ten minutes later.
“There you are,” Fiona calls and gestures to the breakfast in front of them. “Eat with me before I leave.”
I walk over. “You’re leaving so soon?”
She nods and tightens her long, auburn ponytail. “I have to get back to Chicago.”
Reaching over the fresh fruit and yogurt, I grab a hot, buttered croissant and take a bite out of it. “Can I have a lift to the airport too?”
She arches a perfectly drawn eyebrow. “Are you planning on going somewhere?”
“Paradise Valley.”
I regret not saying the state of Arizona immediately. Fiona’s eye twitches, and she swallows hard with a tight grimace. “I can take you to the airport.”
We don’t speak about Paradise Valley much, not since her assault…not since her mother turned her back on Fiona and she had to fight the monster that hurt her all on her own. It took Fiona seven long months, and an official statement from me, but her mum’s boyfriend is finally behind bars. Fiona works on moving forward every day. She still doesn’t sleep much, she hasn’t since, but I know moving from place to place makes her feel renewed, like she’s moving forward instead of becoming stagnant. Of all her travels, she’s stayed the longest in Chicago.
“Caleb said you weren’t going with him,” Wade says, taking a large mouthful of coffee from his mug.
I arch an eyebrow as I eye up his strange Captain America onesie. “I changed my mind on account of being fired from my job two minutes ago.”
The girls gasp.
“Marissa fired you?” Fiona asks, pouring me a coffee.
I bite into my croissant with a nod, then swallow. “Because of my pink hair, but before she hung up on me, she told me I should treat her cousin better.”
Fiona’s eyes go wide. “No. She did not.”
“She did.”
“You think Nick had you fired?” Lauren asks, tearing the crust off her toast and dropping it to her plate.
I don’t know why, but Lauren scares me. She’s not as friendly as Lara, and her resting bitch face is intimidating…so’s her smile, I guess. I shrug. After all the threats last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if Nick called his cousin. “Taking away my job means no one else will rent me a place and I’ll have no choice but to stay with him.”
It’s pretty scary how easy it is for him to render me completely dependent. Unfortunately for him, I’m surrounded by people who care about me and are willing to help.
“Screw that. There’s plenty of room for you to stay here, Cassia,” Wade says. “Caleb and I easily cover the rent, so there’d be no pressure. You’d have time to get back on your feet.”
I smile at him. “Thank you, but I don’t plan on staying in this building.”
“Where’ll you go?” Lara asks, brushing hair out of Fiona’s face. I watch, curiously, as she tucks the lock behind Fiona’s ear and playfully pinches her lobe.
Okay…
“Um, well, I’m not sure yet, but I’ll figure it out. For now, I’ll go back to Par—Arizona—and spend time with Caleb. I’ll figure the rest out from there.”
Fiona groans, unfazed that Lara is in her personal space. “You’re not going to forgive your parents, are you? After everything?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to see them. If they want to bury the hatchet, then it’d depend on our conversation and what follows.” I toss my croissant down as nerves fill up my stomach. The last time I saw my dad, he slapped me in the face. “My father’s not a bad man. He’s just…difficult.”
“That’s an understatement.”
I tilt my head. “Fiona—”
“Ooh!” Lara gasps, shooting off her stool, tightening the belt of her thick, fluffy pink robe. “Before I forget, I’ve washed and dried your clothes, Fiona.”
Lara bounces away, and an awkward silence falls. I look at Fiona, but she avoids my gaze. Wade and Lauren do too. Am I missing something?
Lara rounds the corner with a handful of folded clothes, including a bright red pair of lace panties and a matching bra. She sets them on the counter next to Fiona.
“I’m officially confused,” I utter, thinking back to last night. When Caleb and I got home, no one else was here. Unless… “Where’d you sleep last night?” I ask Fiona.
She, Wade, Lauren, and Lara exchange glances. Oh. OH! Lara opens her mouth, but my hand shoots up of its own accord. “Wait. I don’t want to know.”
“It was surprisingly pleasant and easy, Sia,” Fiona tells me, blushing.
I look at her, really look at her, and she communicates to me through her eyes that it was what she wanted, so there’s that. This is a big deal for Fiona. She hasn’t been able to engage in sexual intercourse since her assault, but three people at once? That’s an overkill, even for her.
I snap my attention to Wade. “Two isn’t enough? How many women can a single man satisfy at one time? Jesus.”
Laughing, Wade bashfully flicks his shoulders and finishes buttering three slices of bread. “As of l
ast night, my record is three.”
He drops a fresh slice of toast on Lara’s, Lauren’s, and Fiona’s plates, and they all smile at him. He looks at me. “You want a slice?”
“Nope.” Shaking my head, I grab my coffee. “No, thanks.”
They laugh at me, all of them, and continue on with their breakfast, as if they’re longtime friends, while I nurse a slightly bitter coffee and poke at a half-eaten croissant. A lot of questions flood my mind, but to save Fiona the embarrassment, I make a mental note to interrogate her about it when she’s driving me to the airport.
“Oh my God, Fiona!” I cover my face with my cold palms to cool my burning cheeks and quell my embarrassment. “I’ve had enough.”
“What?” She laughs. “You asked.”
For majority of the drive to the airport, I’ve had to listen to her tell me—in graphic detail—about her fling last night.
“I asked about the mechanics of it. Not the number of times you came and how—which is a record amount for any female, really.”
She glances sideways at me, grinning so widely I’m scared her lips will be forever stretched. “Oh, stop it. You’re being ridiculous.”
I adjust the bar of my gold sunglasses as they slip down my nose and drop my elbow against the window. “Did you have a discussion prior? Or did it just happen?”
“I thought you’ve had enough?”
I snort. “I have. I’m just curious.”
“Ha!” She cranks the heater up. “It just happened. It started with Lara, who’s so cute and friendly, then Lauren came. She can be quite intense, but I hit it off with her the most. They made me feel at ease and were incredibly comfortable with each other.”
“And Wade?”
I look at her, and she bites back a smile, a blush springing to her cheeks for the umpteenth time this morning. “He watched for the most part, speaking in hushed tones, telling the girl what to do to me.” Fiona bites her lower lip, then releases. “He let them comfort me and make me feel good before he joined in. By the time he did, I wanted him so much, wanted them all so much, I didn’t think twice about it.” She wriggles in her seat, excitement wafting off her in waves. “They’re going to visit me in Chicago next week, and I’ll be back in New York at the beginning of next month to see them—and you, of course.”