He traces a finger over my back on his way out of the kitchen and Tilly notices. She smiles and raises a brow. I stick my tongue out at her and she laughs.
“What’s so funny?” Aiden asks.
“Nothing,” I say. “My sister is goofy. Are you excited to see your family?”
“I saw them a couple months ago during spring break, but it’s always nice to spend time with them.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I should warn you. Mom is a mess right now. There’s still tension between her and her family.”
“Why?”
“Mom thinks they’re still mad she ran off with Dad. She was engaged to someone else at the time. A family friend.”
I reach across the counter and grab a donut. “Do they not like John?”
“They… to be honest, they’re a little hard on him. They were mad about the marriage and then you were kidnapped. He wasn’t home when it happened. Mom was here with you, me, Nick, and Colt. Mom had postpartum from Colt. Our grandmother was angry Dad wasn’t here to help her with so many kids, but he was only gone for a few hours. He couldn’t be home every second.”
“Nick was here?”
“Yeah. Mom was watching him while his parents were on a business trip. I wanted you to know the history, so if you noticed any tension, you’d know it’s not your fault.”
“Thanks for the heads up… shit, what do I call these people? Are they going to expect me to call them Grandma and Grandpa? Aunt and Uncle?”
“Oh, I… I don’t know. I call our grandparents Mormor and Morfar, but Colt calls them Gran and Grandad. I guess do what makes you feel comfortable. Mom has five sisters and three brothers. We have a dozen cousins, but I don’t think all of them are coming. They didn’t want to overwhelm you. Oh, and Nick’s parents will be here, but they’re coming later this evening.”
My eyes widen, and I set down the half-eaten donut. “Shit. I have to… shit. Excuse me.” I hurry from the kitchen and race to the closest bathroom. It’s empty. Maybe we should have agreed on a specific bathroom. I move to another bathroom and swing the door open. I smile. “You’re still here.”
Nick grabs me around the waist and pulls me against him, kicking the door closed. “Of course I’m still here. I’d wait all day. Have you seen the way you look? My dick sprung to life when you walked into the kitchen.”
Staring into his dark chocolate-colored eyes, I laugh as he brings the straps down on my dress. It falls to my feet, leaving me in white satin panties. I rub my hand over the bulge in Nick’s pants before undoing the button and zipping them down. His black boxer briefs are tight around his thick thighs. He kicks his pants to the corner of the bathroom and lifts me up onto the white vanity countertop, putting my hips perfectly in line with his.
I want to undress him completely, but we don’t have time for that. I pull him free from his boxers and stroke his shaft as he kisses along my neck and shoulders. His fingers slip into my panties. God, I’m wet. His fingers glide through my folds and then slip right into my core with ease. His two fingers work me while my hand works him. His mouth finds mine, but the kiss ends too soon.
I look up at him with hooded eyes wondering why he stopped kissing me. His heated gaze is on my center watching his fingers move in and out. I want to drop my head to my shoulders and close my eyes, but I like to watch him watch.
“These pretty little panties are in the way of my pretty pussy.” The sound of fabric fills the room as Nick rips them from my body.
I laugh lightly as I stare at the white silk in his hands.
I brace myself with my hands on the counter behind me as he takes in my naked body.
“Fuck, so beautiful.” He strokes his dick as he lines himself up with my center. I scoot forward to get the angle right as he guides himself into me. Both of his hands come to either side of my ass, and he grips me there hard. I love it.
Our mouths collide while he begins to pump into me. I’m a little sore from yesterday, but my body adjusts quickly, my pussy getting wetter. A few moans escape, but I’m trying to keep them in. My boobs bounce as he begins to pump faster. He dips his head to bite and lick. I throw my head back and arch my back to give him better access to my chest. Holy shit, this is heaven.
His arms move under my thighs and his hands grip my hips as he tugs me forward. I keep my hands braced behind myself as my ass leaves the counter completely. He kisses me roughly as he plows into my wet heat. I want to touch my clit. I’m so close to an orgasm.
He pulls away from my mouth to fuck me hard for a few minutes, my tits bouncing so much they hurt. My crown’s slipping, but I don’t give a fuck.
“Fuck,” Nick grunts. “Feels so damn good.” He sets me back on the counter and moves his fingers to my clit as he continues to pump into me.
The crown falls from my head and clatters against the counter. Nick circles my clit and then pinches. I come so fucking hard. I squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath as my muscles contract. He stops moving completely while I ride it out.
Once I come back down, I take in a lung full of air, and he grabs my ass with both of his hands and begins to move. The sound of our skin slapping together fills the bathroom. He says something and then he’s pulling out and spilling himself over my pussy. He dips his head and bites my left tit and then sucks my nipple into his mouth as he continues pumping himself with his hand.
We’re both breathing hard and covered in sweat. That was hot. I’ve never been fucked on a counter before.
Nick drops a kiss to my shoulder. “Damn, you have some good pussy, so fucking tight.”
I laugh. “Only because you’re so big.”
He grunts and grabs a cloth from the drawer next to my leg. He’s gentle and thorough as he cleans me up, and then helps me back into my dress.
“Fuck. My dick’s hard again.” He buries his face into my neck and kisses me there. “I can’t get enough of you.”
The feeling is mutual. I’m ready for round two, but unfortunately, there isn’t time. I have to meet a bunch of royals.
***
Claire was right about the hair, it stayed in place even though the crown didn’t. I place it on my head and then head back to the kitchen while Nick heads the other way saying he’ll meet me there in a minute. Aiden, Rocco, and Tilly are still eating breakfast when I walk in, and Nora’s pacing the kitchen with a phone clutched to her ear.
She angrily drops the phone to the kitchen counter and spins around with wild eyes. “Martin forgot to get the crab claws.” She begins to babble in another language as she hurries from the room and it hits me.
“Does your family speak English?” I ask Aiden.
“Our family,” Aiden corrects. “And, yeah, they all speak English, some better than Americans. Their main language is Swedish but they all know multiple languages and most of our cousins, aunts, and uncles went to American boarding schools.”
“As long as they speak English.”
“Don’t lie,” Tilly says. “You would have preferred it if there was a language barrier.”
“Shh, you little savage.” I chew my lip. “Boarding school. That’s what the art school is, huh?”
“It is. A top-rated one,” Aiden says. “I looked it up online.”
Tilly beams and my stomach turns. She jumps headfirst into things without thinking them through. She’ll be with mega-rich snobby assholes. I don’t want to see her lose herself. “You better message me every day and call every weekend or I’m flying over there,” I tell her, and I mean it.
“I will, and Nora spoke with the school. I can take time off to visit Dad when he’s ready.”
“Good. He’ll want to see you. You’re his favorite.”
“Am not. He always favored you,” Tilly says.
“Shut up. You’re everyone’s favorite,” I say as Nora rushes back into the room. She’s in one of her red-carpet gowns. It’s golden, shiny, and leaves her slim shoulders bare. It’s more form-fitting than her usual dresses. Nora’s hips are narrow and so is her w
aist. I don’t think I’ve seen her eat. Maybe she’s on a water diet. Or maybe she feeds off souls.
“They will be here any second.” She claps her hands together loudly. “Move to the front porch to greet everyone properly.” She glances at me and then stiffens. “Your piercings,” she hisses.
“I think they go with my dress.” I hold in a smirk. “Do you like the crown?” I say, making sure she sees it.
“It’s fine, Mom. Nobody will even notice,” Aiden says, trying to appease the psychopath.
“It’s not fine, but I don’t have time for this.” She flicks her wrist. “Hurry to the front.”
Nick finds me as we’re all walking past the library. “I couldn’t stand to be in the kitchen with you. I would have bent you over the kitchen counter. Your warm skin tone goes so well with the marble,” he whispers near my ear.
I elbow him in the ribs because Tilly’s next to me and turns bright red. Thankfully everyone else doesn’t seem to be paying attention.
Nick chuckles and catches up to walk beside Aiden. I pluck the crown from my head and set it next to a vase of flowers in the hall as we’re passing it.
“So, you and Nick,” Tilly says, eyeing me with a smug expression.
All I can do is laugh.
“You two look good together, really good. And you look happy when you’re near him.”
I bite my lip. I could see myself with Nick which means I need to talk to him before feelings start to develop. I can rein them in if this is casual. I could fuck around with him a few more times. The sex is definitely worth it.
“What are you thinking about?” Tilly says, grinning. “You look happy.”
“Chocolate cake,” I tell her as we step out onto the concrete porch.
She giggles. “You must really like chocolate cake.”
I chuckle. “It’s not code for anything, Tilly, geez.”
“Anna, come to the front. You should be the first person everyone sees.” Nora pulls me away from my smiling sister to stand near the steps.
She arranges Aiden a step behind me, Rocco and Nick behind him, and Tilly in the back. Nora moves down the steps to look at us. She frowns but several limos pull up as she’s opening her mouth. The color drains from her face, and she hurries up the steps to stand next to Aiden.
“Everyone smile,” she snaps.
I glance over my shoulder to see Tilly standing alone in the back, twirling her hair and chewing her lip. “Psst.” I jut my chin. “Come here,” I hiss.
She does, and I take her hand, holding her close beside me. Everyone seems to be holding their breath as the limos’ engines shut off.
Chapter 26
One moment it’s completely quiet, and the next, it’s chaotic. It reminds me of an antique sale Nana had at her church last month and forced Tilly and me to go. There were hundreds of old people dressed in their Sunday best running toward the church doors when they opened.
Only now, the people are rushing toward me. I didn’t expect everyone to swarm me like they do. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it. They all talk at once, their voices drowning each other out. Someone laughs, and then another. The colors of their clothes blur together. A high pitch squeal causes my ears to ring. I turn my head when my hair is tugged, putting me face to face with a man who’s speaking quickly in another language. My chest tightens and I squeeze my eyes shut before taking a deep breath. I back up to give myself some space, but I bump into a woman, almost knocking her down.
I can’t move. Harsh chemicals assault my nose. I don’t understand why people wear perfume. I hate it. This is too fucking much. My legs are shaking, and I know I’m about to collapse. These people will trample me to death. I need to stay up. I need to run. I ball my hands into fists.
“Move!”
The harsh voice isn’t mine, but it’s exactly what I wanted to say. The crowd doesn’t move, if anything, they close in further.
“Stop crowding her! Get back!”
Someone grabs my arm and tugs. Elbows and arms knock into me as I move through the circle of people until I’m on the other side. Tilly. My sister is the one who pulled me out.
“You okay?”
I step farther from the circle. Only a couple of people seem to notice I’m not where I was a second ago. They are all still talking and laughing. I can’t make out anything being said. It’s rattling my brain.
“Why don’t we move inside!” Nora hollers, ushering everyone toward the door. She begins talking over everyone in a language sounding similar to French.
“Hayley.” Nick’s hand brushes against my lower back. “Are you okay?”
“This is insane,” I say, still trying to calm down. Those people are extremely lucky I didn’t start swinging. I was so close.
“Can you make sure they don’t crowd her again? She can’t handle—”
“It’s fine, Tilly. I lost my head for a second. I’ll tell them to back off if it happens again.”
We’re at the back of the slow-moving crowd. I don’t think anyone has noticed where I went. I don’t see Aiden or Rocco. They must be at the front of the mob which has already made it inside.
“Where’s Casey?” I ask Nick.
“With some chick. Nora didn’t want him here for this. She doesn’t really like Casey.”
“Oh, there are people she likes? Could have fooled me.”
Nick chuckles.
Up ahead, I hear Nora’s strained voice, but the crowd is mostly talking over her.
“Let me see what’s going on or we’ll be out here all day,” Nick says, moving past me to squeeze through to the front.
I feel the air conditioning blowing against my sticky skin. Finally, the crowd starts to move faster, and we make it inside, closing the doors behind us. Keeping distance, Tilly and I follow the crowd down the hall. I hold my stomach and groan. “I think breakfast isn’t sitting right with me.”
Tilly laughs. “Shut up. You didn’t even eat breakfast.”
We walk into the large formal room where tables of food and drinks have been lined against the wall. The multiple couches that are normally in this room are gone and have been replaced with six round tables covered with white cloth. Each table has five chairs covered with blue cloth and held together with a white bow. Even with the tables in the room, there is still plenty of space.
Tilly gestures for me to follow her to where Aiden, Nick, and Rocco are standing next to the table closest to us. I like my spot by the door, but I see some people eyeing me, so I follow Tilly.
“Graysen’s here,” I hear Aiden say as we approach.
“No shit? Why did Nora invite him?” Nick hisses.
I want to ask them who they’re talking about but a really old lady with a saggy face steps into my path. Her teeth are yellow and her smile wide. She latches on to my arm with her bony hand.
“Hi, who are you?” Tilly asks the old lady.
The old lady mumbles something, pats my cheek, and then hobbles away on a cane. “She was like a hundred years old. I hope I don’t live that long.”
Tilly laughs and drags me the last couple of feet to the table. The guys stop talking, and Aiden settles his arm over my shoulders.
“You okay?” Aiden asks.
“This way, Anna! Aiden, bring her over here.” Nora’s voice booms over the chatter of the crowd. “Up to the front! You can come over here.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Aiden says. “It won’t be so bad once everyone calms down.”
He ushers me forward, but I look over my shoulder at Tilly.
“Go. I’ll be fine. Rocco and I are going to hit up the food. I think I saw cupcakes.”
“I know you’ll be fine,” I say. “I won’t. Come with me.”
Tilly laughs and shakes her head. “This is too much for even me. Good luck.” She gives me a thumbs-up and then drags Rocco toward the tables.
That side of the room is free of people. Lucky bitch. Aiden takes my right and Nick my left as we make our way to the front of the room.
People try to reach out and touch me as I pass by, but Nick shields me with his body.
On the other side of the crowd, Nora is standing next to the stone fireplace. She holds out her hand for me to take, but fuck that. When she decided to send my sister away without talking to me is when I decided to cut her out. She is not my mother, and I’m not going to play nice. I ignore her hand and instead stand on her right side a few feet away. Aiden takes my left and Nick stands next to him.
“You’re so beautiful, Anna!”
“Look how pretty she is.”
“Look how alike they look.”
The crowd is oohing and aahing, some in English and some in another language, while Nora hushes everyone.
“Unfortunately, Anna only speaks English. Like I said in the email, she’s had a rough time and will probably need to rest soon. Be patient with her.”
What the fuck is Nora talking about? She’s acting like she cares, but I know she doesn’t. Whatever, I like the part where I’ll need to rest soon.
The crowd starts to move in but Nick steps in front of me. “Not everyone at once.”
“Why doesn’t everyone take a seat and Anna can come by each table?” Nora suggests.
I hate that idea, but I hate standing up here even more. The crowd begins to disperse while Nora helps them find their seats. Over by the door, I notice two guys and a girl. They stand out because they look my age while everyone else looks old as shit. Our family doesn’t age well.
“Everyone will calm down in a minute. They’re just excited,” Aiden says.
“It’s fine,” I say, throwing him a quick smile and then my gaze is back on the three by the door. The girl has long dark blonde hair. She’s wearing a dark blue dress with a plunging V and slits up the sides that reach her thighs. She seems bored as she scrolls through her phone.
My gaze drifts to the blond boy who’s staring at me with intensity. He’s dressed in a black suit and gray tie. His hair is blond, wavy, and the length is right below his ears.
The guy next to him is wearing blue jeans with a gray shirt and black suit jacket. His brown hair is shaved into a buzz cut. My gaze moves back to the attractive blond. He’s still staring at me. His lips tip up into a smirk, and I smile back, and then frown and look away.
Everywhen: (Savage Princess book 1) Page 18