by Eva Ashwood
Maybe Trace could see some of my internal debate written across my face, because he laughed again. His sky-blue eyes danced with amusement as he brushed his fingers lightly down the back of my hand.
“Hey, it’s a standing offer. I’ll be around.”
Before I could respond to that, Miss Avery led us into a large hall, peppered with long tables and tons of people sitting all over the place. There had to have been at least four hundred people there, and it was disturbingly easy to spot the first-years. They were the ones who looked terrified and confused, while others—like Trace—sat with an easy confidence.
Fuck. I didn’t want to be marked as one of those petrified first-years, so even though adrenaline was still pulsing through my system, I did my best to affix a nonchalant expression to my face.
Trace had split off from me and Miss Avery when we entered the room, so I took the first seat I came to and settled in, crossing my legs and turning toward the woman standing on the raised dais at one end of the room.
She was dark-haired, with piercing gray eyes, and although everyone else I’d met here so far had worn regular street clothes, she was dressed in a long black robe.
When she clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention, the sound echoed through the room. Unless she had a mic on her hands, I wasn’t exactly sure how she did it. I could only assume it was more magic.
“Welcome, welcome,” she intoned as everyone began to quiet. “For our returning students, welcome back to Magic Blessed Academy, and to our new first-year class, welcome. I am Dean Amelia Frost.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she locked gazes with some of the most terrified looking students.
“Some of you are a little confused about what’s going on, and I promise everything will be explained eventually. For the moment, just know that you’re exactly where you are supposed to be. This is the only academy in existence for people like you—those who have been gifted new magic by the gods. It’s natural to feel upset or confused about this gift, especially since, unlike those born with magic, you developed it later in life. What we want you to understand is that your gift is precious, and we are here to make sure that you take care of it. It’s a beautiful thing.”
A few students around me relaxed a little at her words, but I had to do my best not to scoff. She hadn’t actually said anything useful at all, just a lot of flowery words and promises that didn’t mean shit.
I pretty much tuned her out after that, except for when she clapped her hands again and dismissed us.
Apparently, classes would start the next day, and there was someone standing up at the front waiting to direct us to our rooms. I let some of the other people go ahead of me, the ones who seemed a lot more excited about their newfound gift.
When I finally reached the front, the tall man with a shaggy beard handed me a detailed map of the academy building and shot a little tendril of magic from his finger to show me my room assignment.
The map was broken down by level, and by the look of it, most of the classrooms were on the first, second, and third floors, while the dorm rooms and admin suites were on the upper levels. The entire place was seven stories tall.
As I left the large main hall, I had my head bent, staring at the map as I tried to decipher it. I glanced up when I stepped through the door, glancing left and right to see which way I should go.
Then I froze.
Blood rushed in my ears as my whole body flushed hot, then cold.
People curved around me, but I wasn’t able to move.
Up ahead, a few yards down the hallway to my right, was a man with light blond hair and an aristocratic, handsome face.
Oh shit. Are you fucking kidding me?
My heart pounded heavily in my chest and my palms dampened with sweat. I knew that man.
And he was the last damn person I’d wanted to see here.
Chapter Five
I felt like I should say something… or maybe run in the other direction and hide behind a table.
It wasn’t in my nature to run, but I was seriously considering making an exception in this case, especially when he stopped and turned his head toward me. I ducked, but there was no one to hide behind since most of the other students had already filed out on their way to the dorms.
I watched as his eyes narrowed and his jaw flexed.
Merrick.
The one-night stand who had become so much more than that. The man who had thrown my heart for a loop.
To say he was angry at me would probably be downplaying it quite a bit. The two of us had met a year and a half before, right after one of my bouts in the underground ring. The chemistry that’d sparked between us was immediate and all-consuming, and at first, I hadn’t tried to fight it. I’d taken him back to my place, and we’d fucked each other’s brains out until neither of us could move.
But unlike every other one-night stand I’d had before that, a night of hot, intense sex hadn’t eased my desire for him—it’d only seemed to fan the flames, turning the spark into a raging inferno.
Even now, knowing how much he hated me, I still wanted to drag him into the nearest room with a door that locked and tear his clothes off.
The thing was, he had wanted more. The raw attraction between us was insane, and he had been convinced there was something deeper there, something like fate pushing us together.
I had actually considered giving in to his request, at least for like two seconds. I was scared as fuck by it though. It’d been the first time I’d ever felt those kinds of intense feelings for someone, and I wasn’t the type of girl who did well with emotions. The last time I’d cried was when my father had died, and I’d been twelve at the time.
So, in an effort to save myself, I’d brushed all my pesky feelings off and bowed out. I had ghosted Merrick hard-core.
And from the way that he was stalking toward me with an angry, predatory stride, he hadn’t forgotten about it.
I straightened my spine, prepared to fake my way through the confrontation. Believe it or not, even being a fighter, I actually hated confrontation—at least the verbal, emotional kind. That was probably why I’d turned to fighting. There weren’t a lot of words spoken when you were trying to beat the shit out of each other.
Before he could say anything, I grinned. “Merrick, fancy seeing you here. I had no idea that you had magic.”
His nostrils flared, his amber eyes narrowing. “Well, that’s kind of the point of this place. Everyone here developed magical powers out of nowhere. Though it doesn’t really surprise me to see you here. I always figured you for a witch… No, wait, I mean bitch.”
I understood why he was pissed, but I wasn’t about to stand there and let him degrade me like that. No matter how shitty what I’d done might’ve been, I was gonna stand up for myself, and I was pretty sure he knew that.
“For fuck’s sake.” I rolled my eyes. “Sorry you’re so full of yourself that you think every woman you bang is going to fall madly in love with you.” I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout, batting my eyelashes at him. “Did I hurt your widdle ego?”
He scoffed and shook his head. “You still haven’t changed. You think just because you have daddy issues, it excuses you from hurting people.” His voice hardened. “It doesn’t. You know just as well as I do that this isn’t about my fucking ego. Things were good between us, but because of your issues, you refused to admit it. And then you have the audacity to talk to me like I owe you something. Please, get over yourself.”
I rested my hands on the door frame, tilting my head with a cocky look.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who came over here to talk to me.” I smirked. “I mean, I get it. Your first instinct was probably to make a beeline to the love of your life, thinking I’d throw myself back into your arms and we’d go prancing off into some magical sunset, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I don’t really go for assholes, and you, my friend, are an asshole.”
“Is that so?” Merrick’s voice was a dangerous purr. “Tell m
e again how much you hate me, Aria. Maybe next time I’ll actually believe it.”
Without even hesitating, I met his gaze. “I hate you.”
Something almost like pain flashed in his eyes for a second, but it was gone so fast I was pretty sure I’d imagined it. All I could see now was the familiar distaste.
“You sure you want to be on my bad side, Ari? I’ve been here for a year, and you’ve been here for less than a day. I can make your life at Magic Blessed miserable if I choose to.”
He stepped closer to me as he spoke, and I got a whiff of his familiar cologne. Emotions bubbled in my stomach, and I could feel my cheeks getting hot. My cheeks always got flushed right before I got down and dirty, especially with Merrick.
I could vividly remember the mind-blowing sex we’d had numerous times, and standing this close to him was reminding my body of exactly how he could make it feel.
Still, I refused to back down or let him know he was getting to me. I took a step forward too, standing just inches from him, looking up into his eyes.
“You think you’re so tough. Are you stepping to me? Because let me just remind you, I’m a fucking fighter, and now I have magic. I fight men in a ring; men twice your size. You don’t scare me.”
I watched him lick his lips, and it took everything in me not to jump him right in the hallway—whether to fuck him or to fight him, I wasn’t quite sure. But from the way he was looking back at me, I could tell we were playing a little game. A game of lust and want.
And I didn’t like to lose.
He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me closer, my body pressing against his. “I thought you liked it rough.”
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and ran my fingertips up his thigh. “I do. Maybe that’s why you never managed to satisfy me.”
His nostrils flared, and his eyes seemed to darken as his pupils dilated.
He glanced around, seeming almost startled when he realized we were alone in the hallway. I figured he might drag me back into the large auditorium we’d come out of and push me up against the wall—just like me, he’d never been scared of pissing off authority figures—but instead, he tightened his grip on my wrist and pulled me down the hallway.
I was a fighter. Magical abilities aside, I had little doubt that I could break his hold on me and put him on his back in less than ten seconds.
But for some reason, I didn’t.
Maybe it was because heat was spreading up my arm from the place where his fingers encircled my wrist, filling my body with a desperate hunger I hadn’t felt in way too long.
Maybe it was because even though I knew where this was going, even though I knew I was playing with fire, I kind of wanted to get burned.
Apparently, Merrick knew where he was going, which made sense since he was a second-year. We went up a flight of stairs, rounded several corners, and burst into what looked like a large supply closet. A young guy and girl—teacher’s assistants, maybe—were gathering items I didn’t recognize from the shelves, and they looked up with a start when Merrick threw the door open.
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I need the room.”
They hurried out, shutting the door behind them, and I stared at the spot where they’d just been, both impressed and annoyed by the way they’d jumped at Merrick’s command. “Please don’t tell me that’s how everybody here treats you.”
He yanked me toward him and ran his nose up my neck to my ear. “Not everyone. You don’t. At least, not yet.”
“Don’t worry, Merrick. That will never happen. Can’t let you get too big for your little britches,” I shot back, even as I tried to keep my legs from wobbling as a jolt of sensation shot through me.
The drag of his nose along my skin was driving me crazy. I could feel him inhaling me, breathing deeply as if he was trying to absorb my entire essence—to steal me from myself.
It made me think of the possessive way he had looked at me sometimes, back before I’d ghosted him.
As if he could never get enough of me.
“I’m already too big for my britches, Ari,” he murmured roughly, grabbing my hand and bringing it down to his crotch, showing me exactly what this was doing to him.
He was rock hard, his thick length straining against his pants, and I made a strangled, hungry noise in the back of my throat as I rubbed my palm over the heat of it, jerking him off through the fabric.
Gods. I would never, ever tell him this, but I’d missed his cock. It was fucking perfect, long and thick, with a fat vein running along the length that I had worshipped with my tongue over and over.
Anger spiked in my veins at the fond memories Merrick was eliciting in me, and I ground my hand harder against his dick in retribution.
He growled, grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling my head back, nipping and biting at the skin of my throat. “If you’re trying to punish me, Ari, you might want to try abusing a different part of me. You can do that all fucking day.”
As if to prove his point, he thrust toward my palm, forcing me to rub him harder. My pussy clenched as he worked his dick against my hand, and I could feel my breath coming faster.
“You like that, don’t you? You like touching my cock.” He lifted his head, bringing us nose-to-nose, our faces so close we were breathing each other’s air—and I swore the fucker was stealing all my oxygen.
“Hey, I’m just trying to find it,” I muttered. “I’m about to send a search party down there to look for your pencil dick.”
He laughed, his breath wafting over my cheek as he put one hand over mine, guiding my movements, using me to pleasure himself just how he liked.
“Oh, you’ve found it. And don’t pretend you don’t love this, Ari. That was always one of my favorite things about you. You enjoyed sex, and you were never ashamed of that. I used to love watching you suck my dick. You didn’t just do it out of obligation. You did it because it turned you the fuck on.”
As he spoke, his free hand moved down to cup my pussy, rubbing against me the same way I was working my hand against him. Against my will, my hips moved, pressing into his touch, silently begging for more.
Godsdammit. I do not beg.
Maybe I wouldn’t, but apparently my vagina had no problem abandoning all shame and pleading for exactly what she wanted.
Merrick smiled against my lips, nipping and biting and stealing more of my breath as he worked several fingers in a tight circle around my clit. “Feeling my hard cock in your hand is turning you on, isn’t it? If I slipped my hand inside your panties right now, I’d find you dripping for me already, wouldn’t I?”
“Why don’t you try it and find out, asshole?” I taunted, my heart slamming against my ribs as I sneered into his kiss.
“Hm. I think I will.”
He pulled his hand away so quickly I almost stumbled forward, my greedy pussy chasing his touch like I’d never had an orgasm before in my life. I caught just a glimpse of Merrick’s smirking, too-handsome face before he spun me around to face the back of the closet.
Instinctually, my hands reached out to grab onto one of the shelves at the back, and it was a good godsdamned thing I did, because a second later, Merrick roughly yanked open the zipper and button on my jeans, then shoved them halfway down my legs in a smooth motion.
He pulled my hips backward, and then one large hand slowly traced over the line of my lower back, sliding inside my panties and massaging my ass cheeks.
Then it slid even lower, curving around the apple of my ass and slipping between my legs, and when Merrick discovered how wet I truly was, I felt the groan that rumbled in his chest.
“I knew it.” His voice was husky. Raw. “I knew you missed this as much as I did, Ari. Godsdamn you.”
His words landed like a punch to the chest, both the need and the lingering pain in his tone making pain bleed inside my sealed up heart.
Fuck. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
He wasn’t supposed to know I had missed him.
; Gripping the shelves so hard my knuckles turned white, I craned my neck to look over my shoulder, shooting a glance at him. He was standing right behind me, one hand lewdly shoved down my panties as he slid two fingers inside me.
“Yeah,” I panted, making sure to keep my eyes hard, devoid of emotion. “You were a pretty good lay. I guess.”
His nostrils flared, and I got what I’d been aiming for. Pain flashed in his eyes. He’d been more than just a damn lay, and we both knew it.
“Yeah? You missed using me for my cock?” His face was stony as he thrust his fingers into my pussy one more time, then withdrew them completely. He took three large steps backward, lips curling into a sardonic smile. “Well, maybe I’ll just go give it to someone else. There are plenty of girls at this school who would be more than willing. Trust me.”
I scoffed, disbelief warring with disappointment in my head.
He wasn’t bluffing.
If I wanted him to stay in this closet, if I wanted him to fuck me, I was going to have to ask for it. Nicely.
This fucking asshole.
I could feel wetness smearing my thighs, and my pussy ached. My clit throbbed, demanding more attention. Not even bothering to pull my damn pants back up, I turned around to face him, forcing my mouth to form words.
“Don’t go.”
He arched an eyebrow, one hand moving down to stroke his cock, drawing my gaze down with it. His thick length was straining against his pants so hard it had to be painful, but he wouldn’t even give me the satisfaction of unzipping his fly. He let out a small groan and laughed when he saw me shudder.
“That’s all you have to say to me, Ari? Don’t go? I can see your cream sliding down your thighs from here. You might want to try a little harder.”
Uh, nah brah.
If I’d learned one thing from my years of fighting in the underground ring, it was to never roll over and give up just because your opponent got the upper hand.
When that happened, you fought back harder.
Instead of giving him what he wanted, I met his challenge and raised it. I shoved my pants farther down my legs, kicking them off along with my shoes as I grabbed the hem of my shirt and tugged it over my head.