by Eva Ashwood
Merrick’s face went still as I tossed my shirt into a pile with my pants and shoes, and when I reached back to unclasp my bra, I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asked roughly as I dangled the bra from one finger before dropping it to the floor too.
All I was left in were my soft black panties, which were soaked through by now.
“Oh.” I pursed my lips innocently, then let them spread into a slow smile. “Well, you said you were gonna go fuck some other girl. But I’m all worked up now, so I figured I’d just take care of myself, since you’re leaving.”
With that, I pushed my panties down over the curve of my hips, kicking them away when they hit the floor. Then I slid one hand toward my pussy while my other hand massaged my breast, pinching and rolling my nipple.
It did feel amazing. I hadn’t been lying about being worked up, thanks to the cocky asshole in front of me.
When my fingertips found my clit, my knees actually trembled a little, and I leaned back against the shelf as I massaged myself, bringing myself so close to the edge that my eyelids drooped.
I didn’t let them fall closed though, keeping my gaze on Merrick as my breath picked up, small whimpers of pleasure pouring from my throat. He worked his hand harder against his clothed dick, the movement angry and jerky, as his whole body went tight.
He hadn’t been bluffing—but neither was I.
As a wave of pleasure began to crash through me, I picked up the tempo of my fingers, biting my lower lip as I pushed myself closer and closer to the edge. I knew my body well enough to know exactly how to get myself over the finish line, and if this jerk wouldn’t help me, I’d do it myself.
Just as my body began to shake, the sensation peaking inside me, Merrick let out a low, raspy curse.
He strode forward, reaching me in two steps and grabbing my wrist, yanking my hand away from my pussy.
“Mine,” he growled, and the possessive anger in his voice almost pushed me the rest of the way over the edge. My clit throbbed in time to my racing pulse, and I was so close to coming I could barely string two words together.
“No,” I whispered, my chest heaving as I watched him finally, fucking finally, unzip his pants and free his cock. “I’m not. But we can pretend for a few minutes.”
He shut me up with a bruising kiss as his arms wrapped around me, sliding under my thighs and lifting me easily as I wrapped my legs around him. His cock nudged against my entrance, and as soon as the broad head slipped inside, he surged into me, dropping me on his dick as he slammed me back against the shelves.
Whatever the fuck was on them rattled and shook, but I barely noticed.
The feel of him inside me, stretching me and filling me so perfectly, pushed my body past the breaking point. The orgasm that been teasing me for so long burst through my body like an explosion of fireworks, making me cry out and clutch him tighter as he fucked me hard and fast.
He’d been waiting for this—needing it—just as badly as I had, and I could feel it in every line of his muscled body. His back tensed, and the round, tight muscles of his ass clenched rhythmically under my heels as he drove into me over and over.
He thrust so hard that objects began to topple off the shelves, crashing to the floor around us, the clattering noises creating a sharp counterpoint to our breathless groans and curses.
“Say you missed this, Ari,” he grunted, dropping his head to lick and suck at my neck, never letting up his punishing pace.
“I missed it.”
The words came out before I could stop them, and they were utterly true. I couldn’t have lied or bluffed in that moment if my life depended on it.
And it was my words, those three little words, that broke him.
He slammed into me one more time on a harsh groan, grinding his hips into me, swirling them against mine as if he was trying to make sure he filled me with every last drop of his cum.
My pussy helped, clenching around him, milking his jerking cock.
When he finally stopped pulsing, we stayed like that for a few long breaths, utterly spent. His face was still buried in the crook of my neck, and my arms and legs were wrapped tightly around him.
“Well,” I muttered breathlessly, trying to come up with some sarcastic insult. “That was…”
Nope. I got nothing.
Nothing insulting anyway.
Merrick snorted, his warm breath puffing against my skin. “Yeah. It was.”
He finally pulled out of me, setting me down and keeping his hands on my hips for a second to make sure I could still stand. I batted them away, but quickly grabbed onto a shelf to steady myself.
I was breathing heavily, holding onto the nearly empty shelf and trying to catch my breath.
Godsdammit. That was hot as fuck.
My memories, as vivid as they were, hadn’t done justice to the combustible sexual attraction that existed between me and this man.
When I finally felt sure my legs wouldn’t give out, I looked up and found Merrick zipping up his pants. He pulled the hem of his shirt down and grinned at me, taunting anger sparking in his eyes again. Leaning down, he grabbed my clothes, then backed toward the door with the wad of fabric and shoes tucked under his arm.
“You’re such a big fan of running, Aria. You like fucking someone and then ditching them?” His lips curved in a mocking smile. “Well, I thought I’d give it a try for myself. And you’re right. It’s satisfying as hell.”
My jaw dropped as he opened the door and slammed it shut behind him, leaving me standing in the middle of the supply closet completely naked. There’d been no kiss or ass grab, no plans to see me later. He’d just ditched me.
And he’d taken my fucking clothes.
I was lunging toward the door, ready to burst into the hallway, chase Merrick down, and beat the shit out of him regardless of who saw my tits—but before I could reach it, someone opened it from the outside.
A young, broad-shouldered guy with brown hair sticking out at odd angles stood there with his eyes wide and his jaw hanging open. I stopped in my tracks and glared at him. “Shut the damn door!”
He jumped and slammed it shut.
Fucking hell. I’m sure Merrick is counting on me to run out into the hall after him. He knows I’m not the type to back down.
And when I ran after him naked and obviously freshly fucked, it would only give him an opportunity to mock me in front of the whole school, to make me out to be some infatuated groupie who was obsessed with him and desperate for more.
No fucking way.
Crossing the last few steps to the door, I yanked it open again. Sure enough, the brown-haired guy was still standing there, mouth still agape. Nice to know I could still have that effect on some men.
I held out my hand. “Give me your shirt.”
He blinked stupidly, but when I repeated the gesture and the command, he moved almost as fast as those TAs had when Merrick had ordered them to leave. One hand reached up to pull the shirt off over his head, and he held it out to me, still staring at my breasts.
“Thanks.” Grabbing the large shirt, I slammed the door again.
I shook my head as I pulled the large t-shirt over my head. It fit like an extremely short dress, barely covering the curve of my ass and an inch or two of my thighs, but it would have to do.
If this was the way things were going to go at this school, I already hated it.
Merrick was a fucking dick, and he apparently had a lot of sway at Magic Blessed Academy—much more than I had. I wasn’t dumb enough to believe that a befuddled guy doing what I said while he ogled my naked body was the same as students blindly following Merrick’s commands.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected out of Merrick, but I’d fallen right into his trap. He had probably been planning to ditch me like that for months. He’d probably sat around thinking about how good it would feel to slam the door in my face. To show me what I was missing. All I could hope was that it backfired in his
face. If he’d been thinking about it that long, obsessing about his revenge, he wasn’t going to stop thinking about me now.
As I slipped out of the supply closet and started the walk of shame back to my room, I kept my gaze fixed stoically ten feet ahead of me even as other students pointed and laughed or tittered behind their hands.
I couldn’t let my ex-whatever-he-was get under my skin. I couldn’t let him know he’d gotten to me.
And truthfully, I had far more to worry about than Merrick Van Warren.
Like the fact that I have uncontrolled magic powers.
Chapter Six
“Very good,” Professor Howes called out. “Now, pull your energy in and imagine yourself holding onto it. I want you to focus on that carafe. You want to let your magic do the work, but you must be able to control it. Pick it up—carefully—and set it back on the table. Carefully.”
I rolled my shoulders and pushed up my sleeves, chewing on my bottom lip so hard I figured I must be leaving little bite marks on the skin. “I got this.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I focused in on the carafe, feeling the tingles run down my arms into my fingertips. I tried to ignore the whispers from the peanut gallery watching as my magic came swirling out, wrapping itself around my wrists and covering my hands.
Let it out slowly. Slooowly.
I instructed my magic to hang back, and for some dumb reason, I thought that might actually work. Apparently, it had other ideas. When I brought my hand up, it shot out of me, surging through the air and smashing into the carafe.
And when I say smashing, I don’t mean just knocking it off the stand. I mean smashing into it and blowing it outward into hundreds of pieces. I watched it happen in what felt like slow motion, anger and frustration fizzing through me.
“Godsdammit!” I curled my lips in a snarl, clenching my hands into fists.
“It’s alright, Aria.” Professor Howes had the patience of a damn saint, and she just shook her head with a smile, using her magic to replace the shattered carafe. “Just try again. And don’t let your magic get away from you this time.”
“Yeah, thanks, prof,” I muttered.
Classes had started a week ago, and I’d figured out quickly that I was very powerful, but I had almost no idea how to control my magic. There were moments when I was in charge, but the majority of the time, magic just flew out of me, attacking anybody close by and generally causing chaos. I worried if it continued like this, I’d get kicked out of school, and although part of me relished the idea of an easy out, I knew if I flunked out of magic academy, Oberon and his magical law enforcement team wouldn’t just let me go back to my old life.
When I’d been told I was going to attend a magical academy, I had half expected to spend my days trimming singing plants or riding unicorns across the sky. Of course, the reality wasn’t quite like that. First of all, the students were all a bunch of adults. Well, most of us—there were several people who acted like children, and some who were just barely of legal age. But this definitely wasn’t a school for kids, and it was almost like there was an assumption that we’d all had basic schooling already.
There were no math or English classes. No history either, not even a history of magic, which seemed like it would’ve been useful. In fact, pretty much all of our classes were practical application. Everything was very hands-on.
One of my personal favorites was magical combat. I kicked ass at magical combat. My magic always seemed to work just a little better when I got into the groove—when I was doing something physical or was even slightly irritated or angry. I tended to be a pretty irritable person to begin with, so it didn’t really surprise me that I had more control when I was in that state.
My other favorite subject, not surprisingly, was Magic Manipulation. That class was pretty cool because I realized my power didn’t just manifest in thin streams that flew everywhere and punched holes in walls. When I concentrated hard and imagined what I wanted, the magic could turn into just about anything. I could feel it like an extension of my arms, and when it really surged, it pushed out of my whole body.
Merrick, the too-handsome-for-my-own-good fuckwad, hadn’t been satisfied with just forcing me to walk through the school practically naked. From the very first day of classes, he’d gone out of his way to embarrass me or taunt me in front of other students, clearly intent on living up to his promise of making me miserable here.
Dammit, focus up, Aria! This is not helping.
I hadn’t been wrong in thinking that my magic responded to my emotions. It was highly attuned to my emotional state, and when I got agitated… well, that’s when holes started appearing in walls.
Drawing my attention back to the exercise Professor Howes had assigned us, I focused on clearing my mind and reaching out with my magic. When I had shown up to Combat class and seen a bunch of water carafes arranged around the room, I hadn’t understood what the hell we were supposed to do with them until Howes had explained that we’d be working on fine tuning our control.
Technically, this part of our lesson was supposed to be about defense, but I was ready to get some of my irritation out. I wanted to fight.
Professor Howes moved away from me, making her way through the room to instruct other students. A small, bubbly girl sidled up as soon as the teacher’s back was turned.
“Hey!” Her voice was as bright as the golden highlights in her brown hair. “I’m Eden.”
My eyes shifted toward her and then back as I continued to try to send my magic out in a controlled way. I figured my non-answer would give her a clear enough message, but she stayed where she was and watched me.
Maybe it was the added pressure of having another set of eyes watching my work, but a few seconds later, my second carafe exploded in an even more spectacular fashion than the first one had.
“Holy cow! You’re so powerful!” She whistled and shook her head ruefully. “Not like me. I’m still struggling to let loose all of my power. According to my mom, I’ve always been a really happy person, even when I was a baby, so my magic tends to come out almost fluffy. If that makes any sense.”
I let my arms drop and turned to her, hiding a grimace. The truth was, even though I didn’t really like people all that much, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have somebody here I could talk to. Merrick had been doing his level best to turn the entire school against me in the short time we’d been here so far, and although not everyone had gotten on board yet, I got enough dirty looks in the hallways to make me feel like a fucking outcast.
This Eden girl seemed a bit too excited, but what was I gonna do? Beggars couldn’t be choosers. She was pretty, and she looked to be about my age, with long, light brown hair that curled at the ends, gray eyes, and a button nose. She was so petite I felt like I could pick her up and put her in my pocket.
I thrust out my hand, not really sure how the ins and outs of these kinds of social niceties worked. In my old life, I would’ve honestly been as likely to aim a punch at someone as to shake their hand.
Eden jumped slightly at the sudden movement, then giggled, grabbing my hand and shaking it. “What’s your name?”
Oh, right. Man, I really do suck at this.
“Aria. My name is Aria.”
The girl’s smile grew wider. “It’s pretty impressive what you did with those water carafes. I don’t think I could even make something explode like that even if I threw it against a wall.”
She was relentlessly cheerful, and to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how to handle it. Despite having just learned each other’s names, we’d been going to class together for nearly a week, and from what I’d observed of her personality, my usual snarky humor and dry retorts would go right over her head.
Fortunately, I was saved from having to come up with some lame response when Professor Howes quieted down the class and cleared away all the shards from broken carafes in preparation for our next assignment. Relief and anticipation made me grin, and I cracked my knuckles, ready for some sparring.
“I’ll be pairing you all up,” Howes said, striding across the length of the room with her hands clasped behind her back. She was a tall woman with a serious face and eyes that seemed too big for her head. “When I call your names, you and your partner will find each other and spar. Remember, this is just to test your skills and get a baseline reading. It’s a friendly match, so don’t go incapacitating your partner.”
I really hoped I didn’t get paired with Eden. She looked like the kind of girl who would stub a toe and go down like a sack of bricks. Of course, I probably shouldn’t underestimate anybody, having spent most of my life having people do that exact thing to me.
“Aria, Lachlan, pair up,” Howes called, and my stomach sank.
Merrick hadn’t been the only person I had recognized when I’d gotten to the school. On the first day of classes, I had found my gaze drawn like a magnet to a shaggy red-brown head of hair, and my eyes had almost popped out of my head when I recognized the guy I’d seen in the audience during my last fight at the underground ring. I hadn’t even realized he was a magic user at the time. I’d been too busy ogling him while trying not to get the shit kicked out of me by Rotham to notice his faint aura.
As it turned out, his name was Lachlan O’Shae. He had a ruddy complexion, gorgeous green eyes, and really broad shoulders. He looked strong as fuck, and I quickly realized he wasn’t just physically strong, but strong-willed and forceful as well.
He was a second-year student at Magic Blessed Academy and one of Merrick’s best friends.
And he was a total dick.
While I was rolling my eyes, he was chuckling and snickering to his friends. We met on the mats, and he smiled at me, leaning forward to speak in his heavy Irish accent.
“I’ll go easy on ye, don’t worry.”
Ugh. No one this annoying should sound this sexy.
I just nodded at him and got ready. He was pretty quick for a big guy, but then again size really didn’t matter when it came to magic.