I whispered, “Get out.”
Maze walked over to the corner of the room and grabbed up his jacket. He slid his arms down the sleeves as he walked by me. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”
Cross quickly followed behind him. “Good luck.”
Logan stopped beside me. “He’s already starting to feel the withdrawals, but it will be easier if you’re touching him. The more skin to skin contact, the better.”
“You’re not suggesting I-I sleep with him?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I’m simply telling you the facts of the potion. The rest is up to you.” He walked out the door, leaving me completely alone with Beckett.
“Astrid, pssstttt.” Beckett let his head roll back on the bed. He squeezed his eyes shut and his body shuddered. His hair was sweat soaked and falling back from his face, splaying over his pillowcase. His sun-kissed skin looked paler than usual. “I don’t feel so good.”
If our places were reversed, what would Beckett do? He’d do anything to help me, I knew it, and I would do anything to help him. And now he needed me.
“As much skin as possible,” I squared my shoulders.
Beckett’s hands curled into fists and the chains rattled once more. He grunted and his face contorted in pain.
I marched over to the bed and pressed my hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up.”
When he looked up at me, his eyes were filled with pain. “Everything hurts.”
“I know. I’m going to make it better.” Screw this. I yanked my sweater up over my head, exposing myself to him. I stood there in my skirt, tights, and black cotton bra. I fought the urge to cover myself when his eyes locked on me.
“What are you doing?”
I climbed onto the bed and threw my leg over his hips, straddling him. I reached up to the headboard and unhooked the cuffs holding him. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around my waist. His touch was scorching, yet he didn’t move, didn’t let his hands go.
“You’re so soft.”
My heart rate skyrocketed, and I sucked in a breath, waiting to see what he would do next. But he didn’t move, didn’t breathe, just stared. I looked from his hands on my hips down to the hem of his shirt. “Just let me.”
I curled my fingers in the material and slid it up his torso. His muscles rippled with every inch I raised it. When I got to his chest, he licked his lips.
“What now?”
“Off.”
He sat up and came nose to nose with me. The muscle in his jaw flexed and the tension between us simmered. “You don’t have to do this. T-the potion.” Every word he uttered was a struggle.
I pressed my finger to his lips. “Shh. You took care of me. Now I’m going to take care of you. Arms up.”
He lifted his arms over his head, and I pulled his shirt up over his chest. I paused for a second, admiring the way his muscles twitched in the cool room, and how his skin was sun-kissed all over. I pushed it up over her his elbows and then free from him. When I cupped his cheeks in my hands, I leaned in slowly, savoring the closeness I felt with him. This wasn’t our heated kisses, this was slow, deliberate, and exactly what we both needed.
“Astrid?”
“Just this, okay?” I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my body flush up against his.
He let go a deep sigh of relief. “Okay.”
He leaned back and I followed him down with our skin pressed together. And it was kind of . . . perfect.
Chapter 22
Beckett
The smell of strawberries filled my nose and I sucked in a deep breath, relishing it. Strands of silky hair fell over my arm and tickled low in my stomach. A small leg was intertwined with mine and my blankets covered me from the waist down. Delicate fingers splayed across my chest and warm, even breaths drifted over my skin. She felt so damn good pressed against the side of my body wrapped in my arms.
I grabbed up a lock of her hair and ran it over my cheek. I didn’t want this moment to end, didn’t want her to leave. This was the way fate ment for it to be. I ran that lock of hair down her tiny pert nose. She wrinkled it and her eyes blinked open. A lazy smile spread across her face. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I brushed my fingers through her hair, lifting the silky strands and letting them fall back into place.
Astrid sat up on her elbow. “How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly good.”
“Good.” She climbed up my body and lay across my chest. She leaned in and brushed her nose against mine. “Then you won’t mind if I do this.”
When she pressed her lips against mine, my pulse went wild. I wound my arms tight against her body and pulled her to me. Her fingers tangled into the hair on the back of my head and she deepened our kiss. My tongue danced with hers and I sighed with how right it felt. She swung her leg over my hip and straddled my waist. “I want you, Beckett.”
She reached behind her and unfastened her bra, then slowly let it slide down her arms until she was completely bare to me from the waist up. I swallowed around the nervous ball in my throat and reached for her.
“Are you sure?”
My heart beat so hard I thought it might explode from my chest. She nuzzled my cheek, then whispered in my ear, “I’m sure.”
A jolt went through me and I wrapped my arm around her waist and flipped her onto her back. I rested my elbows on either side of her head and let my chest brush against hers. Though she still had her skirt and tights on and I had my jeans in place, I never felt closer to her. I let my lips drift down to her neck. Her taste invaded my mouth and I shuddered as I kissed up her neck, across her cheek, and finally melded my mouth to hers.
She pulled back and gazed up at me with those hypnotic eyes. “J-just be gentle with me, okay?”
“Always.”
I trailed my hand down her stomach, over her pale silky skin, so warm and soft. Lower to the top of her skirt. I hesitated . . .
“Beckett!” My shoulder jerked back.
Wha . . .
“Beckett!” Again my shoulder jerked.
This time I felt myself being pulled away. Like fighting to the surface of water. I shot up straight in my bed and sucked in heaving breaths. What the hell?
I pulled my knees up to my chest and brushed my sweat soaked hair from my face. It was a dream? A freaking dream!
“Are you okay?” Her voice was warm and soft.
I startled and nearly fell out of the bed. “You’re here?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” She arched her eyebrow at me. “You’re being kind of weird.”
I climbed out of the bed and grabbed my sweater up off the floor. “What happened last night?”
“You don’t remember?” She let the blanket fall to her waist and my eyes locked on her bra clad chest. The chest she’d bared to me in my dreams and damned if I didn’t want to know if my dreams of her were accurate.
I shook my head. “No, not really. Not sure I want to. Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened. God, you don’t have to look so . . . so appalled.” Astrid threw the blanket the rest of the way off and jumped out of the bed. “You were the one who got me involved in all of this.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, that . . .” I pulled my shirt over my head and tugged it into place. “It would be bad if something did.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and my eyes were drawn back down. What was wrong with me? I’d been in the same room with her naked before and kept it in check. Now my eyes were locked on all that milky white flesh and I couldn’t look away.
“You know I really hate it when my boobs keep staring at your eyes!” She snagged her shirt off the floor.
I shook my head. You idiot! Stop! But I couldn’t stop. I just kept picturing her lying beneath me with those trusting eyes, that sweet strawberry scent, and her silky soft skin. I wanted to be that close to her. But I couldn’t have her and here she was my own living torture. Her eyes drifted down to my waistband to where I knew that
traitor stood at attention. I pulled my shirt up and over, covering myself. “Now who’s staring?”
“You know what, I don’t need this.” She plunged her arms into her sleeves and yanked her shirt on. “After what I did for you last night . . .”
She stormed toward the door and I didn’t want her to go. “Astrid, wait.”
“What?” She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, a second away from leaving me.
“For what it’s worth. Thanks.”
She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat and stormed out of the room. She left the door wide-open and I stuck my head out. Maze stood against the wall across from my room, just shaking his head.
That could not have gone worse.
I narrowed my eyes at Maze. “Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.” I slammed the door shut in his face.
Chapter 23
Astrid
He sucks so bad! I walked into my room and slammed the door behind me. “Ugh! The nerve.”
Odin lounged in the middle of my bed, his tail flicking back and forth. A box of chicken nuggets sat in front of him and he eyed me closely. “Chicken nugget?”
I paced back and forth at the foot of my bed. His head turned from side to side as he followed my move. Anger, the kind of anger only Beckett could fuel in me, simmered just beneath my skin. “You know what?”
“What?” Oden pulled a chicken out of the box and took a bite.
“I don’t need this shit from him.” I threw my arms up and let them slam back down on my legs. “I spent the whole night in his room, in his bed, making sure he was okay. All because of one crappy love potion!”
“Kind of like he did when you ascended.” He finished off the chicken nugget he’d been working on then pulled out another.
I stopped and spun to face the bed. “What did you say?”
“You know, he helped you, you helped him. It’s almost like you two care about each other.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Who asked you to be the voice of reason here? And where the hell did you get chicken nuggets from?”
He gave me a deadpan look. “Maze. Dude has so much food.”
From just outside my door I heard Maze in the hall. “Here kitty kitty.”
Odin took another bite. “Like I’m going to answer to that. Psh, I had dinner with demons in hell!”
I began to rub little circles in my temples. “Please don’t remind me you’re a hell demon.”
“But I’m your hell demon.”
And then it hit me. I was standing in the middle of my room, in the middle of the day, bitching about boys to a demon cat who was making too much sense. I grabbed up my phone. “I gotta get out of here. I’m surrounded by boys.”
Odin curled his body to look between his legs. “Oh yeah, would you look at that. No wonder why I like lic—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” I was suspended for another day and I wasn’t going to spend it locked in this room. Not in the house and not near Beckett for one more minute. I needed a break. I opened my phone and brought up a text thread to the only person I knew wouldn’t mind company right now.
Hey, are you up for visitors?
Those three little dots appeared and a quick answer. Yes, bring pizza. I miss pizza.
What kind? She’d have whatever kind of pizza she wanted and then some.
Why do I have to choose again?
I typed quickly. I knew we were friends for a reason. Be there soon.
KK
I hesitated a moment wanting to contact Tilly, wanting to bring up our epic text thread and send her a shit ton of gifs explaining exactly how I felt right now. But I couldn’t open up that can of worms, even though she was the only person who would truly understand. There were two hundred and twenty-six unread texts in my phone and all of them were from her. My voicemail box was completely full, so were all my social media messages. Something was going to have to give and soon. I missed her. Her absence was a hole in my chest no one else could fill. I tossed my phone onto my bed next to Odin.
He looked down at it and pulled another nugget out. “That thing doesn’t stop buzzing.”
“I know.” I reached across the bed spread. “Stop eating in my bed. I hate crumbs.”
“Something for later?” He continued to chew and didn’t move.
“You really are a cat.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” He chuckled.
Chapter 24
Beckett
I stood outside of Astrid’s bedroom door for an hour. Okay, maybe two. I didn’t know what to stay to her to smooth this all over. Before I’d taken the potion, we’d reached some kind of truce. But now all I could think about was that dream and I wanted it. Four problems stood in my way: My own stupid mouth, the fact I couldn’t have her, the fact it was illegal, she had no idea we were soul mates, and she probably hated me. Fine five things.
“Don’t forget that you basically kidnapped her and keep her locked up here like some kind of fairy princess when Astrid is the furthest thing from it,” Maze whispered from right beside my head.
I jumped back. “Don’t do that shit!”
“Do what? Tell you when things aren’t going well.” He held one hand up. “First, you want me to give you more of a heads-up. Then you take it back. No wonder why she finds you so frustrating.”
“What are you doing here?” I hissed under my breath so Astrid wouldn’t hear me outside her bedroom door and think I was spying on her.
He leaned his nose up against the door and sucked in a deep breath. “Found them! Looking for my nuggets. That damn cat is sneaky as hell. Oh and to give you heads-up that Astrid will be leaving the premises in . . . three . . . two . . . one.”
The sound of her opening her window came through the door. I took off like a shot and headed toward the stairs, pumping my arms every step of the way. When I reached the top of the stairs, I vaulted off the top step and hoped I didn’t break my legs when I landed.
My stomach went up into my throat as I dropped. When my feet smacked into the hardwood floors in the foyer, I rolled onto my side and slid toward the front door. When I popped up, Logan stood over me with raised eyebrows. “Something I can help with?”
A sharp pain shot through my side and I was pretty sure I twisted my ankle, but it didn’t matter. “Gotta go out . . . door.”
Logan reached for the door and held it open. “Perhaps next time use the actual stairs.”
I scrambled to my feet and my boots slipped on the floor. I was like a cartoon character trying to run but stuck in place. “Yeah, I didn’t think of that.”
Traction and I ran across the threshold out into the late afternoon air. It was crisp and the wind whipped down the path. The sound of creaking branches came from the side of the house where Astrid’s bedroom windows were. I jogged over there only to see her standing on top of a tree limb with another thick branch acting as a railing. She tapped her foot, waiting as thought she was going down an elevator and not making a hulking plant bend to her will. Golden smoke flowed from her hands all around the tree. The moment her feet hit the ground, she patted it like it was an old friend. “Thanks, Guy.”
She dusted her hands off and began to walk out toward the path at the front of the house. Where was she going in her ripped up black jeans, black turtleneck, and gray leather jacket? Her hair was long and flowing in big curls down her back. She held her hand out facing up. A little puff of gold smoke and a set of keys appeared in the palm of her hand.
Are those Cross’ keys?
She spun them around her finger. I pressed myself up against the wall just around the corner of the house and waited for her to walk past with her hips swaying.
“Going somewhere?” I snapped a little louder than I meant to.
Astrid jumped. Her arms flailed and the keys went flying off into the woods. Magic shot from her hands as she spun around to face me. “Stalker much?”
I moved in closer. “Where are you planning on going?”
“I’m going out.”
“Astrid.” I followed behind her. “You know it’s not safe. You should stay here.”
She stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to face me. Her body quivered from head to toe. “You want to keep me locked up here like a princess in a tower and despite what you thought when we first met, I am not a princess!”
“That is not the point. It’s dangerous out there and you’re not ready.”
“Not ready? Ugh.” She held her hands up and let her magic seep from her palms. “You think I can’t.”
She summoned a knife, then let it disappear, then a sword, then a set of ninja stars. Each one flashed in her hand then was gone. “I can summon whatever I want. And use it however I want.”
Magic seeped from her hands onto the ground around her feet.
Frustrating girl! “If you don’t know how to use any of those weapons, then it doesn’t matter.”
“Ugh.” She spun back around and marched on. “Before this I had the freedom to roam all of New York and I survived without you hovering over me. And now you want me to sit in a locked room like some kind of porcelain doll. Go to school, Astrid, come home, Astrid, stay locked up, Astrid. No more!”
I ran my hands through my hair. “Why do you have to be so damn difficult?”
“I need a break from being surrounded by dudes.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m going to hang out with Medusa.”
Three students who were passing by all froze and looked at her like she was crazy. Because legend said no one survived Medusa and now my soul mate was just going to “hang out” with her. Right because that’s normal. “Ugh, fine, let me take you at least.”
“I hate your portals! If I puke, I swear I will aim for your shoes.”
Chapter 25
Astrid
Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2) Page 11