by Sariah Skye
“I…” his breath quickened, and I watched as the rims of his eyes shaded crimson with lust. I knew he longed to touch them, and I longed to have them touched. But…
This is Bash. He loves you. Stop thinking about that asshole. Nothing happened… I repeated over and over again in my mind.
I grabbed his hand and placed it on the exposed mound. “It’s okay, really.”
The corner of his lips quirked into a smile, his eyelids hooding, as he slowly lowered himself to a crouch and placed his lips over a nipple, swirling his tongue around the peak and sucking it in gently. I arched my back into him, moaning quietly. Oh god, that felt good. I wanted more, my body tingling to life with desire, especially as he snaked his other hand around my middle and began to slide up my leg to grab my ass.
I flinched briefly with a violent shudder. He pulled away quickly and released his lips.
“Shit, Ava, I’m sorry.” His gaze was pained as he eyed me.
“No it’s fine, really I just…”
Bash shook his head. “I’ll just help you with the shirt.” He didn’t linger pulling it over my head, and helping stretch out the sleeve until I could finagle my arm in. “Better?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, I guess I just need a few minutes. Really, I’m okay.”
“All right.” He handed me the pants. “I’ll let you do this part. I better go check the void web, I got distracted.” He turned and left me on the side of the bed to change to go to his computer. Sighing, I unzipped the skirt on the side and slid it down, kicking it off towards the hamper—I hoped. I paused, I didn’t really want to keep the underwear on—the ones I was wearing when… but I didn’t want to go upstairs either for more. “Fuck it,” I muttered, and slipped them off too. Bash must have been watching me out of the corner of his eye, because he shifted, and rubbed at the back of his neck. I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled his gray pants on to my waist; they hung loosely on my hips but the cotton was soft and comfortable. I searched for the pins in my hair with my good hand and groaned happily as I undid the tight bun, and finger-combed out the tangles now that it was loose. Even though the garments had been washed, they still smelled like him and their softness was sensual against my skin. I blew out a breath, trying to ignore the nerves igniting between my legs, and went to join him at his desk, folding myself into the second chair.
Bash was poised over his keyboard, concentrating on his screen when his eyes shifted over to me. “Damn, Ava…” He turned to me and grinned. “You know how hot it is having your girlfriend wear your clothes?”
“They feel nice,” I said, with a grin.
“Nice…” he shook his head, forcing himself to look away, but not succeeding.
“So, what’s going on? You said a missing supe?” I questioned, trying to distract him from the way my nipples poked through the blue fabric.
His glance hesitated for a moment before he drew his attention back to the computer. “Yeah. Right. Missing supe.” I chuckled at him. “Appears to be a supe—looks like a fae—from the city and a human from north of here a ways. Humans used to not warrant much attention on the void web but lately… anyway,” he scrolled over the screen with the mouse. “It doesn’t appear they’re connected, so it could be anything.”
“But it’s probably not, right?” I said dryly.
Bash sighed. He leaned over, cradling his chin between his thumb and pointer finger, and scratched over his stubble. “I don’t know. There are lots of people that go missing all the time. Before we learned it was Morgaine, we would actively go and search where they were last reported missing. The Collectors had a pattern, though. Black vehicles were reported in the neighborhoods they went missing, and there generally happened on the nights of full moons. Until you of course.”
I snorted. “That sounds… witchy. No offense,” I said, nudging him playfully.
He smirked. “None taken.”
“Swarthy drove a black car,” I remembered. “But, Swarthy is dead. I saw him turn into dust.”
“He’s probably dead. Xander doesn’t like to leave things to chance. But that doesn’t mean he was the only Collector with a black car,” Bash said. He began typing furiously and I watched him start to zone out. “Unless they happen faster it’ll be hard to find any sort of pattern.”
I reached over and patted his knee. “Uh-huh…”
Bash grumbled, leaning back in his chair and raking his hands through the back of his hair. “I don’t suppose your grandmother ever mentioned anything to you about a particular… spell?”
“Spell?” I shook my head. “No. Why?”
“For the short time I was there, she talked about my new little ‘power’. And about how there was a spell, somewhere that could either be really, really dangerous or… what. I don’t know. But that my power—which I still don’t understand— would help it somehow.” Bash frowned. “Hell, I don’t even know what I’m talking about, or if what I saw was really even real.”
“Did you see a bunch of women milling about in white, with boobies everywhere?” I asked; surely he’d notice that.
He rose a brow. “Ah… yeah, no. I didn’t see any boobies. In Avalon. Now, on Avalon…” he kidded.
“Ha, ha,” I scoffed. “Well… what else could it have been? How else would you have known to come?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “I wish Lachlan were here to ask this shit to. We have Rhys, but… I’m still not sure about him.” He turned to me, and asked earnestly, “What do you think? Do you trust him?”
“Well, I think he’s Merlin, my dad confirmed that. As for trustworthy? I think so but perhaps being locked away or whatever in that… thing… messed with his head a bit.” I chortled at the idea. “No, a lot.” He nodded quickly in agreement.
“So what about this power? I saw you summon lightning, like Xander. How is that possible? Can you talk to animals now too like Trystan?” I puffed out my lower lip. “Damn, I’d be jealous.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think it works that way. She said I was a ‘siphon’. That I could use the powers of someone else around me, but they have to be close. Apparently. Anyway, it worked, that’s how that bathroom is completely demolished, and that fucking asshole is now burning in Hell.”
I shrugged. “Well, maybe start with that,” I said, pointing at his keyboard.
“Yeah…” He raised his arms over his head and yawned. “But maybe tomorrow. I’m getting tired all of a sudden.”
“It was a long day. I think I’m going to lay down,” I stood from the chair but didn’t move. “Um… can I stay here? None of the other guys are here yet, and I don’t… yeah.”
Bash stared at me incredulously. “You can always stay here, you don’t have to even ask. Unless I’m messing around in the lab, but that shouldn’t affect out here.” He reached out and grabbed my hand, bringing it to his lips, brushing them across my knuckles. I blushed profusely as he nodded towards the bed. “Go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute. I just have to check something…” he released my hand, and turned back to his computer, typing a mile a minute. I rolled my eyes and ruffled his soft blond hair, chuckling. He was probably going to be a while. I turned down the covers of his bed and slid between them, resting my cheek on Bash’s pillow; the one he always used, not the extra. This one smelled slightly of aftershave still, and a bit of spice from his shampoo mixed with his normal scent of sandalwood. I breathed in deeply, pulling the covers up to my neck. I was conflicted because the longer I lay here, my skin rubbing against his blankets and his clothing, I could almost feel his hands roaming over my body. My lids fluttered despite my best efforts to keep them open, afraid of what sleep would bring, but the longer I was here the more comfortable I felt. I finally dozed off, listening to the sound of Bash typing away and mumbling nearby.
“Oh god, Bash…” I moaned loudly straddling his white motorcycle, engine rumbling noisily under me, as Bash tore off my top and hungrily began fondling my breasts, kissing up and down my neck until h
is lips landed on mine. He wasn’t gentle as he probed for entry, and I was more than willing to let him.
How is this motorcycle standing up? I thought to myself briefly, but the thought quickly evaporated as he flashed me a salacious smirk, and pushed a hand down my bare stomach—that was surprisingly flat (how’d that happen?) and straight into my leather skirt (what? I had one of those?), sliding down into the wet slick between my legs. My head rolled back, my back arched as he masterfully applied all the right pressure. I groaned and glanced up at the sexy blond witch—or whatever he was now—as he watched my pleasured expressions with his steel blue, dreamy eyes.
But instead of blue, I looked directly into the soulless depths of bloodshot, murky black ones. I gasped, and recoiled, trying to scramble off the bike seeing Isaak there before me, grinning lecherously.
“No… go away!” I cried, as he swiped a hand out at me, and I let out a piercing shriek.
“Ava!” I felt a light rumbling as I pried my heavy eyes open, expecting to find the source of rumbling as Bash’s motorcycle but I was wrong; one confused, groggy glance reminded me that I was in Bash’s room, in his bed, his warm body folded against me. I breathed a sigh of relief. “You were dreaming,” he said quietly, gently pushing aside some of my hair that had fallen into my face.
I groaned, rolling over on my back. I noticed all of his blankets were tangled around me, the pant legs of his pajama bottoms hiked up to my thighs, his t-shirt dipping over my shoulder. “Well, shit,” I said, forcing a chuckle. “Sorry.” I dared to glance at him, my heart slammed in my chest. He was in nothing but a pair of gray and blue plaid boxers, slung low on his hips, the lithe muscles of his stomach and chest on prominent display. Grinning slowly, I reached over and brushed my fingers over the ridges of his abdomen. Unlike Mathias, he wasn’t extremely stacked, but still beautifully sculpted; a tad larger than Xander. I liked what I saw… immensely, especially as my gaze tracked upward, into those black eyes.
Wait, what? I flinched, and pulled back, shuddering. I scrubbed a hand over my eyes, trying to wipe the image of Isaak’s black ones away.
“Avie?” Bash sighed sadly. “Please just tell me.”
“Oh, I…” pulling my hand away, giggling uncomfortably as a track of black eyeliner appeared on my palm. “I forgot to take my makeup off. It’s all smeared now, huh?”
Bash cocked a brow, my obvious attempt at changing the subject apparent. Still he obliged me taking his thumb and rubbed it gently under my eyeline. “Just a little. Tell you a secret? I know the other two don’t like makeup, but your eyes look really sexy with the eyeliner. Is that what it is?” He chuckled, and I blushed. “Now what is it? Are you thinking about… him?”
My gaze tracked downwards. “Yeah…” I admitted in a tiny voice. “Stupid, huh? Nothing ever happened, really. I don’t know why it bothers me.”
Bash sighed. “Ava, you were attacked. Violated. Even if nothing physical happened, it still takes a toll on the mind.”
Nodding slowly, I agreed. “Yeah… but I don’t want it to. I don’t want to let him win. I don’t want to accidentally think of him when I’m with…” I swallowed thickly. “When I’m with you. Or Xan, or Mathias or Trystan. You… are not him. You’d never be, I know that. But…”
Bash carefully slid his hand under my chin, resting against my cheek; he shifted closer to me to do so, the creamy skin of his chest brushing easily over my bare shoulder. I shivered, but not for the wrong reasons. For all the right ones. “Sometimes as much as I hate it, our thoughts aren’t rational. Like, how I feel—how we feel—about you. We’ve lived for hundreds of years. Half of that as stoic assholes, just barely functioning. Two months with you, and we’re so goddamned head over heels in love we can’t stop grinning. We can’t stop laughing. For the longest time we just bickered and argued. Especially Mathias and Xander—holy shit. That little spat you saw today? Nothing compared to what they used to be like. We’re actually getting along, basically—even with Xander being moody—which again is insane. We should be at each other’s throats but… we’re not. It just… works. It’s so…”
“…illogical?” I supplied.
He smirked from the side of his mouth. “Exactly. Want to hear something even more illogical?”
I rose a brow. I noticed I was still brushing my fingers over his abs, and grinned. “What?”
“You know when Xander and I first saw you in the club? When you were with Trystan?” he asked, and I nodded. “I don’t know how it’s possible, or how I knew but I knew right then and there I was in love with you. I’ve never felt it before… but I just knew.”
My lower lip slowly caught between my teeth. “But…”
He shrugged. “Sometimes there’s just no rhyme or reason to any of it. Like this damn new stupid power. What does that make me now? Some fucked up sorcerer? Witch specialist?” He snorted derisively. “Point is, Ava… sometimes you just gotta… go with it. I’m not going to tell you to forget it; you just can’t always. Hell, it’s been—what? Four hundred years and I still have nightmares of… that night,” his voice quieted, quivering slightly. He didn’t need to say it; I knew. That night he was burned at the stake. Heart-wrenched, I shifted my body weight so I was nearer to him; my rump backed into a mass of hardness under his shorts and something about it… my vision clouded.
“You make it better, though,” he said softly, still grazing the pad of his thumb over my cheek. I grinned, rolling my upper body flat on my back so I could gaze up at him.
“Sebastian?” I asked breathily cautious.
“Hmm?”
“Make me forget,” I implored. “Make me forget it all.”
Bash cocked one of his thick brows, as if not sure if he heard correctly. “Well, I could… I guess we could watch a movie or—”
“—Not that. This.” I adjusted myself so I could slide my hand over the back of his neck, pulling his lips to mine and kissing him feverishly. He melted into the kiss, into me, and moaned lightly when we parted; his eyes heavy with want, breath rapid, his cock jumping against me.
“Shit, I hoped you’d say that.” He grinned widely, and wasted no time pulling me into his arms and returning the kiss.
Chapter Sixteen
His mouth mastered mine until my lips swelled and I finally pulled away. “Be slow, please.”
He nodded gently. “Just relax,” he purred, urging me back onto my side, as he brushed my hair away from my neck and began licking the soft spot behind my ear. I let out a soft sigh, the sensation heady and heavenly, all the tingles building and ebbing through my body, warming away my fear, instilling me with trust. “I’ll take care of everything.” I swallowed nervously but nodded slightly. It was hard for someone like me to relinquish control; not that I in any way was some sort of dominatrix. Just in general. Like, the guys protecting the Avalon magic, or allowing them to rebuild the club or all of the many things they do. Besides Summer, I’d always been on my own because I just didn’t trust my magic not to misbehave at the wrong time. Here, it didn’t matter if it did, because they understood; unless I was blasting one of them with it. But that was over now, thankfully. I wondered what kind of person I would have been had I actually been allowed to grow up knowing what I really was. Would I have been so distrusting, so jaded? Maybe not. Maybe, just maybe, there’s strength in letting go; in admitting you needed help and accepting it when offered.
Whatever the case, my body flushed with tingles when his hand slipped under my shirt. Well, his shirt but… whatever. I tried to roll over on my back so I could better see him, to touch him, but he tensed his arm, preventing me from moving easily. It wasn’t an outright demand that I stay put just an… encouragement. So I just relaxed, and melted into him as his fingers traced lazy circles on my stomach, leaving little tingly explosions in their wake. My eyes slowly closed, and I just concentrated on the feeling of his fingers tracing over my skin and seeking out one of my heavy breasts. I let out a low moan, barely audible as he kneaded gently, curli
ng himself around my upper body to plant kisses along the side of my neck, and over the shell of my ear. I felt safe and warm, with one of his arms tucked underneath the bed and my side, and the other fondling and twisting easy, teasing circles around my silken nipple until it peaked. It didn’t take much to alight my body completely on fire and I arched my back, pressing my ass into Bash’s crotch, rubbing against his barely-contained mass of hardness. For my “efforts” I was blessed with a sharp intake of breath in my ear, as he lost a moment of his control, resting his cheek against my neck until he could compose himself.
While he didn’t crave the same “domination” that Trystan did, he enjoyed taking control, not for any other reason than the man knew his shit and he was flexible as hell—more so than even Xander. I sometimes forgot this was the man who knew multiple forms of martial arts—had mastered them and taught them to the guys. And as far as I knew, he didn’t study under anyone; no, he just learned them by books. Hell, he’d even gotten me to not be a total clod during our unintentionally sexy Tai Chi Chih session. I was guessing he’d memorized the entire Kama Sutra, and then some; and while he didn’t ever contort me into anything unusual, he always knew instinctively that a slight shift of his leg or something equally as slight could change everything and make everything that much more intense. It went beyond a normal incubus-thing; this was something he had a passion for. I was just glad I was at the receiving end of it right now.
I grinned to myself, thinking of the possibilities.
He chuckled, lowly, seductively into my ear. “What are you thinking about?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I taunted.
“Yes, actually. I would,” he said with an easy laugh. “You’re one of those things I can’t easily figure out; I can’t pick up a book or watch a video and learn all about you. But I’m sure having the best time experimenting and trying to learn.”