by J. A. Huss
Hard.
She looked me in the eyes and said, “Fuck you, Five Aston. Just fuck you if you think you’re doing this alone. We. Are. Partners. In life. In death. For eternity. And you don’t get a say in it, mister. Because this is fate. I’ve been yours and you’ve been mine since the beginning of time. And it’s gonna stay that way, whether you like it or not.”
Well, what does a prince in love do when his princess makes such a declaration?
He takes her seriously and…
He does this.
I cup her face in my hands and say, “I am here, Princess. Even when I’m not. I’ve seen everything and it’s all gonna be taken care of tomorrow. But…” A wave of sadness washes over me, so unexpected, it makes my chest ache. “I’ve got bad news.”
“Your grandfather?” she asks.
“How’d you know?”
“Frank fucking Fulbright just told me outside.”
“Frank Fulbright,” I huff. “Did I call that, or what?”
She grins up at me in the low light filtering in from the window. “You’re a genius, Five Aston.” But then she frowns. “I’m so sorry. I know your grandfather meant a lot to you.”
“They killed him,” I say.
“Who?”
“God.” I laugh in disgust. “Take your pick. I mean, everyone’s on my list. His own people? These Palladium House people? The Young and Mobile Society, whoever the fuck they really are? Hell, maybe it was the Company.”
“They’re all the same,” Rory says. “They have different names, but people like that, Five, people like that are all the same. Greedy, power-hungry, maniacal people with egos the size of which I’ve never seen before. They don’t want what’s good for the world, they only care about what’s good for them. And it doesn’t really matter who all these people are, or if they’re on the same side or not. They exist everywhere. In every country, in every government, in every family.”
“Even ours?”
She shrugs. “What our parents did when they were our age wasn’t for the good of anyone but them. They got caught up in their own wants and needs, just like everyone else.”
“I talked to my dad about it. He says what they do now is just a precaution. So I was wrong. They’re not criminals. They’re good people who made mistakes. That’s all.”
“I know,” she says, taking a deep breath. “I think they’ve made up for it, even if they never had to account for it publicly. But I don’t want to make those mistakes, ya know? I don’t want to live with the guilt of bad decisions and have those mistakes pass onto our children, like they did to us.”
I grab her hair and pull her closer to me. Until our foreheads are touching and we’re eye to eye. “We won’t.”
“We need to put an end to it, Five.”
“And we’re gonna do that tomorrow night, Rory. Just like we planned. And maybe… just maybe…I can make my grandfather’s last wish come true while we do it
“What do you mean?” she whispers back.
“Later,” I say. “I’m tired and I’ve missed you. We have all night.”
“And how did you get in here anyway?” This question has her smiling before she finishes.
“Please,” I say. “These Palladium people are security amateurs compared to your father’s setup back home. I have Spencer Shrike’s dad gene to thank for all the tricks I use to go places people don’t want me to be.” And then I wink at her, take her hand, and lead her over to the bed. “Everything your father did to protect you as a girl made me a better man.”
Rory stands in front of me. She is perfection in my eyes. Nothing but beauty, inside and out.
“We’ve got this night before everything changes, Ror. Let’s make the most of it. Because even though we spent the whole summer together, this past week without you has been hell. And I’m not gonna waste one second of our time tonight.”
She seems to melt into me then. Her body presses against mine. So warm. So soft. So trusting. I hug her tight for a second. I’m not delusional. I know that things will be difficult tomorrow. And dangerous. But if ever there was a woman up to this task, it’s her.
My princess is tough but tonight I’m gonna treat her like she’s not.
“I love you, you know that, right?”
She nods her head against my chest, then whispers, “I know.” And when she turns her head up to see me, I don’t even wait for the I love you that comes next. I kiss her mouth and she breathes those words into my soul.
My hand slips under her shirt, caressing the soft skin over her ribs. She wiggles and smiles against my lips. “Stop,” she says.
“You want me to stop?” I say, teasing.
“Just the tickle.”
“But the tickle is the best part,” I say, letting my hand slide up to cup her breast. I pull her bra down, exposing her, so we are skin on skin. And then I play with her nipple. She begins to breathe heavy as we continue to kiss. Her hand wanders to the button of my jeans. It comes undone, and then there’s a coolness that heats me up as her fingers dive down to squeeze my already growing cock.
“Take me to bed, Mr. Aston.”
But I’m already on the move, backing up until the backs of my knees hit the mattress. I sit and bring her into my lap. She straddles me, opening her legs as I caress her thighs.
“Take off my shirt,” I say, looking up into her eyes. I want to turn the lights on. See every part of her body. But we’re in the dark right now, and that’s where we need to stay.
Her fingertips reach for the hem of my shirt. Her turn to tickle me with her soft caresses. I stifle down a stupid grin as she drags it up my chest, pauses to kiss my lips, and then brings it over my head.
Her hands immediately go to my bare skin. Like she can’t wait to touch me everywhere. Her palms press flat against my pecs, feeling my heartbeat quicken with anticipation.
There’s a part of me that wants to rip her clothes off, flip her over, and fuck her wildly. But there’s a bigger part of me that wants to slow it all down and stretch out each moment for eternity.
I’ve made love to her all summer. I’ve enjoyed every bit of her body and every bit of that time. But tonight… it means just a little bit more. Tonight is the last night we’ll really be together as prince and princess. And I want to make it last forever.
So I let her play with my body. I let her take her time tracing the outline of the muscles in my chest. The curve of my bicep. I let her memorize me the way I want to memorize her.
Her fingernails drag just the slightest bit. Not sharp, not soft, but just right.
Both of my hands slide under her t-shirt to cup her breasts. She lets out a long, quiet sigh as we meld with the quiet night. Become one with it.
“Keep going,” she whispers softly. “Keep going.”
It’s so different now than it was when I went home last summer. When her pleas were, “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me.”
Now she just wants me to love her.
“I love you,” I say. Redundant and unnecessary. But I say it anyway.
“You are my only love, Five Aston. My heart is nothing but full when I’m with you. So please, keep going.”
Even if I wanted to deny her, I wouldn’t be able to. Not because I want her body, but because I want her soul.
So I take it.
I lift her shirt up over her head and toss it aside, then unclasp her bra and toss that too. Now her perfect, full breasts are right in front of me. And there’s nothing in this universe that can stop me from sucking on her nipples.
She throws her head back, moaning softly. Her long hair brushes against my fingertips, splayed across her ribs. Tickling me. Enticing me. Begging me for more.
Her back arches, pressing her breasts into my mouth as I lick and suck. And then it seems like every long moment needs to speed up. I grab her around the waist and lie back, bringing her on top of me. She hikes her knees up, pressing her body into my chest as she runs her fingers through my hair and leans down to touch her perfect
lips to mine.
“Keep going,” she whispers.
My hands are on her ass, squeezing her round cheeks. “You couldn’t stop me if you tried, Princess.”
She props herself up with her hands on either side of my head, her long, golden hair caressing my chest. Still tickling. Still enticing. She looks me straight in the eyes and replies, “I’d never stop you from doing anything. I’ll do anything you ask, Five. Because if you tell me to do something, I’ll know I have to. Because I know you love me.”
She doesn’t wait for my reply, just begins to unzip my pants and slide her hand back where it belongs. Around my hard, thick cock.
I’m busy too. Unbuttoning her jeans and dragging the zipper down. I wiggle them over her hips, which makes her automatically roll off me to kick them off without comment.
I miss her body already. The coolness—the emptiness—of her being a few inches away is too much to bear. So I pull her back on top of me, urge her hips up to my face, and lick her pussy.
Her knees straddle my head, her hips rocking softly back and forth, stimulating herself as I suck her clit and lick her folds.
My hands press against the soft skin of her ass. Digging in and guiding her over my busy mouth.
“Yes,” she begins to moan. “Oh, fuck… yes.”
I have learned every bit of her body over the summer. Memorized it and burned that memory into my brain. I know what she likes. I know how to make her scream and writhe in every way imaginable.
I play with her asshole. Just a little, just enough, and I know she likes this. It drives her wild and if we weren’t in so much danger right now, she’d be wailing with pleas. So I know she’s biting it back, her teeth pressing into her lip to keep her wildness at bay.
And then I feel her shudder. Her spine goes stiff and her upper body leans all the way over my head. I know she’s pressing her face into the soft comforter, and any moment she will…
“Ahhhh,” she moans into the blanket. Stifling herself. Cutting off the scream that really wants to erupt as she comes all over my face.
I make a promise to myself in this moment.
When this is over, I will never make her stifle that scream again.
Chapter Twenty-Six - Rory
Five slaps my ass and says, “Roll over.”
I have a wild grin on my face when I obey him. Just a big, stupid smile. “Are we done?” I ask.
“Done?” He huffs out a soft laugh as he turns his head to look at me. “We haven’t even started yet.” And then he reaches for me, pulls my arm and says, “Come here,” in that rough voice that makes me instantly melt.
I scoot over, my hand automatically going around his waist, my fingertips tracing the taut muscle edging down into the waistband of his open jeans, until I find his cock. Hard. Practically throbbing.
I glance up at his face, which is filled with his joy. Maybe at what’s coming next, but maybe it’s just the fact that we’re back together again.
When he walked out on me back at the farm, I chased his ass down the stairs. “Fuck you, Five Aston. Just fuck you if you think you’re doing this alone. We. Are. Partners. In life. In death. For eternity. And you don’t get a say in it, mister. Because this is fate. I’ve been yours and you’ve been mine since the beginning of time. And it’s gonna stay that way, whether you like it or not.”
He stopped on the bottom step. His shoulders hunched a little in defeat. But not because he wanted to leave and I was stopping him. I know him better than that. He felt defeated because he knew right then, right there, that whatever was happening, we were gonna handle it together.
I know he just wants to protect me. I get it. But my daddy didn’t raise me to let a man take over. And Five Aston knows this better than anyone.
So he stopped and he listened. His back to me. His head down, eyes probably looking at the floor.
“Whatever’s happening, Five, it’s happening to both of us,” I said.
He looked over his shoulder at me, frowning. “It’s all my fault,” he said.
“No,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He reached for it. Squeezed it. Then glanced over his shoulder so I could see the worry in his eyes.
“It’s got nothing to do with us, Five,” I said. “It’s not our fault that our parents got mixed up with the wrong people when they were our age. We can’t help that. We can’t do anything but deal with the consequences. But we’re gonna be OK,” I say, leaning down to place my head on his shoulder. “We’re gonna come up with a plan and we’re gonna execute it with Aston precision, and it doesn’t even matter if it works, ya know? Because we’re smart. And we’re prepared. And we’ve got people on our side who would turn the whole world upside down to help us get through this. It’s very stupid to think you can do this alone. Very. Fucking. Stupid.”
He let out a long wave of defeat with his breath.
“Because whoever is plotting against us is going to use every resource at their disposal. And we should do the same. Every fucking resource we have.”
“It’s gonna get ugly,” he said, turning to take me in his arms. “It’s gonna get ugly and it’s gonna get people hurt.”
“People are gonna get hurt no matter what we do, Five. And it sucks, I know. But keeping me out of it won’t make that danger go away. The best we can hope for is to keep everyone else back here safe. My sisters and brother. Your sisters and brother. Sparrow and Starling and our parents. I’d do it for them, ya know? And I know you would too.”
“I’d do anything to make it go away, Rory. But—” He reached up to cup my face. We bumped foreheads as we stared into each other’s eyes. “But I can’t lose you in the process. I could live without you if I knew you were safe. But I can’t even imagine living without you if you’re… gone.”
I placed my hand on his chest and felt the wild thumping beat of his heart. He was scared, I realized. Really, really fucking scared. “Then maybe we just give it our all and if one of us goes down, we both go down.”
“Fuck that,” he said, his eyes flashing anger. “No—”
“Listen,” I said, placing my fingertips over his lips to quiet his protest. “Just listen. Whatever this is, Five, it’s more than we even think. It’s bigger than us. And we’ve got to give it our all. They will never stop. If we slip through their fingers—if I slip through, even if you don’t—they’ll keep coming. They’ll go after Belle next. Then Jasmine. Then Ariel, and Oliver, and Cindy. If I am a target, it’s not about me. It’s about where I come from. It’s about the past. And they are patient people, Five. We both know that. And if they don’t get you, they’ll get Kate eventually.”
I have never seen so much fear in Five’s eyes before. We know who Kate really is. His father, Ford, is not her biological father. Her father was a very bad guy. Very. Bad. Guy. And even though we didn’t know it for sure back then, we both knew instinctively that he was well connected to the same people who are coming after us now. All this might be about Kate when it’s all said and done.
“I’d give myself up for you, Rory.”
“I know, Five. But just like you can’t live without me, I can’t live without you, either. You cannot walk out and expect me to just sit back here and let you take care of it. You can’t. I’m an asset. I can shoot a gun better than anyone I know except for my mom. I can fight, Five. I’m a fighter. Just… trust me.”
He gave in after that. I felt a little guilty for reminding him of just how many people are in danger if he fails on his own. I didn’t want to do that. But everything I said was the truth, and he knew that.
So he took me with him. And we came up with this plan. And tomorrow night, everything we plotted will be put to the test.
It hits me then. This might be our last night together.
But I don’t want to spoil this moment with words about the past. I can’t bear to think about all the many ways this might all go sideways. I just enjoy everything about this moment as I ease my body down, kissing his bare chest
as I go.
The next time I look up, he’s got his eyes closed. His fingers thread through my hair, grabbing and releasing it in a rhythm that keeps us both focused on what’s coming.
I pull his pants down a little, releasing him. His cock is long, reaching up towards his belly button. My tongue darts out, almost involuntarily, and licks him.
“Rory,” he moans, pushing my head down onto him.
I open wider and take him in my mouth, my lips slipping over his head and down his shaft.
“Jesus,” he moans.
My head bobs up and down as he encourages me with a firm grip on my hair. Guiding me, urging me to take him deeper. I flatten my tongue against his hard length, making him breathe heavy as he says, over and over, “Yes, Princess. Just… like… that.”
My hand reaches down between my legs and begins to rub my clit in small circles as I continue to give him what he wants. What he needs. Hell, what we both need. I want him to feel at peace with our decision. I want him to know I love him more than anything in this entire world.
He is my world.
I let his cock fall out of my mouth because I need to tell him this right now. “I love you, Five.” He opens his eyes to see me. “I love you more than I will ever to be able to express with words. It’s a feeling in my chest, Five. It’s an ache and a feeling of longing. An uncontrollable want that lives inside me like fire. Like I might burst from this love. I might explode like a bomb and never be the same afterward.”
“Rory,” he says, his voice nothing but a low whisper. “Come here.”
I crawl up his body, dragging my hair over his chest and lean down to kiss his lips. We taste like each other now. Like we’re one person, melded together.
He flips me over, making me squeal louder than I should, since we’re making love in my bedroom, in the house of the enemy. But that worry passes when he covers my body with his and opens my legs.
I close my eyes and arch my back as he enters me, his cock stretching me until he’s inside, filling me up. Making all that aching inside me disappear and letting satisfaction and completeness take its place.