6. Eldon

6

ELDON

Beads of sweat trickle down my spine as my muscles strain beneath the unforgiving rays of the early-morning sun. My hair drapes over my eyes as I lower my body to the ground once more, grunting, and lift myself back through the push up before doing it again.

“Ninety-two,” Zane calls out. “Ninety-three.”

“You’re being a pain in my ass,” I gripe, repeating the motion again, but my snark doesn’t stop him from continuing.

“Ninety-four…”

I don’t need him to count and he knows it. But he was out here earlier than me this morning, which certainly isn’t the norm, and now he’s grinning from ear to ear because he’s gone through his exercises already.

Fucker.

It’s not my fault. I couldn’t help it. I woke before my alarm was due to go off, disappointment racking my veins as I gasped from the dream I was torn from. A dream which involved a naked Raven and my cock. Just as I was about to paint her with my cum, I woke up and had to finish myself off because there was no way in hell my solid-as-fuck cock would go unnoticed otherwise.

The memory of the vision infiltrates my thoughts once more, my dick stirring beneath my shorts, but I force myself to trample it back down. I can’t remember the last time I had a wet dream, especially not over someone I just met, but it was so vivid. Her creamy skin beneath my olive palm, her bright pink hair fisted in my grip, and that sassy mouth of hers raw and red from the abuse of my cock.

She literally knocked the wind out of me last night when she unexpectedly jabbed me in the gut, but it seems that’s a turn on.

“One hundred,” Zane hollers, slowly clapping as he pulls me from my thoughts, and I stop, falling back to my knees as I take a breath.

Reaching for my bottle of water, I glance out over the edge of the cliff, mesmerized by the ripples of water in the distance and the charming way the sun cascades over the peaks. The view is too stunning for a place like this. We’re unworthy of it, really, and I can’t help but soak it up every day, letting the calmness attempt to brighten my darkened soul and tainted past.

It doesn’t last for long though, reality always rearing its ugly head.

“Fuck off, Zane. Your clapping is pissing me off too,” Brax bites from across the grass where he’s working through some deadlifts. Zane shuts up, much to my annoyance since he completely bypassed my irritation but listens to him.

Creed flops down beside me, perspiration clinging to him as he closes his eyes and tilts his face up to the sky. “Remind me why we do this to ourselves again?”

“Because we have to do better, be stronger, and outwit these fuckers if we want to survive the year, and the next, and the next,” I state. As much as I get a rush from the adrenaline, a nice dopamine boost from all of this, I’d much rather be curled up in my sheets with my dick in my hand. Unfortunately, it really is a matter of life or death.

“We probably should have woken Raven up for this too,” Creed murmurs, and my lips purse.

“From the swing she took at me last night, I’d say she’s not as weak as you think.”

“Are you sure, or just too chicken to admit that you’re soft?” Brax says with a chuckle, and I stick my finger up at him. He knows that’s not the case, but he doesn’t want to admit she’s not as weak as he first expected. “Besides, she ran her mouth about the food last night, she needs a reality check today. She needs to see we’re not fucking around and this is serious shit.”

“And how does that look to you? Just walking her into the lion’s den and letting her die?” Zane asks, his brows furrowing slightly at the words on his tongue. Brax shrugs, too accustomed to this life to offer any kind of empathy.

“Of course not,” Creed mutters, still not opening his eyes as he sighs. “Ignore Brax. She’s one of us. We protect her just like we would protect each other.”

“Says who?” Brax barks, clearly not appreciating how this is going.

“Says life, Brax. Says me, says the fucking handbook. We’re a group, you can’t just pass her off to die because you see her as weak. We need to put the time and effort into getting her to our level,” Creed retorts, his usually quiet demeanor shifting as he defends our new roommate.

Our hot newroommate who now lives rent-free in my fucking dreams. For once, I may side with Creed over the matter instead of going for the bleak stone-cold reality that I usually lean toward, like Brax.

“What do you think, Eldon?” Zane asks, playing with a blade of grass between his fingers.

Creed lifts one eyelid to look at me and Brax drops his weights to hear my thoughts while I slowly stand. Turning to glance inside the house, I startle when I see a flash of pink moving around in the kitchen, completely oblivious to the fact she is the hot topic of conversation.

“I think… our housemate is awake,” I murmur, sweeping my hair back off my face as I head for the glass door.

Sliding it open, my gaze is drawn to her as she waltzes around the room in an oversized tee that falls to her knees. The sound must catch her attention because she whirls around to face me with a spatula in hand, ready to attack.

Her eyes are wide and her body is stiff as she looks at me. I slowly raise my hands in surrender and she exhales harshly before her body relaxes.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“Hey, I just opened the door, Little Bird. I didn’t realize that was going to be an issue.” I take a step toward her, giving myself the opportunity to rake my eyes over her from head to toe while she busies herself at the stove.

“You clearly never lived in Shadowmoor. A creaky floorboard, a snapping branch, a squeaking door hinge… it’s all the same; defense-inducing stress.” She doesn’t glance back at me as she speaks. I lower my hands, letting her words drift over me.

There’s a lot we don’t know about this girl, that’s for sure. From what I’ve seen so far, she’s the complete opposite of her brother. Which, somehow, doesn’t seem possible. Especially when they have the same father who is as much of an asshole as Sebastian.

“What are you doing?” Brax appears at my side with his arms folded over his chest and gaze pinned on the delectable wonder that is our new housemate.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Raven barks back, cocking her hip and glaring at him.

“Wasting time and energy doing menial shit like this.” Brax waves his hand at all the pots and pans littering the counter as Creed and Zane silently step into the room.

Raven rolls her eyes at him, which somehow only makes her look hotter, even though her pink hair is a rumpled mess on her head. No one should look that good with no effort at all. With a sigh, she turns to face us all head on, but stops dead in her tracks as her eyes slowly scan over each of us. From Zane, to Creed, me, and back to Brax.

Her cheeks tinge a deeper shade of pink with each passing second, her gaze locked on us below eye level as her tongue peeks out between her plump lips.

Is she checking us out?

Please fucking check me out.

My dick gets hopeful and I try to adjust myself as discreetly as possible, but it seems to cause a stir in her because she quickly remembers herself.

“Do you guys not own a shirt between you or something?” she grumbles, turning back around to the stove, and a grin spreads across my face.

“Why? Can’t keep your eyes off what I have to offer, huh?” I say with a grin, taking another step toward her.

“Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just saying, it would be completely different if I was to do the same.” She cocks a brow at me from over her shoulder, trying and failing to act like she’s unfazed.

“I’m all for it, actually. Need some help?” I offer, cutting even more distance between us as her eyes widen in surprise, pupils dilating eagerly, but Brax interrupts, side stepping so he’s between us.

“We’re still wasting more time than is necessary,” he mutters, slowly dragging his hand over the eggs and bacon sizzling in the pans.

Raven gapes at the transformation before her eyes, watching her efforts turn into plated meals with no effort at all. The bacon goes from barely cooked to crisped to perfection, and the eggs scrambled just right, piled high on the plates. I can’t decide if she’s mad at him for taking over or killing her cooking vibe, but realistically, he’s right.

“Grab a plate, Raven. We’ve got thirty minutes before we need to be out the door,” Zane explains, reaching around Brax to grab a plate before heading to the table. Creed and Brax quickly follow after while I hold back, watching her lips purse and shoulders fall with a heavy exhale.

With her head down, she joins everyone at the table, and I’m two steps behind her, dropping into the same seat as last night beside her. Despite the thick emotion that filled the room moments ago, we all eat in comfortable silence. It’s not lost on me that Brax piled her plate of food just as high as ours, and she eats a good three-quarters of it before slumping back in her seat.

“How long have you guys been here?” Raven’s question cuts through the air as I place my utensils down on my empty plate.

“Two months,” Zane answers, beating me to it.

Raven nods, digesting the fact as she rubs her lips together. “Are all the classes back in the main building?”

Understanding dawns on me. She has no clue what she’s getting herself into today. At least when we came, we had each other to figure this shit out with, but it seems she’s far from eager to actually ask for help.

“What are your classes today? We can try to help you,” Creed chimes in, and I frown at him, irritated that he beat me to it.

Raven offers him a tighter smile, which could have been mine as she rises from her seat. “I’m not sure, can I show you once I’m ready?” Creed nods, relaxing back in his seat with no hint of an expression on his face, as usual. “Thank you,” she breathes, tucking her chair under the table.

“Genie isn’t going to be happy about this,” Zane states, pausing Raven from taking a step away from the table as irritation worms its way under my skin at the mention of her name. Brax chuckles humorlessly at the statement and a ghost of a grin crosses Creed’s face too.

Fuckers.

“Who’s that?” Raven asks, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Eldon’s ex.”

Her eyebrows pinch together and her hands grab the back of her chair. “Is her issue going to be with me specifically or…”

“She’s going to hit the roof. She’s not over our man here at all, and you being here is not going to help that,” Zane continues, a grin on his lips.

“Why would she have an issue with me being here in my own bed?”

“Because we didn’t let her in at all,” Brax says, and her eyebrows rise in surprise.

“And how long were you together?”

“Too fucking long,” I finally add, injecting myself into a conversation that involves me. “She loves the drama too.”

“Don’t all girls?” Creed states matter-of-factly, and Raven shakes her head.

“I hate it. Almost as much as I hate… well, everything.” She absently reaches for her plate before going to take Zane’s from her other side, but Brax pounds his fist into the table, making her pause.

“What the fuck am I missing?” he growls, eyes turning to slits as he looks at Raven.

“What?”

“What’s with all this handsy shit? Why are you doing things for yourself instead of just using your magic? And why the hell are your knuckles so banged up?” He points at the busted skin on both of her hands. It’s not possible they came from the blow she landed on me yesterday.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She drops the plates and turns her hands so the damage can no longer be seen. What’s that about?

“Why are you so hands on with everything instead of just making it happen like everyone else?”

Raven sighs, heavier than earlier as she steps back from the table. “I obviously don’t know what life is like here, or wherever you grew up, but Shadowmoor is less about the magic, and more about the… brutality. Now, if we’re done, I need to get ready.” She rolls her lips, answering Brax’s question yet leaving me even more intrigued than before.

They stare each other down for what feels like an eternity before Creed stands, scraping his chair across the floor as he goes. “We really don’t have time for this. Raven, get yourself ready. I’ll be waiting out here to help you.”

She mutters her thanks before leaving the table, and I’ve never had my gaze so fixed on the sway of someone’s hips before. Even if they are hidden beneath a baggy t-shirt, she’s still fucking delectable.

Brax clears his throat, pulling my attention away from the view. As my eyes lock on his, the sound of her bedroom door closing vibrates around me. Fuck. “Eyes on the prize, Eldon,” he bites, tapping his temple as a reminder.

It takes me a second to realize he doesn’t mean Raven is the prize like I had hoped. No. He means living to see another day. If the fates allow it.