Untitled

Peony didn’t come to our leaving party. Which was also for my birthday, and she’s never missed one of those since we met.

Zie seemed to think she just had a headache or cramps or some shit, but that wouldn’t be enough to keep her away. She’s stronger than that. Which means that something’s wrong. But instead of immediately leaving Kaiden’s house and slipping next door to check on her, I let the guys talk me into staying for a drink. Which turned into two, then three, then a hell of a lot more.

I didn’t enjoy myself. I couldn’t stop thinking about Peony.

Somehow though, it seemed like every time I tried to slip away from the party, some asshole was pushing another beer into my hand and demanding that I stay for just one more. And these aren’t the kind of people who take too well to being told ‘no’.

It was tedious, waiting for all the arse-lickers and sycophants to leave. Even worse, waiting for Zie and Kaiden to call it a night. None of us seemed remotely interested in partying tonight, but like me, they seemed to just drown their sorrows in a bottle.

They got wasted.

I got…sloppy, I guess. Not drunk enough to lose control, but buzzed enough to think this was a good idea.

Climbing through Peony’s open bedroom window like some damn Romeo or something.

I’m still fucking deadly silent though. Even with the amount of alcohol coursing through my veins, my training still kicked in, allowing me to enter her room undetected. It’s so ingrained in me now, I often move like a ghost…or a ninja. A ghost ninja.

Fuck, I did drink too much.

It’s not the first time I’ve been in Peony’s room without her knowledge at night, but it has been a while. Ever since my father started riding my ass even harder, most of my jobs and assignments have taken place at night. And I didn’t like the way I found Kaiden wrapped around her like a vine one too many nights.

Tonight though, she’s all alone.

As if she was waiting for me.

Because she knows she’s mine.

I can’t tear my eyes away from the creamy expanse of skin that’s on show where her cover has slipped down. The way her loose long hair falls makes her look like she’s not wearing anything, but I can just make out the lace of a camisole peeking above the duvet. That’s a shame. It’s been way too long since I saw Peony naked, and I’m a lot more interested in the view these days than I was back then.

Still, it’s probably for the best. I doubt she’d appreciate my being here if she woke up to me perving on her.

“No, I definitely wouldn’t.” Her voice startles me so much I stumble back a step and trip over something in the dark. To my ears, even over the dull fuzz caused by the too loud music, I’m making too much noise. If Peony’s mum hears and comes to investigate, she’ll kill me.

“She’s at work. And you’re saying all of your thoughts out loud,” Peony informs me, her voice tinged with amusement but raw from crying.

“What’s wrong, Peo?” I ask, making a real effort to get out of my head and focus on her. She sits up and flicks on her bedside light, making me wince, and I can see that she’s been crying.

She looks stunning. Her green eyes are so bright and the dried tear tracks on her cheeks glint silver when she shakes her head. My thoughts go to a dark place, but I bite my tongue to keep them from coming out of my mouth.

“Nothing.” My lips twitch at her snappy, defensive tone. It’s definitely something.

“Bullshit. You weren’t at the party.”

“I didn’t feel well.”

“Since when did feeling unwell make you cry for hours on end?” I ask, unashamedly calling her out on her lie.

She gasps softly, eyes widening in shock. The action causes her chest to swell and my eyes fall to her breasts. I couldn’t control it even if I wanted to. She’s made no effort to cover herself, probably unconcerned because she is in fact wearing a tiny velvet lace-lined top to sleep in, but she seems completely unaware of how her nipples are pebbled against the soft material, like they’re begging for my attention.

Unfortunately, Peony notices where my attention is at and crosses her arms over her chest. It covers her nipples sadly, but it does squeeze her breasts together so I guess every cloud and all that…

“How can you tell?”

“How can I tell what, Peony?” I ask, entirely distracted by the view.

“That I’ve been crying for hours?”

I shrug. “Only two ways you can make your voice all hoarse like that. One’s crying.”

“And the other?”

“Screaming.”

“What makes you think it wasn’t the latter?”

“Because I would never let anyone but me make you scream.”

Her jaw gapes and I silently groan. Fuck. What I wouldn’t give to feed my cock between those pretty little lips of hers. To fist her hair in my hand and to teach her how to take me all the way…

“You want to make me scream, Axel?” she whispers.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“You want to hurt me?” Her question is barely a breath.

“Only in all the best ways.”

She swallows noticeably, the sound loud above her breathing and my racing heart in the otherwise silent room. Fuck, I shouldn’t be saying this, shouldn’t be thinking these things. She’s sixteen. Barely fucking sixteen. She shouldn’t be making my dick so hard it hurts. And let’s not lie, it’s not like she magically turned sixteen and I suddenly got all interested in her. No, I’ve been waiting for the day I could claim Odile Kemp as mine pretty much since the first time I met her.

“Why are you here, Axel?” she asks softly.

“You didn’t come to my party.”

She shrugs.

“You didn’t get me a present.”

“I did.”

“I don’t want it.”

“So you got pissed at your party and then broke into my room, woke me up and told me you want to hurt me, all because you don’t want the present I got you for your birthday, which I was saving to give you tomorrow?” She sounds caught between annoyance, exasperation and amusement. I give her a rare lopsided smile as I stalk closer to her.

“I came to claim the only present I want for my birthday.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

My brain screams at me that this is a really bad idea but my dick is all ‘hell yeah let’s do this’ as I close the gap between us and silence any more questions by sealing my lips to hers.

It’s both the best thing I’ve ever done, and the worst. She tastes like the sweetest and most deadly apples, which is ironic as fuck because Odile Kemp has always been my biggest temptation and my greatest downfall. But I’m damned if I can walk away from her in a few hours’ time without finally claiming her for myself.

I don’t expect her to kiss me back, but when she loops her arms around my neck and pulls me closer, I don’t hesitate. We crash back onto her mattress as our tongues tangle and I kick off the covers so that I can feel as much of her skin pressed against me as possible. It’s not enough.

It’ll never be enough.

My hands run all over her body, learning her curves and sweet spots, and she parts her silken thighs for me to settle between them. It doesn’t matter that I’m fully clothed and she’s in tiny little sleep shorts, it still feels like coming home. This is where I belong, not heading up some empire that I never asked for.

A low groan of frustration leaves me when Peony pushes me away. I fight her for a moment before moving to kiss her neck. She whimpers and my dick dances to the sounds she makes for me. I pull off my T-shirt, tossing it over my shoulder.

“Axel,” she moans, her hands running over my skin like holy water in a baptism.

Fuck my name sounds like a prayer on her lips.

“Axel—”

Somewhere in the distance, a car door slams.

“Fuck, Peony.”

I slide her top up and trail kisses down her chest before pausing, torn between which nipple to taste first.

“Axel, stop,” she groans.

But her body is saying something completely different to her mouth.

A door closes softly and then a creak within the house has Peony turning to stone beneath me.

“Axel! Stop!” she hisses, pushing hard on my shoulders this time to make sure I obey her command. “My mum”s home! You have to go!”

I open my mouth to disagree with her but then the floorboards outside Peony’s room squeak and we both freeze. I don’t know how my chest can be moving so fast while I simultaneously hold my breath.

“Odi? You awake baby?” Her mum calls through the door. The handle rattles.

“Just having a drink, mum, sorry,” Peony calls, snapping the light out and pulling the covers over the both of us. Good thinking. I crush my body against hers so that if her mum does come in, the lump under the duvet hopefully looks like one person. She moans so lightly in my ear that I want to explode.

“Okay, night, baby.”

We stay like statues until her mum has moved away and Peony waits another few minutes to be sure.

Flipping the covers back off us, she gives me a hard shove and I fall to the floor once again.

“You have to go!” she whisper-shouts at me, and I find myself nodding in shocked agreement. Do I want to leave? No. But do I want to get caught by Peony’s mum? No fucking way.

“Yeah, yeah that’s probably for the best,” I murmur, scrubbing a hand through my hair. Fuck.

“Goodnight, Axel,” she says firmly, lying back down and tucking the duvet up around her head like it can protect her from me.

“Goodnight, princess.”

“Happy birthday,” she whispers as I climb out of her bedroom with the worst fucking case of blue balls I’ve ever had in my life.

Happy fucking birthday indeed.

I forgot to pick up my shirt.