29. Alec

29

ALEC

N ow that the semester is over, the campus is a ghost town. The usual hum of students rushing between classes, the chatter, the laughter—it's all disappeared under a blanket of snow. It's the kind of quiet you don't realize you miss until you're sitting in the common room with nothing but the sound of video game explosions and the occasional crackle from the fireplace.

"Dude, come on!" Jace groans next to me as his character takes another hit on screen. "Stop camping in the corner like a little?—"

I grin, barely paying attention as I send his character flying. "If you didn't keep falling for it, I wouldn't do it."

It's weird. We've been playing games, baking cookies, and watching every cheesy holiday movie we can find. But no matter how much we fill up our time, there's this lingering ache, like something is missing.

Tessa.

I looked around for her after the break started, but I found out she went home for the holidays. The place feels different without her around. Things got kinda ugly between us, but the fire she brought to our lives, the banter, the way she challenged us—it kind of made everything more interesting.

"Ha! Got you!" Jace crows as his character finally takes mine out, and I realize I've been zoning out.

"Yeah, yeah, you got lucky," I mutter, tossing the controller onto the couch.

My mind drifts to the last time I saw Tessa. She looked tired like she'd been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. I should have pressed harder to find out why she accepted our ceasefire so easily.

"Cookies are almost ready," Devin announces, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Sweet," Jace says, already reaching for the remote to pick a new movie.

I wonder what things would be like if we hadn't tried so hard to push her away. Would we be sharing the holidays with her right now? I shove that thought to the back of my mind. This is how things are supposed to be. We wanted peace, didn't we? We wanted her to leave us alone.

So why does it feel like something's missing?

Once the holidays are over, campus starts coming back to life. Students trickle in, bundled up in scarves and heavy coats, the buzz of a new semester on the horizon.

I trek through campus to get my caffeine fix, feeling a little blue postholidays when I see her across the way.

Tessa's walking across the quad, her head down, hands in her coat pockets. My heart stutters in my chest, caught between a mix of surprise and something else—relief maybe?

I start walking toward her before I even realize what I'm doing. "Tessa!"

She glances up, her face immediately guarded. She stops but doesn't make any move to come closer.

"Hey," I say, trying to keep my voice steady. I stop a few feet away, giving her space. "Can we talk?"

Her eyes narrow a little, suspicious. "About what?"

I rub the back of my neck, trying to find the right words. "We owe you…I owe you an apology," I say, laying it out on the line.

Tessa looks at me for a long moment, her arms crossing over her chest. I can tell she's weighing whether or not I'm being sincere. And honestly, I don't blame her. We've jerked her around enough.

"For what?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"We went too far. We treated you like crap. We kept you at arm's length and blamed you for everything, and you had every right to react the way you did. We let things spiral and for that, I'm sorry. I know that this isn't going to make up for everything, but I hope it's a start."

She's quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry too," she says, her voice soft. "I lashed out, but I guess I could have just come talk to you before everything got so out of hand. Maybe if I'd tried that, we wouldn't have gone through what we did."

I feel a weight lifting off my shoulders. I expected her to yell and throw accusations but once again, she took me off guard, surprising me. "I feel like we both made bad decisions. Maybe we can move past them?"

Tessa smiles and my heart melts. "I'd like that."

"There's one more thing," I say, glancing around like I'm worried someone might overhear us. "Would you like to come hang out with me for a little while?" I can see the hesitation in her eyes so I rush to spill the rest out. "I swear there's no ulterior motives. Jace and Devin won't even be there. We can just watch a movie."

She goes quiet, looking like she's weighing the options. But then, after a moment, she sighs. "Alright. One movie. But that's it. No funny business."

I nod, barely hiding the relief that's bubbling up. "Deal. No funny business. You pick the movie."

"Of course I pick the movie," she says, a small smile playing on her lips. The two of us walk across campus together, occasionally bumping shoulders as we navigate the snow-covered pathways. Once we arrive at the frat, I usher her inside and take her coat and scarf.

I'm not sure if it's just the fact that I missed her or what, but she looks incredible. She's wearing a heavy, black sweater tucked into a pink and black plaid skirt and she's got on chunky black boots. It's like her usual look but a little more punk, a little more badass.

On top of that, she looks practically radiant, like she's glowing from within. It takes my breath away.

"How have you been?" I ask, trying to keep my composure. I promised her that this hangout had no ulterior motives, so I'm not going to make a move.

"It was a quiet break," Tessa says, oblivious to how much she's affecting me. "You?"

"We just hung out here," I admit. "I wanted to make sure we were here in case the new Sigmas needed us."

Tessa's eyes meet mine and she looks surprised and thoughtful. "That's sweet," she says softly, following me up to my bedroom where we sit on the bed while I pick out a movie, some mindless comedy.

As we sit together though, I feel the heat of her body next to me and it becomes harder to control myself.

But it's as if Tessa is on the same page because when I casually sling my arm over her, she snuggles into me, her body pressed into mine. I can smell her intoxicating scent, coconut and lime, and a hint of something else, something sweet.

The movie continues but I'm barely able to pay attention. Just when I think I won't be able to hold back any longer, Tessa turns to me, a heated look in her eyes.

"I missed you," she says, before surging forward to kiss me. This takes me off guard and I don't react for a moment, causing her to pull away.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" she apologizes.

Warmth tingles inside me. "No, it's just…I didn't expect that," I tell her, leaning down to capture her lips with mine once more.

Our mouths fuse together, the kiss deepening and I pull her onto my lap, craving the feel of her body on mine. She rocks against me, and I feel myself growing hard immediately as I growl, licking into her mouth while I run my hands over her body.

Tugging her sweater out of the waistband of her skirt, I run my hands up her back, feeling her soft, warm skin. Goose bumps break out across her flesh and she whimpers into my mouth.

"You feel so good," I murmur, pulling back for a moment. "But are you sure about this? I promised no ulterior motives."

"I know." Tessa bites her bottom lip. "But I want this. I missed you and I want this. Please."

That's all I need to hear before I'm kissing her again, the two of us frantically removing our clothing layer by layer until we're naked and entwined around each other.

Her body is even more beautiful than I remember, her tummy somehow more round and soft than before. I love the way she looks with the extra weight clinging to her, like a Venus figurine. She's a veritable goddess and I can't get enough.

My mouth stays on hers as she parts her thighs, allowing me to push inside her, the sweet relief of being engulfed in her wet heat nearly making me cry. Being inside her is like a drug and I'm always craving my next fix.

We start moving, our bodies rocking together as one, my hands roaming all over her, from her shoulders, down to her breasts, to gripping her hips as I thrust deep into her greedy pussy.

A curse escapes me. "Fuck, Tessa!"

She whines and brings my mouth back down to hers, our kisses growing more sloppy as we move faster.

"Don't stop, don't stop," she cries out between kisses, rolling her body into mine. I grind harder into her, trying to keep up the same pace and push deep inside, feeling the coil of arousal grow tighter and tighter inside me until I feel like I'm about to snap.

Tessa cries out, her cunt spasming around me as she comes, nearly strangling my dick with how hard she grips me. The coil finally snaps and I shove myself into her once more, hard, before I fill her up with my spend.

"Oh God," she says, her voice breathy as she trembles, continuing to rock her hips. "I'm already close again!"

I move my hand down, rubbing over her clit, and just as she tenses and comes a second time, the door flies open and Devin stands there, his mouth agape.