Chapter 15: Aislin

Chapter 15: Aislin

Working that day had been torture. Everett was all I could think about. Even when I tried to focus on the swarm of customers in my store, or taking inventory of our stock room, he kept creeping back into my mind. Images of Everett with his sleeves rolled up his muscular arms and his golden-brown chest hair poking out above his open collar kept me eager to see him later that night. Every time he moved toward me, I knew it was because he was succumbing to inner desires he usually resisted. I saw the twitches in his fingers, and how his eyes flickered over my body, and I wanted to indulge him. The less angry I was with him, the harder it was to defend myself against his advances.

I was the only one working the last three hours at the store. Once I tidied the displays and closed up, I lingered in the strip mall washroom, retying my hair and fixing my makeup. Usually I left the store looking like a disaster, but tonight, for the first time in a long time, I wanted to impress somebody.

Everett was standing outside of my store when I left the bathroom. He’d been peeking in past the security barrier, waiting for me, unaware that I was instead watching him from around the corner—until I stepped out and he instantly glanced my way. “You’re all done?”

“Yeah,” I said, joining his side. He was still wearing his outfit from earlier, only his beard was neatly trimmed and his shirt was buttoned up all the way.

As we walked to the doors, Everett kept his hands in his pockets. “How was your shift?”

“You don’t have to make small talk with me.”

“I want to,” he said. “How was it?”

It was strange that he was so attentive when he’d never cared before. “People are annoying sometimes. It’s like they think we’ll make a special exception for them when they try to return jewelry that’s final sale. But like… that jewelry was in your body, man. It’s cheap and shitty stuff. We can’t resell it.”

“Mm. What kind of jewelry?”

“It’s all made with nickel. Nose rings and studs. Earrings. Navel rings. Everything, really.”

He tilted his head and looked me over. “Have you ever considered getting facial piercings? I noticed you don’t even wear earrings.”

“No. I don’t like them,” I said. “I had my eyebrow pierced once,” I added, pointing at the small, barely noticeable scar above my right eyebrow. “But I played with it too much and it got infected.”

Everett’s mouth twitched with amusement.

The ride home was easygoing, despite my mind raging with excitement to be with Everett again. Ugh. I disgusted myself with how easily I had warmed up to him. All it took was a few nice words and I was showing my belly like a pup!

Once back at his place, I made a beeline for the washroom. “I need to take a shower.” I hadn’t gotten to that morning before work, and now I felt like I needed to wash away all the human stink. Everett let me use the ensuite in his bedroom. I didn’t really think about why until I’d finished my shower and, without a change of clothes, walked into the bedroom clad in a fluffy towel.

He was on his feet in seconds.

I stepped back, instinctively bristling. Everett had been on the bed, waiting for me—still dressed, thankfully, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he’d been anticipating once I was done. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I…” He faltered. “I was going to grab your clothes for you.”

“I can get them myself.” My bag was sitting in one of his spare bedrooms.

Everett said nothing and retreated to his bed. Admittedly, I was having fun establishing the boundaries between us, watching him stumble over himself and drool, weak to the desires formed by our fated bond.

I didn’t intend to make him wait long. After getting dressed in a t-shirt and pajama shorts, I came back into his bedroom to return the wet towel and found him once more reclined on his side, this time looking at his phone. He peered up at me without moving. After tossing the towel in a hamper, I walked to his door again, only pausing to throw a suggestive glance his way. He was on his feet again, and this time he didn’t stop.

Hands grabbed my hips from behind, stopping me mid-step to pull me against his waist. “You’re not going to sleep now, are you?” he asked, lowering his voice into my ear.

“And what if I was?”

“You’ll have to sleep in the same room as me so I can monitor you.”

“You still think I’m going to run away?” It had occurred to me once or twice. I wasn’t sure I wanted to ruin my chances of repairing our relationship, though.

“I don’t think you will if I give you a reason not to.” Everett brushed his nose against my shoulder, grazing my collar until his lips tickled the side of my neck, while his fingers dipped under the brim of my shorts. I could tell he’d been wanting to do this for hours. Days, maybe.

It made me feel both powerful and like what was happening was beyond my control. “You’re not going to just toss me aside after this, right?”

“No.”

“How can I trust you?”

“I can stop if you want me to.” His fingertips danced just above my mound, savoring the smoothness of my skin, the texture of my shaved pubic hair. “But neither of us will be able to think clearly as long as we resist this.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“Okay. Fine.” Everett kissed my neck, exhaling through his nose. The sensation made my hair rise. “I won’t be able to think clearly until I feel you,” he growled.

His other hand pushed under my shirt. It must have taken every ounce of self-control he had to not go any further than caressing the ridges of my ribs with one hand, the edge of my hairline with the other. He waited, kissing my neck as I made up my mind. He was right, though. The longer I stood there wrapped up in his arms, the foggier my brain became.

Finally, I gripped his wrist and guided his hand down my groin until his fingers reached my entrance. A rumble slipped from his throat as he teased my clit. “How far do you want me to go?” he asked.

“Make me cum,” I told him.

“Gladly.”

Everett turned me to the nearest wall. I braced my arms against it as he slid my shorts down my hips, then pulled my shirt up over my chest. With one hand, he squeezed my left breast, pinching my nipple, and with the other he plunged his fingers inside me, massaging my lips until I was dripping wet. He breathed heavily against my neck, picking up a rhythm with his hips against mine. The bulge I’d spied this morning had returned. I felt it rubbing against my ass, desperate for touch while he pleasured me.

“Fuck, Ais. You drive me mad,” he said under his breath.

I pressed back against him, wanting to savor his erection and worsen his madness. My chest felt tight again, phlegm building in my lungs, but I swallowed the urge to cough. All I wanted to experience was Everett.

“Do you like this?”

“Yeah,” I panted.

“You like having my fingers inside you?”

“Yes. You’re really good at it.” I could already feel the heat rising in my loins, building under my skin with the hunger for release.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” he murmured. Nibbling on my ear, his teeth and hot breath made all my senses fire. Everett fell into a medium-paced tempo of rubbing my pussy, stimulating all my sensitive spots, feeding my pleasure until the swirling motion of his hand had lifted me into a shuddering orgasm. I gasped, tipping my head back against his shoulder, moaning and trembling as ecstasy rushed through me.

He never stopped, carrying me through the orgasm with his fingers until my muscles slackened and I sighed.

Everett planted his clean hand against the wall, suckling on his fingers before kissing my neck again. “Can I fuck you?”

“Do you think you can make me cum a second time?”

“Is that a challenge?”

I snickered. “If it motivates you, then yes.”

The lack of laughter from him warned that he was serious about this. He wasn’t just messing around with me, he was on a mission. Everett grabbed my hips again and maneuvered me back toward his bedroom, guiding me to the foot of the bed, then turning me around. I didn’t need any more grabbing and guiding to be persuaded onto the bed, flinging away my clothes before lifting myself up and laying back. He stood right in front of me, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. His eyes greedily pried for every flutter of reaction in me, observing me as I observed him, unable to deny how my heart raced with every inch of his chest he revealed. Button by button, he exposed the hard musculature beneath his sharp collar bones, his chest hair shining in the light and trailing down the middle of his stomach, thinning around his belly button, then growing dense between his hips. The hard ligaments below his stomach drew my eyes to the tent pitched in his black underwear. Once his shirt fell off his body, his underwear went next. I couldn’t resist the desirous moan creeping from my lips as he displayed the full length of his cock for me, thick and uncircumcised, emphasizing his untamed heritage. He stroked himself a few times, purely showing off, then went to the bedside table and withdrew a condom from the drawer.

I could think of nothing else than having Everett inside me.

His weight on the bed was enough to trigger my arousal. As he knelt between my knees, I rubbed my breasts and watched him roll the condom on. Then he moved my hand away and bent over me, mouthing at my nipple and kissing the skin. I tingled at the feeling of his tongue. Pulling forward, I set my hand on the back of his neck, trying to draw him toward me—aching to kiss him—but he sat up and avoided me. At the moment, I didn’t think anything of it. He distracted me well enough by spreading my thighs, caressing my clit as he slowly pressed the head of his cock into my lips. Then, he gently thrust inside me, groaning as my warmth wrapped around him.

“How’s that?”

“Big,” I muttered, breathing hard every time he pushed into me. When I took all of him in, the pressure he exerted on me smothered every other sense with pleasure. It was manageable until he picked up the pace and penetrated me harder, then it hurt—but not enough to make me want it to stop. He was so big that it was bound to hurt. I wanted all of him, no matter the consequences.

Everett held my thighs against his sides, pounding hard and peering down at me. His grey eyes were shaded by his knitted eyebrows, concentrating on the sensations he elicited. Just the sight of his body sent my mind reeling, but the added pleasure of his thumb working on my clit deprived me of all thought. “Everett… Don’t stop… Please…”

“You’re so tight. I want to feel you cum on my cock,” he growled, bending over me to fill me even more.

“I’m about to,” I breathed. “Ev…!”

All too quickly, ecstasy suffocated me, taking hold of me and blinding me to all else. My body arched and tightened, ripping a moan out of him as he relished my excitement. Heat and desire and bliss coursed through me, prolonged by the hard rocking thrusts of Everett’s hips as he continued above me. He kept going even as the heights of my orgasm abated, but it never stopped feeling good. Leaning back, he pressed my thighs together and clutched my ankles above his shoulders, pounding faster. I was acutely aware of the moment his own climax struck.

Everett pressed forward, pushing my legs as he drove his cock as far inside me as he could. A groan stuttered from his throat, hips twitching as he released all of the pent-up lust I had spawned in him. It was intense enough that even I moaned again, feeling everything despite the condom, then as the orgasm abated he stabilized himself with a hand beside my body and caught his breath, his shoulders rising and falling.

We laid like that for a minute before Everett sat up and pulled out of me.

“How was that for you?” he asked, removing the condom.

I remained sprawled out on the bed, still panting. “Great.”

“Good.”

Everett drifted into the ensuite and I heaved onto my side, still sensitive enough to feel the pleasure throbbing away in my groin. When he returned, I expected him to join me on the bed. Instead, he gazed down at me, and then gestured at the bed. “Make yourself comfortable. I don’t want to get into your personal space.”

“We can share the bed if you want,” I said, hoping that he would. Two orgasms had flooded me with enough affectionate love chemicals that all I really wanted was to snuggle.

His expression remained weirdly absent. “I’ll just bring a chair in here.”

Disappointment tugged at me, but I wouldn’t let it show. “Okay. Suit yourself.” It didn’t escape me that he hadn’t wanted to kiss me, either. Maybe he was reluctant to make himself vulnerable in that way and I didn’t want to blame him, but it also left me feeling like… the connection I wanted wasn’t the one that he wanted.

Once Everett left, I squirmed up to the pillows and found his phone, which must have slipped off the pillow and into the sheets in the midst of the action. Thinking little of it, I took his phone to put it on the bedside table—then the screen lit up. There was a message from Sebastian Hicks.

‘Did she tell you where Muriel is yet? The transport van is ready at the motel.’

My insides plunged with confusion and dread. She obviously meant me. Sebastian knew that I was here, and it seemed like he and Everett had been scheming to use me to get to Muriel. But Everett wouldn’t so blatantly lie to me like that, would he? Was that the real reason he was being so tolerant of me? Was Everett only keeping me here so he could actually use me to track down Muriel—and was that why he was so insistent on me seeing her, instead of taking me to the hospital?

Unable to resist my curiosity, I tried to unlock his phone, but didn’t know the passcode. I thought for a moment, trying to remember if I’d seen him punch it in before, or if there were any relevant numbers I was aware of. This was my first job. I started when I was fifteen, I remembered him saying. I tried 0015 and the main screen appeared before me. I couldn’t believe that I’d guessed it—but maybe Everett was more predictable than I thought. Gluttonous for information, I opened his texts, found Sebastian, and read all about his and Everett’s plans to steal me and Muriel and deliver Muriel to the Mythguard.

As quickly as my insides plunged, they ignited with indignant fire.

I hadn’t been planning on running away from Everett, assuming he’d been sincere about wanting to cultivate a real relationship out of our fated mate bond. But it seemed the only purpose I served to him was to satisfy the Mythguard’s demands.

Burning with anger, I wrapped up in the blanket and pretended to be asleep by the time Everett returned with the chair. He set it up by the door, shut off the light, and settled in with a blanket. I waited for another couple hours until I knew he was asleep.

This time, when I made my escape, I wouldn’t rouse him. I wasn’t going to give him another chance to use me.