I swallow and grip the edge of the dresser beside my hips. “Nothing. He just talked shit. Your dad put a gun to my head, though.”
Royal stares at me a second and then drops his head into his hands. “Fuck,” he mutters. “I should never have brought you into that house.”
I cross the room and sink onto the bed beside him. “Don’t kill me for this, but I think we need to do something about him.”
“Yeah,” Royal says. “You’re right. Of course you’re right. Fuck.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he says. “We’ll figure it out over the break. Don’t worry about it, Jailbird. I’ll take care of it.”
“I’ll miss you,” I say, stroking a little curl behind his ear. They’re all going home to visit their mom, and I’m not ready to take that step. Plus, I told Royal I wanted to go to Cedar Crest to visit my mom. By the time he knows I’m lying, he’ll already be in New York.
“Want to show me how much?” he asks, wrapping his arms around me and pushing me back on the bed, with my head toward the foot. He rubs his nose slowly back and forth against mine, smiling down at me. “Or maybe I should show you how much I’ll miss you.”
“Yes, please,” I say, smiling back and linking my arms around his neck.
“Mmm,” he murmurs, rocking his hips slowly against mine. “You’re a thirsty bitch, you know that?”
“I do know that,” I say. “Now quench my thirst.”
He presses his lips to mine, slowly at first. I wrap my legs around him, savoring his intake of breath, savoring the way his body feels on mine, so unstoppable and yet so safe. I know it’s not safe, that’s I only feel that way because he won’t hurt me, but that’s okay. It’s safe for me now. Safe to give in, to let someone else take control for a while, to let myself love him.
I open my lips, inviting him in, inviting him deeper into me, deepening the kiss.
His mouth takes control, his tongue stroking mine in a slow, sensual rhythm that makes me squeeze my knees around his hips and squirm under him. Coils of pleasure thread through my body, sending warm tingles from the top of my head all the way to my toes. I grind against him until I think I’m going to cum just from kissing him and the contact of our hips. At last, I pull my mouth away.
“More,” I say, tugging at his tie.
He chuckles and watches me loosen the fabric and pull it over his head. Then he kisses me again. “What’s the rush?” he asks, skimming his lips over my cheek to my ear. “I’m going to take my time with you tonight, savor my little Cherry Pie.”
He slides a hand up the outside of my thigh as his soft lips tease my earlobe. He draws it between his teeth, biting down gently and tracing the rim with his tongue. At the same time, he palms my ass, pulling me firmly against him, my wet center pressed tight to the iron ridge in his pants. I swear I see stars I’m so hot.
“I can’t wait all night,” I say through panting breaths. “I need you inside me.”
“We’ll get there,” he murmurs against my ear, his lips brushing the sensitive skin. “We’ve got time.”
We’ve got time.
I let the words sink in slowly, and I force myself to relax even though I’m so frustrated I want to scream. I want him pounding me hard and rough, breaking my bed and my back at the same time. I’m used to our frantic, angry collisions, the way we crash together like two hurricanes meeting, leaving devastation in their wake.
I’m not used to the slow build, the tease, the wait. Royal doesn’t wait. He takes what he wants when he wants it. He gets me just warmed up enough that I can take him, and then he forces me to take every inch, pounding me like he hates me. And I fucking love it. It fits us.
But maybe he’s right. Maybe we have time now, the luxury of knowing this isn’t going to end. The luxury of exploring each other, of not rushing through each moment, knowing it could be our last. I treasured every night with him, knowing they were always numbered.
Now, they aren’t. We don’t have to rush to cum so we can start over, fuck one more time before we have to leave each other, knowing it might be the last time. Now we know it won’t be the last. There will be a million more moments, a thousand more nights to savor each other. Nights to let him make his agonizing way down my neck while his huge hands massage my body, possessing me, cradling me, winding me tighter until I think I’ll explode. I don’t know what to do with myself, how to contain the sensations rolling through my body, my heart, my soul. Girls like me don’t get fucked like this.
No one’s ever treasured me before.
Somewhere I hear a knocking sound, but I’m too far gone, too lost in bliss, to even register it. Not until it comes again, loud and insistent.
“Who the fuck is at the door?” Royal asks, lifting his head from where he’s been kissing my collarbone.
“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head.
“If it’s one of your fanboys, sniffing around here like you’re a dog in heat, I swear I’m going to fucking end him,” Royal says as the pounding continues, this time accompanied by muffled shouting.
“Just leave it,” I say, grabbing his hand. “It doesn’t matter. They’ll go away if you don’t open the door.”