by Mae Doyle
Everyone stops and looks up as we walk in. Lila, Clementine, and Sophia are all at a table together, and I grin when Sophia gives me a wave, but Asher puts his hand on my back and directs me straight to the food before leaning down and whispering in my ear.
“I think that it’s best that we grab our food and not make a huge scene, what do you say?”
I nod and the five of us quickly fill our trays before turning to find seats. There’s always room in here to sit, but right now it’s tricky to find empty seats. Students are spread out more than normal, and I have the distinct feeling that the idea is to separate us.
But that’s crazy, right?
Pushing the thought aside, even as the five of us split up, I carry my tray over to sit with my friends. Sophia gives me a huge grin when I sit down next to her, but Lila frowns at me and Clementine starts to clear her tray.
“Something wrong with breakfast, Clementine?” I ask before picking up my fork. Breakfast looks and smells delicious. They’re whole wheat pancakes with fruit on them, and my stomach growls in impatience, but I want to know what’s going on with my friend.
“Just time for us to go, I think.” She shoots a look at her twin, who rolls her eyes and starts to pack up her tray, also.
Clementine slips out of her seat and stalks across the cafeteria, but Lila takes a moment to lean forward to me. “Don’t worry about her, okay? She’s just worried about what our parents will say if they hear that we’re friends with you.”
My mouth drops open, but before I can ask her to clarify, she follows her sister and dumps her tray before leaving the cafeteria.
I turn to Sophia. “You going to leave me, too?”
She grins and stuffs a bite of pancake in her mouth. “Not a chance, Kiera. What you’re seeing now is the pecking order here and who has more money than other families. Don’t let them get you down, they’re just worried that they’ll be on the short list to leave if they don’t play along.”
“And you’re not?” I know that every family wants their child to be at Meyer’s Grove and to succeed here, and it doesn’t make any sense to me that Sophia’s parents wouldn’t be the same. “Aren’t you worried that you’ll be driven out and your parents will be pissed?”
She laughs, which draws some looks from around the cafeteria. “Not at all. My family is really rich, Kiera.” I give her a look.
“Every family here is really rich.”
“Not like mine.” She waves her fork at me like none of it matters to her, which I’m realizing, it doesn’t. “They’re not going to try to drive me out. My parents give too much to the school, and the headmistress simply won’t allow it. Lila and Clementine, however, probably don’t have enough on hand to ensure that both of the girls can stay, so they don’t want to risk it.”
“Risk it?” My pancakes looked delicious before but are starting to feel unappetizing. “What would they be risking by sitting with me?”
She gives me a look like she can’t believe that I’m quite this stupid and then reaches out across the table to take my hand. “Kiera, listen to me. My parents give so much money to the school that the headmistress is willing to protect me. Your aunt and uncle don’t care if you have protection, and Lila and Clementine’s parents don’t have the money to buy it for them. Even if they did, I’m not sure that that’s how they’d spend their cash.”
I swallow hard. What she’s telling me sounds ridiculous, like something in a bad movie, but she’s looking at me with a serious look on her face and I can tell that she’s being honest.
“Everyone here falls on that spectrum. The devils aren’t going to be kicked out of school, and nobody is stupid enough to try to hurt them enough to make them leave,” she continues.
“Or kill them,” I interrupt.
“Or kill them.” The words hang between us. “But I’m not afraid, and you shouldn’t be either.”
“No?” I raise my eyebrows and take a sip of green tea before looking around the cafeteria. Even though most of the students are eating, there are still ones who keep throwing furtive looks in our direction. It’s unnerving, even with my best friend telling me not to worry.
“Not at all. You have me, and apparently you have the devils. You guys make up or something?”
I flush at the memory of kissing some of them. Hell, three of them. “Things are okay,” I mumble, stuffing a bite of pancake in my mouth. It’s saturated with maple syrup and almost too sweet, but I swallow it anyway.
“From what I heard, things are better than just okay.” She grins at me and glances off to the side. Following her gaze, I make eye contact with Asher, who’s openly staring at us. When he sees me look at him, he smiles and throws me a wink.
“Okay, yeah. They’re good. But I’m still a little nervous about it, okay?” I wouldn’t admit that to anyone but Sophia, especially not right now, not knowing what I do about how the school hates me.
“I got it, don’t worry.” After a brief pause, she starts chatting about classes and upcoming lacrosse games. I know that I should pay more attention to what she’s saying, but I can’t keep my mind from wandering.
She said that I have the devils, and there’s something that makes me feel safe when I think that.
But I can’t help but wonder if she’s wrong and the devils have me.
Chapter 6
The next weeks fly by. I’m almost overwhelmed with classes, but thanks to my private math tutors, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be able to pass the class with a B, if not a low A. That may be asking for a bit much, but daily tutoring sessions not only let me get to know my devils a bit better, but they ensure that I’m not totally lost during class.
And let me tell you, that’s a really good thing, because the teachers at Meyer’s Grove don’t slow down for anyone. There’s no hand-holding here, no coddling, and certainly no extensions when it comes to projects, no matter how much you may need one.
That’s why Caspian and I curled up in the library at 8 pm on Sunday night, both of us working on our poetry portfolios. I’ll admit, I kinda let mine fall by the wayside earlier in the year when I was a little more preoccupied with avoiding the devils, but having Caspian on my side makes getting the work done a lot easier.
It’s quiet in the library, and so I jump when he shifts position and knocks a book onto the floor. The sound echoes through the room, but we’re the last ones here and even the librarian is curled up reading. She glances up at us and then returns to her murder mystery.
“You think you’ve about got it wrapped up?” Caspian reaches over and takes my portfolio from me. I tense a little. A lot of the poems in there are about my parents and what it was like losing them, and I’m not sure that I want to share them with anyone, not even him.
He notices and flips the cover shut. “You don’t want me to read these, do you?” He asks, and when I shake my head, he bends down and drops it onto my backpack. “All you have to do is ask, okay, Kiera? Just let me know what you’re thinking and feeling and if I’m crossing a line and I’ll back off, I promise.”
“I know.” I stretch out and turn so that my legs are across his lap. “I’m just not sure if I even want the teacher reading them, you know? But the assignment was to write the most personal poems possible, so I did.”
“And I’m sure they’re amazing.” He leans forward and presses his forehead to mine. “Just like you are.”
Without thinking about what I’m doing, I loop my hand around his neck, holding him in place. Caspian’s skin is warm under my finger, and I run my hand up the back of his head, through his hair. He reaches of me, taking me by the shoulders and pulling me close.
“I need you,” I tell him, the words slipping easily from my lips, and he kisses me hard, his mouth forcing mine to open so that his tongue can easily slip in between my lips. He tastes amazing, and I feel a longing rise in me as damp pools between my legs.
“My room,” he whispers, pulling back, “now.”
I barely think to grab my b
ackpack as he pulls me from our spot in the library. My heart pounds as we run across the quad and I follow him down the hall to his room. I’ve been in here once before, but not like this. Not when I needed him this badly and he wanted me just as much.
Caspian throws the lock on the door and walks towards me, making me back up until I feel the bed hit the back of my knees. Once there, I sit down, my heart beating wildly in my chest.
“Caspian,” I begin, but he kisses me, making me forget what I was about to say. His hands slide up my arms and he squeezes them, pinning me in place for a moment. My skin feels too hot, too small for my body and I want him to strip me down. I’m burning up, and without thinking, I push him away so that I can strip off my shirt and throw it to the floor.
He watches, his eyes dark and locked on me. “Holy fuck, Kiera,” is all he can manage before he comes back to me, gently trailing a line of kisses down my neck and across my collarbone. I lean back on the bed and he climbs on me, his hard body pressing into me.
“I want you,” I tell him, my lips right along the curve of his ear. “But you need to know…”
He sits up when I trail off and grabs my hands. “You’re a virgin.”
I nod, biting my lip and looking away.
“Oh, Kiera,” Caspian says, taking my hands and pulling them to him. He rests them on his heart and I can feel it pounding wildly. He wants me, and that realization only solidifies in my mind what I want to do.
“I want you. I’ve wanted you from the first day that you came to campus and we helped you move your things to your dorm. There’s a light in you that I’ve never seen before, and I don’t think that I can handle knowing you and not getting to have all of you.”
My breath catches in my throat. For the first time since that horrible night back in West Virginia, I feel safe, and I let go of his hands to reach up and loop them around his neck. His eyes are locked on mine and we breathe together in time with the other.
I can’t wait much longer. Hell, I don’t know how I waited this long to begin with, but now that I have Caspian, there’s nothing stopping me from showing him how much I want him.
I push him off of me, trying to be as gentle as possible, and he must understand what I want, because he slips off of the bed and slowly strips. I take in his muscles, the way his abs flex as he breathes, the V to his between his hips.
Finally, he kicks off his boxers and I suck in a breath. There’s just no way. His cock is huge and I when I reach for him, he comes closer, moaning a little as I take him into my hands.
“That feels amazing,” he tells me, just before he pushes me back onto the bed and climbs on top of me. I slipped out of the rest of my clothes while he stripped, and he traces a lazy finger down between my breasts, across my stomach, and between my legs.
He’s straddling me, his strong thighs squeezing me a little and holding me in place. I gasp as he shifts his position and slips his hand between my legs, sliding a finger along my core. I’m already soaking and hot for him, and he grins at me.
“Glad to know that you want me as badly as I want you. You’re beautiful and perfect, Kiera, and I promise you, I’m going to do everything I can to show you how much I want you.” Before I can stop him, he slips a finger in me and I arch my back at the surprise.
“Caspian,” I beg, his name flowing from my mouth like honey, “just be gentle. Just make sure you don’t hurt me.”
In response, he slips off of me and slides down, slowly kissing along my inner thighs. I spread them for him, eager and hungry for his touch. “I promise you, Kiera, I won’t hurt you, but I am going to make you scream.”
I open my mouth to say something to him, but I don’t get a chance to make a peep because he pushes my thighs even farther apart, digging his fingers into my skin. I gasp, and the gasp quickly changes to a moan as he licks me, his soft tongue splitting me so that he can truly taste my core.
My fingers clench and I grip the sheets, twisting them in my hands as I try to breathe. He licks me slowly, his tongue circling my clit, and I close my eyes, trying to remain focused. If this is what it feels like…
I don’t know what he’s doing, but his fingers and his tongue make me squirm. There’s heat coursing through my body, and electricity, and everything feels like it’s about to come to a head.
“Caspian!” I manage to gasp out. He stops what he’s doing immediately, but keeps his hand on me. I can feel the pulse of my body as he slides up to my face.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” The worry in his voice is evident, and I swallow hard, shaking my head.
“No, I…I didn’t know that it could feel like that. I don’t know if I can handle it. I want you, Caspian.”
He grins at me and plants a kiss on my face, making me taste him when he forces my mouth open with his. “You just wait, Kiera.”
With that, he slides back down my body, his head between my legs. When he laps at me and sucks my clit I squirm, the pressure starting to build in my body. My toes curl and I gasp at air, feeling like I’m starting to fall.
He slips his fingers in me, slowly stroking me from the inside, and I shake, my core tightening around him as he licks and sucks me. There’s nothing that I can do to hold on much longer – I feel like every nerve in my body is on fire and that it’s making my skin explode. I clamp my eyes shut and bite my lower lip, sucking on it and trying to focus.
But there’s nothing I can do. Even if I were to move away now, Caspian has me so close to the edge that it’s not going to take much of anything for him to push me over. Suddenly he slides up my body, and I feel his pressure at my entrance.
“Come to me,” I murmur, barely able to open my eyes and look at him. The feeling of his fingers is replaced and I gasp out as he slips into me, gently pushing his way and filling me completely.
It’s heaven.
He throbs in me, rocking his body so that his huge cock slides in and out, inching deeper in me every time so that he takes more of me. I’m stretched around him and I reach for him, pulling him down so that I can wrap my arms around him and dig my nails into his back.
“Fuck, Kiera,” he whispers, his breath hot on my ear, “you feel like heaven. I want you to come for me, okay?” His voice is soft and I feel my body lifting to meet him.
He’s heaven. Caspian leans wraps his arms around me, holding me close, then leans back and takes my nipple into his mouth, sucking and nipping at it.
I cry out as the sensations shoot through me and buck my hips, trying to take in more of him. He slips in and out of me, my core completely soaked, and we find our rhythm.
Even now, though, I don’t let him go. I have my nails dug deep into his skin to stay as grounded as possible, but I feel like I’m starting to float.
The edge is close, and as he thrusts in and out of me, whispering my name in my ear, I feel myself drawing closer to it. Pretty soon he’s going to throw me over it, and there’s not a damn thing that I can do to hold on any longer.
I feel him swell in me at the same time that he drops his hand between us and pinches my clit, squeezing it and rubbing it so that I cry out. I can’t help it.
It’s like all of the energy is coming out of me, my mouth open as I scream, my body wrapping around him as he thrusts in me and takes me with him over the edge.
We fall together, completely shattered, and I scream his name over and over until my throat is raw. It becomes a chant, like a mantra, and the only thing that is going to hold me to this earth while he rips an orgasm from me.
When I finally collapse, I’m still wrapped around him. We’re sweaty and exhausted, but I can’t move a single muscle.
“Caspian.” I finally choke out after a minute. His head is resting on my chest, his body still holding me in place on the bed. It feels amazing to have him pressing me down, holding me still, keeping me in place.
“You okay? Did I hurt you?” Caspian slides off and out of me and I gasp at the shock of feeling his body weight removed from me. He runs a line of kis
ses along my collarbone and I shiver under his touch. He’s so gentle, and for him to be able to do that to my body…
Honestly, I don’t know what to think. Hell, I don’t even know what to do with myself. I feel like I fell apart, completely shattered, and Caspian’s the one who’s going to have to put me back together.
“No, that was amazing.” I pull him to me and kiss him, then roll over so that he can curl up behind me. He does, but not before pulling the blanket up and over us.
For a while, we don’t say anything. His breathing slows, but I can still feel his heart pounding because we’re snuggled so closely together.
After a while, I speak. I’m not sure if he’s awake or not, but I have something that I want to say to him if he can hear me. “Caspian?” He doesn’t move and his breathing doesn’t change. His arm is slung over me, the weight of it heavy on my ribs, but not in a bad way.
It’s something that I could get used to.
“Caspian?” My voice is a whisper now. Before, I almost wanted to wake him up and talk to him, but now I don’t want to disturb him. Simply knowing that he’s here and that he’s not going to leave me is enough.
It has to be enough.
“I think I love you.” My voice is so quiet now that it almost doesn’t make a noise. Caspian still doesn’t move. That’s okay. I almost feel like I needed to just say it more than I needed him to hear it.
Chapter 7
The devils don’t let me go anywhere by myself. At first, it drove me a little crazy, especially when I just wanted to pop up to my room for something without an escort. I thought that they were overreacting, and I even told them that I thought they were taking it a little too far.
I was met with blank stares from Caspian and Luca and laughter from Asher and Parker.
