“As expected,” Parrish answers blandly, giving a shake of his head and then sighing. He lays back on my bed and closes his eyes, absently rubbing at the front of his hoodie where his wounds are. “They’re not done with me yet, that’s for sure. But Tess chewed them out for putting too much pressure on me too quick, so I rolled with it.”
“Huh.” That’s it, Chasm’s tacit response. He looks back down at his iPad and then again at his best friend. “If you want to take the exams, you’ll have to study, too. Wouldn’t you rather rest?”
Parrish sits up suddenly and exhales, giving a quick shake of his head before noticing that my TV is still sans power cord.
“She hasn’t given you your electronics back yet?” he asks, annoyance clear in his voice. “Jesus.”
“It’s not that big of a—” I start as I stare down at the letter. Both the envelope and the page inside of it are crafted of quality, handmade paper with dried yellow flowers embedded into the fibers.
Miss you and love you fierce. Stay strong. I’m coming.
“What is it?” Parrish asks, and I laugh, crumbling the letter up in my fist and chucking it into the trash can across the room. Well, I aim for the trash can and miss entirely, sending the ball bouncing beneath my dresser.
“Just a stupid wedding invitation for my grandmother’s friend,” I say with a dramatic roll of my eyes. On the inside, I’m panicking. I can’t say for certain who sent that letter, but I have a guess. Saffron. That whole ‘miss you and love you fierce’ thing is a Banks family slogan. Also, sending an unmarked letter with no signature on it is a very Saffron-esque thing to do.
But I can’t let Justin know any of that.
“A wedding invitation,” Parrish repeats, blinking his beautiful brown eyes at me. But he gets it quick. Chasm and Maxx, too. “Interesting. Tess will never let you go to it.”
“Never,” I reply breezily, pretending to be focused on my studies so as not to give anything further away. But I’m worried. She’s coming? Here? I couldn’t think of a more dangerous place to be. Saffron is, after all, my kidnapper. If Justin is willing to murder teenagers to get back at the people who drove him out of town, what the fuck will he do to the woman who stole his baby?
The subject slides past as if it truly is nothing, but I definitely owe the guys an explanation later.
Parrish is watching me, that hungry tension between us getting sticky, making me squirm.
“It’s hard to focus with you staring at me like that,” I whisper back, and he smiles. Without warning, he reaches out, wraps his arms around my waist and drags me into his lap, pressing his lips to my hair.
“Fuck, you smell good. What was it that I smelled like? Dewy clovers?” He gives a low, mean chuckle, one that turns my body to mush but that, were I anyone else at Whitehall Prep, would make me wish I’d never been born.
“Dewy clovers?” Chasm snorts with a tired-sounding sigh. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“Ask Dakota,” Parrish teases, and then we both freeze at the sound of footsteps. He pushes me off of his lap with a dark growl, trying and, with gargantuan effort, succeeding at finally suppressing an annoyed scowl.
“Are you sure you’d rather study up here?” Tess asks when she pops in, looking at Chasm on the floor and then up at Parrish as he lounges on my bed. “If you work in the dining room, you can all have your own chairs.”
Seeing as that gives us an excuse to dump the heart pin and all of our tech, I jump at the opportunity.
“That sounds like a plan to me; my back is starting to hurt anyway.” I stand up quickly, even as Parrish throws me a look of sheer betrayal. “Maybe Maxx can make some snacks?”
He glances over his shoulder at me with a smile, but Tess jumps in, nearly desperate for attention from her missing son. It’s quite a different approach to how she dealt with me when I was ‘returned’ to her.
“I’ll order food. Anything you guys want. Parrish?” She looks excitedly in his direction, and he sighs, letting his head fall back and closing his eyes.
“Pizza, please. I’d kill for fucking pepperoni right now.” He swipes a hand over his face and then opens his eyes so that he can stare at Tess. “I’m going to study with them—so that I can go to school next week.”
“Parrish, goddamn it,” Tess snaps, and he blinks at her, frowning prettily and leaning forward to fold his hands in his lap. “Why are you being so stubborn about this? I want you here, with me. There’s no need for you to push yourself like this.”
“I see,” Parrish drawls lazily, yawning as he rises to his feet and lifts his arms over his head in a dramatic fashion. The white hoodie he’s wearing rides up, flashing a horribly tantalizing bit of his flat belly. I’m forced to look away to maintain my composure.
Never in my life have I ever wanted to touch someone like I want to touch him; I’m almost manic about it. Probably will be for a while, until I get used to having him back, until it finally sets in that this is reality, that he didn’t die, that all the horrible things we had to do to get him here were worth it.
“You want me here. It doesn’t matter how I feel or what I want, that I’m the person who was sliced up by a serial killer, who almost died, who was filmed and put on the dark web for violent perverts to drool over.”
Perverts? He hasn’t mentioned exactly what the image on the dark web was, but if I find out that he was sexually exploited in any way, I won’t have to work up to killing Justin; it’ll just happen out of pure, unfiltered rage.
Tess’ face tightens up in frustration, but she closes her eyes and forces herself to take a deep, calming breath.
“Damn it, Parrish,” she says, her voice fractured with hurt and frustration. She runs a hand over her face. “You want to go to school that badly? Then I'll be dropping you off and picking you up every day.”
“That's fine,” Parrish drawls, giving a small frown. He knows he’s pissed Tess off, and he’s sorry about it, but he has zero plans to back down.
“And,” she continues, letting her gaze sweep over me and Chasm. “If you plan on attending prom, I will be there as a chaperone.”
Parrish’s left brow quirks up at that, but I think he’s realized that he’s pushed his mother to her limit.
“You may also consider that Kwang-seon and Dakota might be interested in attending as a couple; you can take Kimber.” Tess pulls in a slow, deep breath to calm herself. “I’ll order the pizza and see you all downstairs shortly?”
“I am not taking Kimber,” Parrish growls out as Tess gives him a soft, sympathetic sort of look. It’s almost patronizing, that expression, and he knows it. “I’ll be going with my—”
“I’m not going,” Chasm says, leaning back on his hands and giving a loose shrug when our collective attention swings his way. He flashes a sultry smile that has Parrish narrowing his eyes at him. “You can take my girlfriend; I don’t mind.”
“Oh, Chasm,” Tess says, going soft all over again. She’s just too thrilled for Parrish to be home to maintain anything but a positive persona. “You can’t skip out on your junior prom; lifelong memories are made there.”
“Ehh, not really my scene,” Chas says, which is such a stupid, frustrating lie that I feel my face getting red. Tess’ mouth tightens up, but she must decide it’s not worth the effort and lifts her gaze back to Parrish.
“I’ll take you back to the doctor on Sunday for another evaluation; if she says you’re fit to attend class then … then I’m fine with it.” She retreats down the hall, leaving the door wide open behind her.
“You’re not going to prom, Chas?” Parrish asks, his voice a devil-may-care breeze that’s total bullshit. He’s mad. “Why not?”
“You think I give a fuck about stuffy Whitehall parties?” Chasm asks, rising to his feet with his iPad tucked under his arm. “I basically just went to prom last night—it was the adult version of it anyway. Same Medina bullshit, different locale, different people. I’m not interested in attending a dance with a bunc
h of assholes who beat up Dakota and chase us with utility knives.”
Chasm pauses as Parrish studies him carefully, like he can sense that there’s so much more to this than what his friend is saying with words. After a minute, Chas sighs and tosses his iPad on the bed, reaching up to scrub at his face with both hands.
“I fucking … I missed you,” he says, dropping his hands and staring at Parrish with undisguised emotion in his face. “Truly, fuck prom. Prom is nothing.” He gestures between the two of them with a single finger as X looks on from the desk chair, and I try to turn invisible. True bromance right here. “This? This is everything.”
Parrish puts his arms around Chas, and they hug each other so tight that tears come to my eyes.
Maxx surreptitiously grabs his laptop and slips past them.
“Let’s head downstairs and give them a minute,” he suggests, but as soon as we start to leave, Parrish notices.
“No. You’re not getting out of my sight again,” he says, looking over his shoulder at us. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Me?” I quip, but like, obviously me. Maxx snorts, laptop tucked beneath his arm.
“Naekkeo, you’re not that dense, are you?” Chasm teases, and then goes completely still as Parrish turns back to look at him. “Shit.”
“Shit is right,” Parrish purrs, reaching up to play with the sleeve of Chasm’s t-shirt. “Naekkeo, really?”
Chasm is not anyone’s pet, nor does he submit easily, but here, in this dynamic, I see why Parrish is the Prince of Sloths and his bestie is the knight. I also see why everyone at Whitehall keeps acting like they can do whatever they want without Parrish around: he is absolutely in charge of this dynamic and every other.
No wonder we clashed so hard at first.
No wonder I hated the guy so much.
“I wasn’t kidding when I said that Dakota is mine for the week—at least. But I’m not letting you skip prom.” Parrish gives the t-shirt sleeve a yank and then turns around to look at me. “He asked you, didn’t he? To prom?”
I’m not even sure how to respond to that, so I flick my gaze over to Chasm, and he sighs.
“I did. I knew it was fucked-up, but I also had no idea when we’d find you. I just figured …”
“That you’d find a sickly-sweet pet name for my girlfriend and take her to prom?” Parrish growls out a frustrated sound and rubs at his forehead with two fingers. “I don’t feel at all left out or abandoned.”
“It isn’t like that,” Chas assures him, and Parrish sighs. I can’t handle seeing him upset, so I move over and take him by the arm.
“It isn’t,” I promise, because we never intended to replace him. Ever.
He looks down at me and then back over at Chasm.
“You can go to prom with us; you’re not staying behind. That’s stupid as fuck. Didn’t you just yell at me for trying to be self-sacrificial? Pot, kettle, Chasm.” Parrish takes my hand off of his arm and squeezes it in one of his as he glances over at Maxx. “What about you? You want to chaperone alongside Tess? We can be one, big happy family.” He doesn’t sound entirely disingenuous about the idea.
X gives him a tight smile in response and leans his shoulder against the doorjamb.
“I would, but my parents want me to have dinner with them on Friday before they head back to Portland; it’s the least I can do to appease them seeing as they’re not thrilled about me staying here.” Maxx stands up straight and gives Parrish a gentle smile in response. “And anyway, I know you’re upset; I understand why. But I love you too much to fight with you right now.”
Parrish huffs out a breath as Maxx turns and heads for the stairs.
“We’ll buy you a few minutes,” Chasm says, grabbing his book bag from the floor and dumping out a pile of condoms on my bed. “I’ll get you more if you need them. Just … don’t do it bareback.”
“Goddamn it, Chas,” I groan, and he chuckles as he slips past. There’s a sadness to it, but a resignation, too. He loves Parrish; I love Parrish. How do we fix this?
Parrish turns to look at me, and my heart flutters in response to his gaze.
“You might’ve told me that he’d already asked you,” he says, but I’m shaking my head.
“No, you come first right now. You’ve been through some shit.”
“You have been through some shit; I drank expensive wine all week and did push-ups.” Parrish exhales as he comes over to stand in front of me, wrapping his arms around me as I chuck my iPad onto the bed and fall into his embrace. He puts his chin on my head and sighs dramatically. “I feel like Tess isn’t going to leave us alone for the entire week; you should have to be at my beck and call for two.”
“Beck and call?” I reply with a choked laugh. “Not once did I ever say I was going to be at your beck and call.”
“Yes, you did,” he assures me, pulling back so that he can look down at my face. He puts his inked hands on my cheeks. “Last night. Even now, your eyes say anything you want, Parrish. And I want, Dakota. All of you. Constantly. Now.”
“Now?” I whisper, and then Parrish is snatching one of the condoms and yanking me into the bathroom. He slams the door and locks it—even though we both know how easily it can be picked.
Parrish guides me to the edge of the sink and then turns me around, so that I’m staring at him in the mirror. He tears the condom package open right away and shoves his sweats down.
I suck in a deep breath, curling my fingers against the countertop.
When Chas said a few minutes, he was being literal. We probably have about five before Tess shows up again.
“You’ve ruined me, Gamer Girl; you put a spell on me.” Parrish sounds annoyed, but also pleased. I watch his expression in the mirror, this mix of wonder and affection and possession.
He pushes my pj pants down and slips the condom on while I watch, urging me onto my tiptoes when he presses himself against me.
“Maybe you put a spell on me?” I whisper back. “You can’t tell someone they’re an eleven out of ten and not expect something to happen.”
His lips twitch in a genuine smile—a very rare expression for him—and I can see that he’s pleased that I remember all the things he said to me. I will never forget that night in the basement nor the one we shared in his room. Never.
“You did so many things for me,” he says, shaking his head. “Waiting for you was always the right choice.”
Parrish slides into me from behind, and I gasp, watching his eyes in the mirror as he does the same to me. We stare at each other, gazes locked as he starts slow and quickly accelerates his pace, making us both sway with the motion of his thrusts.
He keeps both hands on my hips as I struggle to stay on my tiptoes in an attempt to match his height.
I can tell he’s going to be quick, and I don’t care. I’m just so happy to have him back. We’re in that needy stage, I guess, where we want to be with each other every second.
Justin tried to take that from us, tried to pit us against each other.
All the bastard’s done is push us even closer together.
Me. Parrish. Maxx. Chasm.
Even with the romantic struggles between us, I don’t think there’s any way we could be turned against one another. I don’t.
“Harder,” I breathe, and Parrish releases his breath in a rush. “Faster.”
He obeys—but only because he wants to. He’s headstrong, this one. He’s trouble with a capital T.
I brace myself against the countertop as he works hard and fast against me, coming with a loud groan that I sure as hell hope nobody outside this door can hear. When he drops his hand down to my clit, I try to protest but the words won’t come. Instead, I find myself worked just as hard, just as fast, and then it’s all over, and I’m having trouble staying upright.
We both end up on the floor again, and he’s holding me, struggling to catch his breath.
“This is what I want for my welcome home present.”
“Quickies?�
� I ask, and he makes a harsh scoffing sound in protest.
“Are you insane, Dakota Banks? No. I want you.”
And damn if these boys aren’t good at one-liners.
And damn them even more because they actually work on me.
I am in huge trouble here. Huge. And also, too in love to give a shit.
Night rolls in much quicker than I feel it should. I guess since we didn’t wake up until four, that makes sense. But after breakfast, studying, pizza, and more studying, it’s nearly two in the morning, and we’re all yawning like crazy.
Tess basically camps the dining room for the entire day, and we’re greeted to a rotation of Paul, Kimber, Ben, Henry, and Amelia. To sum it up: there is no more private time for me and Parrish.
He keeps sneaking glances at me from across the table, and I’ll catch his eye, but then whenever he tries to find a way to disappear with me in tow, it backfires. He says he’s going to the bathroom, giving me a look that clearly says come with me, only to have Paul follow us out so he can make a cup of coffee.
Seeing as the downstairs bathroom is in direct view of the kitchen, there’s no hope there.
Later, I try to go upstairs to use my own bathroom, and it so happens that Tess needs something from her office at that exact moment.
By the time we do make it upstairs, I can tell Parrish is getting frustrated. Not just because of the sex, but because he can’t touch me or hold me or kiss me when our family is around. Also, we have zero time to discuss Justin or his plans or to get more details on anything that happened while he was gone.
“I’m going to fucking beg the Slayer to take me back by the end of the week,” Parrish is mumbling as he sits on his bed with his head thrown back against the headboard. “Why can’t I be left alone for two seconds?”
“Because your entire family believed you were dead and that they’d never see you again?” Maxx suggests, but not unkindly. He’s cleaning GG’s cage again, but when I try to help, he gives me a soft smile and leans in to put his forehead against mine. “You relax. I’m done with my schoolwork; you’re not even close.”
Payback Princess (Lost Daughter of a Serial Killer Book 2) Page 56
