Fourth Rite: A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 4)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  Shea gonna be pissed. "That's wonderful! They're very cute apartments."

  "They are. I saw pictures on Jason's computer. That boy is adorable! Josie. You should totally marry him."

  "Um… Candace, Mom."

  "Well, it's not like you can marry a woman. And have children."

  "Mom…" Josie pinched the bridge of her nose.

  "I'm not saying you have to be strictly dickly, dear, but every now and again, a nice hot throbbing–"

  "Mom. If you finish that sentence, it will be six months before I can talk to you again."

  "Cockatrice," she finished with a little embellishment, unable to let it go.

  "Besides, Mom. Jason is Dot's boyfriend."

  I spit my coffee. That was more information than Miranda needed.

  She turned her attention from Josie to me. I gave a little nod as I wiped off the kitchen counter.

  "More and more like your mother, every day."

  Them's fightin words, bitch. "I keep watching for signs like that in Josie, but she seems pretty level headed. Most of the time."

  "Well, there's still hope for my daughter."

  "She made me promise to put her out of my misery before that happened."

  Josie hopped between us, our playful banter turning deadly. "Well, let's go check out your new place!"

  "We will, dearie. Just waiting for the boy to bring my key and contract."

  I owed Jason a raise. Maybe some oral administrations. Maybe I could buy him a house, or a car. He was a total lifesaver. Seriously, I was about to kill Miranda and deal with Josie not talking to me. I was pretty sure it would only be like a week before she got over it. Lifting my right hand, I let energy flow between my fingers, watching them crackle.

  Miranda was saved by the doorbell.

  I used it as excuse to put a room full of furniture between us. Undoing the deadbolt, I pulled it open without bothering to check who was outside. It could have been the grim reaper and it would have been better than who was inside. Spectacularly enough, it was the man of the hour. My new favorite person. My savior.

  "Hey, handsome."

  "Hi, Dot." Jason grinned and held up a shiny new key on a ring.

  "That is the answer to all my prayers."

  "I figured."

  He went to hand me the key, but I stepped out of the way. "Come on in."

  "Okay, but I have to run back to the trailer and change. I have class tonight."

  "Fuck."

  "What?"

  "I still haven't fixed your hole."

  "Um…"

  "The one in the trailer."

  "Whew."

  I slapped his arm. "I'll have Jimmy fix the other one."

  "Dot!"

  I gave him an evil chuckle. "Let me get changed. I'll follow you home and fix your hole."

  "Still talking about the one in the trailer, right? Dot? Dot?"

  Ignoring him, I went to my room to throw on a sweater.

  Dar padded up behind me. Which of us would you like to take with you?

  "Well, danger over. Elf good. You can all stay home if you want. Just doing a bit of trailer repair."

  That's not happening, but I do not see the need for all of us to go, either. I shall. The others may stay or go as they please.

  "So. You're alpha male?"

  Pardon?

  "Alpha male. Leader of the pack."

  Yuki defers to me in strategy. The elf cannot hear me. I shall simply pass on my thoughts to be translated through the vampire. The elf shall really be with you for a century?

  "Unfortunately. One does not go against the wishes of the goddess."

  That is wise.

  He left as quietly as he came, and I followed him out of my bedroom. "Ready?"

  Jason nodded.

  "I'll be back later," I shouted to whoever was listening. Josie could help her mother move. I was kind of done dealing with her. Candace was holed up in her bedroom. I debated rescuing her, but she could stay home and get some peace while Josie dealt with the old bat.

  "I'm staying here."

  I nodded at Yuki. "Everything okay?"

  "Yeah. The elf insists on going and Dar is going to watch him. I'll keep Candace company."

  I narrowed my eyes.

  "What?"

  "I was just worried about her and then you said you were going to keep her company. You're not mind reading me, right?"

  She laughed and shook her head. "She and the mother don't exactly get along. I was worried about her, too."

  "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

  "What?"

  "Just remember how jealous you would get whenever she got too close to me. Now you're all worried about her."

  "We've gotten a lot closer. Ever since I gave Josie my blood to save her life…she's been kind of clingy."

  "Ahh. Yeah. Well, you're kind of awesome," I said and reached out, ruffling her purple spikes.

  She blushed and headed toward Candace's room.

  Grabbing my keys, Jason and I headed toward the door. Dar ran out as soon as I opened it and Jaeren followed behind us.

  Guess he really is coming. Joy.

  "Where are we going?"

  "I need to fix something at my friend's home. You're welcome to stay here. I won't be gone long."

  "Nay. Tis the Lady's wish that I protect you. While the thought does not bring me pleasure, attracting her ire for failure to meet her wishes sounds much less appealing."

  "Suit yourself." The three of us got in my car while Jason jiggled his door handle a dozen times before it finally opened. I half-expected the door to fall off in his hand, too. "That boy really needs a new car."

  Do not buy him one. I practically heard Dar roll his eyes.

  Why?

  Because not everybody likes to have everything handed to them. He is working and you are paying him. Let him grow on his own. He'll appreciate that more than the gift.

  Fine. And thanks for the advice.

  Bessie started with a bang and a puff of smoke. When he backed out of my too small driveway, I slid out after him and followed him to his trailer.

  "He lives in that?"

  "Yeah. A lot of humans do. They appreciate the solitude."

  "I shall guard outside."

  I chuckled as I rolled to a stop beside Jason. "You coming in, Dar?"

  I shall keep an eye on the pointy eared one.

  "Have fun. I shouldn't be long."

  The smell of the inside of his trailer was a lot different. It wasn't musty, but it smelled like outside. And it was freaking cold, even with the heater on. "I can't believe you were living here like this. It's a refrigerator in here."

  "I haven't. I've been staying at Farrell's like you told me to."

  "Oh. I just assumed you ignored me like everyone else does."

  "Not a fan of hypothermia."

  "Good boy."

  He headed for his bedroom. I squatted by the hole and pulled the plastic tarp off. Debating setting fire to the whole structure and forcing him to move, I sighed and put my hands on the linoleum tiles around the gaping wound. Dropping Chief through the floor had been a quick end to an argument, but guilt still nagged at me for destroying Jason's floor. I should have fixed it days ago.

  I poured a little bit of power into the structure beneath me and whispered, "A bheith mar a bhí tú." Tile and wood flew up into the trailer from the ground below, righting themselves as the framework mended beneath it. The tiles went from dingey gray to brilliant white. The wood paneling in the kitchen brightened, as did the cabinets, appliances, and ceiling. I tried to let the power go, but it was steadily increasing. "What the fuck?"

  Finally, it snapped back, knocking me on my ass on the new floor.

  Jason came running out of the room. "What did you do?"

  "Poured a little too much power into it."

  "Um. Dot?"

  "Yeah?"

  "The bed made itself."

  "You're welcome." I got up from the floor, a little afraid. I'd used th
e same spell a thousand times, even on my own house. Usually, I had to guide the whole process, picturing in my mind what it should look like. This time, I just told to trailer to become what it was, and it practically sucked the magic out of me. Everything inside looked brand new. Old in style, but out-of-the box in appearance.

  "Dot?"

  "What?"

  "Even the holes are gone from my T-shirt…"

  I looked over at him. He was standing in the middle of the doorway, shirtless and holding a plain white shirt up and staring at it in awe.

  "Weird." My attention deficit disorder went into hyperdrive, staring at him shirtless.

  "Even the ketchup stain is gone…"

  "I'm sorry."

  He lowered his arms and looked over at me, smiling. "Could you do that to Bessie?"

  Groaning internally, I nodded. "I can try."

  He grinned and put the shirt on. Damn it.

  "You should probably take that off. It might still have some residual magics and those have been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals in the State of California."

  "Huh?"

  "Just a joke."

  "Oh. You just want to see me topless again."

  I nodded and gave him a shy smile. "I could uh…return the favor…"

  "Wouldn't you be cold? It's not exactly warm in here."

  "Yet."

  He chuckled softly, pulling the shirt back off and tossing it on the bed behind him. I didn't know why. It was only going to get in the way, again.

  I started walking toward him, but he met me in the kitchen, his lips pressing gently to mine. The boy seriously needed to learn to read the mood. Gentle kisses were for movies and dinner. Not for horny witches begging to touch your bare chest. Sliding my hands up his back, I pulled him to me and showed him how I wanted to be kissed.

  He groaned into the kiss, making it a hundred times sweeter.

  "You drive me insane," he whispered softly.

  "Like padded-wall insane or the hot kind?"

  "The hot kind. Whenever I'm around you, I want you. Want to touch you. Feel you. Taste you."

  A shiver of happy ran down my back. I pulled away and started to lift my sweater off, but he stopped my hands.

  "Can I?"

  "Oh, yes you can. Please."

  His lips curved up and he slid his fingers under the hem, lightly grazing my stomach, just above my pants. It was like he turned the faucet on and left it on. I wanted him that much. We were alone. The one and only time we had fooled around, Jimmy had been there. Now it was our time.

  He lifted my sweater and leaned down. His tongue tickled my stomach and as he lifted the heavy material, he trailed wet kisses over every inch of me he exposed. My knees were getting weaker by the inch.

  "Hurry."

  "No."

  "Please."

  "Shhh. We have time."

  I braced myself, no stranger to being teased, just not expecting it to come from Jason. It should be me teasing him. Seducing him. When his lips found my breasts, I stopped caring.

  He sucked me in, licked me as he held me with his lips. Pleasure travelled down from my nipple to my already wet pussy. I moaned his name.

  He let go and pulled my sweater off the rest of the way, setting it on the counter beside me and pulling me to his chest. The heat between us grew and the chill air around us went unnoticed. While his hands fumbled with the button on my jeans, I reached down and stroked him through his, teasing him and enjoying the feeling of him hardening in my hand.

  With a happy sigh, he finally got them undone and began working them down over my hips. I stepped back and pushed them down in a rush, stepping out of them and kicking them behind me. I will never forget the look of pure lust on his face as he drank me in with his eyes. Kid on Christmas, puppy with a new toy, call it what you want, but there was no mistake that he wanted me.

  "Your turn."

  He undid his belt and jeans, but took his time with his zipper, still trying to maintain his illusion of teasing me. Maybe it was working, I wasn't sure. I couldn't take my eyes off him as I waited for his show to end. I dropped to my knees in front of him and yanked them open. He sprang free and I took him in my hand, pulling him forward.

  Pants around his ankles, I devoured him, groaning as his soft flesh filled my mouth. I enjoyed it almost as much as he did, his throbbing sending waves of desire through me. His pleasure became everything to me.

  "Dot…"

  I looked up at him, pulling him slowly out of my mouth and smiling. "What?" I managed to ask with the tip still against my lip.

  "You're going to make me blow."

  "That's the whole idea."

  "But I want to fuck you."

  "You're young. It shouldn't be hard for you to get it back up, right?" I gave him a seductive wink and took him back into my mouth, pulling at him with my tongue.

  He groaned again and put his hands back against the counter. It was all the warning I had when I felt his torrent of release flood my mouth. I pulled back, letting each rope land against my tongue. When he finally finished, I stood. Luckily the sink was beside him. He chuckled when I deposited it into the shiny, stainless-steel basin.

  "Not a swallower, huh?"

  "Not even a fan of the taste. Just didn't want to get your new floor all dirty."

  He chuckled and pulled me close, leaning in and kissing my neck instead of my lips. Guess he wasn't a fan of the taste, either. "That was amazing. You were amazing."

  "Well, consider that a thank you for getting that woman out of my house so quickly."

  "Oh. Was that what that was?"

  "Yep."

  "Well, I guess I should say thank you for thanking me. A you're welcome, if you will." He grinned as he reached down and put his hands around my waist.

  I squealed when he lifted me up off the ground and set me on the counter behind me. "What are you doing?"

  "I'm a little hungry. All I have is chips, but I'm craving something sweet." He lowered himself to the floor. The angle was kind of awkward and his countertops were freezing, but I let him lean in and kiss me, his tongue dancing across my clit. My head rolled back against the cabinet as another moan escaped me.

  He gently eased my legs apart and worked his tongue across my opening. Waves of pleasure rolled through me and it wasn't long before I felt the first stirrings of my orgasm.

  "So good," I managed to blurt.

  "You taste so sweet."

  "You talk so sweet. Get back to work. I'm almost there."

  He chuckled and slipped a finger inside me, moving his tongue back up and letting it circle my hardness.

  "Yesss."

  "Come for me," he paused to say and added a second finger to the first, increasing the speed of his strokes.

  I could feel myself tightening around his fingers as my pussy began contracting. Even the entrance below it started to quake as my hips started pushing forward, trying to drive his fingers in farther.

  "Jaaason…"

  I came. My head shot forward, and my eyes scrunched as every nerve ending in my body was lit on fire from within. Gasping for breath, I rocked into it, hitting my head behind me more than once. He didn't relent, either. He sucked my clit into his mouth with a loud slurp, pressing his tongue against me and curling the tip around it. I started to see spots behind my eyelids. I let out a string of mewling noises and he chuckled into me, enjoying the overload of pleasure he was inflicting on me.

  I finally reached down and pushed him away, unable to take another moment.

  "Where the fuck you learn to do that…"

  "Internet."

  I coughed out a laugh. "Well. Next time you're watching the source material, let me know. You can practice while you watch."

  "That sounds like fun."

  "Doesn't it?"

  He stood up and his cock was hard again. Stepping forward, he wanted to take me right there on the counter.

  "Oh, hell no. This is hurting my ass, I don't need you driving me into the cab
inets, too. Go sit on the couch."

  "I'm sorry. You should have said something."

  "Oh, don't worry. I didn't feel a thing until you stopped."

  Always the gentleman, he offered me his hand. I took it and slid off the counter. Yes, I meant slid. Like a waterslide. I was lucky I didn't land on my ass on the floor. He was going to need a towel when we were done.

  He pulled me with him, turning and plopping down on the middle cushion. Without a word, I pushed his knees together and turned around, slowly lowering myself onto his lap. "Scoot forward and lean back."

  He gently touched my butt and I lifted off him, letting him shift further between my legs. His cock was pointing straight at me, exactly where I wanted. Reaching down, I took him in my hand, pumping him a few times as I slowly lowered myself onto him while holding myself open with my other hand.

  He slid right in and I closed my eyes, smiling at the sensation of him filling me. "You feel perfect inside me."

  "You feel perfect in my lap."

  "Aww." I leaned back against him and kissed the side of his face as his arms wrapped around me, each hand taking a breast and squeezing gently. I convulsed around him, massaging him with my wet tunnel.

  "The things you do to me…"

  "Are you complaining?" I turned my head.

  "No. I didn't think they were possible. It shouldn't feel this good. Nothing should feel this good."

  "You're going to make me come again just from your words."

  "I love you," he whispered in my ear.

  I probably would have come if I wasn't so shocked. "What?"

  "Was that not okay?" He sounded so nervous my heart stopped beating for a moment.

  "Just unexpected."

  "Dot, I loved you from the moment you told me I was worth it. How could I not? Not only did you save me from that hell they call a factory, you gave me a job, you're always there pushing me to be better than I was… If it weren't for you–"

  "Stop! That part's not okay. Even if I had never rolled into town, you would have been just fine. You have a good head on your shoulders. Might have taken you a while but you still would have gotten there without me."

  "Maybe. But I might not have ever found the drive to do it. So, thank you for that. And thank you for making the journey worth taking."

  "You sweet-talking son of a snake. I swear the men in my life take Shakespeare lessons behind my back."