Page 28 of Too Many Beds

Asher twisted around before he could move away, catching Xem’s slender wrist and revelling in the thrill of his skin beneath his fingertips. “You helped the rats to escape. Why?”

“And you deliberately let yourself be paired with me,” Xem shot back. “Why wouldyoudo that?”

“I asked first.”

For a moment, Asher didn’t think he would respond. And then Xem gave a long, weary sigh and ran his free hand through his dark hair.

“You were right,” he said. “What they were going to do to those animals was cruel.”

The words filled Asher’s heart. He’d felt so alone in his defiance, as though only he cared about how the rats would suffer. And he might have been the only student to speak up, but Xem had been the one to do something about it.

And then Asher remembered everything else that had happened in the classroom, and reclaimed his scowl. “If I wasright,” he demanded indignantly, “then why the fuck did you have to be so cruel to me?”

“To buy you an alibi,” Xem explained with a quirked, incredulous eyebrow like it should have been obvious. And with hindsight...

“Oh,” Asher said, realising what Xem had said to Professor Allarie had been more than a brag. “Youwantedeveryone to see my magic had been immobilised, so I wouldn’t be blamed.”

Xem was silent, clearly not bothering to respond to Asher’s incredibly slow appreciation that the mage had a hidden depth to him. Kindness to animals? Thoughtfulness?

Damn it, that shit was like catnip to Asher. He now didn’t need a magical soulmate bond to want to jump the man’s bones.

“And the rest of it?” asked Asher, trying to strum up some of the resentment he’d felt earlier. His cheeks heated as he thought of the way he’d been spread and pinned to the wall, how Xem had effortlessly toyed with his body and almost made him...

“The rest of it?” Xem repeated, leaning in closer until their breaths merged. A grin spread across his face, wicked and delighted, and Asher realised he’d been wrong about him. A smile didn’t diminish his beauty at all. “What are you talking about?”

“You know,” he offered awkwardly. “The unnecessary shit you did. Are you going to explain that away, too?”

“But of course,” Xem said smoothly, eyes dancing with violet amusement. “I did it because I could. And because it wasfun.”

Asher exhaled. The world had been set to rights: Xem Whitlock was still a prick.

“I…”

“You blush so prettily,” Xem murmured, twisting his wrist so that his long fingers could stroke along Asher’s. “And I could feel how you fought against my magic even as you surrendered to it. Did you like being at my mercy?”

Asher could only stare at him.

Fuck me.No seriously, do.

He nodded once, dipping his chin low and certain.

“Good.” Xem softly chuckled, slipped his hand from Asher’s, and disappeared back into the shadows of the library.

“Attic?” Bonnie offered when the day’s final bell had finished tolling around Gannon Academy, rocking carelessly back on her chair and stretching. The rain pounded relentlessly against the Academy’s windows with a thunderous roar that had lasted most of the day. “Apparently a second-year smuggled in some rum, and is offering swigs to anyone with a gold coin or willing to flash their tits.” She shot Asher a mischievous smile. “I’ll show him something else too if you want some.”

He shook his head. “I’m going to get some rest.”

Still unsettled from his recent encounters with Xem, Asher needed space to work through the complex array of emotions they had sparked in him. Indignation, of course. Humiliation. But as with all things Xem, it was entwined with intrigue and pleasure and a deep-seated satisfaction akin to sinking into a cool lake after a day of sweaty farm work.

If only the mage would stop making things so fucking confusing for him, perhaps Asher would be able to enjoy his evenings like the rest of the student cohort. Or better yet, pay enough attention to his studies to finally catch up to them.

Yet when Asher wandered up to the floor that housed the first-year bedrooms, it wasn’t his books or his bed that snagged his attention. It was the door at the far end of the hallway, normally closed but now slightly ajar, as though the latch hadn’t engaged properly.

Xem was in there. Asher knew it like he’d known he had magic: not by any tangible reason, but through an inexplicable certainty that went beyond the mundane.

He crept closer, footsteps muffled by the worn rug that lined the corridor, until he was three bedrooms away, and then two. It became easier to breathe with each step, the proximity to Xem and his spicily sweet aura making the air seem lighter and less suffocating. What would it be like to place high enough in the student rankings to get to sleep in one of these beds, knowing only a couple of walls separated them instead of over a dozen?

He probably wouldn’t be reduced to sneaking around like this in the hope of getting his next fix. Wouldn’t be so addicted to the man that he’d only manage to sleep tonight if he was able to catch a glimpse of Xem sitting at his desk or perusing his bookshelf...

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