Page 79 of The Puck Chase

As I cut across campus, I smile and wave at a few friends, a couple of them looking confused as to where I’m going, but my focus is only on my boyfriend. God, I love saying that, thinking that, fucking hearing that, and I wish I could scream it from the rooftops, but somehow our relationship is still just between us. Yes, Josh and Alexander know, and I’m pretty sure Nova suspects, though he hasn’t cared enough to ask, but for once I want to keep something just for myself. The last couple of weeks with him have been perfect, a little rocky at first, yes, but now he’s finally let me in. I can’t help but feel this is how things were always supposed to be, and once we deal with his father, everything else will just fall into place.

The scent of paint assaults my nostrils, asI push through the doors of the art building, one of Daemon’s professors smiling brightly at me on her way out, after seeing me here nearly every day this week. I stalk down the hallway to the last studio on the left, surprised to find everyone else has already left. His class finished over an hour ago, yes I bribed one of the women in the front office for his schedule, but I’ve learned that he likes to stay behind on the nights we don’t have practice. It answers my question as to why I never used to see him around. I stop in the doorway and watch him work, and I realize just how much I was missing out on.

Daemon is in just a tank and jeans, his discarded sweater on the stool behind him, that I’m sure he only took off once the rest of the class left. The soft tones of what I have recently learned isMozart,pouring from the Bluetooth speaker in the corner, while Daemon is lost in his focus on the canvas before him. Both of his hands and arms are stained in flecks of paint, and he has never looked more beautiful than he does right now.

I can’t see what he’s working on from here, but I let myself watch him for a few moments, transfixed on the way he works, and downright addicted to the way he looks, until he finally pulls back and sighs, as if something isn’t right. That’s when his eyes meet mine, his frown turning into a small smile, as I finally allow myself to walk into the room.

“Now this is a look I could get used to,” I purr, stalking towards him, pulling him in for a kiss before he can even possibly protest.

“Is that right?” he grunts, taking over the kiss, and bringing his paint-stained hand up to collar my throat, no doubt leaving another mark. “You like me covered in paint?” he adds against my mouth, pulling back, before his eyes dance down my neck and his stare turns feral.

“No, I like you all messed up and filthy, looking at me like you’re ready to make me your art,” I toss back with a wink. “Anything can be a canvas, right?” I add, leaning forward to trail my mouth along his jaw, making him groan.

Especially when I drop to my knees at his feet and rip at his jeans, his stare flaring wide. “Archer, we can’t do this here,” he starts, but trails off as I palm his hardening cock.

“Then why are you hard for me, baby?” I ask, reaching into his boxers and savoring the heat of his length in my hand.

“Archer,” he groans my name again, and I know it’s meant as a deterrent, but all it does is spur me on.

“Don’t worry, Forbes, I’ll be quick,” I tell him, and then I swallow his cock, until the paint on his hands is stained in my hair and on my cheeks.

Once I’ve swallowed his cum, he returns the favor, the paint now staining my dick too, and once we clean up his supplies, with the promise of a shower when we get home, we leave the studio on a high. A high that is sadly short-lived, because as soon as we get outside, we come face-to-face with Jasper Forbes.

A man I know to be twenty-seven-years-old, and a fully patched member of the local motorcycle club we have here in town. When I tasked David with helping Daemon, he had to dig into his life, cursing when he found his medical records, and even more so when he found Ryan’s death certificate. Those copies are now sitting in a box under my bed. The one thing I don’t think I will ever be able to understand, is why Jasper left his brothers behind in hell.

I feel Daemon’s entire body flinch beside mine, his hand tightening in my hold, but still he sighs, as if resigning himself to the fact that he has to deal with him. Before he can even open his mouth, I am shoving him behind me and glaring at his brother.

“What the fuck do you want?” I spit in disgust, not even attempting to hide my contempt for him. His eyes dance acrossthe two of us, before settling on Daemon, as if to dismiss me completely, and that only pisses me off more. “Don’t look at him, dick, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Archer, it’s okay,” Daemon tries, stepping to my side, but I ignore him completely, my gaze still locked on his brother.

I watch as Jasper takes in the paint stains across both of us, before it hardens. “I need to speak with my brother,” he states firmly, looking irritated, but fuck him and his fucking irritation.

“The time for speaking was when your father first laid a hand on you,” I start, stepping towards him. “The time for speaking was when you were eighteen, and you left your brothers in that fucking house to rot. The time for fucking speaking was when you should have called social services and protected them both.” I’m raising my voice, but I don’t care, not when the person I love has already lost so fucking much. I snap my gaze back to Daemon, and ask, “Do you want to speak to him?” He turns to his brother, eyeing him carefully, before focusing back on me and shaking his head. “There, you heard him, now fuck off,” I spit, tugging on Daemon’s hand and pulling him away, not stopping until we are half way across campus.

I feel Daemon’s stare on me every step of the way, but I’m too angry to even look at him. When he tugs me into the side of one of the buildings, I prepare myself for a lecture. I open my mouth to defend myself, but his lips steal anything I was about to say, kissing me roughly, as he pushes me hard against the concrete, before pulling back for air.

“What was that for?” I ask, returning to the lust-filled daze I was in when we first left the art studio, and his answering soft smile heals something inside of me.

“For having my back.”

Those four gentle words stay with me, all the way back to his house. When we head inside, we find Josh doing homework at the kitchen island. As soon as he sees us, he eyes me with slightlyless contempt than normal, but when his stare flicks to Daemon, he frowns deeply.

“What’s wrong?” he snaps, now looking at me in an accusatory way, and I roll my eyes at the grumpy dick, while I simultaneously wonder where his wife is, so she can lighten him the fuck up.

“Jasper was waiting for me outside the art building,” Daemon replies, and if I thought Josh looked pissed before, it’s even worse now. Okay, maybe he’s less of a grumpy dick, now that I know how he feels about Daemon’s prick of a brother.

“What the fuck did he want? Was it about your dad?” he asks, his homework instantly forgotten. Daemon just shrugs as he moves toward the fridge to start making dinner.

“I don’t know, Archer told him to fuck off before he could say anything,” he replies, laying all the stuff he needs for dinner on the counter and then washing his hands.

Josh’s eyes snap back to mine in surprise, and I can’t help but smirk, especially when he also takes in the paint stains across our skin, before cocking a questioning brow. Not that he’s one to talk, I’ve heard the way that kinky fucker makes Mrs. Peters moan. He then peppers Daemon with a bunch of questions about Jasper, all of them pointless, because as he already stated, I told him to fuck off. Thankfully, it isn’t long before Hallie joins us, putting him out of his misery, and smirking when she sees Daemon and I together, and I pull her in for a hug, just to annoy her husband.

We all share a relatively quiet dinner cooked by Daemon, I can tell he is still on edge after Jasper's appearance. His somber mood lasts all the way to bedtime, even when we shower off together and I left him fuck me against the tiles, there is still a lingering darkness in his eyes. That should have been my clue, that the night was going to go from bad, to worse.

It’s almost two in the morning when the screaming starts, the pain in it so raw, that it feels like it’s being ripped from my own throat. It wakes me instantly, his body jolting against mine, and I move before I can even think, straddling his hips and gripping his hands in mine.

“Daemon, it’s me, baby, wake up,” I tell him, stroking his face, as the door bursts open, Josh storming inside. He meets my stare and I shake my head. “It’s okay, I’ve got him,” I tell him, but he doesn’t move, his feet frozen at the threshold of the room, when another scream rips from Daemon’s throat, so I focus back on him. “Come on, baby, wake up, you’re okay, you’re safe, just wake up for me,” I chant on repeat, until he startles awake, his frenzied eyes meeting mine.

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