Page 119 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

It was clear that I wasn’t done and I couldn’t just watch the clock run out on our arrangement without doing anything. I still had time with her and I intended to use it.

Before I could second guess my actions, I’d had my fixer drag a bewildered store owner out of his bed on Boxing Day to buy those luges just because she’d drunkenly told me she wanted to go sledding today.

He’d been handsomely paid for his troubles and I’d carefully avoided spending too much time thinking about why it mattered to me that I be able to make this happen for her.

I grab the luge and jog after her, easily running up the hill and joining her at the top. She’s bent over, tying her shoelace and I can’t help taking advantage of the opportunity.

I palm her ass and squeeze, resisting the need to sigh contentedly. “It’s been too long since I’ve touched this ass.”

She swats my hand away playfully as she straightens. “You’ve got no one to blame but yourself for that.”

“You’re the one who tried bending the rules.” I point out.

She turns towards me with a face that I can’t read. I hate it. She’s usually an open book, wearing her every thought and emotion on her face.I don’t like that she’s masking herself with me, which I guess is exactly her frustration with me.

But unlike her, I have a very good reason for doing so.

“You’ve never wanted to bend the rules?” She asks, her voice quiet.

Only every damn day since we started this.

I fucking hate having to leave after we fuck. I’m territorial and want to continue marking her but instead, I walk out. Every single time, it feels like I leave her unprotected and vulnerable to be taken away from me.

And just ten minutes ago I was one impulsive decision away from kissing her.

So yes, the rules are bent.

They’ve been bent since the beginning, she’s the only one who’s been under the impression they were ever straight.

She takes my silence as a no and moves on.

“Come on, let’s go again.”

This time, when we go down, she doesn’t hold on to me. She throws her hands up in the air and screams at the top of her lungs, enjoying every moment.

We sled down and jog back up at least a dozen times. When she’s had enough, she waits for me at the bottom of the hill while I go down once more.

Instead of sitting this time, I try standing. Planting my feet on the luge like it’s a surfboard, I glide the entire way down the hill.

She’s waiting at the bottom for me, clapping and cheering. Satisfaction and possessiveness battle for dominance when I see her clapping forme.

“How did you do that?” She asks, her voice tinged with awe.

I shrug casually. “My superior physique. As you know, I’m an athlete.”

She rolls her eyes, making me smirk in response.

I bend to pick up the luge and when I stand, something soft and cold hits me square in the cheek, shocking me. Before I can process it, a second snowball hits my chest.

“Those reflexes are dull as a butter knife, Phoenix. That superior physique really only gets you so far, huh?”

I turn towards Six. She’s standing twenty meters away, the look on her face a perfect cross between angelic and devilish. She squats and hurriedly begins to make a new snowball.

“Oh, you’re dead.” I declare, before launching myself in her direction.

She squeals delightedly and takes off running. “Don’t you dare, Phoenix!”

She’s surprisingly fast, but still no match for me. I’m closing in on her within seconds, pausing to scoop up some snow, forming it into a ball as I start running again, and throwing it at her.

---