Page 45 of Reckless Roses
“WHEN THE NIGHT IS OVER” - LORD HURON
AGE TWENTY-THREE - MAY
Elena’s laughis musical as I follow her out of the elevator into the top-floor suite. She scans the key against the door, pushing it open to reveal one of the most opulent hotel rooms I’ve ever seen. Floor-to-ceiling windows line the entirety of the space, downtown San Francisco’s lights sparkling beyond them.
Plush cream couches, a modern kitchen, and a massive oak dining table accent the remainder of the living space. I follow Elena down the hallway that leads to the bedroom of the suite. I set both our bags down on a massive king-sized bed in the center of the room, accented with more windows along the left. To the right is a bathroom damn near the size of my entire apartment.
“Well, shit.” Elena makes a slow circle around the room. “I guess I’m not surprised. Leo’s always been a high maintenance bitch.”
“He’s proud of you.” I laugh, coming up behind her to wrap my arms around her shoulders. She sighs contentedly, head falling onto my chest as we look out at the city beyond the windows. “We’re all proud of you.”
Elena took part in her first major signing as a published author this weekend. The convention had over a thousand attendees, she sat on multiple panels, and she had a line at her table the entire day. Leo booked the hotel as a gift to congratulate her for all the growth she achieved this past year.
It was the most incredible thing to see people come from all around to meet her because of how deeply they connected with the art she created. Witnessing that kind of appreciation as an artist myself, and as the person who has gotten to see her talent since the beginning, was humbling to me. It reminded me just how lucky I am to merely exist within her gravity, and it fueled my desire to make sure she never forgets how astonishing she is.
Elena glances up at me, the skyline sparkling in her dark eyes, the city lights cascading across her flawless face, but the smile she gives me is brighter than all of it.
“Didn’t tell Leo I was coming, I take it?” I ask, nodding toward the one bed.
“I don’t really want them asking questions yet; I don’t like lying when I answer.” She shrugs. “Plus, we sleep together all the time, even if we’re notsleepingtogether.”
We haven’t told anyone about us yet, agreeing that the conversation needs to be had with Zach first. I tried spitting it out the first few times I spoke with him on the phone after Elena and I started…whatever this is, but I couldn’t do it. He deserves more than a phone conversation during our brief, once-a-week check-ins. At the end of this summer, Zach will come back home. Whether to stay or to visit, we aren’t sure yet. He’s not sure either. He doesn’t know what he wants to do after his stint in Wyoming, and he’s in no rush to decide, but he promised he’ll come visit for at least a little while.
Not touching Elena until then is more than enough punishment for any betrayal my brother will feel—especially when she looks at me the way she does right now. She isunearthly beautiful, melting into my arms like she was always meant to be there, letting down her prickly exterior to reveal the soft woman inside only I have ever known.
Not to mention, I still can’t get her fucking taste out of my mouth. I think about her writhing against my tongue every time I close my eyes. I see it every time I get myself off—outside the times when she’s doing the same on a video call, or when she sends me naked photos of herself.
That’s how we’ve gotten by these last few months: a few stolen kisses, a bit of dry humping, and a whole lot of fucking phone sex. As painful as it is sometimes, I relish it too. It feels like we’re teenagers, like we’re forbidden. It feels like how our youth should’ve gone all along. I was supposed to be that person for her, and if I couldn’t be that back then, I get to be it now.
“Augustus,” she whispers, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Hmm?”
“I said,” she laughs lightly, stepping out from my arms and crossing the room, “I’m going to take a bath.”
Fuck. I’m instantly hard.
She turns back to me, lust laced in her gaze. “You wanna join?”
“Baby, I thought I told you to stop propositioning me. I don’t have the self-control for that.”
She only raises a brow as she reaches behind her neck and grasps the zipper of the tight black dress she’s wearing. “I thought I told you to stop calling me baby.”
“Just slips out.” My lips tilt upward.
“Oh, do you mean the same way this dress…” She unzips it all the way, allowing it to fall off her shoulders and pool around her legs on the floor, leaving her standing in front of me in nothing but silk panties and a black bra. “Just slipped off?”
I swallow thickly. My cock throbs and my heart pounds against my chest, seizing the air from my lungs. “Why do you have to tease me like this?”
She smiles, reaching behind her back and unclasping her bra. It falls to the floor with her dress. Her piercings glint in the light outside the window, and my body is on fucking fire.
“I’m an agent of chaos.” She smirks at me innocently, shrugging as her hair falls over her shoulder, and it’s the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen.
She’s the definition of chaos, and I’m fucking addicted to it.
She’s always teasing me like this, and I know she respects what I’m trying to do regarding my brother. I also know she doesn’t feel an ounce of guilt herself; if I gave the green light right now, she’d fuck me until the sun came up. I’ve never been wanted like that before. Craved and desired. It makes it that much harder to hang on.
Because in Elena’s mind, it’s already her and me. We’re permanent, our names etched into the fabric of the universe side-by-side. Everything could blow up when Zach returns home and our families find out about us, but she doesn’t care. That’s her chaos, her recklessness. We’ve chosen each other, and everything else is secondary.
