Page 20 of Discord
I shoved the phone into my back pocket and opened the screen door to the kitchen. Mia’s body language was stoic even from a distance, contrasting against the vibrancy of youth she should be sporting. I wanted to pull her close and tell her everything would be okay, but the chatter from the other room kept me at bay. At every corner, her family interfered with the few interactions we managed. This torture was worse than my morals or turning our lives upside down. The inability to hold her destroyed me.
I closed my eyes against Theressa, John and Reese’s quiet conversation drifting from the adjacent room. It was a harsh reminder of our reality. Mia was the off-limits princess, heavily guarded by the dragons in her castle.
Nonetheless, my disloyal legs moved in Mia’s direction. She was engrossed with the coffee machine and didn’t realize I had closed in. I leaned forward, burying my nose into her hair for a whiff. The same hair I had played with for hours last night after she wrapped herself around me.
Sensing my heat, Mia turned her body forty-five degrees. My gaze swept over her face. Smooth skin, high cheekbones, pink lips, the long neck. She was so gorgeous that it was near impossible to breathe. I couldn’t stand it or be near her anymore without fighting the maddening urge to kidnap her.
“How are you?” My voice shook.
Mia gave me a curt nod, wordlessly glancing at the kitchen door. She didn’t want her family to discover us in this position. It was wise to pay attention, but the inability to converse with her at a normal pitch irritated me.
“That wasn’t an answer.”
“I’m fine,” she spoke softly, resembling someone else entirely. The general mischievousness was missing from her sparkling blue eyes. Once more, my mind screamed in its pursuit to comfort her.Only I could erase her pain because she was mine to console.Mine. Mine. Mine.
“Raven left with Reid this morning,” I relayed somewhat awkwardly, hoping to hear her voice again.
Mia nodded. “Raven’s visiting Baltimore. They’ll be gone for a few days.”
“Talk about timing. Alexa and Jaci are leaving as well.”
“And you?”
My muscles tightened because the correct response comprised of staying away from Mia. “It makes sense to move out since Milo’s moving back to his condo.”
Mia tensed. “Oh.”
The apathy she displayed could only be achieved when no more heart was left to be broken.But why would Milo and Raven’s breakup affect you to this extent?
Before I could probe, I froze upon noticing the dark bruises on Mia’s neck. She glanced over her shoulders as my fingers drifted over the offending color. “Tell me what happened.”
“No,” was her blatant response.
My fingers curled into a fist. “I didn’t press the topic last night, but youwilltell me who did this.” Because I planned to kill them.
Mia remained tight-lipped, unlike her general chatterbox personality.
“I don’t appreciate being ignored, Mia,” I spoke in a low but firm voice.For fuck’s sake, Mia. Look at me. Be talkative. Tell me how we are all going to die because of climate change.
Her tranquil demeanor and evasiveness had me relenting. I might need a verbal confirmation to destroy Raven, but it was counterproductive to push Mia in her current state.
I reached for her waist, subconsciously rubbing my hands up and down her sides, unsure if it was an effort to comfort her or to soothe myself. My forehead dropped between her shoulder blades, and I dragged my nose across her skin, inhaling her like a crazy motherfucker.
Mia jolted, inquisitive eyes meeting mine before darting toward the door. She shook her head, trying to yank out of my hold wordlessly, but I couldn’t let go even if my life had depended on it. Not when the hint of dark on her neck made me want to rip everything to shreds.
Moving closer, I lifted my head to press a kiss on the back of her neck. Mia’s inhibitions cracked. A small response—her hitched breath—stripped me bare, and I ground my teeth, shaking for control.
Sixty seconds around this girl had chased away logic. A dark, desperate type of hunger took root instead. The kind that could eat for hours without being satiated. It thrummed through my blood, demanding to feed on every inch of her body. I wanted her with every fiber of my being. Wanted to feel her insanely beating heart. Wanted to feel the effect I had on her, too.
I groaned against her skin, moving her hair out of the way to trail my lips along her neck. An indescribably sexy sound left Mia’s parted lips, and she arched into me.
“God,” Mia hissed.
My rib cage nearly broke open by the deafening way my heart thundered. I latched onto her neck, wrenching another loud moan out of her along with a guttural one from me. Caught off guard, we both glanced at the kitchen entrance. I tightened my hold in case Mia intended to make a run for it, though her knees knocking against one another was a fair indication she wouldn’t.
Adrenaline thumped while our eyes remained glued to the entrance to play lookout. I covered the minuscule space between us by pressing my body and forcing her flush against the kitchen counter.
I knew she could feel my hard shaft through the thin fabric of her shorts. Our sparse breaths were in conjunction as she rotated her hips out of impulse. Grabbing her face, I kissed along her jawline and watched the erotic way Mia bit her lips to muffle her moans. I dropped my hand to her perky breasts, massaging them through her neon shirt. The peaked nipples jutted out against my fingertips.
