Page 46 of Never Say Die
“Yeah, Aiden, we’re awake. I’m awake, you’re awake. We’re at the lodge,” he said, and put his mouth to Aiden’s ear. Shay inhaled against his skin. “You’re having a bad trip, okay? Just breathe.”
“No, I’m—I’m fine. It’s not that. But I’m usually asleep for this.” He realized how little sense that made and shook his head, imprinting on the ultralight sensation of Shay’s fingers playing on his palm. “For you, like this,” he clarified, and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to arrange the words correctly. “For us. I’m asleep when it’s us.”
“Explain that again. . .” Shay’s lips feathered his temple. His voice deepened, overlayed with thunderclaps and beast-sounds.
When Aiden met his eyes, he found black pools gazing back at him. Dark webs extended outward from his lashes, shadowing his temples, crawling over his cheekbones. He looked devilish and different. Capable.
Aiden gripped his hand. “Shay, not here—not here.”
Shay blinked, confused. When Aiden glanced over Shay’s shoulder, he noticed velvet gloves around a plastic cup. Clever eyes inspected them from the kitchen, lips rounded in a surprised,oh, before the witch-bitch did the worst thing possible and lifted her phone.
Aiden gripped Shay’s face, shielding the black veins from view, and kissed him. His heart surged.Close your eyes.Shay grabbed him, palms heavy on his hips.Close your fucking eyes.He kissed Shay deeply, like he had under the full moon. Pried at his mouth, and tasted his gasp, and sucked on his lip. Aiden cracked his eyes open, tilted his head until Shay slid to his throat, kissing his healed bitemark. Aiden glanced from the couch to the kitchen. Thomas was gone. Laura was gone, too.
“C’mon,” he said, and tugged Shay toward the staircase. “Keep your eyes low.”
“What. . . ?”
“You’re hungry. Come on.”
The first door on the second floor led to a very occupied bedroom. The second hosted a candlelit spirit board session. Aiden rolled his eyes and tried the third, hauling Shay inside an empty bathroom. He flipped the lock, and let his weight go heavy against the door.Okay. All right, we got away?—
Shay stared at his black-eyed reflection, throat working around a swallow, and hit the switch next to the doorframe. The exposed bulbs above the vanity went out. “Hurts my eyes,” he said, sighing. Then he was there, hand curled around Aiden’s jaw, holding him tenderly and tightly.
Lips touched Aiden’s ear. Breath shallowed. They stayed like that for too long, breathing, searching, caught in the moment before someone—both of them—decided to break.
Shay leaned their foreheads together, and whispered, “Are you scared?”
“Yes.” Aiden pushed his hand beneath Shay’s shirt, feeling across the scar on his stomach. “I’m scared one day you’ll kill me, and I won’t have the power or magic—whatever the fuck you have that I don’t—to get back to you. I’m scared we’re asleep. Worse, I’m scared we’re awake. I’m scared of myself, mostly. Who I became. . .”When you left me.“But I’m not scared of you,”he snapped, and dug his thumb cruelly into smooth, new flesh. “You can’t scare me, Shay Bennett.”
“You’re awake,” Shay said, and trailed Aiden’s jaw. Fangs scraped Aiden’s bottom lip, threatening at plush skin. “Do youwantme to scare you?”
“Isn’t this what you did to her—Cassandra?” Aiden whispered. “Lured her into a bathroom?”
Shay seized his wrists and slammed them hard against the door, snarling against his cheek. “Yes,” he said, snapping at Aiden’s mouth. “Is that why we’re here? So, I can make you feel what she felt?”
“Iluredyouhere,” Aiden said. His heart thundered. Sad, raspy laughter hiccupped in his throat. “And you have no idea what you make me feel.”
Shay paused, black eyes flicking back and forth, lingering on lips and throat and curled fingers. “Show me,” he said, and kissed Aiden hard.
Aiden surged against him, pushing against strong palms until Shay released his wrists, gripping his ribs instead. He wanted to touch him, to find Shay’s face,there, to kiss him deeply, swallowing hot, rapid breath, to pull him closer and crash against him andhavehim, finally.
Shay dropped his hands and opened Aiden’s jeans, tugging impatiently at the zipper.Breathe. Aiden did. Unevenly, quickly. Desire ached beneath his navel, pulsing with the promise of being touched. His head spun. Thoughts turned syrupy and thick, tilting inevitably toward Shay. He had the chance to stop, to remember his rules, to consider the consequences, but he pressed on Shay’s knuckles, guiding his hand instead.Touch me. Shay pushed open his mouth. Kissed him hungrily, like they hadn’t before—wet and deep and needy. Each touch between his legs was explorative, stroking gently, sliding over sensitive skin until Aiden trembled and moaned and wanted more. Heshoved his pants down. Toed out of his shoes and kicked away annoying denim.
Usually, he would shy from intimacy, tip his face toward the ceiling and allow his body to be used, his neck and collarbones to be bitten, his ass to be slapped or scratched. He’d detach from the idea ofafter. Arrive ready and willing to be dishonest, to give the fleeting gift ofright the fuck now but never again.
Usually, Aiden wasn’t with someone he cared about—someone he’d wanted, always.
“C’mere,” Aiden rasped, and clutched Shay’s face again, holding him like a lifeline. He licked Shay’s pointed teeth and raked his fingers through dark hair. Tugged at his shirt and leather belt. Stumbled with him toward the mirror and winced when the vanity knocked into his hip.
Yellow light ribboned around the locked door, casting a subtle glow on the tiles and the shower, the fluffy floormat and their discarded clothes. Aiden made a surprised noise, soft and boyish, as Shay lifted him onto the counter next to the sink. His heart galloped. Thoughts ran too fast, turning feral and heated. He grasped the easy ones: fucking, being fucked, wanting to taste and take, Shay, hands—yes, there—and skin, bare. Embarrassment kicked, just for a moment, as he perched on the vanity, naked and exposed, waiting for Shay to change his mind.
Someone tried the door and cursed in the hallway. Voices clamored together, warring with music and raucous laughter.
“Ignore it.” Shay latched one hand around Aiden’s throat. The other slid between his legs. Pushed into him, rubbing his sensitive front wall.
Aiden yielded to another hard kiss. Widened his hips, rocked onto Shay’s fingers, and blinked at the ceiling when Shay pulled away to map his torso. Teeth scraped his nipple, lips framed his hipbone, knees hit the floormat.
“Shay,” he said, because he could, because he was awake andShay was on his knees, fitting his mouth around Aiden’s swollen clit. He tipped backward and caught the edge of the counter with his palm, chest rising and falling with every shallow breath. He cupped Shay’s skull. Gasped and whimpered and tried to stay quiet. Maybe the ecstasy made his heart ache and his body tremble. Maybe it didn’t. Maybe Aiden had forgotten what it felt like to be licked open, fingered slowly, pleasured on purpose. Or maybe Aiden had been starving and senseless, searching for Shay Bennett in every worthless fuck he’d found, and being with him,finally, felt like hysteria.
