“Fuck.” I groaned as I leaned down and took her nipple into my mouth. The metallic taste pushed me over the edge. “Hold on tight.” With her legs wrapped around me, my cock still buried deep inside her, I kicked the shards away, forming a bare spot on the floor. I laid her down and pulled out, making her whimper until my tongue lapped at her swollen clit. She muttered a curse as I worked my way down to her center before going back up, sliding over her stomach before ending right back on her nipple.
Her nails were like claws on my biceps as I slid back inside her warmth. “You’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”Thrust. “Pretty when you’re happy.”Thrust.“Pretty when you’re mad.”Thrust. “Pretty when you’re about to come.” I bit down on her nipple before moving up to her lips, brushing mine over hers as she made those soft, breathy sounds, telling me she was close. “But the only one allowed to make you all those things in one go is me,” I growled.
“Always.” She nodded and pulled me toward her, sealing our lips together. I bucked my hips in response, and as her moans became cries of ecstasy, I bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood.
Her arousal coated my cock as I lost control with that same metallic taste on my tongue. Desperate nails scraped down my arms, and with a final few thrusts, I spilled my release inside her.
TEN YEARS AGO
I’d been looking forward to graduating for years, but my excitement over the date had always been because of the service I was going to enter. For years, I thought I had it all planned out. Dismantling those plans for a future with a girl wasn’t something I pictured I’d ever do. I didn’t pin myself down for falling in love while still in high school. Didn’t expect Lyra would be the girl who’d do me in.
While standing in line, waiting to walk across the small auditorium’s stage and accept my diploma, I couldn’t stop replaying every memory I’d made with her. Every day I fell harder for her. Every moment she stole my breath away.
“Hey.” Jared nudged me forward, snapping me back to the present. “Don’t forget you’re on stairs.”
“How the hell would I—” He caught me right as I went to take a step forward, actively forgetting that I was standing on fucking stairs.
Jared snickered. “You do realize there’s only like two hundred people in this room, right?”
Two of those people being my parents, and another two being Jared’s. I darted my attention to where they sat together in the second row.
Jared and I smiled and waved back at them. “I told my parents about not enlisting.”
Jared’s grin fell. “You’re really serious about that? What about the promise ring? You know, how you said you’d make apromiseto come back to her when you were done with boot camp?”
I followed the slow-moving line up the stairs, and reached into my pocket, rubbing my thumb over the small, wooden box. “I brought it with me. We’re leaving tonight, after this is all done.”
Jared’s throat worked, hurt flashing in his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving? Where are you going?”
“A town over or two. Nothing far enough away for me to not come by every weekend and bother the fuck outta you.” I nudged him with my shoulder, hoping that would make him relax.
“You’re sure about this?”
“More sure than I’ve been about anything else in my life.”
“Shit. Okay.” We climbed another step. “Can I be the best man? I take it that ring is no longer just a promise.”
“Of course you’d be the best man. Who else would I pick?” I stared back out into the crowd, a warmth settling over my chest as my eyes locked onto Lyra’s. “Might be a few years before that happens. A wedding, that is, not me…”
“Proposing,” Jared finished.
“Yeah. Fuck. I just—I want to give her everything she wants. I want it all to be perfect, none of that rushed shit.”
Jared snorted. “Do I need to point out how you’re rushing to leave town with her?”
My lips turned down, my gaze shifting to my leather shoes before flashing over to Jared. “It’s not my choice to leave Alliston, but if she wants out, then out is where we’ll go. Together.”
We reached the last step, then the stage, and Jared followed a few paces behind me, giving me space to get my picture with my diploma before getting his. As we reached the other end of the stage, we took the steps together.
“She hate it here that much?” Jared asked, keeping his voice low.
“I can’t blame her for wanting to go. This town acts heinously toward her. The looks she gets, the rumors that are spread—”
“I like her just fine. Fuck what people say.” Our parents waved again as we passed by, Jared's mom blowing frantic kisses just like mine beside her.
“That right there is why you’re my best friend.” I clapped him on the shoulder as we made our way back to our seats, filling ourrow back up as the one behind us—the row Lyra sat in—rose to their feet and started their walk to the stage.
As we settled into our seats, Jared nudged my elbow and tilted his chin. “Noah looks pretty damn pissed,” he muttered.
