Page 5

I tilt my head at the enigma that is Leo Jarvis. “You watch TV?”
He grins. “That’s what you got from all of that? Not this?” He rolls his hips, and I feel the hard length of his cock prodding at the softest part of me. I scour the room to see who’s looking, but he does it again, bringing my attention right back to him. “Eyes on me, Little Miss Astor. No one else matters.”
With him like this, it’s a hard point to argue. Literally. I lean forward. The heat coming off him swamps me, and I can feel the excited beat of his heart. Ignoring all of that as much as I can, I find Leo’s ear. “Isn’t it bad that Vincent is running his mouth?”
“You let me worry about that.”
“And I should just…what? Worry about your cock?”
I feel him grin against my cheek. “I wish you would.”
Dragging my lips over his skin, I whisper into his ear, “You really get off on voyeurism, don’t you?”
“I’ll put it like this. If I had my way, you’d be on your knees sucking my dick right now.”
“While everyone watched?”
He darts his tongue out to lick the shell of my ear. “No one would watch because I would cut their eyeballs from their faces.”
My pussy pulses. Why is that proclamation fucking hot? I’ll never understand it. “You confound me, Leo Jarvis.”
“No, I don’t.” He lifts his hand to push me just slightly away so we can stare into one another’s eyes. “It isn’t me that confuses you. It’s how you react to me. And right now, you’re wondering what it would be like to wrap those lips around my cock in front of all these people…” He traces a finger down my lips to accentuate his point.
My heart rate picks up, hands clenching his sides.
The lust haze I’m in blocks everything out until an authoritative voice breaks through. “Working hard, I see.”
I blink. Peering up, I find Alaric Barclay doing his best to block us from onlookers.
Scrambling off Leo’s lap, I nearly trip over the table at my rear. He reaches out to steady me, then glares to his left. “Fuck off, Barclay.”
I turn, separating myself from the two of them, trying to get my heart to settle again. Reaching over, I grab the coffee Leo got me and sit on the leather throne, hoping I look half as regal as he did, but I’m pretty sure I fall short.
I know I can trust him—both of them…all of them, actually. I’m sure Leo will take care of Vincent but not without me being aware of everything. That is where I’ll push back. This ismyshow. They won’t put me in an apron and have me busy myself in the proverbial kitchen. I’m all in, too.
No matter what.
2
Eden
The three of us walk across the quad. It’s been a couple weeks since Devil’s Night, and the air is already biting, like little gremlins nipping at my heels, making my soul seize from the cold. I’m the only one walking around in a winter jacket, but they’ll have to rip it from my hypothermia-infused body—which might just happen.
It’s a far cry from the winters I’ve been enjoying across the country. Growing up here, one would think I’d be used to it but I’m not. I’m absolutely not, and I don’t want to be either.
Gray clouds cling to the sky like the last stages of grief. Every once in a while, a single ray of sunshine will try to break through, but the dreariness swallows it back up again.
The sidewalk is wet with the telltale sheen of ice. My professor and Leo huddle in close to me as Jarvis Hall moves into view, standing amongst the barren landscape. The once full trees have shed their summer coat and are now merely sticks bending in the wind.
A chill runs through me. It’s easy to think of nice, pretty things when everything is alive with growth and vitality. Now, my thoughts turn to death, to the nothingness that surrounds us.
Alaric leans down. “What are you going to do in January?” he asks.
He’s only wearing a shirt and tie, a V-neck sweater over both that shows the perfect knot he placed in it this morning. I stare at it, biting my lip. The answer strangles my mind until no words come out.
Maybe I won’t see January…
I try to shake it off, but the thought sits there on my shoulder like the Nevermore raven, squawking its dire fortunetelling.