Page 16 of A Lesson in Deceit (Mystic Riegan Duet #1)

Riley

“ Y es, mom, the first day was fine. My classes are good and I’m settling alright.

” I’d talked to my mom once a day since I’d moved in.

This phone call was no different, but I’d managed to get her back on track to calling maybe once a week.

Twice if she really needed the pick me up or well, if I needed it.

Grayson was busy making the popcorn, adding Hershey’s Kisses to get all gooey.

River had set a bowl out with my favorite tiny pretzels that I’d been stuffing my face with since I got here.

My mom hadn’t brought up my dad or anything related to him in the few days that we’d talked, but I knew she wanted to.

I’d seen a therapist for a little while, shortly after his death, but I hated it.

Therapy was right for some people, but it just wasn’t for me.

I had Beau and sometimes a girl just wanted her dog and a good book to help the pain fuck off.

The minute I’d thought of Beau, I heard his barking in the background.

“Someone wants to say hi to his mom.” My mom mumbled something about switching to video chatting, so I pulled the phone from my ear and waited. I smiled when my screen flashed and my mom’s face came into view. I pulled my legs in so I could be more comfortable on the couch.

“How’s my favorite boy?” I asked in my baby voice that was reserved just for Beau. A howl escaped from the background. My mom moved the phone so Beau’s large face was now in full view. He panted against the screen, his tongue hanging out.

“He has only whined twice since you’ve been gone and he sleeps in your room every single night. Lays his head right on your pillow.” I heard my mom say. Beau stopped panting, side eyeing her as if to say don’t call me out like that and then looked back at me, smiling.

“It’s Beau!” Grayson shouted from behind me, leaning over the couch and smashing his face against mine.

Beau barked again, jumping up and nearly knocking my mom’s phone over.

“We both know after Riley, I’m Beau’s favorite,” River called from the kitchen.

Beau sighed heavily as if anyone but me being his favorite was some kind of sick joke.

“Hey, Mrs. Monroe.” Both boys said in unison and my mom moved the phone so that she could look at me again.

“Hey, boys. Fun night in?”

Grayson jumped over the couch, plopping down next to me and grabbed my phone. “Well, your daughter has decided that out of the three movie options we gave her, she wanted to watch none of them and is making us watch a holiday movie in the middle of August.”

“I’m not making you do anything.”

River brought the popcorn and drinks over, placing them on the coffee table. “You would just sigh in agitation the whole night if we went against your wishes, so we are doing everyone a favor.”

“Sounds like my daughter,” my mom agreed.

“I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you soon. Love you, always and always.” I laughed, pressing the end call button and throwing my phone on the table.

River found the remote and started to get the TV set up.

Grayson leaned back, throwing his arms over the back of the couch.

One of his fingers ghosted over the side of my neck and I couldn’t help but shiver just a tiny bit.

I shifted a little closer to him, but with enough room left so that I could breath.

“I finished that book you recommended,” he said, moving one of the pillows out of the way so that River could sit on the couch.

“And what did you think?”

He scratched his jaw. “I didn’t know how I would feel about an apocalyptic story where vampires use humans as a blood supply. In the end though, I loved it. I could get into vampire romances. The undead need love just like everybody else.”

“What are you guys talking about?” River chuckled, clicking buttons on the remote to find the particular movie I wanted.

“If you read the books I told you about, you would know,” I joked, chucking a pillow in his direction.

River swatted it away. “I’m just excited every time you want to try something new because of your books.

Just because I don’t want to read every single one doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them.

Please keep reading.” He smirked over at me and I squeezed my thighs together.

Nothing was more attractive than a man who appreciated his partner’s love of books, even if it was just because I randomly send him passages that make me horny, so he knows what to do for later.

Grayson made a move to get up from the couch, motioning for me to switch places with him. “A Riley sandwich is a must.”

I stuck my tongue in my cheek scooting over. “I’m a sandwich now?”

“Precisely. This way we equally get you.” Grayson looked over at River who had a small smile on his face but said nothing. “Unless that’s weird. I can sit in the armchair.” He nodded towards the chair that was adjacent to the couch.

I saw that River was looking at me out of the corner of his eye as if he was trying to figure out what my response would be.

The couch would seem empty without Grayson here and I liked having them both in my vicinity.

“It’s not weird. River doesn’t mind sharing, do you?

” It was meant to come out like a joke, but somehow my voice came off flirtier than I would have liked.

“I do not, gorgeous.” He leaned his elbow on the arm on the couch, placing a finger at this temple, narrowing his eyes at me. He placed a hand on my thigh, squeezing.

Grayson settled down next to me, his thigh brushing mine.

I leaned forward to grab the popcorn bowl, the smell of butter and chocolate hitting my nostrils.

We’d had these movie nights before, but for some reason there was tension in the air that I couldn’t shake.

It wasn’t bad, but it had my skin growing hot.

River had his hand on my thigh, but my other thigh was empty and I had half a mind to grab Grayson’s hand and place it on my body, but the opening credits of the movie stopped me.

Grayson passed out twenty minutes before the movie ended, so River threw a blanket over him and called it a night. He grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to his room. I sat on his bed, seeing a text from Corrin.

CORRIN

Goods are well taken care of in my little lab at home.

She sent me a picture of the glass shard on top of a table with bottles of multicolored liquids. A few pipettes and beakers were littered around, while what looked like an old school Bunsen burner sat in the corner.

Thank you. Let me know as soon as you have something.

CORRIN

Will do. I don’t have class tomorrow, so I’ll be working on it most of the day. I’ll update you when I can.

She sent a winky face and I sighed, wondering if letting one person in was one too many.

I felt hands on my shoulders, squeezing and digging fingers pushed into my skin. “You okay?” River asked, continuing to massage.

“Mhmm.” It was all I could say because what he was doing felt way too good.

He removed one of his hands to push my braids away from my neck. Lips hit my skin in gentle, fiery kisses. He gripped my open flannel and pulled back, slowly sliding it down my arms. He continued to kiss my neck, while he moved his hands to my chest, cupping my breasts over my tank top.

River laughed deeply against my skin when he realized I hadn’t worn a bra, so he could easily pull and tease my nipples through the material.

He held one of my breasts in his hand, continuously teasing and ran his other hand down my stomach.

He unbuttoned my pants with one hand and dipped his fingers inside my panties.

I sucked in a breath when he grazed my clit, rubbing the pads of his fingers over it. His lips continued to lick and bite as he ran his fingers over my pussy.

“So wet already.” He licked my ear, taking the lobe between his teeth and gently biting down. His fingers slid over my clit, again and again, causing me to lean back against him. I looked down seeing his tattooed covered arm flex and move while he got me off.

I whimpered when he eased two of his fingers inside of me, pumping them in and out. He didn’t try to pull my pants off or get me completely naked. He just needed to touch me right now, needed to feel how much he turned me on.

His breath was hot against me. “I need to feel you come on my fingers, gorgeous. Then I’ll fuck your sweet little cunt just the way you like.”

“Oh, fuck, River, please,” I begged, moving the lower half of my body so I could get more friction on my clit. As if he knew just what I wanted, River moved his thumb over my aching clit and played with it. He flicked his thumb over it, while maintaining the rhythm of his thrusting fingers.

“I really need to fuck you, so give me what I want, Riley.” He pumped harder and I shut my eyes, feeling my orgasm at its peak. The sound of how wet I was filling my ears each and every time his fingers drove into me sent me over the edge.

River pulled his fingers out when I started to catch my breath.

“That’s a good girl.” I heard him get off the bed and walk around so that he was in front of me.

He placed his hand at my face, using his thumb to caress my cheek.

“Take it out.” He moved his hand down my arm, raising my hand and placing it over where his cock was hard beneath his pants.

I made quick work of his belt, biting my lip when I shimmied his pants down his legs and his cock jutted out.

His piercing almost always caught me off guard each time I saw it.

I wrapped my hand around him, letting the silver balls run over my palm as I stroked him.

He kicked off his pants, watching me intently as I shifted closer to him.

Leaning down, I circled my tongue around the head of his cock, peeking up at him.