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CHAPTER NINETEEN

JASPER

I’m fucking gone for her. Feral. Past my breaking point. I breathe her in, inhaling long and deep. She smells like heaven, tastes like nirvana. I’ve never felt like this before. This all consuming need. So desperate that I can’t get enough.

I spread her legs as wide as I can, nuzzling my face into her pussy so her scent will be embedded in my skin. My cock throbs, dripping from the tip, almost painful at this point.

“Jas,” she hisses as I fuck my tongue into her cunt. I do it again, wrapping my hand around her waist, helping her grind into me. It’s so fucking hot how she takes what she wants. I’d expect nothing less.

I take long strokes, savoring every drop that she gives me. Flicking her clit when she cries out. She’s so perfect. So fucking delicious.

Her body shakes, her pussy spasming, as she lifts her hips. I pull back, smiling while she desperately curses my name. “Jas, fuck. Why’d you stop?”

“Because I can, Trouble. I’ve dreamed of having you this desperate.” She wraps her fingers in my hair and pulls me down. My scalp’s on fire but I fucking love that I’m getting to her. “So needy. We’ve got time. I’ll stay down here until the fucking sun comes up.”

“Just shut up,” she pants. “And fucking lick my clit.”

I chuckle against her skin, savoring her needy moans. “So bossy—” She bucks against my face, and I can’t wait any longer either. I spread her lips wide, and flick her clit with my tongue, pressing in and matching the rhythm of her hips.

She’s close. I feel her orgasm building. “Fuck, yes. Right there. Don’t you dare stop.”

As her body tenses, I slide two fingers inside her, curling them against her G-spot. Her entire body shudders, and her fingers tighten in my hair to the point of pain. I keep my tongue pressed firmly against her clit as she grinds, riding out her release. Fuck, she’s perfect. Her pussy grips my fingers like a vise. She’s going to feel amazing choking my cock.

I lap up her cum, savoring every last drop. When I pull back, I rise up on my knees and hover over her panting lips. “Open up. Taste how fucking delicious you are.”

Her eyes search mine, heavy with want and hesitation. When I don’t back away, she parts her lips and holds her tongue out. It takes everything in me to not kiss her like I want to. Suck her tongue into my mouth. Instead I spit, and watch her swallow down her cum like my perfect slut.

As moisture seeps from the side of her lips, my cock twitches. I’m so goddamn unhinged right now. I don’t think I could stop her if she wanted to fuck me bare. Hell, I’d give anything to sink inside her. That line between doing what I want and what’s right fights dangerously in my mind.

My hands shake as I adjust my dick and climb back to the front seat. The effort it takes to move away from her tests every fiber of my being. Her voice cuts through my thoughts. “Where are you going?”

“We don’t have a condom.” The words come out rough in my throat. I can’t bring myself to meet her eyes. She’s too hard to resist, and my control is already hanging by a thread.

It’s quiet for a moment, the only sound coming from the heating vents and our rasped breaths. I’m giving her the control. She knows if she were to climb up here and sit on my cock, there’s no way I’d stop her. But I won’t be the one to make that decision.

“Can you hand me my clothes?” My heart sinks, but I don’t show it. I gather her dress and hoodie, passing them back to her. “Thanks.”

She silently dresses while I will my cock to go down. It’s not behaving. Can’t blame the guy.

Giving myself something to do instead of watching her get dressed through the rearview, I grab my phone. Leon answered Falin’s text from earlier.

Leon: Do you need a tow? I can call someone. I already found your location.

Leon: Kayla is doing alright. Ray’s team has her resting with fluids.

“Leon answered. Kayla’s doing okay. Ray’s team is taking good care of her. I’ll tell him we don’t need a tow truck.”

“Sounds good,” she says. I don’t like how quiet she’s gone. It’s not like her. “I’m glad Kayla’s okay.”

“Me too.”

“I’m going to spread out back here and get some sleep. We probably have a few hours until dawn.”

“Yeah, good idea,” I say, my voice thick.

* * *

She tosses and turns against the leather seat for a long time. I’m conscious of her every breath, her every move. I force my eyes closed, knowing she’s right. We should get some rest. There will be so much to unpack when we get home, I doubt we’ll get much rest then. But behind my closed lids the events of the night replay like a twisted movie reel. I force myself to think of Falin, but then my cock starts to get hard again, which is also not what I need.

“Fuck,” I huff, scrubbing my palm over my face. “I’m not going to get any sleep in here.”

“Same,” she says. The car rocks as she climbs back into the front seat. “Damon should really think about a more comfortable car.”

I laugh. “That’ll never happen. This is his baby.” I blink, realizing that I just had Falin spread out like a buffet in Damon’s car. I don’t know if he’d kill me or pat me on the back if he found out.

“So…” Her voice trails off.

“I think you owe me an answer,” I say.

She turns and arches a brow. “What?”

“Our bet. I definitely saved your ass.”

She scoffs. “No way. I saved your ass.”

“Oh, really? Where’s your evidence?” I ask.

Rolling her lip between her teeth, she thinks for a second. “That guy in the hallway. I knocked him out.”

Laughing, I say, “That was not saving my ass. That was you having a good time.”

She shrugs. “Still, I knocked him out, which led to us finding Kayla and getting out of there.”

“Okay, well, what about when I killed Wayne? Who knows what damage he would have done if we let him live?” I exude smugness as I cross my arms over my chest.

“You killed Wayne because he spit on me.”

“That too… but I was also saving our ass.” I reach out and adjust a stray hair in front of her face. “What about with Fairfax?”

Her eyes widen. “What about it?”

I can tell she’s thinking about what we did up on that dais. It runs rampant through my mind too. “Nevermind. How about this? We each have to answer a question?” I offer.

“Fine, but you go first.”

Shit. I want to make this good, but I haven’t thought ahead. There’s so much I want to learn about her. Everything. I’ll keep it fairly light though, considering what we went through tonight and the vibe in the air. “How did you get into hacking?”

Her brows raise, and she tilts her head. “That’s really what you want to ask?”

“I’m genuinely curious.” I flash a smile, the kind that I know lovingly annoys her.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she starts, and takes a breath. “I’m adopted. I won’t get into the whole thing of how and when, but basically when I was about fourteen, I got really into trying to find my birth parents.” She drums her fingers on the dash, collecting her thoughts. “At first, it was just normal stuff—searching adoption records, birth certificates, all that. But everything was sealed tight. The more doors that closed in my face, the more determined I got.”

Now I’m even more curious. “Could your parents help you? Your adopted ones, I mean?”

“I tried to get information from my dad, but he was always super vague. My mom passed when I was nine, and my dad wasn’t much of a talker. He told me where he found me, how they ended up adopting me. So I started spending lunches in my school’s computer lab, or using friend’s computers so my dad wouldn’t get suspicious. I taught myself how to dig deeper.”

“Did you ever find them?”

She shakes her head. “Not then. But I found this whole world of puzzles and barriers that were just waiting to be solved. Each new skill I learned opened up ten more possibilities. Before I knew it, I was spending more time learning about network protocols than actually searching adoption records. It became less about finding my birth parents and more about proving I could get past any obstacle. Every secured system was like a personal challenge. Taunting me, telling me I can’t. And well...” She grins. “I’ve never been good at taking no for an answer.”

Hearing that story connects the pieces I already know, forming a clearer picture. Those gray eyes light up when she talks about her skills and I can’t blame her. She’s worked hard for everything she’s learned and done it all through sheer determination. I’m even more intrigued.

“You said you didn’t find them then. Does that mean you ended up finding your parents later?” I ask.

Wagging her fingers, she says with a smirk, “The deal was one question, cheater.”

“Can’t help myself. You’re so very mysterious.”

“I’m really not, but I’ll let you think I am,” she says. Her eyes stray toward the window.

“Thinking about your question?” I wonder out loud.

“You could say that.” She gets quiet again, drawing shapes in the window’s condensation, little swirls and stars.

I want her to ask me things—about my life, about what makes me who I am. Something real… beyond the surface. I can’t force her to want to know me though, and maybe that’s for the best. It’s safer if she just sees Jasper the jokester, the charmer who can get out of anything. If she looks too closely, asks too many questions, she’ll see how broken I really am. How I failed Bailey and how it fucking kills me everyday. How I’m barely holding it together most of the time.

No one wants to know me . Who I wanted to be before everything fell apart… Who I am now. Maybe we’re all as lost as I feel, but it doesn’t hurt any less knowing the woman breaking down all my walls has nothing personal to ask me.

“Look, I?—”

A flash of blinding lights in the rearview cut off my words. We turn, shielding our eyes, and are greeted by the roar of a snow plow.

“Thank fucking God,” Falin says. “I know we’re in bumblefuck but I really didn’t think they’d take this long to plow.”

She’s excited to get home… to get space from me. Understandably. Can’t help the lump in my throat from forming anyway.

Once the truck passes us, I pull out and follow a few car lengths behind. The ride back is silent except for the squeaking of Damon’s wipers and the low melodic tune of my mellow playlist.

Dawn breaks as we pull off the parkway, early light glinting off the Hudson to our right. As the skyline comes into view, it almost makes it easier to pretend the past twenty-four hours weren’t real. That Falin and I could go back to how we were before the gala. She taps her fingers on the car door to the beat of the music and that small gesture has me smiling. There’s no going back for me. The walls are crumbling, and Falin’s the only one I want to let in.