Page 21 of Nine Inch Nasty (Hemlock Academy #9)

Wil

Oh my gods. I did not just say that to this incredibly beautiful girl. “Sorry. Again. What I meant to say is, I really want to be with you, Delaney. I’ve waited my entire life to feel like this, to have a bond like this, and it’s all I can think about. If you’re not ready, I get that. I just—"

The door shuts behind us, leaving us alone, and that’s when I realize what I’ve just done.

I just propositioned a bodysmith, and there’s no one here to diffuse her intensity.

“Wil, Wil, Wil…do me a favor? What’s this mark on my arm, this one here?”

I go stupid and blush and then I lean forward and frame the goat hooves that look like they’re dancing across her skin, kissing my mark. “That’s mine.”

“I was only holding off because I didn’t want to pressure you. Things were kind of crazy in Glittertopia anyway, and that shower we took there with Spencer…was hot. It’s kind of been on replay in my head since it happened.”

She starts walking, and I backstep because we’re standing so close, and she keeps doing so until I’m hitting the bed I’ve already forgotten was there. Can’t help it. I forget all kinds of stuff when she’s this close to me and her eyes are on fire like that. “You h-have?”

She whips her wet hair up and ties it into a bun, leaving her neck blessedly bare, and oh fuck , I can’t keep it in. I let out a really embarrassing bleat, my goat getting ten shades of excited about the woman now unbuttoning the silk pajamas she just put on.

Something about buttons on a pajama top makes me want to just tear them apart, knowing I’ll only find bare skin underneath.

“And that’s another thing. I love how nervous I make you, all the stuttering and the cute goat noises you can’t keep in.

” Her top falls to the floor and she leans over me, suffocating me with the heavy weights on her chest as she pushes my borrowed t-shirt over my head.

Then we’re skin to skin, and it’s incredible.

Like, I know we fooled around a little more at that weird hotel we stayed at, but it was nothing like this.

“You don’t think I’m like, mega embarrassing? I don’t…your other mates are all so confident. Know how to take care of you, how to make you feel good, how to care for you…I’m going to need to learn all those skills, Delaney. I’ve been…very sheltered. My whole life.”

She hmms, yanks off her silky little shorts and steps out of them then she’s leaning over me again, encouraging me to scoot up on the bed so my feet aren’t hanging off it.

“I have other mates, yes. They’re more experienced, maybe, but they don’t have what you do. They’re not you . Since I met you, you’ve been this sweet, endearing thing that I’ve just wanted to do filthy things to.”

Gulp. “Is that s-so?”

She smiles and nods, resting her hands on my waist band until I nod a yes, pulling them down.

I’m bare as well because I was not about to borrow someone else’s underpants. Talk about overstepping.

“Is there anything I can’t do to you or with you, Wil? Anything at all that makes you uncomfortable or that you’re not ready for? I need to know I’m not going to alienate you or cross a line unknowingly before I go any further.”

“Don’t touch my butthole!”

She giggles, loses it, and drops her head onto my chest to laugh some more. “Got it. Anything else?”

She lifts up her head, and I see she’s not offended or upset, so I give her the other thing I never thought I’d be brave enough to admit. “I uh…”

“Yes?”

You can do this, Wil. “I might, kind of want you to…like…couldyoucallmeaprettygoat?”

She leans closer, eyes squinted. “Come again?”

I yank a pillow and shove it over my face. “I want you to call me a pretty goat when you’re about to… you know . Assuming you’re able to. It’s not like my dick is very impressive or anything.”

Her pretty hands peel off the pillow from my face and she kisses tiny, fluttering things all over my skin.

“If that’s what you’re into, if that’s going to do it for you, then absofuckinglutely.

You’re about to be the prettiest goat boy there ever was with all the praise I’m going to heap on you.

And the fuck you talking about your dick isn’t very impressive?

Have you seen your dick? Like, legit question. It is magnificent. ”

I feel a smile pulling at my lips. “Really?”

“Oh my gods, you like the praise a lot, don’t you? Okay, Wil. I’m going to take excellent care of you.”

“Can I…can I be on top?”

“What baby wants, baby gets.” She flips over onto her back, arches it, and spreads those goddess blessed legs. “Show me what you’ve got, goat boy.”

Honestly, that should not make my dick throb like it does.

I know I just need to get out of my head.

I take my time with her legs, doing my best to tune out the sounds happening in the dorm around us.

I study every inch of those curvy, thick legs, brushing kisses against the insides of her knees, spend some time inhaling the sweet scent of her where her skin parts, taste her to remember exactly how sweet she actually is, and as impossible as it is to tear myself away, I manage to head farther up, and I study the shit out of the incredible breasts that must do terrible things to her back.

Gods, I’m going to need to go to confession soon with all this internal cussing I’m doing. Maybe the gods don’t care.

The goddess herself would weep with cuss words if she were in my position.

“I've got to tell you, it's kind of messing with my head a bit, being with you like this.

I spent so much energy trying to suppress this side of myself, trying to convince myself to ignore that part of my body.

So naturally, I had to go and get mated to the sexiest woman alive then, didn't I? Talk about sink or swim.”

And I know I've pulled her out of the moment. Dummy.

Her legs relax against the bed, and her hands rise to cup my face. “Wil, is there anything I can do to help you be more comfortable with this? And I don't mean this exact situation. I mean like, in general, being with me and all.”

Boldly, I kiss the palm of her hand. “It's just going to take time, sweet.

I think having a date or two together will help though, it's just weird for me to understand that touching you like this is something you want from me, something I'm allowed to do.

Something I don't have to feel guilty about.”

“This probably isn't the life you envisioned, is it? If you hadn't met me, how would you go about finding a partner when you were ready to?”

“Well, it would start at church. I’d talk to the pastor, and he'd probably pray with me, my parents would probably help find somebody they approved of. In our church, it's pretty important to find somebody of the same faith.”

This time she closes her legs completely, scoots back on the bed to sitting and grabs a pillow to cover herself with. Definitely not the direction I wanted things to go, but it does make it easier to focus.

“I've never really been big into going to church. Is that going to be a problem with you or your family? When you grow up with a mother that’s able to communicate with the goddess regularly, church feels a little unnecessary.

Most of the time I feel like the goddess is like the quirky, crazy aunt that everybody has funny stories about.

It's hard for me to think of her in the terms that you do; that she’s some austere being who wants us to live a quiet life talking about her and encouraging people to follow her more closely.

I don't mean that to be offensive in any way, so I'm sorry if that came off that way.

This is kind of a fundamental difference between us though, isn't it?”

I rub my face, trying to figure out how to answer that.

“One thing the church preaches above all else, is duty to your mate.

I'm sure my mother and father will have some words to say about not being included in the development of our relationship, or the fact that we got mated without their approval or knowledge, but it's not like we could have done it any other way.

“But I want you to know that I'm going to stand beside you proudly, no matter what happens.

I'm kind of just ignoring the fact that I'm going to have to deal with that at some point.

We haven't had a minute to ourselves as a newly mated couple to just enjoy each other.

And I know there's always going to be other people around, and I'm okay with that, really. But this is nice too.”

“Be honest. That first day you barged into my dorm and found me drunk on the balcony, you had to have thought I was absolutely crazy.”

I shake my head. “I thought you were beautiful. I'd already knocked on several doors before I got to yours, most people just slammed the door in my face. I was supposed to knock on so many and then report back to church the next day. That was an interesting report, let me tell you.”

Her eyes sparkle. “You put me in your report? What did you say?”

It's hard not to be awestruck by how wonderful she is, how beautiful she is with all her bare skin and her long hair tied up for me.

I reach out and run a finger over the curve of her shoulder, running it down her arm until I find her hand, linking it with mine.

“Basically, that when I tried to deliver my prepared script, I was informed that you were the daughter of the queen, and therefore the much higher authority on the goddess. I wrote that I had a lot to learn from you instead and then ranted on about the intricacies of a conduit lifestyle, and how complicated it can be, and how much I admire it.”

“That's right, didn't you say you were fascinated by conduits?”

I nod. “Honestly never thought I'd be with one, but it's already surpassing all my expectations.” “

“And what expectations would those be?”

“For example, when we were in Shelly’s insane fake world, it was kind of nice having you and the other guys there.

Being sent to a new realm unexpectedly should have been completely terrifying.

Because I knew we all had the same goal in mind though, that of keeping you safe and of figuring out how to get home, it wasn’t.

Every time I’d start to freak out about everything that was happening, I’d remember I wasn't the only one that had to sort it out.

“And also now for instance; we’re processing things in our own way, and I get to be in here with you, decompressing, and I can hear others out there—my gods, what are they doing?”

Delaney lets out a groan. “Sounds like they're trying to save the world from an alien invasion.”

The door busts open, and August is there wide-eyed, breathing heavily. “We've got to reroute our course. Moon is full of them. You need to seek cover now!”

Delaney crawls out of bed, naked, and let me tell you, the view from behind is even better. “We'll get right on that, big boy. Tell your boss we said thank you for the warning.”

August squints at me. “Does he have the proper clearance for this conversation? Has he even been trained? Let me see your certification, astronaut.”

I've literally never thought about what to do in a situation like this.

Delaney to the rescue again. “Oh him? He's okay. He's with me. Promise you, he’s just fine.”

It's at that point that Jackson gallops across the room beyond the doorway, on a broom, pretending it's a hobby horse I guess, yelling, “Yeehaw motherfuckers!” And then screaming when he gets hit by an asteroid, aka a pillow that somebody throws at him, and he launches himself across the room and rolls a few times before lying completely still and staring at the ceiling blankly.

“Delaney, I feel like we should probably call somebody more adult than us to handle this situation. This is... very strange.”

She closes her eyes and shivers, and I’m fascinated when some of her marks get a little glow to them as August deflates, scratches his head, and looks confusedly about him. “Were we talking about something? I'm really sorry; I seem to have forgotten why I came in here.”

“Sex high. I cured it. You're welcome.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Adam calls from the kitchen.

So much for naughty time with Delaney.

To everybody's protest, she puts her cute pajamas back on to eat, and even though I'm still desperately in need of her, the night takes a pleasant turn. After the twins settle down about defending the moon from angry aliens, anyway.

The dinner table is far too small to fit us all, so people are sharing chairs, pulling up weird other things to sit on, passing Delaney around on their laps like she's a hot potato.

Then somebody suggests a movie, so we pile onto the couch, decide the floor is better, and we push the coffee table aside before grabbing everybody's blankets and pillows to settle in.

Growing up as an only child with the parents I did, I’ve never had the kind of lifestyle that let me have friends close enough for sleepovers, so this feels like a novelty.

Especially when the dean of my college and one of my professors walk in and join the fray.

Don't know how long it's going to take for that not to feel weird.

I think we're all delaying going to bed as long as possible, because we all know that we all have classes tomorrow. That’s something I used to look forward to, but now it’s something that only takes me away from where I truly want to be.

I'm definitely nervous to face my peers in class tomorrow, solely because of how bullied I've been and how nobody will believe that Delaney was meant for me and actually wanted me.

I know I need to work on my self-confidence around her, but when Cory pats my head before they fall asleep, resting their head on my stomach, their feet draped over Adam and hand intertwined with Delaney, and everybody else is mixed in as well, the floor gets pretty damn comfortable.

I fall asleep thinking that maybe I don't have to stress too much about what other people will say to me tomorrow, because I have all these new brother mates to back me up now.

I'm not alone anymore, and I have the affection of an incredible woman to boot.

If anything, I know my peers will just be jealous that she picked me, because she could have just as easily made me wait ‘til we graduated, or kept me hidden, or flat out told me she wasn't going to make a move on me.

But she has a good heart. And I do think she's going to make me very happy.

I only hope I can contribute to her happiness as well.