Page 7

Avalon

When Parrish called Sheena a troll, I almost laughed.

It was laugh or cry at that point, and my despair was trying to win.

Sheena had stood there sneering while Parrish and I had packed up my stuff.

I’d refused to let my tears fall while Parrish helped me load my things—mostly clothes, papers and books—into his car.

Breaking me would only fuel her nastiness.

Thankfully, there were a few baskets and my suitcase amongst the items Sheena had tossed out, and my clothing wasn’t in jumbled piles on his backseat.

I was doubly thankful that my mom’s ring and my personal documents were in a fire safe at Nash’s. Even at the beginning of the school year, I hadn’t fully trusted Sheena, and clearly, I hadn’t been wrong.

Though I’d told him he could take me to Nash, we’d gone back to Parrish’s house after my stuff was in the car.

He never let go of my hand all the way there.

Maybe, he knew I was one sideways glance from falling apart.

Who knew? All I knew was an untethered feeling of being whipped about in a storm when I’d thought I was anchored.

How quickly things could change, but I should have seen it coming.

Parrish didn’t try to offer a bunch of platitudes, just silently offering his resolute presence once he was driving away from my old apartment.

My heart just about burst, thumping wildly in my chest, when he’d brought my hand to his lips, pressing a kiss on the back, and simply said, “It’ll be alright. ”

But would it. I was homeless with a month and a half of school left.

With turmoil roiling inside me, I followed him through the back door of his house, so we could avoid most of the party.

He led me into a short hallway then to his room.

When he turned the lock behind us, the sound of it had been loud in the silence that had fallen between us, though with the revelry out front, the house wasn’t quiet at all.

He set down the basket of things he’d carried inside for me, then turned, taking a deep breath. We faced each other, both standing beside the bed. How had I gone from studying at Nash’s to this, all within the space of a couple hours?

“I can sleep on the floor,” he offered. “I’d just go take the couch in the living room but…”

But the party was still going strong. It was loud and crowded, and I actually had no idea how either of us would get any sleep tonight. Thankfully, I didn’t have class until noon the next day.

“Don’t you have conditioning in the morning? I remember when we had Shakespeare together that you had some sort of training in the morning.”

“We had Shakespeare together?”

“Yeah.”

“I must have been more fucked up that semester than I’d thought.

Must have been if I didn’t notice a goddess like you in the class.

In my defense, I had a night class that year.

I was there late, then had to get up ass-early for conditioning, then rush to class.

It’s a miracle I even learned anything about The Bard. ”

“You learned he was called The Bard.” I spared him details and didn’t mention that he’d usually sat right beside me, since there was always an empty seat. “So…do you have to be to the rink in the morning?”

“Yeah. We’re getting ready for the championships. I have a half-practice at six,” he answered on a yawn. I suspected he was usually in bed by now.

“Then you can’t sleep on the floor. I’ll—”

“No fucking way,” he interrupted. “There’s no way on earth I’m letting you sleep on the floor while I take the bed.”

His jaw had gone hard again, and his eyes narrowed, telling me I’d have a fight on my hands if I tried to argue.

“Look…” I sighed, at an impasse because I wouldn’t let him take the floor, either. “Porter and Nash trust you, and I know they’d both kick your ass in their own ways if you did something I don’t want. So…why don’t we just…share your bed. It’s a queen, right? We’ll do fine.”

“You’re sure?” he asked, uncertainty and a trace of hope in his tone.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah,” he echoed. “So… There’s something else, before we climb into bed together.”

A shiver cruised down my spine at the rumble in his voice.

“You have weird appendages?” I teased, because we’d gotten way too serious.

“Depends on what you call weird,” he laughed. “I promise to keep my big appendage away from you—for tonight anyway. But I also promised you something else.”

He stepped closer to me, his hand coming up to cup the side of my face.

My breath caught as he pulled me toward him.

His lips slanted over mine in a brush, just like earlier when Sheena had watched us.

But this time, it wasn’t a fleeting touch.

He growled, his mouth pressing more firmly, demanding entrance as I sighed and opened for him.

My arms slipped around his neck. His fingers cupped my cheek before they slipped back to thread into my hair, forcing my braid to unravel.

Parrish splayed his other hand on my lower back and jerked me into him.

Our bodies aligned, touching chest-to-chest—well, my chest to his upper abs and the ridge of his cock pressed into my belly.

My nipples tightened into aching points and arousal ebbed through my body in waves, my center growing wet and tingling with need.

I went to my toes to get closer, fingers pushing up into his hair. It was just as soft as I’d imagined it to be. Only…I’d never imagined his smell. Fresh, masculine, with a hint of crisp sea air, but holding something dark that crept down into my soul.

Parrish’s ironlike hold clamped me to him, taking control, but it didn’t frighten me. I wanted exactly what he was delivering. His mouth plundered mine, but it was more than kissing. It was devouring. It was owning.

I moaned, my foot hooking on his calf while I leaned into him. Parrish’s fingers inched down, curling into the upper curve of my ass.

A gasp ripped from me when he reared back. “We have to stop. God, I don’t want to, but we have to. We have to or I won’t be able to keep my promise.”

Promise? What promise? Disoriented, I stared at him.

He set me back from him, but the wild look in his eyes screamed what he really wanted. And it wasn’t to stop. He wanted me, and it gave me courage.

“It was okay?” I asked. The words held a multitude of questions. Was the kiss okay? Did he want more? Was he disappointed? Would we kiss again? But that was my insecurity speaking.

“Everything I imagined,” he confirmed, ghosting his curled fingers along my cheek. Needy for touch, his touch, I leaned into the caress.

“Here, here, for mental simulation,” I murmured. My entire body felt flushed, and we were both still panting. If him getting on his kissing game with mental rehearsal led to this, I was all for it.

Parrish chuckled. “Here, here. Thank fuck those lips are mine now.”

“Just imagine what it’ll be like next time.”

“Or after weeks of kissing,” he suggested. “Baby, you can bet I’ll be fantasizing about that.”

My heartrate ramped up again, my pleasure centers sparking back to life after barely just calming. He was thinking of weeks with me? No complaints.

But how had my life turned upside down in less than a day? A day with a really shitty start? Everything before now was worth it.

“We should go to bed,” he murmured. He cupped my cheek, his eyes on my mouth while his thumb traced my bottom lip. It still tingled from his kiss, and I wanted more.

“Let’s,” I agreed, imagining what he’d feel like in me. He was so powerful and big.

“Just to sleep,” he asserted as if reading my lusty thoughts. He probably did. I wasn’t great at hiding my feelings.

“Okay,” I grumbled, fighting a pout. He was right. We should wait.

“Fuck, but I want to make out with you, though. Can’t. My big appendage will get ideas I can’t cash in on. Not tonight.”

Fair enough. I wasn’t the kind of girl to leap into bed with a guy she’d just met. Though technically…I supposed I actually was getting into bed with him. I almost giggled at the thought, a sure sign I was overtired.

Parrish raised an eyebrow at me. “Do you want the wall side or this side?”

“You have to be up early for practice, so I guess, the wall?” I said, though it sounded like more of a question.

He nodded. “I’ll probably be back before you have to get up.” He walked over to a door I’d thought was his closet and pulled it open. “I pay more for my room than most of the other guys do. Only a few of us have our own bathrooms.”

“Nice.” I was glad I wouldn’t need to venture down the hallway to communal facilities. Eight men, one bathroom? Ew. Thankfully, Parrish’s looked sparkling.

“You can use it first while I find something to wear as pajama pants.”

Which meant he usually slept naked or just wore his underwear.

I shouldn’t want to explore that when I was trying to calm my worked up libido, but I did.

I really did. What was going on with me?

Parrish had released a part of me I didn’t recognize.

I didn’t hate it, but I needed to lock it down before I scared him off.

God sake, get yourself under control, Avie.

“Thanks,” I blurted. Grabbing what I needed from the laundry basket we’d carried in, I dashed into the bathroom. It smelled like him—fresh, outdoorsy, masculine—and I almost groaned. Though tempted to linger, I rushed through what I needed to do.

When I came back, Parrish took my place in the bathroom, and I climbed into the bed, scooting close to the wall, turning my back to where he’d sleep. When he was finished, Parrish flipped off the light on the bedside table then slipped beneath the blankets beside me.

“Thanks, Parrish,” I said into the dark. “I don’t know what I would have done tonight if you weren’t there to help me.”

“You’re welcome. But don’t sell yourself short. You would have called Nash. It would have been okay.”

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re right. But…I’m glad it was you.”

A hand curled on my elbow, gentle, reassuring. “I’m glad it was me, too.”

“I kinda feel bad for Sheena, though,” I said, wryly.

“You do? Why?” he asked, shock heavy in his voice.

“Nash is gonna decimate her.”

“Maybe. She’ll deserve it, though. And Porter’s dad is close friends with the school’s president. That might not bode well for her, either,” Parrish offered.

“No, it might not.” But Sheena hadn’t done this to Porter. And her stunt wasn’t on campus or related to a university class or organization, so it might not endanger her status at all.

“Is she always like that?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” The question was filled with disbelief, as if he couldn’t imagine someone being so…like Sheena.

“I don’t know. She’s constantly accusing me of things, taking my belongings, flying off the handle about weird stuff. This morning she was screaming at me for eating the last of her strawberries—”

“But you’re allergic to strawberries,” he said, obviously remembering that from our emails.

“Yup. And she knows that, too. But I guess she’s in the past, and I should see that as a good thing and forge forward.” That’s what I’d been doing since I was twelve.

Not wanting to discuss my ex-roommate further and knowing Parrish needed to get some sleep before practice, I lapsed into silence.

Sleep didn’t come easily. Staying still, I stared into the darkness and tried to acclimate to having someone in bed with me—and to the noise.

I certainly couldn’t block out the raucous laughter and yells from the main part of the house.

Behind me, Parrish made a low sound in his throat, then I felt arms go around me and he pulled me toward him. I squeaked, and my free arm flailed out when my back hit his chest.

He captured the limb loosely under his muscled bicep.

“Relax. Go to sleep,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the back of my head. That was it. No groping. No grinding against me. He just held me, and I quickly realized he didn’t plan to do anything but that. He shifted his arm to around my waist, freeing the limb he’d briefly captured.

Tension drained from me, then his warmth, and the steady rise and fall of his even breathing lulled me into feeling safe. Safer. Secure. With no worries for a few hours.

His heat soothed me, and soon, I floated into that state between sleep and wake, drifting…drifting… Until I encountered dreams of Parrish and everything else faded away.