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Chapter Eighteen

RAIN

O k, Pascal had seen Hawke's wings. He'd promised he wouldn't say anything, but he'd also phrased it carefully, so was that going to be a problem? Hawke had certainly been shaken by it.

Never mind that pulling magic from me had made those things explode out. Then there was the fact that I'd never gotten a good look at his wings before. Now, I was pretty sure I'd never forget them. I may have stared, trying to memorize every single detail, because they were gorgeous.

"Do you think Hawke caught me staring at his wings?" I asked Aspen as soon as we were shut into our rooms.

She scoffed at that. "I bet he was more worried about Pascal. He's probably pissed we didn't stop him from going back in too, but I didn't know!"

"How could you not know?" I asked - because I was pretty sure someone would ask me later.

Aspen groaned and flopped down on her bed. "Because Axel was giving me some pointers about learning how to use a sword, and Torian was being a dick. I was doing my best to keep him from biting the sentinel's heads off, and Pascal just vanished."

"He said he forgot his keys," I mumbled, turning for my room.

But Aspen sucked in a breath. "Rain..."

I paused, looking back in confusion, but her eyes were on me. More specifically, on my arm. "What?" I asked, glancing down to check.

Red was seeping into my gym shirt. It was green and black like all the rest of our uniforms, but the blood was staining the green part, turning it brown. I quickly lifted the sleeve to find a trickle that had smudged across my bicep. Nothing serious, but definitely a mess.

"Do you need to be healed?" she asked, leaning like she was about to come do that.

I just waved her off. "I think it's already stopped. I just didn't put a band-aid on it when Hawke all but fell off me."

Which made Aspen giggle. "Talk about knocking him off his feet, huh?" Yet she waved toward our shared bathroom. "Go shower."

"I was going to let you go first," I said. "You know, to keep your muscles from getting too sore."

"And you're bleeding. I think that trumps a few aches."

Turning that way, I shrugged. "I mean, the shower is big enough for two..." But I didn't wait around long enough for her to stammer out an excuse.

As a fae, she couldn't lie. As my girlfriend, I really didn't want to hear her say she didn't want to.

If there was a 'yet' in her excuse, I could handle that, but we'd been together a while now.

We usually slept in the same bed, often changed in front of each other now, and had gotten comfortable with the weirdness of being both roommates and dating.

But it was like something kept us from going further. Keir kept saying it was because neither of us wanted to start it, and I was pretty sure he had a point. That whole rejection thing hurt even worse when it was someone you were with.

Today's workout had been hard, though. I knew I had to smell atrocious, and if I wanted Aspen to curl up with me later, I needed to fix that.

The blood was just one more excuse. So, grabbing a few towels, I hurried into our shared bathing area and turned on the water while I laid out my things within reach.

It always took a bit for the hot part to get to the showerhead, but since it never ran out, I felt it was worthwhile.

I'd managed to soap myself down and rinse all the blood off when Aspen passed through the bathroom.

I could hear her feet, but I was ok with that.

She couldn't really see anything through the fogged glass and carefully designed angles of this place.

Only the two sinks were really visible from the main walkway.

Then cloth flopped down right outside the shower. Turning, I saw a silhouette shifting on the other side of the glass. From the distorted shape, I was pretty sure Aspen was getting undressed, so when the door opened, I wasn't surprised. Nope, I merely stepped back.

I also failed at keeping my eyes on hers.

They dropped all the way to the floor, then slowly crawled their way up her completely naked body.

Ivory skin, toned but lean legs, and a perfectly flat belly.

Aspen was built like a supermodel, all lean and elegant.

Her breasts were small, but perfect for her, and the flush on her cheeks made it all even better.

So did the fact that her eyes were a little too low as well.

"Is this..." She had to swallow to keep going. "...okay?"

Catching her hand, I pulled her under the water. "I said I'll share," I whispered, pulling her up against me.

Skin to skin. There was nothing separating us but water, and the moment our bodies touched, those glacial eyes of hers jumped up to find mine. A smile was on my mouth, but it was soft. Pleased. Relieved.

"I'm not scared to make a fool of myself in front of you anymore," I told her, cupping her face.

Her hand found my waist, sliding lower to caress the curve of my hip. "Shut up and kiss me, Rain."

Then she leaned in. My back found the glass wall, and her body held me there as her mouth took control of mine. We kissed so hard. Gone was the habit of stealing one here and there when we could. No, this was more wild.

This was the wild pixie I'd first met. The girl who made demands, and I was willing to give her anything she asked for.

My hands roamed, but hers weren't any better. The heat and humidity was quickly turning the air thick and foggy, but that felt perfect. For months now, I'd been waiting to cross the line with her. Where we stopped didn't matter. All I cared about was that this woman wanted me.

Aspen Fox was a queen. She was magical and powerful. None of that was why I was so deeply in love with her. It was those moments when she let me see her vulnerability that had convinced me this was right. It was the way everything about her became perfect - even her flaws.

Only little gasps and heavy breaths interrupted the constant fall of water. We didn't talk. No, we'd done enough of that. This time, we touched, tentatively exploring slick skin and damp hair. I tangled my fingers in her short locks, holding her mouth to mine, and her fingers gripped me harder.

But when my lips slid down her neck, she breathed, "I was supposed to make sure you're ok."

"Very ok," I whispered, tilting her face down so I could claim her mouth again.

"Hey," she begged, catching my neck to keep me from kissing her again.

Her touch was soft and not a refusal. Just a request for me to listen.

"I love you, Rain le Fae. You, not what you are, who you will be, or any of that.

I love the girl who stepped into my world and looked at it with awe, not terror. "

"And I love the girl who was just a little bit wild," I said.

"The one who made sure I had a chance. The one who uses plants to express what she feels, even though her magic is supposed to be the cold kind.

The beautiful woman who is not only my friend, but also makes my heart race with nothing more than a smile. "

"And this," she teased, leaning in playfully, "is why humans are so dangerous to our kind. Poets, all of you!"'

"Oh? I thought fae were the ones with the silvered tongues," I tossed back.

So she stuck hers out at me. "Does it look silver?"

"I meant eloquent!" I said even as I pushed her back enough for the water to soak her hair. "Not literal silver."

She leaned her head back, finally soaking it all the way through. "Rain, did Hawke actually hurt you? I know Wilder says it doesn't hurt, but something happened in the gym, and I haven't gotten all the details yet."

"Hawke used too much magic," I explained. "He was showing me what I could do. Demonstrating, I mean. See, Keir and Wilder were pushing him - "

"Keir saw Wilder getting his ass kicked," she said with a mischievous little giggle. "He couldn't help himself!"

"Hero complex," I agreed. "But yeah, Hawke was low, I wasn't, so I offered it. But I guess feeding on me is bad? Weird? I'm not sure."

"Powerful," she corrected. "That's what Wilder told Torian on the way back. So his wings came all the way out? And Pascal saw?"

I nodded. "He also swore he wouldn't share Hawke's secrets without permission, or something close to that."

Her entire body relaxed. "Ok, good." Then she reached for the shampoo.

I passed her mine. "Did I make a mistake? I don't know, fueling him up, or by staring at Hawke's wings?"

She poured a dollop of shampoo into her hand and began to work it onto her hair. "I don't know. He's weird about them."

"But they're gorgeous!"

Which made her giggle again. "They just look like bird wings."

"Like a hawk or something!" And I groaned, realizing that was where he'd gotten his name. "Probably a hawk, not a falcon or eagle, huh?"

"Red-tailed hawk," she said. "Not the same, since Hawke's pattern is inverted. Red with white dots instead of the other way around. It's still the closest animal to what his look like."

"And so he named himself after one?" I asked, needing to be sure.

She nodded. "I picked a winter tree. Torian found something close enough to his real name. Wilder picked his because he wanted it to sound tough and dangerous. Mostly because he didn't feel like either thing when he crossed to Earth."

"And Keir?" I asked. "Is that his real name?"

"A legal name," she said. "I bet he has a fae one he doesn't share."

I gestured for her to move over, since she was still sudsing up her hair. "Probably," I agreed. "I also think this should happen more often."

"The shower?" she asked.

With my hair wet, I moved so she could rinse hers and I could shampoo mine. "Yeah. I mean..." But I let the words die off, realizing she might take that wrong.

"What?" she asked.

I turned away, using my long hair as an excuse. "Aspen, we've been together a while now."

"Yeah," she agreed, glancing away even as the water flowed over her.

So I smoothed my sudsy hair back and reached for her waist. "And I like this. I like how easy it is to be with you. I like that I'm not all self-conscious, even though I want to impress you. I don't know, but I just want you to know I'm ok with whatever. More. Less. Anything you want."

A smile touched her lips, but she had to close her eyes to keep the shampoo out of them. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," I said softly. "And if you let me get my hair washed, I'll even rub your shoulders a bit to keep them from aching later."

She quickly moved out of the water. "I like this deal!"

"Oh, so it's a deal now?" I taunted. "What if it was just a normal offer?"

"I'm making it a deal," she joked. "And if you rub on me, I'll rub on you."

I paused with my hair half-rinsed. "That does not sound like you mean it to."

But the grin on her face made me think I might be wrong. "We'll see," she said. "I was trying to leave it vague enough that it wouldn't become a magical thing."

And in my chest, my heart skipped a beat. Really? Did she actually mean that?

"I'm good with vague," I said as casually as I could, through the smile taking over. "I'm also good with changing your mind, Aspen."

"I know," she said. "That's how I know you're the one." And she rocked her head like she was debating her next words. "And I wouldn't have done this if you hadn't said it was ok. I mean, just so that's out there."

Quickly wiping the water out of my hair, I stepped into her, cupping both sides of her face so she had to look at me. "Then this," I said, watching her beautiful blue eyes, "is permission. I don't care what it is, I'm ok with it - except you leaving me."

"I don't want to leave you," she said, suddenly turning serious. "Not now, and hopefully not ever."

The only way I could respond to that was to lean in and kiss her again.