Page 10

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Ezra

The scent of her lingered on my skin and the taste of her was still there on my tongue as I drifted into a restless sleep. Zaffir had interrupted us, and I was desperate to continue what we’d started. I wanted to sink my cock into her wet heat and claim her as mine. Which was not only a terrifying thought, but a dangerous one.

There were real threats heading our way, and soon enough, our entire lives would be broadcast to all of Nexum. The TV in the room I’d been assigned was the only source of entertainment, sitting on the far end of the house from where Bex slept. The room next to hers had already been claimed, something the smug, red-headed asshole had no problem reminding me of more than once before we both retreated into our respective rooms for the night.

I found myself watching the coverage of the welcome ball for a while, and as Zaffir had predicted, and planned, there was plenty of intrigue surrounding my connection with Bex. The screen flashed to moments I couldn’t erase from my mind, me whispering something to her and her skin flushing in response, the way I held her hand as we walked, how I kept her close in the limo, the protectiveness I showed as I danced with her across the ballroom. That was the narrative Zaffir had crafted with his edits, and it was exactly the story they were devouring.

The host, a tiny, blonde woman with garish silver eyelashes and a wardrobe that looked like it belonged to a metallic nightmare, droned on about "the brooding man from Canyon Collective and his dark protective streak." She called it... swoon-worthy.

I wanted to throw something.

It made me sick how easily they took something raw, something real between Bex and me, and turned it into a cheap spectacle for their own amusement. I clenched my fists, watching the screen.

But at the end of it all, I reminded myself that this was the game we were in. If this was the image they wanted, so be it. I just had to play along long enough to keep Bex safe. That was the only thing that mattered now.

Then I heard the tell-tale sounds of my girl’s moans. A sound so new, yet so finely tuned to me already. I shot straight up, and was out of the door before I could even stop to think of a reason not to. As I approached her door, the sounds of her gentle sighs of pleasure grew. She was trying to stifle them, but I could hear them plain as day. My hand reached for the doorknob, but then a voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Is this how Ezra touched you?” It was Zaffir. His voice was low, challenging, tempting. I half expected jealousy to flare in my chest, but instead, I felt heat curl in my lower abdomen.

“What-” Bex whispered, with an edge of shock. Her voice was low and sultry. Seductive. She was lost in passion, and desire. I heard the soft sounds of fingers moving through her wetness. I didn’t know if it was her hand or his eliciting that noise from her.

“Did he press his thick fingers into your greedy cunt, Brexlyn?” I gasped, but quickly covered my mouth with my palm, feeling my cock harden and press uncomfortably against my pants. His words, so vulgar, so dirty. I should have felt jealous, but for some reason, I didn’t.

“Yes,” she vowed, breathlessly. And I felt a flash of pride.

“Did he make you come all over his hand?” Zaffir asked, his voice authoritative, brash, and fuck… hot as hell.

“Yes, he did,” she answered and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching for my straining cock. Releasing it from the fabric prison and stroking it gently. I let my thumb dance along the tip, spreading the precum. I bit my lip hard to keep quiet as I chased my pleasure to the sounds of Bex feeling pleasure while Zaffir drew sinful little admission from her lips.

“Show me how he fucked you,” Zaffir ordered, and fuck. I felt my balls tighten as my own release built in my core.

“Hmm.. two fingers?” Zaffir noted. “And he paid attention to your clit? Good boy.” The praise did something completely unexpected to me, sending shivers of unexplained ecstasy through my body. I felt my cum soak my hand as I rode out wave after wave of my orgasm.

I heard Zaffir groan, the tell-tale sound of him chasing his own pleasure, and for a brief, unexplained moment, I wished I could watch.

“Do you think you can come before I do, Brexlyn?” he challenged, and I listened intently, breathing heavily. “Show me.”

Then there was a soft symphony of completely vulgar and downright sinful sounds slipping from under the door. My cock nearly twitched back to life ready for round two when the two of them found their releases. I breathed hard and heavy, suddenly worried that I’d be caught out here. I slipped away quietly heading to the bathroom to clean myself up.

Glancing in the mirror, I didn’t recognize the man staring back at me. His pupils were wide, still caught in the aftermath of his release. I splashed cold water on my face, hoping it would help clear my head. When I slipped out of the bathroom, I found Zaffir walking toward me.

I stopped dead in my tracks, and he did the same. He looked… different. Disheveled, satisfied, but underneath it all, there was a flicker of something sad, something I couldn’t quite place.

“Oh, um, I didn’t know you were up,” he said, his voice awkward, the usual cocky edge gone. He sounded almost… uncertain.

I let my gaze travel over him, taking in the sight of his bare chest, his shorts tight and low on his hips. It left very little to the imagination.

“Like what you see, Ezra?” he teased, but the words were laced with something that felt more serious than playful.

I shifted uncomfortably, trying to push the heat in my chest down. “So, who won?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended.

His expression tightened, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. “What do you mean?”

“Did she come before you did?” I whispered and his eyes widened in shock. If I wasn’t so trapped in a haze of desire, I might have laughed at his reaction.

“You-” he swallowed the words. “You were listening?”

I nodded, and watched as his eyes trailed my body, lingering on my lower half for a half second too long.

“Are you going to kick my ass?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Still thinking about it,” I replied, but that wasn’t the truth. In fact, it didn’t even cross my mind. Yes, I was starting to feel some real, and scary, things for Bex… but the thought of more people in her corner. More people willing to do whatever they could to protect her through this… That didn’t affect me the way I would have thought.

And plus, hearing those two do what they did was hot enough to have me erupting like a volcano, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining what would happen if I could watch.

“I like her,” he whispered, like it was an admission, but also a promise. To me. To prove that he wasn’t doing something out of some weird manipulative tactic. I nodded, pleased to hear him say it, but I already knew it was true.

“I do too,” I replied.

We were quiet for a few moments, a silent understanding passing between us. The pact we’d made just this morning somehow found a deeper, more intimate meaning.

“I’ll let you get some sleep, you have a big day tomorrow,” he said, sidestepping to let me past. I slipped by him, and didn’t miss the way his body shivered as my shoulder brushed against his chest.

“Zaffir,” I said, turning to see him just as he was disappearing into the bathroom.

“Yeah?”

“Did you get to taste her?” I don’t know why I asked. Maybe it’s because I still have her taste on my tongue and the thought of getting more right from the source was making me blind with desire. His eyes flashed darkly.

“Not yet,” he vowed.

“When you do…” I whispered, shocked by the words I was going to say next. “Let me watch.”

He groaned and I had to turn and leave down the hall to stop myself from doing something stupid like leaning in to taste the sound on his lips .

When I locked myself safely back in my room, I struggled to control the pounding heart and ragged breaths.

What the fuck was I doing?

And why the fuck did I like the idea of it?

I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep to my mind filling in the blanks of what happened behind that door.