His fingers dug into my arm, hard enough that I cried out. “Did Quinn put you up to this?” he whispered, his voice tight.
“Quinn can’t make me do anything,” I shot back. “Isawher, Ayaz. Who is she? She’s your younger sister, right? Because if your sister was young and you’ve been an Edimmu for twenty years, then she’d be about the right age…”
“She’s my sister,” he whispered. “That’s Zehra. But I can’t believe…”
“What?” I shook his arm. “We said no more secrets, remember? Tell me.”
Ayaz’s face darkened. “Not here,” he whispered, tugging my hand toward the grotto. “Fancy a swim?”
Last time we’d been in this pool together, Ayaz had leaned in close and warned me that Trey was planning to hurt me. He’d also been sandwiched between two very attractive girls and had seemed intent on giving them a good time. My body tingled with the memory of his hands cupping a breast, touching a cheek, caressing beneath the water…
His hands on me in the cave, his tongue teasing out the flame inside me.
My head was all messed up. I was thinking about punishing this guy at the same time I had fantasies of his hands all over me. I couldn’t separate the two things in my mind –I want Ayaz. I want Ayaz to pay. At the same time, I was having equally evil thoughts about his two friends.
I’m completely insane.
It was also freezing cold tonight, with a hint of drizzle in the air. I could only see a handful of other couples in the grotto, and if we moved further back into the cave, where the water was rushing out of the thermal spring, there would be no chance of anyone overhearing what we said.
And besides, maybe Quinn was right – a little hedonism never hurt anyone.
I swallowed hard. “Sure.”
Ayaz pressed his hand to the small of my back, releasing a pool of heat as we headed off the dance floor. I walked ahead of Ayaz over to the stepped wall where the students dropped their clothes. I cast my eyes around for any sign of Courtney or Tillie, but didn’t see them anywhere. I gritted my teeth and started to peel off the dress.
I’ve only had this thing on for twenty minutes.
I’d chosen my black bra set tonight – the same one I’d worn at the last party. It must’ve been my lucky underwear. Ayaz definitely thought so, the way his eyes traveled up my body as I stepped into the water. He stripped off, and it was my turn to gape. His toned chest was decorated in a smattering of ink in bright tattoos – beautiful images I recognized from Pre-Raphaelite paintings. His body tapered from broad shoulders into a narrow waist and a fucking adorable ass with tattoos of shimmering mermaids splashing around the cheeks. As he lowered himself into the water I got an eyeful of… everything. There was alotof everything.
I swallowed.You’re here to tell him about Zehra. That’s all.
This is such a bad idea. You have a burn on your calf. Why are you getting into hot water? Because of a guy?
Hell, yes.
“Those girls you were with last time…” I started as he clambered across the uneven rocks.
He shrugged.
“They didn’t seem to mind sharing you.”
“If girls want to have me, they have to share,” Ayaz said. His hand tightened on the small of my back. “Until now.”
Is he talking about me? He can’t be. Or is that a veiled reference to him kissing me because his friends did?“I thought you said Quinn was the one who slept with anything that moved?”
Ayaz shrugged again. “I said I like to learn. You don’t always do learning in books.”
Even through the waterproof dressing, the hot water on my burned leg smarted. But that hurt the god, so I didn’t care. Besides, it had nothing on the sharp pain jabbing at the base of my spine. It felt annoyingly similar to the way I used to feel when I saw Dante with another girl. I paused on the rocky ledge, leaning over to look over at the students grinding against each other. Greg had jumped in with the band and was doing an excellent job on vocals. Andre stood beside Trey at the bar, both of them with a drink in their hands, staring into space without speaking. I grinned to myself.A match made in heaven.
Ayaz pulled me deeper into the grotto. Water bubbled from the spring in the wall and streamed down into the pool. Steam curled off the surface, filling my already-foggy head with hedonistic thoughts. Those dark, spontaneously-combusting caves and burning sigils seemed a long way off, especially with Ayaz’s arm around my shoulder, his naked chest rubbing against my shoulder.
Ayaz spun me around to face him, placing his hands on my shoulders and pressing me against the grotto wall. “Kiss me,” he whispered.
“Huh?”
“You heard me,” he growled. Flecks of gold flared at the corners of his eyes.
He was making it my choice, my move. If I kissed him now, it would be becauseIwanted it.
