Yun
I had no idea where we had gone, and for once I didn’t care. Having Ingram back safe and sound when I’d started to believe the worst meant nothing else mattered.
Was this trust?
I’d never really had that before, at least not since the death of my parents, not since everything had changed. No one else had ever made me feel as though I could let down that guard, that I could relax.
“You’re not even drunk this time,” he whispered against my lips between kisses, his hands moving beneath the fabric of my shirt. “Are you going to fry my brain for this?”
“Maybe,” I answered honestly. I didn’t feel as though I’d react that way at the moment, but later? Who knew?
He laughed, then closed his teeth on my bottom lip in a playful bite. “Well, it might just be worth the risk. Any of those rules you got for me? Anything that I need to know so I don’t fuck this up?”
Every rule I’d given before rushed through my mind, but along with it came the memory of a few nights before, when I’d spent time with all four men in the hotel room. Alcohol had dulled my reactions, but the fact that I’d enjoyed it, that they hadn’t harmed me, it had me shaking my head.
I wanted this, and I didn’t want to control it for once.
He turned his head, moving his lips over my jawline to a spot just below my ear. He latched on there, sucking hard enoughthat the pleasure turned to pain then back again, as though my body couldn’t quite decipher the difference anymore.
I arched forward, pressing against him, shivering at the way my pebbled nipples rubbed against his hard chest. It made me crave more, like he didn’t have enough hands, didn’t have enough ways to touch me. I wanted to be wrapped up in him, to feel entirely surrounded.
Ingram grasped my thighs and pulled them up and around his hips. It made each step he took grind my cunt against his erection. Even with fabric separating us, it still got me close enough that I suspected I could have come pretty fast.
“If you could move us like that, why didn’t you take us right to the bed?” I asked.
“Hey, I wanted to show off how strong I am.” He nipped at my throat, moving with ease. Then again, he’d just carried out a full-grown esper like it was nothing—I doubted my weight meant a damn thing to him.
“You don’t care about impressing anyone.”
“I didn’t before. Fuck, never gave a damn about showing off. Didn’t care what people thought about me. See, I’ve seen what happens when people base themselves on what others think, and let me tell you, it ain’t pretty.” He shifted, lowering me onto the bed, the ceiling telling me we were in our trailer again. It meant he’d taken us a fair distance, not to the small one outside the portal but back to base. “I don’t know why you’re different, but you are. I was in there, and I kept thinking, I gotta come out on top. I need to walk out of that fucking place having destroyed the heart myself.”
The words cooled the flames inside me for a moment, as though jumpstarting my brain again. “Someone died…”
He sat up, undid his belt, and tossed it aside. This left him kneeling there, between my spread thighs, as he took off his shirt with the same lack of care. “I warned that fucker, told him toleave it be, but he wanted to prove something. Turned into dust right there.”
“Then you destroyed it?”
Ingram lifted his hand, letting me notice the purple streaks that ran out from his palm, over his wrist, up to his elbow. They pulsed, glowing. “Not the first time, won’t be the last.”
I captured his wrist, looking at the marks. I realized that more marks rested there, nearly invisible before but suddenly brighter, as though they’d faded over time. “Does it hurt?”
“When I destroy them, yeah, but now? Nah, not a bit. The scars don’t even stay, not really. They’ll fade over the next hour and only show back up if I happen to do it again. Why, you worried?” He tossed the question out like a playful jab.
Except it didn’t feel playful. I recalled the fear when I’d thought perhaps he’d been the one to fall, that he might not walk back out. It made me feel oddly brave. “Yeah, I was. I heard that a stealth esper died, and I thought…”
He froze, his smile falling away. It was strange to see him like that.
Not smiling, not joking, not smirking, not angry. Just shocked, as though that were the last thing he’d expected to hear.
“It wasn’t that big a deal,” I said to try to fix the awkward atmosphere. Was I really going to ruin my chance at some great sex because I’d blown the whole mood? I turned my face away, unable to meet his gaze any longer.
Strong fingers gripped my chin and faced me back toward him, except this time he’d leaned forward so I couldn’t avoid his eyes. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had anyone give a fuck if I walk out of a dungeon or not before, at least no one except my squad. You’re the first person to make it an issue, to actually worry about me.”
“What about those other people you go see afterward?” And, yes, my voice came out bitter. It seemed that wound hadn’t quite healed up.
“They don’t give a fuck. If I never contacted any of them again, they wouldn’t think twice about it.”
“So why do you do that?”
