Most people just didn’t get caught.
She knew a lot about me, too—stats, records, things only someone paying attention would know. But I didn’t mind that, either. If anything, it made sense. We fit. We watched each other.
I mean, I’d had Jace change her emergency contact in her student file to my name and number, and I didn’t think it was a big deal.
He’d also hacked the dining hall system so her meal card pinged my phone every time she ate. Also not a big deal—I just liked knowing she was eating.
Then there was the tracking app he’d installed onto her phone while she was in the bathroom at lunch. I hadn’t ever thought I’d learn how to do it. But Jace had made an excellent teacher, and now I could be sure she was safe whenever we weren’t together.
And the webcam thing…He had swapped it out for me so it streamed straight to my phone when she studied.
All of it felt…normal.
Just small ways to make sure she was okay.
We just really loved each other.
Matty, you kind of sound like a psycho.
Maybe I shouldn’t have given Parker and Jace such a hard time about the things they’d done to get their girls…
I kept seeing Ophelia’s face from earlier, though. The way her eyes had gone wide when I’d picked up her journal, the tears streaking down her cheeks like she thought I was going to end us. The sound she’d made when I told her to stop apologizing. Like she couldn’t believe I wasn’t angry.
The memory lodged somewhere deep, twisting.
She’d been so scared I’d run.
How could I help her to see I wasn’t going anywhere?
Hmm. There was one thing I could do…
And even Jace would have agreed…it was a big-brain idea.
If she could see what she meant to me, if I could do something so she would know I wasn’t going anywhere…
Then she’d stop being afraid.
I’d give her a tattoo. Not flowers. Or initials. I’d tattooMrs. Adleron her skin. Then she could look at it and know every day who she belonged to.
Fuck.
I’d have to do that in a few minutes…because her tongue had started to move. Slow, unconscious, sleepy licks along the underside of my shaft. She started suckling gently, her lips sealing around the head, soft, wet pulls that made my hips twitch.
Her breath hitched in her sleep, a tiny moan vibrating through me, and I felt it everywhere.
I didn’t move.
I didn’t need to.
She kept going, lazy and instinctive, her tongue swirling, her lips nursing slow and sweet like I was her comfort, herhome. Each gentle suck pulled me deeper into her warmth, her throat fluttering when she swallowed around me.
My palm settled at her nape, a silent collar, keeping her exactly where she belonged.
I came with a shuddering groan, spilling into her mouth in thick, pulsing waves.
She swallowed in her sleep, throat working, lips never breaking the seal, taking every drop like it was the most natural thing in the world. A soft, satisfied hum escaped her, her body relaxing deeper into the mattress, still holding me inside.
Holy fuck.
