Game Over Boys, page 31
There’s no more waiting, no more talking.
This is happening.
He did not cheat on me.
I’m going into this believing that. If I’m wrong somehow, I guess I’ll find out later, but I would rather trust him and be wrong than not trust him and betray him in that way. If the thing with Lumen is real, and he sleeps with me now, we were never meant to be together, and I should at least finish this with no regrets.
He didn’t tell me at Camp Kellogg because he knew I couldn’t pull off the pain and hurt in such a way that Justin would believe it. My dad might not have studied this particular video, but he’s always watching me. I’m the one under scrutiny at all times, and I can’t fake this shit for the life of me.
“I’m a hacker, Princess, and you’re an idiot.”
Sometimes, even when I think we’ve gotten away from Justin, he’s still watching me. Chasm was being cautious because his video is bullshit, and maybe Maxx is doing the same thing. What else is going on that I don’t know about?
We are all lying to save each other.
“Chas—now.” I help him out of his t-shirt, but we’re so desperate to keep kissing that our mouths are pressed together even as I’m still fumbling the fabric over his head. His dirty hands and my dirty hands, they roam over one another’s bodies with a sinful desperation.
He pulls away suddenly, moving over to the light switch near the door, and he slams his palm down on it, bathing the room in shadows and firelight. When he comes up to stand beside the edge of the bed, unbuttoning his pants and staring down at me, I know I have to bring this up. But damn I don’t want to.
“I was with Parrish tonight,” I whisper, even knowing that Justin will hear. “Are you okay with that?”
His smile is a precious thing in the dark, the fire’s light catching on the pretty brilliance of his wicked teeth. Okay, yeah, the vampire description works; the demon description is better.
“No.” He shoves his pants down and then kicks them aside, reaching out for my hands and pulling me from the bed. His lips press tight to my ear. “But I’m going to fix that.” He kisses down the side of my neck and then turns me to face away from him, yanking down the dress’ zipper and letting it pool on the floor.
When he grabs me next, it’s to haul me into his arms as I gasp in surprise.
“Kwang-seon,” I whisper, his heart beating so wildly that I can feel it against my body.
“What? You think Maxx is the only one capable of holding you, Little Sister? Please.” He scoffs as he moves us into the dark bathroom. The only illumination comes from a night-light that’s plugged in near the door, offering just enough assistance for Chas to seat me on the edge of the massive tub.
He starts the shower and then returns his attention to me, putting his hands on either side of me as he leans down. The way Chasm kisses me then, it’s with purpose. It’s a promise. It’s a vow. He carries that feeling with him as he kisses down my throat, over my clavicle, past my breasts, presses a smoldering flick of his tongue against my navel.
“Look at you Miss I-Make-Pot-Brownies-for-Grandma, you’re a rebel now.” He yanks on my belly button piercing with his teeth and then graces my tattoo with another kiss. “Metal and ink and unprotected sex. My good girl’s gone bad.”
“Dude.” I can’t even respond because he’s spreading my thighs and lavishing that sensitive skin with his horrible tongue. “Don’t ever reference that song again; it’s tainted.” I’m of course referring to Good Boy Gone Bad by TXT, the song that Maxx somehow chose for his ringtone.
What a dick.
Chasm falls back onto his haunches and grins at me, his lightning bolt hair glowing in the dark.
“It’s just a fact, Naekkeo. You’ve grown a lot since you first came here.” He puts his hands on either side of me again, looking into my face. We’re almost the same height with him on his knees and me sitting on the bathtub’s edge. He kisses me again and then nips my ear. “You’d look nice with six-gauge lobes.” He taps at the small plugs in his own ear before whispering huskily to me. “You know what I look like when I fuck, don’t you?” He turns to me at the same time I turn to him, the cascading water of the shower providing a small, brief shield against listening ears.
We’re naked.
It’s dark.
We have cover.
“Did that look like me when I fuck?” he asks, and I gasp, throwing my arms around him. I’m squeezing him, and he’s wrapping me up right back. “Why don’t we talk more about this later?” He draws away, looking serious. I understand why, and I’m surprised he’s even given me this much. “Water’s hot.”
“The water here is always hot.” That is what I say, how I respond to his confession. Trauma has yet to shape me into a coy seductress. Hasn’t done much for Chasm either: he was always wicked good at making women feel breathless. Only … this is just for me now, has only been for me for a while.
“One day, you little shit,” he mutters under his breath. “That’s all it took to break me; you make me helpless.” He grabs me and hauls me into his arms, pushing my back into the wall beside the shower as he ravages my neck, his hands holding my hips.
“This is helpless?” I gasp, but he cuts me off by biting my lower lip.
“Helpless against the way I want you—as often and as hard as I can.”
I wrap my whole body around him as we kiss our way into the shower, pausing only to wash the grave dirt off. I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers our shower after the Mr. Fosser incident.
Only, that was chaste.
This is not.
Our eyes meet, and Chasm licks some of the water off his lip.
“Bed or bathtub?” he asks me, but I’m finding it so hard to speak that nothing comes out. He touches his hand to the side of my face as wet rivulets trace his sharp features. “I hope you know that you’re not going back to your friends tonight.” He scoffs at the word and then shakes his head. “Actually, just strike Lumen off your list. You don’t need to spend any time with her.”
“Trust me: not a problem,” I reply, wondering if there’s yet something else happening behind the scenes. By all accounts, Lumen did us a favor by allowing her tryst with the ‘small dick guy’ to be filmed and used like this. So what gives? “But I am going to prove her wrong.”
Chasm thinks for a second, and then he lifts both brows in surprise.
“Oh? That I’m crap in bed?” He laughs at that and then leans in again to kiss me. “You’d know the answer to that already, wouldn’t you?”
Chas turns the shower off and then pulls me onto the bathmat just outside of it. He grabs a towel, fluffing my hair up, laboring to dry my body with an exquisite attention to detail. When he stands up, I reach out and put my palm on his lower belly.
The tension amps up when he sucks in a sharp inhale, eyes darting downward as my fingers trace lower and lower and then … stop. I move away from him, and his gaze follows me. I can feel it grazing my back as he dries his own hair, damp feet padding across the floor behind me in the dark.
My breathing is heavy and strange as I move to crawl onto the bed, but I don’t get very far. The towel hits the floor with a thump and then Chas’ hot hands are on my hips.
“No condom necessary, right?” he breathes against my hair, tucking me tight between his body and the mattress. Chasm uses his foot to drag the small stepping stool closer to me. The bed in this room is fairly tall, and there’s a decorative set of steps that one could use to climb into bed if necessary. It’s not necessary for us in that regard, but it works for other things. “Stand on this.”
I step up on it, finding myself at the right height to make things even more intimate.
“Did that look like me when I fuck?” Chasm’s words echo, a question firmly seared into my soul.
“I love you,” I tell him, swallowing past the emotion. “You know that, right? You’ve been saying it to me a lot, and I haven’t said it back.” I look over my shoulder, and his face is right there. We look at one another’s lips way too much to be sane. We’re doing it even now. “Okay?”
“I know it even when you don’t say it: I can see it in your eyes.” He kisses me like it’s an invitation, and I start to turn toward him. Instead, Chasm puts his hand on my upper back and gives me a gentle push. My body curls over the edge of the bed, his hands gripping my hips.
He moves one of them between us, and I close my eyes as I feel him pressing against me. The firelight flickers against my closed lids as I pull in a deep breath and then exhale slowly while Chas enters me. It’s as magical a feeling as his kiss, a binding spell, an alluring curse. My fingers curl into the blankets as we come fully together, his own breath a rough, shuddering exhale.
Chasm smooths his palm up my back, pressing it hard between my shoulder blades.
“As long as I have you, I’m happy.” That’s the last thing he says to me before he starts to thrust. There’s enough give in that mattress to offer some movement, but not enough that I can’t feel everything when he slams me against it. I bite down on a wrinkle in the covers, keeping the wild sounds trapped in my throat. “Don’t do that; let me hear you.”
Chasm encourages me to relax a little more, working us together until a fine sheen of sweat covers us both. I’m panting now, making small sounds that he responds to with appreciative noises of his own. I lift up on my forearms, savoring the feel of Chas’ hands on my skin, his heat at my back, his strength all around me.
When I match his pace with my own body, working back against him, the moment changes to something more primal. We’re both moving now, and I’m sitting up even more, pushing against him. I end up with one of my own hands between my legs as we rock harder and faster toward a climax.
It’s more or less mutual, my pleasure causing him to find his, and we shudder together. His grip on me gets rough as I drag the covers toward us with my own violent grasping. Chasm’s palms fall to the bed on either side of me as he breathes through the moment, and I sit there with a hummingbird heart and a pulsing body. I can feel my blood rushing through my veins, down to my toes, my fingertips, making my head spin a little—but in a good way.
“That …” Chasm doesn’t even have words. Instead, he exhales and then pulls away from me, helping my boneless body onto the bed before he climbs up beside me.
We lay facing one another, curled into similar positions with our faces close.
“That … what?” I whisper, still fighting to catch my own breath. “You can’t just leave off like that.”
He looks at me through the dark, so tender and adorable that I want to roll away and hide my face.
“That was perfect.” He pushes my shoulder so that I’m lying on my back and staring up at him. “You’re perfect for me, Naekkeo.” Chasm’s mouth finds its way down my chest and belly, and then elsewhere, and I’m grabbing at the blankets again as he discovers all the right spots and tortures me with his tongue.
“It’s not.” That’s what I say when he finishes and lifts up to stare at me like I’ve lost my mind. I grab a handful of his hair and pull him to me. “That video, it’s not how you fuck,” I whisper to him, and he gives me a heart-crushing twist of lips.
“Nah.” He pretends to kiss me again but draws back before I can take his mouth. “I’m a goddamn talent, aren’t I?” Chasm rolls onto his back, and I end up tucked against his side with his arm wrapped around my waist. He lifts his head to try to peer at me, brow raised.
“A true natural,” I agree, briefly forgetting that we’re at Justin’s place. I’ve adapted to the high stress life we’ve been leading. If I can’t relax in a serial killer’s den, then I’ll never relax.
“Let me get you pj’s or something; we can take another shower.” Chas adjusts my position so that I’m cradled by pillows. I grab his arm when he tries to get up.
“Let’s not shower,” I say, voice tiny and small with embarrassment. He narrows his eyes on me and then smiles prettily.
“Oh yeah? Okay. You want to wear me to bed? That’s fine.” I slap him but his smirk only deepens. “Fine, you want me to get some pajamas from your room?”
“I’d rather wear some of your clothes,” I admit, and this look of pure joy sweeps his face before it’s replaced with a deep, primal satisfaction. He hops out of bed, squatting beside his duffel bag on the floor. I hadn’t even realized he’d brought his stuff.
He came here, to this horrible place, for me. He could have been (relatively) safe back at Laverne’s with Tess and the boys, but he chose to be with me instead.
Yeah. Even with the serial killer shit, I’m lucky. Love like this isn’t easy to find.
“Here.” Chas drops a t-shirt and some panties on the bed before pulling on a pair of sweats for himself. “You’ll be clothed, but not too clothed.”
I snag the items, my skin heating with its usual unfortunate blush. I don’t care; I just want to be swallowed up by his clothes. By him.
“I’m sleeping here tonight,” I add as I sit up and pull the t-shirt over my head.
“Uh, you leaving wasn’t an option.” Chasm hops back on the bed beside me and then snorts when he realizes that I’m staring at the panties he’s given me. They’re mine, from my dresser at Laverne’s. Maxine brought me lots of new underwear when she gave me all those clothes. “Yeah, sorry. Parrish and I went through your panty drawer for practical reasons. We figured you might need some clothes.” He drops down to whisper to me again, but I don’t think he cares if Justin hears this part. “If it makes you feel any better, Maxx saw what we were doing, got a hard-on, and then took off at a run. He might be in love with your sister, but he’s still got that hentai seiyoku, you know what I mean.”
Japanese words this time, not Korean. Also, the meaning? Sexual perversion. Chasm might be joking, but he’s a little bit serious, too. Maxx is still into me whether he wants to be or not.
My blush gets a million times worse, but Chasm doesn’t seem to notice (or pretends not to) and then he scoops me up into his arms and curls around me protectively. We don’t necessarily sleep the whole night, but neither of us leaves that bed.
It’s a small, brief slice of heaven in a never-ending hellscape.
I just hope we haven’t given away any of our most precious secrets to Justin.
I crack my lids to perfect darkness, certain that I imagined the voice calling out to me from beyond the door. Whoever that is, they better be a ghost. Only a haunting is getting me up now. But it’s not a ghost: it’s worse. Justin’s OG spawn is calling. Guess my first assassination doesn’t even deserve a celebratory day of sleeping in.
My eyes close in stubborn retaliation, and I almost drift off again, but the knocking doesn’t stop.
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” Delphine calls cheerfully, and I groan, turning and burying my face against Chasm’s bare chest. I come to with a frustrated sigh, eyes opening to find Chas half-asleep and grumbling next to me. He’s cute as hell though, won’t lie. Lots of hickeys though. Lots and lots. Him and me.
A quick peek under the blankets shows me that he’s unfortunately (fortunately?) still wearing the sweatpants he got out last night. So, not naked. Nope. As for me, I’ve somehow lost my panties during one of our nightly, err, sleeping breaks. When did that happen? Not the time I said, ‘yes, oppa, more’ because that would make the whole ordeal even more shameful in the light of day.
I flick Chasm in the forehead and he bites my finger in retaliation. He holds it gently between his teeth as he lifts a single eyelid.
“What fucking time is it?” he mumbles as I lift my head up in the direction of the door.
“We’re coming!” I call out, waiting for her to respond.
“Breakfast is ready. I’ll help you get dressed if you hurry up.” She sounds grotesquely cheerful today which worries me. I still haven’t made up my mind about Delphine, but I’m leaning toward don’t trust the bitch. With a sigh, I look over at the windows and see that this room has some fancy blackout blinds that my bedroom does not. If Justin was only going to update a few things in this beautiful old house, I’ll take automatic blackout blinds for the win.
“I have no idea what time it is, but we eat early in this house.” I move to slip my finger from Chasm’s lips, but he sucks it in instead, wrapping his tongue around it. His hand snatches my wrist, gripping hard. Holy shit. “Just because I fell asleep in your bed does not mean you’re forgiven.”
This is purely an act now, and Chas knows it. I need to prove that I can play along without being lied to. If I can, then Maxx … He might just tell me the truth.
Chasm releases my finger but drags his tongue along it as I pull away from his mouth.
“Right. Your cheating piece of shit fiancé.” He sits up suddenly and leans in to put his mouth up to my ear. “If I had slept with Lumen, I wouldn’t let you forgive me.” He swings his legs out of bed and stands up, letting his head fall back with a groan. “Shall I start the shower?”
“I’ll shower in my own room, thank you.” I’m so grotesquely relieved at the idea that Chasm is still mine, that he didn’t betray me. I’m also sore, but I don’t want to tell him that. I feign distant apathy.
Chasm whispers something under his breath in Korean—I’m sure Justin has a translator earbud ready to go at all times—and then stalks off into the bathroom. I grin when he slams the door behind him, heading into the hallway to find Delphine waiting for me.
She’s wearing a sparkly silver shirt, tight black pants, and heeled boots. Her blond hair is upswept, her makeup ‘barely there’ flawless.
“Are you okay?” That’s the first thing she asks me, moving over to give me a tight hug. “I heard about Veronica, and I was worried that you’d be upset.”
Right. I beat Lumen up, amorously attacked Chasm, and then fell asleep before I got the chance to act out my pain over ‘murdering’ Veronica. Shit, shit, shit. No wonder Chasm lied to me about the Lumen thing.
