Chapter Eight - Five
“Five?”
“Yeah,” I say, still lost in our undisclosed problems. But I catch up with reality real fast when the princess stays quiet. “What?”
She’s staring down at the water, her legs dangling over. Stiff elbows lead to flat hands propping herself up on the rock. She turns her head. Slides a piece of long, golden hair behind her ear. Waits a beat. Then another. Until the tension is thick, and the waiting is unbearable, and—
“Did you know…” she starts, then pauses.
Her eyes are darting back and forth on mine. And there is this moment when I feel panic. Like I’ve missed something. Like I fucked up. That gut-wrenching moment when you realize you lost, and buddy, that loss happened a long time ago, you just never knew it. I have this crushing, suffocating feeling that she’s gonna say something bad, like… Did you know that if you leave your girl hanging for too long, she’ll move on? Or, Did you know that childhood sweethearts almost never make it? Did you know—
“Did you know,” she starts again, “that everything comes in fives?”
I let out a breath, then a laugh. “What?”
“It’s true,” she says. “There’s five senses and five fingers. Five toes and five vowels in the English language. There’s five Great Lakes, and five points on a star.”
My panic goes away and a smile begins to creep up my face.
“Five golden rings in that song. Five people in the Scooby-Doo show. Five digits in a zip code, five days in the work week, five—”
“Five Aston,” I say.
She stops her litany and nods. “Five Aston. Who is the only five that matters. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about fives. And do you know what I figured out?”
“What?” I ask.
“There’s only one of him.” She places a fingertip on my chest and presses. “This one. So if you plan on doing anything stupid, you’d better take me with you.”
I swallow hard. I know what she means but… but it just comes out wrong. Like I’m planning for something bad to happen. For failure or death or something like that. It feels like a pact that has the potential to go very wrong.
“Don’t shake your head at me, Mr. Aston. I won’t take no for an answer. You know I’m capable of taking care of myself. You know I can find out what you’re hiding. And I will if you lie. If you lie to me, Five, I’ll figure it all out on my own and then I’ll force my way into your world and all your best-laid plans will go to shit.”
She crosses her arms. Exhales. Smiles.
“Rory…” But I stop.
The future passes before my eyes. Every possibility I’ve come up with. I’m capable of running numbers in my head. I can do some pretty goddamned hard calculations up in my big brain. I can run probabilities and plot trajectories. And everything I’ve come up with leads to—
She reaches for me. My hand. She takes it in both of hers, stroking it. Then she places it on her cheek, cuddling it. “We’re a team,” she says. “You and I, OK? Spencer Shrike raised a warrior princess, not a helpless one. You, of all people, know this.”
“Rory…” But there’s no good way to tell her. “I… I love you,” I say. “I love you so much and I can’t—”
“You can,” she insists. “Just tell me what the fuck is going on. Please. Don’t make me do it alone. That’s fucked up, Five, and you know it. Anything can happen. At any time. You can’t keep me safe if I’m in the dark.”
“If anything ever happened to you,” I say, shaking my head, unable to finish that thought.
“We’re a team,” she says. “Just like my mom and dad are a team. Just like your mom and dad are a team. They stuck together and we can too. They made it, and we can too.”
“But this is different.”
“How?” She scoots closer to me. “Tell me how.” And then she just says fuck it all, and climbs right into my lap. Her hands grip my shoulders as she stares down into my eyes.
“How is this different? We’re not kids, Five. We’re adults. We’re practically the same age as our parents when all that shit happened to them. Hell, I’m two years older than Aunt Rook when she saved Ronin.” She places both her hands flat on my face, like she needs to make me listen. “Tell me what’s going on.”
But she’s perfect and pretty and I don’t want to spoil it. The clouds have moved on and the moonlight is shining down on us like a spotlight. The stars are twinkling up there, putting on a special show. The night is almost over and pretty soon the sun will chase it away and nothing will ever be the same.
“Later,” I say, lying back and taking her with me. We fall together and I catch her in my arms, hold her tightly to my chest and kiss her. “Later,” I whisper into her mouth. “Because there’s no way I’m gonna let this night fade and not take what I came for.”
My hand slides across her ass, fingers slip under her panties, and find her wet.
She and I moan together.
“Fuck me,” she says. “Right here, Five. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve pictured us on this rock? How many ways? I just need—”
“Be still and be quiet.” I roll us over, making her gasp with surprise.
She smiles in approval.
“Look up, Princess.” She does. And as she does, I sit up and scoot down to the edge of the rock. I jump down into the creek, the cold water a shock that cools me off and heats me up at the same time. And then I reach for the elastic of her panties, drag them down her legs, and spread her open.
Her knees come up automatically. I press her thighs down on the rock, holding her in place as my face dips down between her legs to lick her.
She grips my hair tight, urging me on as she bucks her back and closes her eyes.
“No,” I say. “Look up. I want you to see the night sky and think of me, Rory Shrike. So that every night we have to spend apart will remind you of this night.” I whisper all this, my lips right up against her pussy. They vibrate over her sweet, sensitive folds.
She grips my hair tighter, making my cock hard with anticipation.
I sweep my tongue over her opening. Wiggle it against her clit. We have only had sex once. Just once. And it was a long time ago. We were still kids.
Well, we’re not kids now.
I let her thighs go so I can slip a finger inside her. She makes the most delicious noises in response. My other hand reaches up, pushing her shirt out of the way so I can grab her tits. Her hand clamps down on mine as I tug her bra down and pinch her nipple.
I want to make her come. I want to hear those sweet sounds come from her mouth. I want to have her writhing, and moaning, and gasping for air as she begs for more.
My face is pressed between her legs, my lips wet from her desire, my fingers coated in sweetness as I slip another inside and slowly… slowly… fuck her with my fingers.
She stops making demands of any kind. Her hand drops off mine, both of them pressed flat on the rock. I push her leg up, bringing her knee to her shoulder, and when she closes her eyes and begins to whimper, I suck on her clit. I lick it like candy as I pump her with my fingers.
“Come,” I command. “Come right now or I’ll—”
But I don’t even get to finish my kinky threat. Because she gushes her release and fills the night with the most beautiful moan.
I withdraw my fingers and press my tongue inside her pussy, catching her climax and eating it up.
“Fuck me,” she whispers. It’s hoarse and half-hearted, but that’s only because she’s been subdued by my attention.
I climb back onto the rock, my legs straddling her waist. I grab her tits tightly in both hands and squeeze them as I lean down and let her taste what I just did.
She kisses me back with no hesitation.
And when I’m done sharing, I roll us over. Her on top as I look up at the night sky. Burn it into my mind. Put her face up there. Put us up there. We own it.
Her fingers are already unbuttoning my shorts, her hand already slipping inside. Her fist around my long, hard cock, pumping as everything stops in my world.
And when my princess wraps her lips around me for the very first time, I close my eyes and tell the sky to go away and let me float.
I don’t have any words. There is no song, or poem, or mathematical equation that can describe what she’s doing to me right now. Nothing but us. Everything is possible. Every trajectory is probable.
Her tongue presses flat along my shaft as she takes me deeper into her throat and even though I just want to lie here and let her do her thing, I can’t help it. I grab her hair and push her down. I shove my cock so deep she gags. I raise my hips and give her more.
And she takes it.
Every last bit of it.
I don’t let myself come. Fuck that. There’s no way I’m not gonna come inside her pussy tonight. No condom, no pulling out, no precautions. This might be the only chance I ever get with the princess and I’m gonna make it count.
“Get up here,” I say, grabbing her by the arms and tugging her up my chest. When my cock slips out of her mouth, when her tongue slides up my shaft, I have to gulp air and hold it in to stop what’s coming.
She scrambles up my body, whipping her shirt over her head. I reach around, unclasp her bra, and toss it. Her fingers are already on the hem of my shirt. I duck out of it as she pulls on my pants, drags them down my legs and then…
We’re naked. Completely bare. One hundred percent exposed. Two vulnerable people on a stage made of rock. With the bubbling brook acting as soundtrack and the twinkling night above the backdrop.
“Fuck me,” she says, climbing back into my lap. My arms wrap around her back, hugging her close as she reaches for my cock and… slips it… inside her hot, wet pussy.
She eases down and I exhale into her neck. Her hips already moving, her fingernails digging into my shoulders, her breathing loud and coming in short gasps.
Her pussy tightens around my cock. So slick. So perfect.
I lie back on the rock, letting the smooth, cool surface remind me of the night. Her body submits to mine, following me down until she’s lying on top of my chest.
I look up and see the show and realize she’s gonna miss it.
“Turn around,” I say. “You need to turn around, Princess.”
She stops her hips mid-thrust, then follows my eyes upward and realizes what I’m asking her to do. One quick scramble and two agonizing seconds of missing her later, she’s repositioned, her back against my chest, her eyes looking up, and my hand reaching down to shove my cock back inside her.
“This,” I say, “is how it’s supposed to be.”
Everything slows after that. Like we settle into our destiny. I hold her tight—her legs spread open, her ankles on either side of my knees, her heart beating and my heart beating, and the moon shining a spotlight, and the stars twinkling, and the night approving of our complete reunion.
I don’t even know if time passes or not. All I know is that we’re together. It’s me, and her, and the entire universe looking down on us as we come…
“Fate,” she whispers a few minutes later.
“Mmmhmmm,” I moan back, holding her close as we enjoy the afterglow of perfect sex. I’ve got her ass tugged up against my semi-hard cock, spooning her to my chest, holding her tight, pinning her to me forever.
“You’re not getting away this time, Five Aston.”
Which only makes me smile, eyes still closed.
“I mean it. You’ve got two choices, buddy. Stay here with me all summer or take me with you when you leave.”
“Because of fate?” I ask, trying to keep her talking. I wish I could hear her voice every second of my life. I don’t even care what she says. Just her voice. It’s all I need.
“Fate. Because we were predetermined, Five. The universe set us up and gave us this chance, and I’m gonna tell you what…”
“What will you tell me, Princess?” I kiss her neck, ready for sleep.
“I’m not gonna waste a single second of this life, that’s for sure. I’m going to be with you forever. And you know why?”
“Why?” I ask. “Tell me.”
“Because I’m the boss of you.”
My laugh is unexpected and loud. “Is that right?”
“That’s—”
But she stops talking and starts squealing. I’ve flipped her over, careful not to bump her head on the rock as I do it, and now she’s pinned underneath me.
“Who’s the boss?” I ask her playfully.
“Me.” She giggles. “I’m the boss of me. My mom told me.”
And even though I’m not a mind reader, I read her mind. We flash back to her very first day of school at St. Joseph’s, when I met her at the car and took her hand and guided her towards her future. When I explained all our big plans and promised to help her with her French and she told me she knew her address, and then we took over the world.
We took over the world.
“I love you,” I say, looking down into her eyes. We’re perfectly matched. Her blue ones. My brown ones. “I have loved you since time began, Aurora Shrike. And this life is some kind of reward. We did something good once upon a time. Saved people in another life. Or rescued kittens, maybe. Something special like that. We did something good and we earned a bonus. This life is our bonus.”
“Soulmates,” she whispers back.
“Mmmhmm. Soulmates.”
“People don’t get this lucky, Five.” She’s suddenly sober and serious. Her smile falls a little. Falters, as reality catches up to us.
“We’re not people, Rory. We’re made of moonlight, and twinkling stars, and the night.”
“Promise?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say, smoothing a piece of golden hair off her forehead. “I promise.”