Chapter 11: Aiden

 

 

 

The Black Paws didn't need Erick until nightfall, which left him with a whole day with nothing to do. Rowan kept hinting that Erick might enjoy hanging out at my apartment until then, with such a heavy hand that I wondered if she knew there was something going on between us.

Was there something going on between us? There was an obvious physical attraction, and putting two red-blooded, attractive men in a tiny R.V. in the middle of the woods led to certain outcomes. But I was free now, not just from the R.V. but from the Black Paws entirely, all thanks to Erick. Like Dorothy waking up at the end of the movie, I was back in my own life, and I just wasn't sure what to do with him or my feelings.

I took Rowan's hint and invited him to stay, anyway.

Along with my phone, Logan had also been holding onto my keys. I tried not to seem to bitter when he handed them back to me. I just wanted to get out of there unscathed.

"My car should be in the parking lot," I said to Erick.

We walked out of the barn together. Erick had to duck his head when we stepped onto the trail cutting through the woods. A short walk later, the trees opened up around us to reveal the dusty backside of Lucy's Bar and Grill with my car parked alongside it, exactly where I left it. It was even unlocked, still.

"Good riddance," I muttered to myself, but I felt immediately better once I sat down in the driver's seat and turned the key in the ignition. Now that I was back in my familiar routine, the whole kidnapping ordeal felt like nothing but a dream.

Erick opened the driver's side door and stuck one foot into the footwell when a shout caught his attention. I glanced up in time to see Rowan jogging out from behind the bar.

"Be right back," he said. Leaving the door hanging wide open, he walked away to meet Rowan at the edge of the parking lot. They spoke for a few seconds. Since his back was towards me, I had no way to tell what the conversation was about.

"Is everything okay?" I asked when he returned.

"Yes. We were just discussing how to send me back to the Wood."

My foot almost slipped off of the brake pedal. "Oh. You're going back?" I said faintly. Immediately, I knew it was a stupid question. Of course, Erick was going back. He'd been summoned by accident. He had no reason to be here.

"Hopefully after I do this favor for the Black Paws," Erick said with a solemn nod.

He seemed distracted by the drive back to my apartment. To be fair, I was too. With our two bodies stuffed into my little sedan, I couldn't ignore that the both of us stunk.

Once we were out of Southside and driving into the nicer part of downtown Riverrun, I rolled down the windows and let the late summer breeze carry some of our B.O. away as we cruised down Jefferson Street. I resisted the urge to tell Erick about the various landmarks and the memories I had made so far in this small town.

There's no point, I thought. He's going back soon.

We passed a used bookstore, a "Parisian" café, and the imposing Grayback Industries building, owned by the alpha of the Grayback pack and employer of half of Riverrun.

The Graybacks had never given me any trouble before, but after being attacked in the woods, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when the building finally disappeared from my rearview window.

A couple minutes later, I finally parked in front of my apartment building.

I lived on the second floor of a newer development. The gray siding and white shutters were still pristine, and a landscaping service visited every Saturday to tend to the lawn and hedges. It was the nicest place I'd ever lived. My salary at Scheherazade's Spa was generous, thanks to all the blood I'd "donated" to the coven when I was still a shifter.

Erick watched curiously as I unlocked the door. Cool air hushed out when I opened it, along with the crisp smell of the apple pie candle I kept on the coffee table. I dropped my keys on the entryway table and took off my shoes. Erick followed my lead and placed his dirt-caked sneakers by the door, right next to mine.

The whole ride over, I'd been craving a shower, but my first impulse after walking into my apartment was always to eat something. After subsisting on nothing but stale beef jerky, smoked fish, and rabbit stew for days, I had the sudden hankering for anything else but that.

"You can shower first," I said, and I led Erick into the bathroom.

I showed him the glass-enclosed shower and demonstrated how to fiddle with the hot and cold knobs so the water temperature was just right. Erick held his hand to the spray, a look of mild wonder on his face.

I felt a shiver of delight just then as I watched him, but it was nothing more than that: a shiver. After it passed, I forced myself to think more practically. We aren't in the R.V. anymore. And once again, He's going back to the Wood soon.

"I'll go get you a towel," I said, and I left the bathroom before Erick could see my face.

Heat was flushing up my neck. I tried to swallow down my tears as I stood in the hallway, staring into the linen closet. What was wrong with me? Erick and I barely knew each other. It had been barely three days since we met. Yet, I couldn't forget how he'd saved my life—twice. How he'd entrusted me with the precious secret of his immortal dragon.

And I could never forget that kiss, those words.

You are mine…

Erick was literally too good to be true. He was a beautiful fairy prince of a man, and he didn't belong here.

He didn’t belong with me.

With that thought in my head, I finally grabbed a towel and carried it back to the bathroom.

"Here, Erick—" I began.

I stopped right in my tracks.

Erick was just outside the shower, his clothes heaped on the floor around his feet. Finally, I got a view of his body in some proper lighting, and there was only one thought in my head as I stood there, gaping.

That ass…

It was magnificent, as if Michelangelo had carved it himself, without a speck of fat on it, or anywhere else on his body, for that matter.

When he heard me come in, Erick turned at the waist to look at me. His body rotated just enough for me to see the side of his penis. I gulped dryly and placed the towel beside the sink with shaking hands, feeling like I was placing an offering at the altar of a god.

"You can dry yourself off with that when you're done," I said, surprised that I could even string a whole sentence together.

"Aren't you coming in with me?" Erick asked with perfect innocence.

He pivoted his feet so that he was facing me straight on. I caught one glimpse of his sculpted chest, his abs, and the V-cuts in his hips that ended in a thatch of curls, just a few shades darker than the long, golden locks on his head, and that one glimpse was enough to make my knees buckle under my weight.

I stumbled forward, and Erick caught me. The moment his hands touched my skin, all bets were off.

We grabbed each other at the same time, throwing an equal amount of force behind our mouths as we kissed. With my body awakened, my hands ran over his shoulders while his pulled at my clothes, tugging them off. When I was just as naked as he was, I gently pushed him backwards into the shower.

Both of us were hard as teenagers.

He pulled away. "Are you sure?" he said, his voice barely audible over the hiss of the showerhead. His expression flickered when I curled my hand around his manhood. My own cock gave a throb when I saw the look of pleasure in his eyes.

"Yes!" I said.

The shower stall was only meant for one, but that meant we had to stand close together, pressing every inch of our bodies against one another. I wasn't thinking about how strange it was, or how foreign, or even the fact that this was the first time I'd done anything with a man since that traumatic night. I was only thinking about how much I liked Erick, and how good it felt to be touching him…

He took hold of me down there, and we began jerking ourselves off in unison. I pushed myself back against the tile wall while Erick leaned his head to expose his neck. We stretched away from each other, as much as we could, so we could watch each other's hands furiously working our cocks.

The sounds of my moans were drowned out by the sound of running water, dissipating like the thin steam floating in the air. Erick's flat stomach quivered as his breath hitched. His chest was heaving, each brown nipple puckered into a sharp point. I brushed them with my other hand, and Erick mimicked me, pinching each of my nipples in return.

A swell of ecstasy rolled down my body. I cried out when Erick tightened his fist. When he sped up, so did I. Now, it was becoming a race, to see who could gift the most pleasure to the other.

I turned my head to the side, pressing my temple to the cool wall while I squeezed my eyes shut. Erick was now making thrusting movements with his hips, fucking my fist. He made an abrupt groaning noise, deep enough to echo inside of the bathroom. With a shudder, he sprayed the first rope of cum onto my lower stomach.

I bit my lip. "God, Erick…"

I came seconds later, milked by Erick's hand. My cum landed in an intact thread across his cock and thigh and stayed there for only a moment before it was rinsed away.

Completely spent, I collapsed limply against the wall and didn't even open my eyes until Erick scooped me up against his chest. When I did, I was laughing and crying at the same time.

I laughed because I finally knew that I could be intimate with a man again, and I cried because Erick wouldn't be sticking around for long.