‘I saiddrop it, Enid,’ Oz snapped, and Enid’s eyes flashed with something that looked a lot like triumph, as if she’d caught him out.
Oz still wasn’t looking at us, choosing instead to pack away the books that were spread out across his mattress. I had to admit, it didn’t look so good for him right now, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. This man had been my best friend since we were in diapers. I owed him the benefit of the doubt.
‘Please tell me that wasn’t what it looked like,’ I said, my voice quiet as I prepared myself for the answer.
Oz tucked the books beneath his bed, then finally met my eyes. His gaze was unwavering, his loyalty shining through. ‘That wasn’t what it looked like. I swear to you, Thorne, I wouldneverbetray you like that.’
I exhaled the tension in my shoulders and nodded once. I believed him.
‘Then what was that?’ Enid kept pushing, and even I was getting annoyed now. I wasn’t oblivious to their feud. I couldn’t even pinpoint when it started, but Oz and Enid fought like cats and dogs, and sometimes one or both got a bit carried away. Apparently, it was Enid’s turn.
‘Leave it, Enid. He said nothing’s going on, so nothing’s going on,’ I told her in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.
She huffed and crossed her arms defensively over her chest, pushing up her bust. I hated myself for noticing, but I was a man, after all, and her breasts were notably impressive.
‘Fine. But can you at least tell us why the two of you started bleeding everywhere? It looked like you were getting attacked from the inside out.’
I wanted the answer to that, too, but Oz merely shook his head and looked away. The slump to his shoulders was defeated and tired, and I knew we weren’t going to be getting anything else from him today. Whatever happened, I had to believe he would let us know if he was in trouble. Even so, he’d tell us in his own time. Until then, I could give him space to get his head on straight.
‘Why don’t you two just head on out and I’ll meet up with you later?’ he asked, then glanced down at his blood-soaked clothes and sheets. ‘I need to clean up.’
‘Sure,’ I said, reluctantly backing away towards the door and dragging Enid with me. ‘Call if you need anything, yeah?’
His relief was palpable. ‘I will.’
As soon as the door was closed behind us, Enid turned on me. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked, and I realised my hands were shaking. Despite Oz’s assurances that nothing was going on between him and Juniper, I couldn’t get the image of them embracing out of my mind. They were obviously a lot closer than I thought. I didn’t even know they were friends, let alone close enough to hug.
But beyond that, I couldn’t stop replaying the way they physically hurt themselves in their attempts not to get caught doing… whatever it was they were doing. The way they both experience the same symptoms… I shivered at the image of them bleeding out. I honestly thought they were going to die.
I hesitated, my gaze straying to her closed door, but ultimately decided against knocking. That was quite the ordeal she’d just gone through, and I didn’t want to disturb her. And then there was how eager she was to get away from me when I’d caught her. She’d run so fast despite the pain she was in, and all because I’d touched her.
My heart clenched, and I felt sick, but I couldn’t let Enid see. As far as she knew, I was on my way to getting over my unrequited crush, and if what just happened was any indication, there was literally no chance of me ever seeing that dream come true. Juniper was repulsed by me and would never see me as a potential partner.
I should have known better, really. She was an Olwyn, one of the oldest and most powerful Covens in the world, and they were notorious for their traditional views. They did not takehusbands. They chose a man to reproduce with, and then they discarded them like they were irrelevant. And to them, that’s exactly what they were. I would never be anything more than a potential sperm donor to someone like Juniper, and she would never even see me as that much. I had to accept that.
‘Y-yeah,’ I stammered, hesitated, and then fled the scene like the hounds of hell were on my heels.
I ran across campus towards the university dorms, bolted up the stairs to my apartment, and slammed the door shut behind me in record time. As a grad student, I had a private studio to myself, and I was more than happy for that right now.
Shame immediately filled me as soon as the door was closed, because I was pathetic. Despite everything that had transpired and the truths I was forced to face, something magical had just happened. Something that should have been dismissed after her reaction and the blood still staining my clothes, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything other than the butterflies swarming my stomach.
I’d held her in my arms.
In an instant, my dick was hard as steel.
My bag slid off my shoulder and down my arm to rest at my feet, and I left it where it fell as I headed straight for the bathroom. I turned the shower on, the water magically heating to my preferred temperature within seconds. I shucked my clothes and tossed them aside, uncaring where they ended up, and climbed into the stall. The water was bliss on my bare skin, and my hands followed the way it tracked over me from my chest, over my stomach, to finally drag over my aching cock.
It was throbbing, the sensitive tip already seeping precum that I used with my thumb to massage my swollen head.
Just as I gripped the base, readying to stroke myself to completion, the shower door swung open. I jolted, startled, but it was only Enid. She took one look at the state of me and tutted indisapproval, but shucked her own clothes to join me. I watched as her breasts swayed with her movements, tracking the path of her dark nipples as she stepped inside the shower stall.
As soon as the fogged-up glass door sealed shut behind her, her hand was wrapped around my cock while the other stroked further below, cupping my balls and rolling them between her fingers. I couldn’t contain the moan that escaped, the sound low and gravelly as I allowed her to toy with me for a moment. I closed my eyes and imagined it was Juniper’s hands on me instead of my friend’s, but it was more difficult now that I knew how they felt on my body.
Juniper’s hands were much smaller than Enid’s, and they were a little rougher than I imagined, enough so that I could clearly feel the calluses through the material of my shirt. I imagined they were most likely the result of the amount of time she spent in the gardens, but they only added another layer to my fantasies. It was even more erotic to imagine them sliding against me, the juxtaposition of the soft and the rough adding to the pleasure.
Enid’s hands tightened on me to the point of pain, drawing out a little whimper from the back of my throat. I loved the combination of pleasure and pain, bringing myself to the edge of my limits and leaving myself aching in all the best ways. But I just couldn’t get there with Enid’s silky soft hands. Whereas before they had just been hands and I’d had no problem with them on my skin, now they were disrupting the fantasy.
I wrapped my fingers around her wrists to halt her movements, but I still needed a release. Pushing her out of the shower stall, I picked her up and settled her on the countertop. Her hair stuck to the mirror behind her, a wild, dark mess. She hissed as the bare skin of her back made contact with the cold surface, but one look at the wildness behind my eyes and her own drooped with heavy-lidded lust.
