“Please,” he gasped. “Please, please—”
Riot groaned and pulled Cass’s hips down harder, grinding up at the same time. The pressure was intense, almost painful, and Cass felt that coiling thing climbing higher—
What is that? What’s happening to me?
Fear crashed through him.
“Stop—” The word came out panicked. “Riot, it feels weird—”
“I know.” Riot’s hands squeezed him harder, his cheeks bright pink as he leaned in to kiss Cass’s neck. “Let it happen.”
“I can’t—”
“It’s okay. It’s supposed to—”
“No!” The word came out raw, desperate. He tried to pull back, tried to get away from the overwhelming sensations. “I can’t—it feels like I’m going to break apart—”
Riot’s grip loosened immediately, his expression shifting from predatory hunger to something like concern. But Cass was already falling backward, his whole body shaking with the need to escape before that climbing thing reached its peak.
“Hey—” Riot reached for him, but Cass was already off his lap, bare feet hitting the cold floor. “Cass, wait—”
“I need air.” His voice cracked. “I just need—I can’t—air. I need air—”
He was babbling, tears streaming down his face, his body still throbbing with that unfulfilled need. Part of him wanted to crawl back into Riot’s lap and let whatever was building finally crest, but the fear was bigger. The unknown was too much.
“Princess.” Riot rose slowly from the bed, the gold in his eyes still bright, his body still coiled with tension. “Don’t run.”
Cass took another instinctive step back, his hand finding the wall behind him. “I’m not—I just need to clear my head—”
“What you need,” Riot said, taking a measured step forward, “is to stay.”
The words sent a shiver through Cass. His body was still screaming for something—that hollow ache worse than evernow, the climbing sensation receded but not gone, just waiting to build again.
“Why?” he whispered.
Riot’s eyes, more gold than green, tracked Cass’s every small movement. “Because if you run from me right now, I will chase you.” His voice was deceptively soft, at odds with the intensity of his gaze. “And neither of us is ready for what happens when I catch you.”
The words sent heat flooding through Cass’s system—more wetness dripped down his legs, that hollow ache pulsing with sudden, desperate need. His body was responding to the threat like it was a promise.
“What happens if you catch me?” Cass asked, unable to help himself.
Riot’s smile was all teeth. “You really want to find out?”
The question hung in the air between them, charged with something dangerous and thrilling. For a heartbeat, Cass stood frozen, caught between the terror and the desperate curiosity about what came next.
His body made the decision for him and he bolted for the door.
Chapter fourteen
Between a Rock and a Riot
Cass
Thehallwaystretchedaheadof him, dim and narrow, and Cass’s bare feet slapped against the worn carpet as he ran.
He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t have a plan beyondescape—from Riot, from his own mind, from the ache that lived inside his body. The wounds on his thighs burned with every stride, bandages shifting against raw flesh, but the pain was distant. Secondary. Everything was secondary to the need to move.
Behind him, he heard a sound that made every hair on his body stand up.
