I didn’t touch her; not at first.Iwanted her to want it.Tofeel every second of the wait.Ijust put my hand on the worktop between her legs, wanting the heatIwas radiating to contrast with the cool surface of the marble against her skin.Shewhimpered at the proximity, butIdidn’t give her what she wanted just yet.
WhenIfinally slid my fingers up, she made a noise– sharp, desperate– and pushed her hips forward against my hand.
I grinned, butIdidn’t give in all the way.Iteased her, circling her clit just a little too wide with my thumb, then moving even lower, away from that centre of pleasure.Sherocked against me, seeking that contact, her eyes fluttering closed, gripping the edge of the sink like she might otherwise fall.
I kept my other hand on her breast, rolling the nipple between my fingers, sucking just hard enough to make her desperate and impatient.Beforelong, she was fully grinding against my hand, whimpering and whispering “Fuck,Teddy,” into the air above her.
My own legs were shaking, andIcouldn’t help it;Ireached into my own jeans and began to rub myself, too.LikeChloe,Iwas soaking wet, and it didn’t take long before our breathing was equally ragged.
I suddenly came very close to my own climax, soIdropped to my knees and buried my face betweenChloe’slegs, going straight for her clit with as much suction asIcould manage.Shecried out so loudly that she brought a hand up to her own mouth to cover it, andIlaughed against her, the humreverberatingacross her wet skin.
That made her come apart entirely, arching drastically off the counter, andIplunged my two fingers inside her as she climaxed.Myother hand grew more frenzied, bringing me closer to my finish line.Chloetightened around me, again and again, andIused my tongue to keep her going, wanting her to ride the wave as long as possible, until my own orgasm made my head tilt back in ecstasy.Ipushed inside myself, too, matching rhythm between us.
I wanted this to last forever, for both of our sakes.
Eventually,Islowed down, pulling my fingers out of my own pants, using gentle laps of my tongue to stretch her orgasm out as long asIcould.Whenshe finally, truly finished,Istood, and she leaned forward against me, burying her face in my shoulder, her whole body shuddering.Itilted her head up and kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, and then her mouth.Myone hand still cupped her swollen pussy, which throbbed with aftershocks, and my other propped me up against the sink, whereI’dhave to give it a good wipe before leaving.
Chloe pulled back and looked at me, eyes rimmed red but full of something bright.
“I love you,” she said, andIfelt the blood drain fully out of my body.
I tried to laugh it off. “You’reonly saying that becauseIjust made you come,”Isaid, but she shook her head, her face serious.
“I’m not,” she insisted. “Ilove you,TeddyCooper.AndIknow that’s not fair to say, and nothing’s changed.ButIthink we’re better together than we are apart, andIlove you.”
I smiled weakly. “Ilove you, too,”Isaid softly, and she smiled back and kissed me.
But she was right.Itdidn’t change anything.EvenifIdesperately wished it could; even if it was the only thing with a chance of making a difference.Itstill didn’t.
“I’ll give you a moment,”Isaid, standing up and reaching aroundChloeto rinse my hands off.Shecaught my face in her hands asIleaned past her, kissing me again, this time soft and sweet.JesusChrist,Iwould miss this woman.
“That’s okay,” she said. “I’llgo and use the other bathroom.Seeyou back with the others.”Hervoice was light and hopeful in a way that broke my heart.
AsIfinished cleaning up and headed back out to where the others were setting up for the session,Icouldn’t shake off the weight of what had just happened between us.Somethingthat should have been a beginning felt more like a goodbye; one we’d both known we’d have to face eventually.Thewords we’d said, so often described as a bomb, had done nothing to blow up our situation.Ourinevitable demise.
WhenIremembered whatIwas about to do– what onlyFatimaknew about– my heart sank.I’dbeen prepared for the ache of knowingI’ddisappointedChloewhenIleft, butIhadn’t actually been ready for an in-person goodbye.Andas she settled in her seat across from me, smiling at me, still basking in the glow of what we’d just shared, the weight of whatIwas about to do to her came crashing down on me.
Chapter36
Calamity
Calamity’s father was absolutely going to be the death of her.
She’d wasted no time after he appeared unleashing a spell on him– there would be no monologuing or grandstanding if she had anything to say about it.Trulnurothhad taken too much already.
Now, several minutes into the fight, bolts of fire sank intoTrulnuroth’sscales; two had already come loose near his waist after a particularly critical hit fromMorgana, leaving a gaping black wound in its place.Calamity’sfire wasn’t doing as much as it normally would; her father was naturally resistant to her kind of magic, of course.Butit was all she had, and she’d pump him full of spark and flame until she made him crumble to ash or died trying.
Luckily, the shadows didn’t seem to be separate entities like she’d initially thought.Theysimply fedTrulnurothas the party chipped away at him, feeding him with dark, almost volcanic energy.Itdid, unfortunately, make him harder to wound, but at least they only had one person to contend with in the fight.
Five against one wouldn’t have been the worst odds, if the one hadn’t been thePrinceofPandemonium.Hisclaws and tail were deadly enough, creating chinks inMorgana’sandLiam’sarmour as they swarmed him, but he was also using the staff ofTheTwelve, sending piercing rays of dark magic towardsEdenandYorick, who had come running when someone at the guild house had sounded the alarm.Edenfired off arrow after arrow, each one finding its mark, butYorick, whose magic might have otherwise turned the tide, was focused on teleportingEdenaround the theatre to avoidTrulnuroth’sattacks and inspiring the rest of the party with his lute.Theshadows dissipated slightly with every hit they landed, andCalamityknew they wouldn’t be able to defeat him until they were all gone.Sheonly hoped she and her friends could outlast her father and hisspectralsiphons.
And then there wasNashala.Calamityhad no pity for her; she’d told her she’d have to make a choice.Butinstead, the monk stood there paralysed, looking up atTrulnuroth, who in turn ignored her entirely.
“You coward!”Calamitycried between spells, then ducked behindNashalaagain.Ifshe wouldn’t help, she would be used as cover. “Yousaid you wanted to fight for good, but when the time comes, you just stand there!Fight,Nashala!Weall know you can.”
AsTrulnurothturned to deal withLiamandMorgana,Calamitystepped directly in front ofNashala.Herire drained slightly when she saw the fear plain on her speckled face.Notentirely, though; the adrenaline still flowed through her, as strong as her magic.Asstrong as her hate for her father.Asstrong as her love for the people currently fighting her battles.
“Fuck you,” she said quietly, turning back to the combat. “You’redead to me.”
