Bound: Highgate Preparatory Academy, Book 2

We take a long, gloriously hot shower, where Kai washes me from top to toe until I’m squeaky clean all over, using my new favourite ginger shampoo and conditioner to wash my hair. Wrapping me in a huge white fluffy towel that he prewarmed on the heated towel rail, he grabs a medical first aid kit Ash brought in whilst we were showering. Lifting me up, he places me on the sink countertop, setting to work wiping my cuts with antiseptic and covering them with gauze bandages and tape.

“You are amazing, Lilly,” he tells me softly, placing the last bit of tape on my inner thigh to hold the gauze in place. “I don’t know why I thought I could scare you off with my darkness,” he adds, looking up at me, his eyes holding equal measure of wonder, awe, and pain. “The light you have in you shines so brightly, is so strong, that you can take any amount of darkness, and burn it away. People often mistake goodness as a weakness, but you are stronger than all of us, my darling. We would truly be lost without you.”

I don’t realise that I’m crying until I taste salt on my lips, his thumb coming up to wipe my tears away as he leans in closer, his hand then moving up into my wet hair, his fingers tangling in the brunette strands.

“You are my light, Lilly. My soul. Everything that I am, or ever will be, is yours and yours alone. And when we take our final breaths on this earth, our souls will remain bound, travelling the winds together for all eternity.”

“Oh, Kai,” I say in a broken whisper against his lips as he presses them to mine in a kiss so tender and sweet that the stars sigh.

“I promise that I will tell you everything soon. I just need some time,” he murmurs, pulling away and looking into my eyes once more, his hand still in my hair.

“Take all the time you need, my love,” I tell him, his eyes closing and a beatific smile comes over his features at my words. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I lean in, placing my head on his damp chest and wrapping my arms round him in a tight hug, sighing in pure bliss and contentment when he returns the embrace. We stay that way until Loki pops his head past the door, an indulgent and relieved smile on his lips as he looks at us.

“Time to get ready, Pretty Girl,” he tells me. “Your carriage awaits!”

I can’t help giggling when he waggles his eyebrows in that goofy way of his before disappearing again. Kai helps me off the counter, holding my hand as he leads me to the bedroom, exiting wearing only a towel to go to his room and get dressed.

On the bed I find black lacy underwear, a navy cropped t-shirt, and some new mustard yellow Run and Fly dungarees with a bee print. There’s a piece of the hotel notepaper with Ash’s elegant scrawl over it.

Wear these today.

I can’t help beaming down at the note in my hand, loving the sweet yet commanding gesture. He knew I was eyeing these very dungs up. I do as he says, pairing them with the yellow and rainbow Irregular Choice Shirly Bass shoes that Loki bought me for Christmas. I walk back into the main living room area to, once again, find all the guys waiting for me, and my gaze immediately connects with Ash’s grey one, the corner of his lips lifting to see me wearing what he laid out for me.

He walks towards me, stepping so close that I’m completely consumed by his spicy ginger scent. Leaning down, he takes a deep inhale, a low rumbling sigh escaping his lips.

“I fucking love that you use my shampoo,” he says so that only I can hear as his hand finds the bare skin on my side that the crop top leaves exposed.

Tingles and goosebumps spread from his touch as he glides his hand upwards, a hissing breath leaving him when he discovers that I didn’t quite follow his instructions. He groans as his fingers skate across my bare breast, my nipple pebbling as his thumb rubs over it.

“Why do I need underwear for a spa day?” I ask in a saucy whisper, my voice slightly breathless, loving the way he almost splutters when he realises what I’m implying.

“Sorry to cockblock you, Blue Balls,” Loki sniggers like a wankstain at Ash’s responding growl. He grabs my hand and pulls me out of Ash’s grip. “But the car and Lexi are waiting.”

I blow Ash a kiss, laughing at the frustrated outrage on his face as Loki leads me to the front doors of the suite. I blow both Jax and Kai kisses as we pass, managing to grab my coat as Loki pulls me out of the door and into the lift.

“That was mean,” I mock scold, my eyebrows raised as he pushes me up against the mirrored back wall of the lift, his hand wrapping around the top of my throat, ignoring the poor attendant who stares straight ahead.

He doesn’t reply, just closes the distance, covering my body with his as he gives me a bruising kiss that makes me forget where we are, or that we have an audience. He pulls away, leaving my head spinning and my heart racing just as the doors ding open, an evil grin on his face.

“I wanted to make sure you thought about me all day,” he says with a smirk, taking my hand once again and leading me out of the lift and across the bright foyer.

“Do you know why Ash was so frustrated this morning?” I ask, a grin to rival his on my own lips.

“Why? His balls about to drop off, they’re so blue?”

“Maybe,” I start, glad I grabbed my coat, wool scarf, and beanie hat before we left the suite as the biting January temperature hits my exposed face. It may be brilliant sunshine, but it’s still winter in England. We stop in front of the open car door, and I turn to face him. “Or maybe it’s because I didn’t quite follow his instructions about what to wear today and left some bits on the bed.”

Giving him a quick peck on his still lips, I climb into the car and shut the door, immediately engulfed in a hug from Lexi.

“Why did Loki look so confused?” she asks, and I chuckle.

About ten minutes later I get an incoming text.

Angel: ::devil emoji:: You naughty minx! He’ll spank you when you get back! Xxx

A laugh leaves my lips even as my thighs clench with the thought of the punishment that awaits me upon my return.

I spend a wonderful day at a high-end spa with Lexi, drinking champagne and being pampered to within an inch of my life. We have full body hot stone massages, pedicures and manicures, mud wraps, facials with the most wonderful smelling products, and spend time in the hot tub and pool.

The car that picks us up takes us to The Hard Rock Cafe, where the guys and Ryan are waiting. We gorge ourselves on burgers, fries, and milkshakes, all whilst listening to nineties rock music, and admiring the memorabilia lining the walls.

Yawning, we head to the car that’ll take us back to the hotel, Lexi kissing me goodnight, saying that we will see them tomorrow. I must fall asleep on the way home because the next thing I know I’m being carried into our suite.

Looking up, I give Jax a bleary-eyed smile as he holds me effortlessly, even though he still looks pretty tired himself. He sets me down gently on the bed, helping me to strip off, and then we crawl under the covers, Loki joining us a moment later.

I fall back asleep surrounded by warmth and love, feeling so safe sandwiched between two of my guys, like nothing can ever touch me as long as they are near.

I wake up, unsure at first what woke me, then hear the hint of a piano melody caressing my skin being played somewhere nearby. Gently extracting myself from the sleeping men in my bed, I pad naked across the plush carpeted floor and out the door, heading towards the main living area and the haunting sound.

My skin tingles, a tentative smile drawing my lips upwards as I gaze at Ash sitting at the instrument, the lid down so to quieten the sound, wearing only light coloured sweats. His tattooed hands are on the keys, his eyes closed as he plays a piece that makes my soul ache. It’s utterly beautiful whilst also being desperately sad, and moisture stings my eyes as I watch him shrouded in darkness, the only light in the room coming from a streetlight outside that casts everything in an eerie orange glow.

I remember the story Kai told me, about when they were thirteen or so, and Ash had tried to run away to become a concert pianist, but then his father had found them, and by the sounds of it, punished him severely. I thought he no longer played, that was the impression Kai gave me anyway. But as his fingers effortlessly move over the keys, my heart swells to know that he must have found a way. He wouldn’t be this good if he hadn’t played all these years.

As the piece draws to a close, he looks up, his hands not faltering even as a banked heat enters his grey orbs when he spots me leaning against the doorframe, naked, watching him.

“It’s called Opus 38, by Dustin O’Halloran,” he explains, his voice gruff as the last note resounds in the still night air. “I learned it after Luc…died.”

My feet carry me closer to him without conscious thought, the need to comfort him overwhelming.

“I had no idea that you still played,” I whisper, not wanting to disturb this moment, this suspended time we are currently inhabiting.

I come to a stop next to him, my hands reaching out and running through his dark, silky hair, loving the feel of the strands as they move through my fingers.

“It’s not something that I can broadcast,” he tells me, his own voice quiet. He leans into my touch, resting his head on my stomach, his arms coming around my hips. His breath sends shivers racing across my body, my nipples becoming hard points even though the room is warm. “My father, well, you’ve met him, does not approve of his son playing a musical instrument. Thinks music is for, and I quote, ‘queers and faggots.’” He practically spits the words, clearly disgusted by his father’s bigotry. “But fuck him.”

I smile at that.

“Yeah, fuck him,” I echo, smiling wider and feeling all kinds of warm inside when a manly chuckle falls against my skin.

Lifting his head, he looks up at me.

“Can I play something for you?” he asks, biting his plush bottom lip as he studies me intently.

“I’d love that,” I tell him, heat radiating throughout my body at his soft expression and bright glossy eyes that shine in the darkness.

He smiles in return, his whole body relaxing. I start to turn, intending to sit on a nearby chair, when he stops me, his arms banding tighter. Looking back down, there’s a devilish glint in his eyes that I’m more used to seeing on Loki’s face.

This is either going to be really good…or really bad. Maybe both?

“Up here, Princess,” he orders, leaning back and releasing one of his arms, patting the top of the baby grand piano lovingly.

“What? No!” I exclaim, shaking my head and trying to take a step back.

Of course the wanktrumpet tightens his grip with the arm still around me.

“I don’t like to repeat myself, Princess,” he tells me sternly, a threat clear in his voice.

“Fine,” I grumble, looking at the instrument with a huff. How the fuck am I meant to get up there?!

As if reading my mind, Ash scoots back the bench he’s sitting on, grabs my waist, and in a single panty melting—you know, if I had any on—move, lifts me up, depositing my bare arse on the cool surface of the lid, right on the edge.

“Ash!” I hiss, squirming as Her Vagisty tries to escape the temperature of the lacquered wood.

With just his signature Ash-hole smirk, he sits back down, pulling the bench closer to the keys. Flushing, I suddenly realise that he’s in between my legs, getting an eyeful so to speak. I begin to close my thighs when he chuckles in that sexy way of his, making Her Vagisty perk up and twitch. Greedy bitch.

Grabbing one ankle, he places my foot on his shoulder, doing the same to the other leg until I am literally spread wide open for him, having to prop myself up with my hands behind me for support so that I can still look down at him.

“Much better,” he comments. Cuntcake. “I learned this not long after we met you,” he confesses softly, looking down at his hands hovering over the keys. “It’s called I Love You, by Jurrivh.”

My breath stills, my heart thudding as my fingertips tingle at his words.

And then he starts to play.

I stop breathing entirely for several moments as the music flows over and through me. I can feel the vibrations of the notes running through my body, making my core ache for this man. This man who feels so much, but hardly ever shows it, has been trained not to show it, but it’s all there. And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced.

He doesn’t look at me as he plays, his eyes closed, his fingers flying across the instrument in a gentle, loving caress. Taking a large, deep breath, I am grateful that I’m not standing. I don’t even think that I could, not with my knees weak and my heart hammering like it is. I’m hyper aware of my entire body; the coolness of the wood that I’m sitting on is warming under my body heat, the notes as they flow through me, letting me feel the music in my very core like never before.

The sounds pour into my ears, teasing moisture to my eyes when I think about what he told me. He learnt this not long after he met me. He’s loved me since then, almost from the start.

All too soon, the final notes are sounding in the room, leaving their lingering song in the air like the sweetest perfume. Ash’s hands still, his head still bowed and his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, like this moment was difficult for him.

He’s made himself vulnerable in a way that he hasn’t done before, and I feel so blessed to have been witness to it.

“Ash,” I murmur, my voice raspy with all the love that is desperate to break free, like a caged bird.

“I feel like I’ve loved you for my whole life, Lilly,” he whispers back, his own voice just as choked as mine. “I just needed to find you.”

He lifts his head, his eyes shining, and I watch, spellbound, as a single bead of glittering moisture breaks free and glides down his cheek. I move my feet off his shoulders, shuffle-sliding down off the piano and eliciting a jumbled sound as I hit the keys until I’m in his lap, my legs on either side of him. Reaching my hand out, I use my thumb to swipe the tear from his face, bringing it to my lips and tasting his love.

His confession.

His declaration.

A moment later, I feel his hand grab the back of my neck as he pulls me in for a kiss that obliterates a past where we weren’t together. A kiss that makes up for all the lost time, for all of the pain that we’ve been through without one another.

His tongue dominates mine, showing me his love with every stroke, telling me without words his truth. I let him in freely, matching him caress for caress as I repeat back my truth. My love for him. My need for him.

He pulls away, both of us panting. I can feel his hardness directly under my aching pussy, and it takes everything in me not to grind down, to try and seek relief, remembering that he’s still healing. His eyes drill into mine, his pupils wide with lust and longing that I know my expression mirrors.

“Fuck it,” he rasps out, his voice gruff and lips swollen.

Before I know what’s happening, he’s lifting me up, his fingers digging into my arse cheeks in a deliciously maddening way. The bench falls to the floor, making a dull thudding noise as it hits the carpet, and he stands, carrying me to the side of the piano.

“Ash, what—” I start, hissing as he none too gently places me back on the lid of the instrument, my arse on the edge of the side. Silencing any further questions that I might have, he slams his lips back onto mine, his hands holding my face captive.

I get lost in his taste; like winter nights, sin, and darkness. But not the kind of darkness that you’re afraid of, the kind that protects you and hides you from all harm. He breaks away once more, kissing down my neck, pausing at my breasts to take each nipple into his mouth, his hands cupping and stroking them whilst he sucks and bites the tender globes until I’m a squirming mess. He pushes me down, not pausing in his ravishment so that I’m lying flat on my back, my legs hanging off the edge.

“Ash,” I moan, when he goes lower, kissing, licking, and nipping my abdomen. Then lower still, teasing me all around my slit, my cunt fluttering, and Her Vagisty begging for some attention. “Ash,” I whine this time, scowling and grabbing his hair in clenched fists when he just does that stupid sexy man chuckle again and carries on with his exquisite torture.

“Impatient tonight, aren’t we, Princess,” he teases, breathing along my folds, making my breath hitch and my hips buck towards him as I desperately try to bring his head closer with my grip.

He clearly takes pity on me, or can’t help himself, because in the next moment, sublime bliss fills my entire being as his warm tongue licks me from opening to clit, and I explode on his tongue, crying out with the force of my release.

Yep, one lick is all it took to make me come. That man can play me just as well as the instrument that I’m lying on, no doubt about that.

I hear a growl of approval, my eyes closed, still riding that orgasm wave, when I hear the rustle of a foil packet, then feel a nudge at my opening. I snap my eyes open and lift my head, only to find him standing between my thighs, pushing his hard dick inside me, his hands holding my thighs open.

My inner walls clench and flutter around him—that damn dick obsessed butterfly is back—as I watch him thrust gently, feeling his new piercing massage my passage until he’s fully seated inside me. We both groan at the sublime sensation, and I watch, enraptured at the look of pure bliss on his face, his eyes closed as he savours the moment.

“But—” I start, my voice husky as I push up onto my elbows. His eyes open when I speak. “You’re not fully healed.”

“I’m healed enough, Princess,” he informs me in a rough voice, and I study his features to see if there’s any pain in his expression, willing to stop this if there is.

He doesn’t give me more than a moment, though, a breath, before he pulls almost all the way out, then plunges back in hard. My eyes fucking roll, and I drop back down with a thud and he repeats the move again. And again. And again, until I lose count and all ability to think coherently as he bombards me with his passion, gyrating harder and going deeper.

“Shit, Ash!” I cry out, my nails scraping the smooth surface of the instrument that I’m lying on, uncaring if I scratch it, as electric currents zap and zing across my body with every surge of his, the new metal in his dick adding a layer of sensation that has me seeing stars.

“Christ, Lilly,” he hisses through clenched teeth. “I’d forgotten how fucking good your pussy wrapped around my cock feels.” His shallow thrusting rubs my g-spot with the piercings on every stroke. “That’s it, baby, come for me, come all over my dick,” he orders as I start to clench around him, my climax hitting me with the force of a fucking freight train.

He pulls all the way out, causing a squirt of liquid to shoot out of me, covering his lower abs and chest as I scream. I look down just in time to see him pull the condom off, blowing his load all over my stomach and breasts, a deep groan falling from his perfect lips. More moisture leaves me at the sight and knowledge that I’m covered in his hot seed. We’ve marked each other in the most primal way and I fucking love it.

My eyes catch on glinting silver, and I gasp.

“You got a fucking magic cross!” I exclaim, sitting up to get a better look, uncaring of his cum dripping down my body.

Just beyond the mushroom head of his dick are four small metal balls, creating the impression of a cross with the bars hidden inside.

“How did it feel?” he asks, his voice a touch breathless.

Tearing my eyes away from his new jewellery, I look into his eyes.

“Fucking incredible,” I beam at him, and he smiles right back, looking all kinds of pleased with himself.

“Good,” he replies, holding out a hand and helping me off the piano. “Now, let’s get cleaned up. You’ve got a big day today and need to get some more sleep.” My heart sinks when I remember what we’re doing later; visiting Mum’s grave. “Hey, it’ll be okay. We’ll be with you the whole time,” he tells me gently, pulling me to him in a tight hug, the warmth of his naked body seeping into mine.