“What’s so bad about falling asleep?” I asked, moving my fingers down from his jaw to his neck and over the pattern of flames that curled across his shoulder and onto his chest, seeking out the letters he had hidden within them. The blood, dirt and smoke from the fight he’d taken part in still clung to his skin, but I didn’t make any attempt to wash it off, liking him like this, seeing the raw truth of him on the outside too.
Darius only watched me for the longest time, not answering my question and letting the seconds drag until I thought he wasn’t going to reply before finally he did.
“I wish we could just stay here like this forever,” he murmured, his voice low and rough like he was trying not to tarnish the silence with his words. “Make time stand still beyond that door and live in this moment eternally.”
“That’s not living,” I replied, the corner of my lips lifting as I shifted over his hips, feeling the hard length of his cock pressing against me in a demand.
“So what is?” he asked, like a starving man begging for scraps and my heart hurt as I looked down at him, hating the scars which Lionel had placed upon him inside and out.
“Taking hold of every moment and making it count,” I replied. “A life well lived should be full of adventure and danger and passion.”
“Sounds like every moment we spend together then,” he replied, his hands moving to my waist and pushing the hem of my shirt up a little as I nodded, his heated skin brushing against mine in the most delicious way.
“I guess we have it pretty perfect then,” I agreed. “You wanna tell me what’s in the bag?”
Darius glanced down to the bag he’d brought back with him where it sat beside the bed and released a slow breath.
“Don’t be pissed at me.”
“That seems unlikely.”
“You’re infuriating,” he accused. “You don’t even know why I’m asking you not to get angry.”
“The fact that you have to ask that has already warned me that you’ve screwed up, so I reserve my right to flip out,” I replied with a shrug which made him growl.
“Fine. You remember when me and the other Heirs went to the mortal realm to beat the shit out of your ex?”
“How can I forget? The sight of you beating him bloody was basically my favourite porno for about six months.”
“Seriously?”
“Well I couldn’t have you at the time so I got pretty good at satisfying myself. The inspiration was appreciated,” I teased.
“Savage girl,” he said, his voice full of heat.
“There was a point to this story,” I pushed as his hand moved towards my waistband and he fell still with a sigh.
“Alright. So after we’d finished teaching him and his punk friends a lesson, we decided to go see the place where you’d been living before you came to the academy.”
I fell still as I took that in, my gaze slipping to the bag again and the edge of a well worn sweater jogging my memories.
“Oh.”
“We weren’t trying to pry into your business,” he said, his hand moving to grasp my chin as he got me to turn and look at him. “We were just going to take some photos of us there or whatever. We thought you’d find it funny. We didn’t really expect it to be so…”
I fought against the shame I felt at the idea of the four richest assholes in the whole of Solaria stepping into the shitty apartment we’d been shacked up in, and forced myself to hold his eye.
“So you brought our stuff back for us?” I asked.
“It made me realise why you’d been so upset by me burning your clothes off that first night. Why so little money had meant so much to you-”
“It wasn’t a little bit of money,” I bit out. “It was fucking everything we had.”
“Roxy-” Darius began but I cut him off as I sighed, forcing myself to let it go. We were past all of this now anyway. And if I was being totally honest with myself, I was glad he’d seen it, because I could tell he really did understand now, and I wasn’t sure he ever would have if he hadn’t gone there himself.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Thank you for saving it for us.”
“That’s it?” he asked suspiciously.
“I’m not totally unreasonable,” I pointed out and he arched a brow like that wasn’t true.
“And I’m not a hot headed asshole,” he replied, making me laugh.
“What happened while you were gone?” I asked, my fingertips moving to the four pink scars on his side and he looked down at them as I traced the raised ridges. “What’s this?”