Chapter 12: Tarnished Embers: Chapter 11

I could fucking kill that bitch! As if what she’s put us through over the years isn’t enough, she has to pick on Ember who has been nothing but welcoming ever since we stormed into her life. Odette thinks she’s got us under her thumb, exactly where she wants us, unable to speak up, but we’re just biding our time. She’s in for a rude awakening now that we have something worth fighting for.

The things we’ve done over the years to help, to keep us all afloat would make most people sick to their stomachs. Sure, sometimes it was fun, but lately…I shudder, swallowing down the self-disgust and hurrying after the one light to come into our lives.

I hear Ember’s door slamming shut just before the distinct click of the lock as I reach it. Then her sobs follow soon after and my heart cleaves in two.

Fucking Odette. Jealous cunt.

“Ember, Pretty Thing, let me in, baby,” I plead, my palm and forehead pressed against the wood as I beg her.

“Go away, Kit.” Her voice is thick with tears, and my palms clench into a fist against the door.

“Never, Pretty Thing,” I promise before leaving the door and heading into my room next to hers. Then I stride to the French door that leads to our shared balcony, opening it and walking out into the still-chilled morning air. The sun is halfway up, not quite warm yet, but it looks like it might be a beautiful day, and I won’t let our girl spend another moment steeped in sadness.

The crack in my heart grows when I look through the French door to see her curled up on the bed, her arms wrapped around herself and facing away from the window, those sexy leather boots in a heap on the floor. The glass of green shit is on the bedside cabinet and I want to hurl it against the wall, my fingers twitching with the need to eradicate it from our lives. I’ve been forced to suffer similar revolting drinks in order to ‘keep in shape’ as Odette put it, we all have, and I remember the way it made me feel, the underhand critique of my body, as if I wasn’t enough as I was. It just makes me feel even more shitty for not protecting Ember from Odette’s harsh words.

The cold metal of the door handle gives way as I push it down, and I breathe out a sigh of relief that she didn’t lock this as well. I would have been able to break in, but I’d rather not have to explain why we needed to fix the glass.

“Baby,” I greet softly as I shut the door behind me and rush over to her. “Ignore that jealous bitch, you’re fucking perfect.” She huffs a laugh that’s so bitter it stings as it reaches my ears.

“Right, you say that now, but not fucking one of you stood up for me when she effectively called me fat downstairs.” Her words hit hard, like a punch to the solar plexus as there is truth to them. We didn’t stand up for her, and it’ll be one of the things that I’ll add to the long list that makes me hate myself. She shuffles away from me, still refusing to look at me, so I toe my sneakers off and get on the bed, placing the pastry on the side table before kneeling behind her. Her lavender and rosemary scent washes over me, and it goes some way to calming the simmering anger that’s bubbling away inside of me. “I’m just a plaything for you all, something to fuck until someone better comes along.”

“Look at me, Ember.” My voice comes out harsher than I intend, and I hate the way she flinches slightly. “Please, baby.”

Slowly, she turns around, uncurling like the most beautiful flower, her eyes and nose red, but fuck, she looks pretty when she cries. Though only if I’m the one causing the tears to fall and only when she’s begging me to stop giving her pleasure.

“You are fucking perfection, fuck what anyone else thinks or says,” I insist, leaning over and grasping her chin, not allowing her to look away from me. “And if you were just a toy, something to play with and discard, we wouldn’t have spent months obsessing and finding out every minor detail about you.” Lies, a whisper flits through my mind, but I ignore it. She may have been nothing more than a shiny new toy before we met her, but as soon as we saw her, we all knew. “You. Are. Ours.”

I move around her, forcing her to her back, making her legs part as I gaze down at her from my knees.

“Kit—” She’s cut off with a yelp when I reach underneath her dress, grab her tights, and yank them and her panties off in one harsh move.

“I wouldn’t crave you with every fiber of my fucking being if you weren’t something special, Pretty Thing,” I tell her, shifting so that I’m settled on my elbows, my face hovering above her sweet, pink pussy. It’s swollen and looks well-abused, and blood roars towards my dick so fast that I go a little lightheaded. “Oh, baby, Prince fucked you good and hard this morning, didn’t he?” I don’t give her time to answer, just dip my face and lick her slit. “Shit, you taste so fucking good, you know that?”

She moans as I dip my head and lick her again, her sweet musk bursting on my tongue in a flavour that I know I will crave every fucking day for the rest of my life. She’s already dripping for me, probably in part because of Oct’s attention under the table before everything went to shit.

I dive in, showing her exactly how fucking beautiful she is with my tongue, sweeping it across her slick folds and lapping up every drop of pleasure she bestows on me like the gift it is.

“Fuck, Kit…” she groans, her tone still thick with the tears she shed as her hands tangle in my hair, and I smile against her pussy. Then she pulls me closer, and not a man to argue when a feast is presented, I set to work again, my tongue dipping inside her heated channel, my dick so fucking hard that it’s a miracle it’s not snapped off with how roughly I’m grinding it against the bed.

This is all about her though, all about showing her she is more than I ever could have dared hope for, and I’m never letting her go.

“Come for me, Pretty Thing,” I command, feeling the tremor in her thighs as I force them wider before going deeper with my tongue.

Her pussy flutters around my tongue, a deluge of pleasure soaking my chin and filling my mouth as she cries out her orgasm. She’s so fucking responsive, and she comes so beautifully that I keep going, needing every fucking last drop she’ll give me.

When she’s a trembling, twitching mess, I finally let up, pushing up and crawling over her. She blinks up at me, her eyes half-lidded and her cheeks flushed with her golden hair a mess, and she’s never looked more beautiful.

Then I lower down, pressing my lips against hers, and just like that first morning, she opens to me, kissing me back with a passion that she hides most of the time. One day we’ll get her to show it to the world.

“Don’t make me fall for you and then leave me, Kit. It would break something inside me that could never be fixed,” she murmurs against my lips, and I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished.

“There is no world where that would even happen, Pretty Thing,” I assure her, settling more of my weight on top of her and pushing her body into the mattress. My jeans-covered dick is pressing into her burning core, and it’s taking almost more willpower than I possess not to open my zipper and slide inside her swollen cunt. “You are it for us. There is, and never will be, anyone else.”

She stills, her eyes darting between mine as she whispers, “You barely know me.”

Chuckling, I brush my lips across hers and hold her tighter. “I’ve known you for a lifetime, Ember. I know you feel it too.”

“It scares me,” she confesses so softly I almost miss it, and would have if I wasn’t staring at her lips.

“I know, baby, but the best things usually are fucking terrifying.”

We get up, and Kit gives me another kiss before leaving me to shower—again—and change. I strip the bed too, placing the now wet things in the laundry basket and getting out fresh sheets and my spare duvet. My cheeks heat when I think about what the staff will think. They’ll know what the stains are from, surely? Though I know that they would never say anything, I make a mental note to go online and buy a sex sheet.

“How did this become your life?” I ask myself as I look in my mirror, seeing the blush spreading across my cheeks. I went for another short dress with long sleeves, the first being such a hit earlier, but opted for my furry, slipper booties as we are staying at home.

A sharp rap on my door has my head snapping upwards, my heart thudding inside my chest.

“Cinders?” My shoulders sag, the tension leaving my muscles as Cas’s voice filters through the thick wood. I’m not sure who else I worried it would be, but I think seeing Odette right now wouldn’t be the best idea. I’m not sure if I would burst into tears again, or slap her plastic face for making me feel so small. Kit’s pep talk seems to have helped build my confidence back up. I rush over to unlock it and then pull it open, finding his pinched forehead smoothing as he takes me in. “You okay?”

Aside from coming harder than I ever have before…

“Yes,” I answer, feeling my cheeks heat even more and wondering when the reaction will lessen as it’s all I seem to do around these guys. Does he know what Kit did earlier?

“Look, I’m sorry about breakfast. I should have said something, but fuck, no excuses.” He looks me dead in the eyes, his full of remorse. “I apologize, Cinders. I should have told Odette to fuck off. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, the best fuck of my life—”

“Cas!” I whisper-shout at him before grabbing his arm and tugging him into the room, slamming the door behind us. “Someone might hear you!”

“I don’t give a shit,” he says, his tone a low growl that has my nerve endings tingling. He spins us, crowding me until my back is pressed against the door, his arms bracketing me in, and I can’t seem to draw a full breath as his copper eyes engulf me in metallic flame. “I want the world to know how fucking incredible you are. How fucking mine you are.”

The last part is said right against my lips, and the brief touch leaves me reeling and lightheaded.

“Cas…” It’s a moan, a prayer, and I’m not even sure what I’m asking him for. My hands fist his shirt, the soft, light green cotton making his eyes pop and spark as he rakes them over me.

“If I hadn’t watched Prince fuck the life out of you earlier, Cinders, I would be buried deep inside that beautiful cunt right now,” he tells me, and my knees feel so weak that I’m not sure how much longer I can keep standing. “But you need a rest, so come downstairs and watch the movie with the rest of us.”

It’s like a bucket of ice-cold water has just been poured over me, and even the warmth of his body pressed against mine can’t warm my suddenly chilled skin as I swallow hard. “Is— Is Odette going to be there?”

He heaves a sigh, then presses a tender kiss to my temple, and my eyelids flutter at the touch. “Yes, but you’ll be sitting with us, and I promise if she says anything, I will call her out on her bullshit.”

“You would do that for me?” I press my face into his chest, inhaling the toffee apple scent that will forever remind me of Cas.

“I would burn the fucking world down for you, Cinders. Standing up to that bitch is nothing.” My heart stills inside my chest, and a question bubbles up before I can stop it.

“Then why didn’t you earlier?” I feel sick asking it, the thought that I really am not enough for them making something inside me shrivel and die. Even after Kit’s assurance that I am all he’s ever wanted, actions speak louder than words, and it still hurts that none of them stood up to Odette earlier. His chest expands beneath my hands and his exhale ruffles my hair, his forearms either side of my head. The skin bunches around his eyes and his jaw clenches as he takes a shuddered inhale.

“A lot has gone down in the past. It’s fucking messy and complicated, and I—” He huffs out another breath, his eyes tormented and his brows lowered. I hate the shadows there, but I won’t push him to tell me all their secrets, not if they’re not ready to. “But this is a fresh start for us. I forgot that for a moment, and I will apologize for the rest of my days for letting you believe anything other than that you are a fucking goddess, Ember.”

My name on his lips has a similar effect as when Kit used it earlier. It makes my breath quicken, my entire being flooding with warmth when they use it.

“Will you tell me about it? About what has you all so scared of her?” I don’t think he’s going to answer, his body so rigid that I can feel the tension thrumming through him.

“One day, Cinders,” he says after a long pause. “But for now, come watch a movie with me?” His copper eyes plead with mine, and I feel my walls crumbling under his gaze.

“Okay.”

His whole body sags, a breath rushing out of him as his mouth tilts up in a small smile, and then his lips are against mine and I’m fucking lost. He’s like a poison, a drug that I’m still not sure won’t kill me, but I’m powerless to resist. I melt into him and his hand cups my face as he deepens our kiss, almost as though he will steal my very soul from my lips, and I know now that regardless of the fact I’ve only known these guys for a short time, I’d let any of them take it.