Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
“Hey!” I shout, springing off the bed.
Charlie shoots me a scathing look. “Do not come over here.”
I go still in confusion.
She’s laughing, and he dips his head down to hers. Whatever he snarls into her ear, her laughter decays into brutal silence. Then she slaps him across the face.
“Fuck you.” Her voice shakes as her tears leak, then she rushes out. He slams the door shut. I expect him to completely ignore me.
Instead, he returns to the living room, slouches on the swivel chair, lights a cigarette, and blows smoke up at the ceiling. Like nothing just happened.
I sink down on the pull-out. “Are you….?”
“Am I okay?” he asks dryly, sucking on the cigarette. “What do you think, Harriet?” He tilts his head with mocking interest.
“By your lovely attitude, I’d say you’re fine, Boy Genius.”
He kicks up his feet on the mattress.
Maybe he is fine. Maybe he’s desensitized. Maybe meeting covetous, unconsented hands are just an ordinary night for Charlie.
He puts out the cigarette in an ashtray. Unsurprisingly. If any of them smoke indoors, they don’t do it for long. They’ll take a few drags, then snuff it out, so the stench hasn’t lingered.
Beckett and Ben appear from the bedroom, and Beckett confirms, “Eliot is passed out.”
Damn…I honestly didn’t think he was blackout wasted. I hug the pillow. What if his brothers hadn’t been here to kick the girl out? Would she still have slept with Eliot when he was too inebriated to properly consent? My body chills. I’ve thought of Eliot as the greatest defender of his brothers, but it’s comforting knowing they’re looking out for him too.
Beckett watches Ben for a long beat, but he’s just combing his hands through his hair and sliding back into bed with me. Ben immediately reaches for me, and when his brothers leave, I hug him and feel the pound, pound, pound of his heart against my ear.
“Ben?”
“Yeah?” he whispers, taking a deeper breath.
“Do you need water? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” He nestles a kiss in my hair. “I’m okay.” With each word, his pulse begins to slow, and I ease with the sound.
In the morning, Eliot has no recollection of what happened. He jokes it away, says he must’ve drank more than he realized, and Tom is upset no one woke him.
“Don’t sleep with music blaring. Problem solved,” Charlie retorts.
“Harry will wake me up next time,” Tom notes.
“Don’t press your luck, Tommy.”
I am secretly over-enthused at being considered for a tomorrow before tomorrow even arrives. And tomorrow does come.
On Sunday, I string together beads on Ben’s couch. I make a choker necklace for Son of Ben with block letters that spell out Cobalt Empire. The stuffed lion cub has to rock the family name.
Ben angles his laptop toward me while we watch Jawbreaker. My rec.
Charlie is on his way out the door when he says, “If you didn’t dump all your cash into the mysterious land of Oz, maybe you could’ve taken your girlfriend on an actual date.”
Ben glares.
“Don’t listen to him,” I say as Charlie exits. “I just like being deep under the iceberg with you, Friend.”
His smile slowly crawls over his face. “Feeling hypothermic yet?” he teases.
“I fear we have a greater risk of you boiling our water.” I nearly shriek when he picks me up in his arms.
By Monday, I should most definitely go back to my own apartment. My grades aren’t in threat of slipping, but I’m paying for a couch, too. Except, he’s where I want to be late at night, when darkness falls and I’m left with whirling, happy thoughts of him.
I cave and end up with Ben.
Late, past one a.m., Eliot tosses a condom at us, and Ben and I crack up laughing under the sheets. Mostly because we stopped using condoms.
When he’s gone, we naturally shift to our sides. The plan is to sleep, but heat ratches up as our bodies meld. As he holds me. Then his hand travels down my stomach and between my legs while he kneads my breast with the other.
He’s toying with me. It feels so good. I forget about being in a public space. I forget about everything except how much I love his wandering, ravaging hands. When I shudder, his palm flies up to my lips, but he’s now slipped his fingers beneath my panties. He cages my cries and makes me come against him.
I want to offer the same release for Ben. He’s very hard, but he shakes his head and whispers against my ear, “That was for you and for me.”
“Such a giver,” I whisper.
He laughs hard. “You have no idea.”
“Oh I think I do, Cobalt boy.” I burrow back into his embrace. Never, ever thought I’d be a girl who enjoys spooning, but being tucked inside his carved biceps is like being strapped in a steel-fortified vessel. It’s like knowing no danger will meet me. No fall will kill me.