Chapter 331. Accidents Happen All The Time

Chapter 331: 331. Accidents Happen All The Time

Maisie

Jericho dropped his face into my shoulder and I stiffened upon his deep inhale. "He didn’t mark you," he mumbled thickly.

"No," I said, swallowing. "He didn’t."

But I shivered at the thought of Soren’s teeth piercing my skin as Jericho ran his nose up and down my neck.

I had wanted Soren to, and I suspected the only reason he hadn’t done it was because I was still upset about the chip, and because he knew I was scared.

It went against his calculating "my way or no way" nature not to, and it made me feel good that he was finally listening to me.

Still, I didn’t think if he had his face in my neck tonight like Jericho was currently doing, I’d be able to stop him.

My eyes fluttered shut against the sunlight as Jericho’s lips touched my skin. Oh, so soft... .... .... featherlight.

The click of a shutter came from somewhere, and my eyes flew open. We were drawing attention. Jericho, or rather, Professor Ivanov, wasn’t as big on PDA as Quinlan or Soren were, and this was not a common sight for the usually put-together, stern-looking man.

"Jericho," I breathed when his weight pushed against me, and something hard poked against my stomach.

"Hm," he rumbled darkly, pressing his fingertips against the window by my waist. "But you wanted him to, didn’t you?"

I licked my dry lips. "This is not... a conquest or a competition--"

"You want him to, but not me," he repeated, body tightening with tension. "You like him better. You always have."

"That’s not true--"

He huffed against my neck and tingles exploded across my skin when he licked a sore spot on my neck that I was sure was a hickey. "You’re different with him. It’s like no one else exists when he’s around, and it feels like your feelings for me are an offset of yours for him. And it’s never quite gotten to me before because I’ll take any part of you I can get, but..."

A sardonic noise escaped him and his nose touched the spot behind my ear. "It’s mine own fault." His words grew clipped, slurred and yet frazzled. "Understand if you don’t want to get tied to someone like me forever. Must be because he’s... so godsdamned perfect and I’m so..."

He tracked off, seeming to search for a word and he huffed with displeasure when he didn’t find it.

My mouth fell open. That’s why he’d been upset all day? It wasn’t that he was jealous, but he thought I didn’t want him or his mark? He thought he wasn’t good enough for me?

It wasn’t often that Jericho let up that part of him that felt unsure, and I felt like the scum of the earth. He’d always been a steady wall, always caring, always waiting, always reassuring.

He’d let me mark him, and I wouldn’t let him do the same. And perhaps it was more than that. I wasn’t as good with expressing my feelings. I hardly named or defined them. The closest I’d come to admitting I loved them was... I’d been barely conscious when I told Quinlan I loved him. I was upset when I blurted out in Soren’s study that I cared about them. And earlier today, I’d told Mercer I couldn’t lose him because I was scared.

And perhaps, it was okay to think the sacrifices I’d made spoke enough about my feelings. And they understood I did love them, but it didn’t make it any less true that I was shit at expressing myself and my feelings.

Which was indirectly their faults, considering the reason I’d become so hellbent on rejecting said feelings was because they had been so mean to me at the start, but... so much had happened. We were all different people now.

They were good, had been good to me. Maybe we could find a way around the Erasthai bond to be together. Long before it existed, I’d had them, and they’d owned me.

We could... would be okay.

"Jericho," I started softly, but he drew back, eyes lowered. His ears and cheeks reddened and it contrasted with the light strands of his hair shimmering in the sun.

His fingers curled by my waist, but he didn’t touch me. "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Maybe I am just jealous like Quinn says I am. I’ll handle my emotions better. I’ve been acting like a dick all day, haven’t I?"

Amber eyes lifted to mine, before jerking away shyly, and he touched my mark on his neck, tracing the crescent so reverently, it felt like he was running his fingertips along my spine. "Is this what it feels like to be needy? This is hard."

I took a breath gathering the courage to tell him how I felt, like I had tried to that night at the Ridge as we danced.

But he straightened, looking embarrassed with himself, and he took a measured step back. "You should go. Your friends are waiting."

Surprised, I looked behind him and found Regina and Jenny by the pillars at the entrance doors of the Academy. Regina was gesticulating wildly, pointing at her phone, "You have got to see this!"

Jenny whacked her in the back of her head and yelled, "Take your time, Maisie and Jer--er--Professor Ivanov! This can--shut up, Regina. It wasn’t her," she grunted, then laughed. "This can definitely wait!"

My attention flicked back to Jericho as he nodded curtly, turning around to get back into the car.

I caught his wrist before he could leave. "Jericho."

He looked back over his shoulder, his expression both hopeful and confused.

I licked my lips nervously. "I just wanted to say that I... I..." A flush exploded all over my face. "I... um..." Was it usually this difficult? As hard as chewing bricks? "I..."

"You don’t have to, malyshka--"

"I like you." My face was on fire. "I like-like you." I pressed my lips together. "No. It’s a lot more than that and I--I think about you when you’re not even there--well, I think about all of you and--I had this whole thing I was going to say about how you’re--" I gestured helplessly at all of him. "you, and I love you as you are. And my feelings for Soren... they don’t make you any less special and--and important to me, neither do they diminish my feelings for you--and I just..."

I stopped. Wedged my lip between my teeth. "What I’m trying to say is... I’m glad... that you’re mine."

His lips parted and closed, and I laughed nervously. "I’m really am crap at this," I said, and pulled him down by his wrist.

He let me. Or maybe he was too stunned to resist.

Our chests brushed and I stepped onto his shoes, and higher on my toes, and even then, he was still too tall. So I took his cheek and pulled his face to mine.

His lips were soft and tasted as good as his aftershave smelled. What flavour was that? I could drink the whole bottle of it.

I caught a muffled sigh from the entrance and Regina’s voice filtered in, "They’re so cute, look Jenny, I’m shitting pixy dust."

I pulled back abruptly, my cheeks burning as I caught watchers in my peripheral. "See you later!" I squeaked, dropping back and turning on my heel to bolt.

But Jericho large hand shot out, wrapping securely around my waist and dragging me flush against him, so I could feel every hard line of his body. "I like you, too," he mocked, mirth teasing his words.

And then, his mouth was crashing down on mine.

The low growl in his chest mirrored mine, and I forgot where we were as his tongue slipped past my lips.

He radiated heat and tasted like it, too, as he sucked out the taste of Soren from my tongue aggressively, before licking into me slowly and filthy the way he would lick between my legs.

A small noise of desire escaped me as I clenched, and I whimpered as I felt the pleasant soreness inside me.

He made a pleased noise against my lips and kissed me harder, wetter, until I was panting into his mouth, chasing the strokes of his tongue greedily.

He ran his tongue over the sharp point of my leveled fang and the sweet shock of it went straight between my legs. His hand slid down to grab my ass and squeezed and I decided then that I didn’t care if I was sore.

I rocked against him, moaning softly and--

I yelped when he smacked my ass in a reprimand when I tried to take his shirt out of his pants.

His eyes were filled with laughter as he pulled away. "Outside, malyshka?" he asked, puzzled. "By the gods, what have we done to you?"

I was half-peeved, but then, with his lips kiss-swollen and the sun hitting his face just right, my brain turned into a fried sack of bean pudding.

If that made any sense.

My eyelids fluttered, staring up at him as if he were the sun, the moon, and every star in the sky all wrapped in one delicious body.

A slow smirk kicked up the corner of his lips as he looked down at my dazed expression.

"Can you stand?" he asked softly.

I let out a long exhale, my glazed eyes glued to his full mouth. "Hm?"

Jericho laughed. It was a beautiful sound that rumbled straight through his chest and vibrated into mine.

"I’ll see you soon," he murmured, his thumb gently smoothing over my swollen bottom lip.

I nodded with a soft, wistful sigh. He’d always had that effect on me.

He eased away gently, making sure my knees weren’t going to buckle completely--and they did for a couple of seconds--before letting go, and I watched him get around into the car, winking once at me before he pulled out off the driveway.

I waved, knowing he was watching me through the rearview mirror. And I sighed again, feeling my fingers to my bottom lips.

Goddess knew I could get used to this.

I jumped when a hand landed on my shoulder. "Sooooooooooo," Regina drawled. "On the scale of a hundred, how good was it?"

I shook her off, righting my skirt and shirt and walking briskly before she could catch up and smell the sex all over me. "Go away, Ginny."

"See? I told you it wasn’t her," Jenny said, hooking her arm into mine. "Did you hear? Apparently, two people were humping it out like bunnies and the ceiling fell on them at the Council building."

I cringed. How had news gotten here so fast? "It didn’t fall on us--"

"Told ya!" Regina squealed as we entered the school’s hallway, waving her phone in front of me. "That’s her back against the glass right there! Sure, it’s blurred and really dark, but I’d recognize Maisie’s ass anywhere." At my affronted look, she added, "It’s a nice ass."

"It was you?!" Jenny yelled and everyone turned our way. "Maisie Adeline Adams! What did you two do? Destroy the building? You broke the room?!"

I slapped my hand over her mouth. "Shut up!" I whisper-shouted. "It was an accident," I added more quietly. "Happens all the time."