Fifty-five

Leaving me no choice, I will have to turn to only another person in the academy who can offer me an honest opinion. It won't be impartial but that probably will work in my favour. The only problem is that I have to wait until she comes back from home. I look at the time and realise that it won't be another half of a day. Until then I'm left with my third option which is to return to the loft where I have to suffer in silence under Mason's intense glaring.

Stomping my way up, I can hear him banging up in the loft from where I stand at the bottom of the steps. I don't have to see him to know that he is nothing but a ball of rage from the way he bangs around. Whatever frustration he is experiencing, he is taking it out on the furniture.

As soon my head pops out of the hatch in the floor, he turns to look at me, glaring but I also see the curiosity waging within himself.

" Where did you go? " He asks blandly, trying to hide his interest in my whereabouts.

" To see Eric" He straightens at my reply, throwing the hammer on the counter and leaning against it. He'd replaced the cupboard door he'd broken. It doesn't match but I don't care that much about the damn door. I'll be leaving this place in a few years, and I doubt that anyone else would ever take residence here.

" What for?" He curtly asks, and I wage a battle with myself for a brief second before the little petty girl in me wins.

" To ask for a second opinion on my plan," His body stiffens at my admission, his gaze collides with mine and I feel the blood in my body instantly freeze. If he was angry up until this point he is livid now. Crap.

" And," He squeezes through gritted teeth, watching me settle on the edge of the bed with a nonchalance I shouldn't feel.

" He laughed in my face," His body sags with relief and the tension between us uncoils, allowing me to finally breathe.

He tilts his head to the side and stares at the point above my head for a few good minutes. We stay in silence while he thinks of God knows what, and I'm sure I'm about to find out.

He heaves a sigh," Your plan has its merits but it is also flawed. Because of me," He admits wholeheartedly, " I'm the invariable in your plan. So here is what I propose," He curls his lips behind his teeth, " If you want to do it this way, I'm all in but with one condition, " I'm dying to hear the said condition. I bet it's good, and also something absolutely insane.

" I'm coming with you and you don't fucking leave my side, " I can work with that but at the same time, I feel that there is a catch somewhere in there.

" What's the catch?" I doubt that Micah will allow us to cuddle in a dirty corner just because Mason wishes it so.

" No catch," He says with little to no conviction in the tone of his voice. Carefully, he eyes me for a moment before pushing himself off the counter and closing the distance between us.

Usually, when we fight, Mason tends to cool towards me, so I'm a bit confused by the new tactic he is currently using.

He lowers himself on the bed next to me, takes my hands in his, brings them to his mouth and kisses my knuckles.

" I don't want us to fight Lily," He says quietly, searching my eyes for a shred of reason.

" I don't want to fight either," I relax my bunched shoulders, lowering my guard, so he can see the vulnerability lining my frame.

" I hate it when we do," I admit, " We have a lot to contend with, and that is enough. I don't want it to tear apart, " I slowly pull my hands out of his and slide my hands up his arms, feeling the muscles under his shirt are still very much tense, twitching under my caress. He might've said the words but his body is betraying him, and I wish I'd know what exactly is he conflicted about.

I lean forward bringing our lips a hairsbreadth distance, our breaths mingle, and I watch as his eyes slowly flutter closed " I know. I'm sorry. It took me by surprise. That's all there is to it. I'm terrified of losing you, and sometimes the prospect of locking you up in a dungeon is really appealing to that part of me. More so when you say things like that," He whispers and brushes his lips against mine. I melt into his arms, his lips slanting over mine, his tongue invading my mouth with brute force. He is still angry, I can feel it in the way his hand slides into my hair, taking a handful in his fist, and pulls so hard that it stings.

Pushing me on the bed, he crawls on top of me, pinning me to it. I whimper at the pain lancing through my thigh trapped under his knee, " Quiet," He commands in an anger-laced tone, his blue eyes find mine, as he fully pulls away from me and kneels between my legs.

Tugging on his belt, he throws it on the floor in one fluid motion and undoes his slacks. I don't know what is happening but I'm pretty sure it involves us being naked.

Lifting his knee off my thigh," Face down on the bed," He commands and for some reason, it brings back a lot of memories from a not-so-distant past.

Unsure, I look at him trying to understand him and what goes on in his head. He doesn't relent when I don't move.

" On your knees, face down and spread those pretty legs far and wide for me," He says again with a chilling calm and I know that this Mason is on a mission. Judging by the dangerous gleam in his eyes he is dead set on punishing me.