Infatuation

I walked down the hallway to my dorm, listening to the quietness. That was weird, usually there'd be at least one party or someone making loud noises. Then again… I looked down at my phone with bleary eyes. It was almost four in the morning. I couldn't believe I'd been holed up with a study group. What was happening to me? I sighed, stopping at my door. My books weighed buckets of cement, I couldn't wait to toss them and get into bed…

I opened my door and flicked the light.

THUD.

My books fell. Notes scattered the floor. My heart was hammering quickly and as reflex, I'd reached for my gun—only I didn't have it on me. It was locked inside a drawer. But I wouldn't need it. I knew the guy sitting on my bed very well. Better than I'd known any other man on this earth.

I eased my door shut, letting out a breath, composing my alarmed face.

"Aric," I said over a shoulder. I locked the door. "You scared the ever-loving crap out of me!" I hissed. I turned around and bent to the floor, gathering my stuff. A little help would be nice, mister. He didn't lift his ass. "Hey," I finished stacking my books and papers. I looked up from my kneeling spot. "Didn't you have a meeting with Nolan?"

Aric didn't speak. Actually… He was still spooking me. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, his head bent. Face hidden. Seeing him like that… it made my anger simmer. Months back, that would've shocked me more. But there was something about Aric…

"Hey," I intoned again, louder. "Aric?" I got up and walked on over—Aric got up. He took four steps before our distance disappeared, but he didn't stop. He made me walk backwards—I bumped into my desk. I put my hands on it, leaning heavily as he towered over me. "Okay, if you think I find intimidation sexy—you're wrong."

I was going to push him away. Key word: was. Aric's hands came up, cupping my face. Finally, I got a glimpse at his devastatingly handsome face. I didn't know what I'd expected. Maybe a tipsy Aric? Drunk, even. I hadn't expected to see saddened eyes paired with a borderline desperate look. My heart was hammering again, but for a completely different reason. I was scared again—but because I didn't know what was going on. Because I didn't know what to do or think.

"What happened?" I whispered as softly as I knew how.

Aric's lips parted, then closed. He just held my face, tracing my cheeks with his thumbs. He looked almost catatonic. My hand shot up, touching his arm. Aric broke through his stupor—a little—his green gems focused on me.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Because you missed me?" It was a joke, meant to break tension, because I never said things like that. I never thought…

"Yes," My body went still. I didn't breathe. I never thought he'd answer seriously. Our relationship, whatever it was, it wasn't like Mel and Nate's. Right? God, what had I been indulging these last months with him? "I kept seeing him every time I shut my eyes—I can't sleep, luv."

"Him? Aric what are you talking about?" he seemed to focus more when I uttered his name. He bent his head, keen on kissing me. I turned my face. I felt his hands slip as he fell back a step.

"I'm sorry," he said. Aric racked his hair with a distraught face. That wasn't right. Aric was always annoyingly calm, composed and rational in the face of… Fuck, in the face of anything! "I'm not myself, it's just…"

I gripped my desk. His eyes slipped closed in mute agony. Snap out of it, Ann. I shoved away from the desk and grabbed hold of his wide shoulders. His eyes snapped to mine.

"Tell me what's wrong," I cared about Aric. Every Hive teaching told me to walk away, to shut him out. I couldn't, though. "You're scaring me." I confessed. I allowed my body to get closer to his, our chests pressed together. It looked like it grounded him.

"I don't want to scare you." He whispered without a trace of his accent. Sometimes it went away, like when he was freezing to death. Then tell me what happened, I told him with worried eyes. "Luv, I did something—the night we got Melissa back. I did something I'd never done before and at the time… I was fine." The accent was back in place. "But now… I can't get the image out of my head."

"What?" I hadn't asked about what Nate and he did to get Mel back. Mainly because I was too busy retelling the last months to her.

"We went to kill someone—a woman." Okay. I was certain Aric had killed women before. "She had a kid." Oh. Oh, fuck. She had a kid. Past tense. Because they'd killed her? Or because… "He woke up. He… saw our faces." Because they'd killed the kid, too. "Nathaniel wouldn't take the shot. I knew we had to. It was too risky."

My fingernails dug into Aric's shoulders.

"I'm going to kill your brother. I'm going to kill him for this. This is Nolan's fault, Aric. He's the reason you're like this—he put you and Nate in that position. Instead of taking care of it himself." The fucking cockroach. "I'm going to find him and the stinking evidence and burn them together—"

Aric shook me, silencing me.

"No," he deadpanned. "You're not going anywhere near Nolan. You're going to keep studying and help Mel. Nothing else. Understood?"

Like hell I'd keep away. "You don't own me, Aric. I do what I want."

Aric's expression grew somber, "Not this once, luv. You stay under Nolan's radar. He hasn't targeted you, don't give him reason to. Especially…" I frowned. "Especially since you were the one who killed Riley."

I kept frowning. I didn't give a crap about Nolan finding out. I'd be happy to knock on his door and share. Along with a bullet to the head. Aric wasn't having that, though, he told me as much. I didn't make any promises. I did sigh and nod. Only because I didn't want to fight Aric when he looked… vulnerable. Another voice told me to send him away, more Hive training. I kicked it in the ass once Aric's distress became noticeable again.

"You did what you had to do." I told him. I placed a hand on his face, "I'm sorry you had to. But we got Mel back because you did." Aric lowered his forehead against mine. "We kill people, Aric. Age, sex, innocent or guilty—it shouldn't matter." Shouldn't. Sometimes you felt a wave of hesitation or guilt. It couldn't be helped. "Tell me…" I felt myself grow hotter. Unsure. I closed my eyes, pushing on. "Tell me what you need."

Aric had made it pretty obvious already, by coming here, by trying to steal a kiss. I needed to hear the words, though. And I think he needed to say them.

"I need you." He whispered without hiding the brokenness in his voice. "Is that okay? I was just going to drive around all night. But I ended up here," I felt his hands on my hips. "Because I really just wanted to see your face and hear your voice." Anna from two months ago would've laughed. Only to piss him off. "Is this okay?" he asked before bending down and kissing me very, very softly.

Anna from two months ago would've shoved him away. I reached up, running fingers through the silky hair I'd grown so accustomed with and ghosted my lips across his, replaying the soft kiss. I snaked my fingers around his, guiding him to my bed and sat down, he followed. I reached for his shirt, peeling it off. I kissed his chest. Aric inhaled deeply. I scooted closer and sat on his lap. He slipped my jacket off, then my sweatshirt. He kissed along my collarbone. I tilted us back—we fell on the mattress with a bounce. Aric's hands roamed behind my back, undoing my bra, I pulled back to toss it away. Aric cupped my left breast, eliciting a gentle hiss from me and my hips began rolling against his. Aric pulled me down, fisting a hand in my hair—it wasn't as rough as I normally liked, but tonight it didn't bother me. I thought he'd been about to kiss me, but he slant his head lower, his mouth closing around the hardened tip he'd been working.

I gasped softly, shudders rolling across me, "Aric…" he licked and sucked and teased until I pressed my hips against his and dug my nails into his shoulders. This slow-going crap never worked on me before, with other dudes and for a split second I felt terror swamp me. What did that mean?

"Bugger, Anna…" he groaned after trailing a path of hot kisses to my mouth. Those one of a kind glowing green eyes stared intently at my forest ones. "That's so hot, kitten. I want to hear you say name like that again." Aric was making my legs—well, what was between my legs—tingle and pound. I drew his mouth to mine, gripping it tightly, prolonging the kiss by twisting our tongues in a dance. I ran a hand down his arm, feeling the bulging muscle; I ran another across his dipped stomach, then sent it lower and found the bulge in his jeans. Aric's head fell back when I squeezed. I took the time to kiss his neck, earning myself multiple guttural noises.

Our jeans went missing.

Most of the time, Aric and I would fight each other to be on top. Tonight, Aric surprised me by asking me to be on top. I nodded, but before I got to flip him on his back, he slid to his knees on the floor.

Aric tugged me towards the edge—by my hips. I swallowed a squeal. He shimmied off my panties. I hefted myself on both elbows so that I could see him. Aric parted my legs, kissing my inner thighs. I opened my legs further as his head went between them and then… then I couldn't hold myself up. I fell on bed while Aric worked me with his clever tongue. He took his time, teasing me again. He'd never been this slow before and it was driving me insane. Still working my clit, he slipped one finger inside me, curling it.

"Ahh," I moaned, body wanting to squirm away. Aric held me down, pressing his free hand on my stomach, brushing my navel piercing. "Aric…" Damn it. He'd made me say it again.

After an eternity of playing south, Aric slithered back up, pushing his solid chest on mine. He kissed me. I tasted myself on his lips.

"Never stop saying my name like that, Anna." He brushed a finger below my chin, kissing me with renewed urgency. When I became aware of his raging hard-on, I broke our kiss.

Aric got the memo. He rolled off to the side, letting me take over. I ran my palms down his chest. His beautiful sculptured chest. I stared down at him with longing, ecstasy for what was about to come and… maybe something else. Something I tried to ignore every time we did anything, or were around each other. Something that was largely present this night. Because Aric had come to me looking so broken? I ran my fingers across his length—he twitched in my hand. One time, I'd gripped too hard and he'd chuckled with a wince saying, "Careful, luv." I jerked him a few good times before I lowered myself onto him.

We moved very slowly. We didn't ravage each other like usual, like we were on a time limit. I savored him, the feeling of him inside—of him stretching me. He groaned against my shoulder, holding me close as I moved. My moans started off soft before rising in pitch. Aric guided my mouth to his. I started to shake with Aric still buried deep inside, thrusting a little harder, watering me down. It wasn't long before the last thrust came—harder, going deeper than all others.

My body rested on his, sweaty and tired. My bones were mush. I didn't want to move. Our reddened chests heaved against one another. I lowered my head on his shoulder, staring into his slit eyes. The desperate look had eased, I could see flecks of happiness now. My stupid lips curled a tiny bit.

"We need to clean up."

"Hmm," he mumbled. Leaning forward, Aric pressed a kiss to the middle of my forehead. Alarm bells were ringing—somewhere in the deepness of my mind—I shushed them. "In a minute, luv. Don't rush this moment."

I didn't. And it wasn't because he told me not to, it was because I really wanted to keep lying on his strong, warm body, tracing the feather tattoo running from his forearm to his shoulder.

Eventually, we got to cleaning up part. Exhaustion was sinking its claws in me—again. I yawned, peeling back the covers and crawling inside. Aric joined me two minutes later, strolling out of my small bathroom with nothing but boxers.

The lights were already off when he spoke, "I'm sorry I frightened you, luv. I didn't mean to, I was… unhinged and I didn't even think of texting or calling."

"A little heads-up would've been nice." I chastised. "If I had my gun on me, I would've shot you the minute I walked in." He knew this. We fell into quiet. Faintly, I wondered how the meeting with Nolan had gone? What job did they have to pull of next? Would I see Aric like this? My heart hurt, like a tourniquet was twisting it.

All the while, I fell asleep with Aric's breath on my neck.