Status: Slowly Active.

I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

Chapter Twenty-Six

I woke up a couple of hours later sprawled across the floor. My clothes had been shed, spotting the unpolished floorboards a meter or so away from me. I was lying on a few folded blankets, so for a split second I was fooled into thinking that I wasn’t sore. I was wrong, but the soreness I did feel wasn’t from the floor and it wasn’t entirely a bad thing to someone with my level of sadism. Regardless, I was incapable of moving. My limbs were twisted and locked with those of another, and there was no hope of even shifting my hip slightly without waking him.

And I really didn’t want to wake him.

So this left me in a pretty awkward position, and the opportunity to entertain my many thoughts.

What does this mean? What would he be thinking? What does he expect? Was this a one-off? Do I want it to happen again? Was I sober? Who cares? It was damn good. Great, it’s all his fault I’m questioning my sanity. Maybe I should just get up and see what he does… Hey wait a minute, I was just asleep and I didn’t have any nightmares… God, this is complicated.

I was saved (or condemned) by the clanging of noises downstairs. The realization that the others must be home now sent tingles spilling down my back, and my heart began pumping faster. The suddenness made me jump and when I looked back at Pete he was staring right at me, as if he’d been awake the entire time. My eyes widened in that surprise as well and I blushed as his eyes fell a little lower that my face. I swiftly twisted out of his arms and stood myself up, trying not to trip over his legs as I did. I quickly picked up my clothes, a simple striped tank top and black leggings, and began returning them to where they belonged on my body, facing away from the man watching me with the smirk he was bound to have.

“Great,” he said from behind me, his voice sounding somewhat pissed off already. That must have been a record. “So you don’t want to talk about what happened? You’re not even going to tell me how much of a mistake this was?”

I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and whipped around to face him with my hands on my hips, my heart racing a thousand miles an hour. I panicked. What was I supposed to say? This was Pete, we’re talking about. So I did what I always did when I was around him; I became ice.

“It wasn’t a mistake, Peter,” I glared. “I had sex with you, I got what I wanted. Why would I regret that?

He was momentarily stunned, and I took that opportunity to whirl around and face the other way before he could realize that I was lying. Apparently, though, he didn’t even bother to search my mind. He did worse.

“Well good. We’re on the same page then. No star-crossed lovers, no strings attached.”

I froze, and then unfroze to nod at him before stomping towards the door, as if forcing all my anger and hurt into the floor. I was just about to reach for the doorknob when Pete’s voice sounded from behind me again, changing my plans.

“Wait…”

I faced him again and saw his eyes looking troubled. He looked adorable when he was troubled, but I couldn’t bring myself to think that about him just then. Our eyes met, and then we both must have melted just a bit. He jumped up, jeans already covering his legs, and made his way towards me. He reached out and his fingertips gently brushed my forearm.

“I didn’t mean it,” he murmured, looking down. “I didn’t just want to sleep with you.”

I sighed and stepped in to him, one of his arms locking around my waist.

“I didn’t want to walk away,” I confessed in a whisper.

His fingers moved to my chin and made me look up to meet his eyes again. After a few moments, his lips arranged themselves into a small quirky smirk and he brought our faces closer together for our lips to brush again, much sweeter and gentler than a few hours ago. Just as our tongues touched, we were startled apart by a crashing noise from not far downstairs, signaling that someone was on their way up. We looked at each other for a brief second, and in it we knew that we wouldn’t tell everyone about us. Even if we could without immense confusion and suspicion on their part… well, we both wanted the thrill of the secrecy.

Pete had just managed to fix his hair and get his shirt on as the door rattled, the bolt lock doing its job, and then a knock.

“Guys?” It was Hunter’s voice. “Elle? Are you in there? Peter?”

With Pete’s nod of approval, I moved over to unlock the door and smile sweetly at Hunter as if he hadn’t just interrupted a potentially hot make-out session.

“Hey,” I greeted, a little more breathless that I would have liked.

“Uh, hey…” he began, already looking slightly suspicious. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

I mentally cursed and told myself to speak slower.

“Well the door was locked, but the door’s never locked… And your face is kind of red… Is Pete in there with you?”

I was about to lie my way out of it, but before I could say a word Pete had appeared behind me. He wasn’t too close to me, but he wasn’t far enough away to seem unusual. I could feel his skin radiating light, cool waves, and I craved his touch already.

“Yeah, I was just helping Elle practice. We were sparring.”

“Oh…” He seemed confused, and I had to restrain from giggling. “But… I thought you two hated each other?”

“Yeah, well we talked about it and made up while you guys were gone. It’s all good now.” I flashed a smile and hoped it’d get him off our backs.

Hunter looked at me, his brown eyes piercing, and I faltered just a bit.

“Are you sure, Elle? He’s not pressuring you into anything?”

Pete began to snarl, but I mentally told him to calm down.

“Of course I’m sure,” I scoffed. “He knows I could have his ass in dust form whenever I want. He couldn’t do anything to me.”

I could hear Pete’s slight annoyance, but his ego could afford to be kicked down a notch.

“Okay…” Hunter began, but I cut him off.

“Yeah, so we’re fine, and we’re just going to pack up the stakes and stuff now, so…” I trailed off and began to close the door, but Hunter’s hand came in contact with it and kept it open.

“Let me help you…” he offered, but I was getting frustrated now. He was my friend, but sometimes he could get into that mindset where he wouldn’t leave me alone!

“No, no. It’s fine. You guys have had a tiring day. Go get some sleep before we go hunting tonight.”

Apparently seeing no way to argue himself out of it, Hunter nodded dully and turned to make his way downstairs again to inform the others of what we’d told him had happened. I closed the door and locked it again, just in case, and Pete’s hands were immediately on my waist and running up my sides. I smiled as his lips formed teasing words beside my ear.

“You seemed pretty sure just then that I couldn’t do anything to you,” he smirked.

“Oh I know you can do things to me,” I started suggestively, foolishly feeding his self-esteem. “But he was implying that I wouldn’t like it.”

Pete hummed his approval of my comment against my throat, sending vibrations tingling through me. A thought came to mind, one that I probably should have considered before sleeping with him.

“Hey, isn’t it difficult for you?” I asked. “I mean, you know, being so close to me… with your, you know… hunger?”

“First of all,” he started. “It’s technically thirst, not hunger.” I rolled my eyes. Secondly, the blend makes it easier, but even without it I think I’m strong enough to stop myself. I’m sure you’d taste good, but my will power is the reason I’m not following Beckett around like a loyal Labrador right now. He wasn’t counting on my resistance.”

I turned my head and smiled up at him, our lips colliding again for another kiss before we’d have to face the others.

***

Two weeks later, Pete and I lay on the couch together with our hands entwined. I never thought I’d be one for this whole affectionate kind of thing, but it turns out I kind of liked it. We were much worse at keeping a secret than we thought, and already we were out in the open and everyone knew. When I snuck into Pete’s room the night we agreed to keep it quiet, we decided to make a game out of it. I thought that Andy would be the first to find out, and Pete thought it would be Patrick. Turns out we were both wrong.

Hands were roaming and lips were swelling, the exciting prospect of being caught only egging us on. Sure, a broom cupboard wasn’t exactly a luxury getaway, but we weren’t exactly ones for extravagance anyway. Heavy footsteps thundered past outside and Pete swallowed my giggles with his own mischievous smile.

“Elle! Pete!”

Hunter’s frustrated voice echoed as we stopped kissing, our embrace still tight.

“Guys!” he called to the others. “They’ve disappeared again! Help me find them!”

More footsteps were heard, and as I stumbled and fell over a bucket I hoped that the sounds from outside masked it. I thought they had.

“Have you checked the training room?” Andy’s voice floated past before the warehouse fell into relative quiet.

Pete grinned as he helped me stand back up, but we were both startled as the cupboard door swung open, artificial light falling upon both of our guilty faces. Joe stood there like a stunned mullet, frozen still as his eyes bulged out of his head. There was no doubt about the activities we’d been engaging in. A broom cupboard doesn’t have much of a variety of leisure options, and our hair and clothes were all mussed up. I smiled meekly, pulling the strap of my singlet top over my shoulder and stepping away from Pete as Joe began to stutter.

There goes the thrill of the chase.


As much as he supposedly tried, Joe couldn’t keep it to himself and so a few days later, Andy knew. And then Patrick, who was ecstatic that he wouldn’t have to put up with our arguments anymore (something that I reassured him still had a high likeliness of occurring). And inevitably, Hunter found out too. He seemed pretty pissed off at the idea, but I didn’t really pay much attention to him.

The only thing I could really get my mind to focus on (other than hunting, of course), was him. I swear he’ll be the death of me.But if I die in his arms, I’ll be happy.