Page 105 of The Commons

I suddenly remember that he threw me off a plane, and it makes me want to know how someone can have such precise aim, so I ask. “What does flying entail?”

“What does it not entail.”

What the…

His hands grip my waist, the board in between us morphing open somehow. Strong, like a lock or a bolt secured, his hands lower, tracing my curves, directing my butt to move forward toward him.

“Do you want to go back to your room?” His words echo in the process.

“No!” Why would I want to go now?

I want him so badly. I would beg, but just as my lips open to demand, his tongue shoves into the depths of my throat. Oh, I’ve been longing for this. And just as I open up my lips some more to enjoy the sweetness of his taste and scent, the light rope tying me up to the ceiling snaps, and I fall down to my face. Splat. No. Not splat. He catches me before I do, tightening me close to himself in a gripping force, the barrier sliding away before I’ve even looked. He slams me back against a bookshelf, staring with such a calm gaze, like he didn’t just tie me up and drop me. My feet can hardly remember how to stand from the force of his presence before me. I keep my head down to think, but just as I do, his hands pull my chin up, forcing me to face the full wrath of his gaze. Oh my gosh…

“My sweet girl.” His hands trace my hair, putting it behind my ear. “I was gonna punish you. But look at that face of yours. So sweet. So innocent. We’ll save that for later.” He winks at me. He is so teasing me!

I should be scared, but I’m not. I just love the rush of being here with him. We stare, and I can sense the beginning of a smile inside both of us, but we do not let it show fully.

Then, in the silence, his voice whispers into my neck, “You didn’t really think we were gonna go past that, did you?”

I shake my head to communicate a no, lost in his eyes. I look down with a smile as he pulls me into his arms.

My lips whisper, “I love you!”

He scoffs with a smile. Why is he laughing at me? Is that a dumb thing to say? But how? His lips tilt, biting the tip of my ear, whispering into me, “Of course you do.”

“Mmm.” He is so naughty, I swear. “You told me you loved me on the same day you betrayed me!”

“The betrayal I remember, but what’s this other thing? Are you sure it’s not just your imagination?”

“Mm…” I pout.

He smiles even more, locking me in, pulling me up. His hands are gripping me so much, my dress is rising, bunching up around my waist into his grip. I’m sure if he looked, he could see the edge of my underwear from behind. And yet he keeps squishing me into his grip. But I don’t even care.

“Pesh!” I say his name, and I honestly don’t even know why. My warm breath is on his nape as my arms wrap tighter around his neck and back, hanging onto him as he grips me oh so tight, it’s so nice. After a few seconds, I slide my hands down, softly slipping out his hold, just as my legs fall to the ground.

I look up at him, and then I see it. I see it in his eyes, on the taste of his exhale, love on fire. I don’t need him to say anything to me.

My eyes scan my body, wondering what happened to me. My skin feels so new, like I just had a shower.

I look up at the golden light and back to him. I think that light is emitting artificial clouds. Could that be a filtration or humidifier of some sort? “Was that a…?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh… wow.” I just now realize what the golden rope was doing. It must have been purifying my body and healing me from the air of The Seventh Zone or something. I realize the writing I saw on the ceiling must have been a timer. I’m sure he did everything else to distract me while the light rope healed my body. My heart is melting. I should have known when he asked me to raise my hands in the position where he first healed my wound that it would be something similar, but honestly how was I supposed to know that?

I wonder if he’s only doing this for me. “Am I the only one who gets this?”

“The air here does that for everyone. I just take care of you. Extra.” His eyes trace me so smoothly.

My eyes merge into his. Like a dream. “Thank you.” I’m quite honored, I won’t lie. I decide to share my anxieties with him. “Where are you going to go after we turn in The Begon?” I ask.

He looks at me with a calm, unworried confidence. “Where are you going to go?” he asks.

“I don’t know, I was gonna take a gap year before I came here. I planned to visit my grandparents as well. I know they’re probably really disappointed in me that I didn’t come, but I guess I do have to finish school now.”

“Well, wherever you are, I’ll be there to take care of you.”

I smile, lighting up. “Really, you’d do that?”