Promise Me Not

Payton

As we take the exit toward campus, Mason lifts my hand for what must be the fiftieth time in the last few hours, pressing his lips to my knuckles. I roll my head along the seat, staring at him as I’ve done most of the trip, and he chuckles, meeting my eyes a moment before facing forward again.

We drove all day, and I’m exhausted, but I don’t dare fall asleep. I don’t want to waste a minute of my time with him. It’s clear he feels the same, and while he couldn’t sleep if he wanted as the driver, he makes sure to touch me every few minutes with both his eyes and his hands.

Thankfully, when I had my moment a few days ago, I didn’t call my job, so my room is still mine to come back to at the staff building at Avix U.

My lips tip up as I run my fingers over the small lotus flower Mason gave me, remembering what he said but also what I read when looked it up for myself the night he left. Mason and I, we are resilient and strong, and we did grow from a place of darkness, finding our own light. I like to think maybe Deaton had a part in this, that maybe his death wasn’t in vain but a blessing, offering the promise of new beginnings, just like he did in my dream.

I close my eyes a moment, then roll my head along the seat to look at the man beside me. “Hey, Mase.”

“Yeah, baby?” he asks, his voice thick with exhaustion as he pulls into the parking lot of my building.

He looks over a few times, but I wait until the car is still, the engine shut off.

“I have something to tell you.”

He leans forward, taking my chin in his hands and sliding his lips across mine in a perfect tease. “And I want to hear it, but it’s late. Let’s go inside and get our little man in a real bed.”

“K.” I give in instantly, and I don’t realize my eyes have closed until I hear his door open.

He takes Deaton from his seat, and we leave everything but the diaper bag in the car.

Inside, Mason gently lays him down on the bed, and Deaton hardly stirs as Mason changes him, leaving him in nothing but a diaper and socks.

I drop onto the mattress, watching as Mason strips his shirt from his head, followed by his jeans. Silently, he climbs into bed, and my heart melts when he reaches down, lifting Deaton and placing him in the center.

He closes his eyes, his arm gently tucking Deaton into his chest.

Moisture pricks my eyes, and I kick my shoes off, climbing in beside them.

Mason’s eyes pop open for a split second, but they close just as quickly.

I’m not sure I’ve ever wished I had my camera on me more than I do in this moment.

Mason falls asleep fast, a ghost of a smile on his lips, and I’m not far behind.

Warm palms travel up my sides, curving along my shoulders and gliding back down my arms until long, thick fingers are curling into mine. My smile is slow, eyes peeling open to find his hovering an inch above my own, a wolfish gleam within them as my arms are lifted and pinned above my head, pressed firmly into the plush pillow beneath me.

“Deaton’s in his bed now, baby,” he rasps, his voice thick with sleep and dirty promises. “Remember what I said to you?”

“Say it again,” I whisper, sighing when his deep chuckle washes over my skin.

He shakes his head, dipping and kissing across my collarbone. “That’s not how this part works. Here, you do what I say, and I reward you for it.”

“That sounds like a really good plan.”

I feel his smile, and my own threatens to break free, but then he sucks, hard, on my neck, and I’m moaning beneath him.

“Open your legs, baby. Open your legs and let me in.”

My knees fall to the side with zero protest, and he doesn’t hesitate, settling between them.

I gasp, locking my legs against his naked hips, feeling his heated flesh against my skin for the first time. I don’t remember him taking his boxers off, but he must have, and thank fuck for that.

He’s bare and bulging, pressing right where I want him—no, where I need him.

“I’m ready for you, Pretty Little. Sheathed and fucking aching.” He tugs my tank down so my breasts are spilling out, bends to suck my nipple into his mouth, releasing with a resounding pop. “Is my girl ready for me, too?”

I squirm, shifting my hips, and the tip presses inside.

Mason groans, lowering his bottom half and pressing me into the mattress. I wish he’d crush me with it. “Behave, baby. You’ll have me when I say you can and not a second sooner.”

He kisses me then, claiming my mouth with a raw intensity I’ve never felt, and a low whine leaves me.

“So damn responsive. So greedy for my cock.”

I moan in response, chasing his kiss and reveling in the way he makes me feel alive. My body has never known such need.

Mason’s hand dives between my legs, fingers finding their way inside me without pause, and my eyes roll back. “Yeah,” he breathes. “You’re ready for me. So fucking ready.”

Ripples of anticipation rage through me, and my head presses into the pillow, my eyes locking on his.

“You have no idea how many times I’ve been right here in my dreams.” He hooks my left leg, drawing it higher. “In my mind, I’ve licked you everywhere,” he whispers, rubbing along my clit and making me squirm. “Had you everywhere, on every surface in every room.” He reaches between us, lining himself up at my entrance, his eyes finding mine.

“Mase…”

“I’ve come on your every curve, and still, every single time, you beg for more.” A ghost of pressure is all he gives me, and I’m whining now. “You gonna beg for more, baby?”

His hips slide forward, the head of his dick pressing inside me. My lips part on a gasp, and his eyes flare, roaming across my features so as not to miss a thing. He gives me another inch, and I whimper, my nails digging into his arms.

“Yeah, my greedy girl will beg, won’t she?”

I nod feverishly, grasping at his shoulders and locking my ankles behind his back.

I’ve never been so hot, so full, and he’s not even halfway in. I squeeze my eyes closed. “Please, Mase.” My walls are stretched around him so deliciously, I’m driven to taste him, my tongue sneaking out and licking across his lips. “Please.”

Mason bites on it, and pleasure explodes in my belly, my core already pulsing, clenching and unclenching around him, and finally, he shoves inside.

His eyes snap shut, a pained expression covering his face, and he moans, long and loud, inspiring my own. “Baby girl.” He groans, slowly sliding in and out, sending waves of delirium through me. “I want to memorize your every moan, learn all the little things you like, and discover new ones.”

“I want that.”

“I know you do.” He thrusts in harder, deeper, and my body jolts beneath him. “You want me to fuck you every way there is to fuck, and then you want to invent new ones. Ain’t that right?”

“God, yes.”

“Mmm.” He sits back on his knees, my ass in his hands as he shoves in and out, in and out. His eyes are locked on my face, my breasts bouncing between us as he stares down at me with pure hunger. His hands are everywhere, touching me with such an enticing possessiveness, it makes me want to claim him right back. I want to own him. Ruin him.

“Harder, Mase.”

He growls, slides his arms around my back with such gentle care, but when he hauls me to him, my chest slapping against his naked one, it’s so rough, almost violently delicious, that my climax is already cresting. I cry out, clenching around him, but he fixes me with a glare, clamping onto my hips and forcing me still.

“Don’t you dare,” he whispers his warning. “We come together.”

“But—”

“No buts.” He sweeps his legs out, and our pelvises meet, shoving him so impossibly deep my head falls back, my body quaking.

With a gentle yet firm grip, he tangles his hand in my hair, lifting my gaze to his.

His mouth comes down on mine with a crushing kiss, his hips thrusting up as I grind down, and a thunderstorm of ecstasy cracks through me.

His kiss is raw and urgent. It’s drugging and demanding and soul shattering.

“I’m going to come now, baby,” he rasps, sucking my tongue into his mouth.

He thrusts once, twice, and my hips work over him frantically, my arms locked around his neck, his around my back. And when he jerks inside me, I cry out into his neck, sucking on the salty skin there and melting at the shiver that runs through him.

We hold on to each other tightly, hips rolling in slow motion, until the feeling is gone completely, and only then does he collapse backward, taking me with him.

He grins, panting with his eyes closed, and I do the same.

A few minutes go by, and he starts laughing, pushing my sweaty hair from my head, so I lift it and look up at him, a sated smile on my face.

“You look good and fucked,” he rasps.

“I am.”

“Perfect.”

I squeal when suddenly, he has me flipped on my back and he’s climbing on top of me again.

He hits me with his big megawatt Mason smile and says, “Time for round two.”

We make it all the way to round four before I jump and run from the bed, stumbling my way into the shower on wobbly legs with a delicious soreness that’s sure to last for days.

Mason hops in with me but keeps his hands to himself, a sated expression written across his face. I climb out first, throwing our dirty blankets off the bed and piling on some new ones. I’ve just laid back down, the morning light shining through the room, when Mason comes back in, Deaton smiling in his arms.

“There’s your mama.” He kisses his cheek, the both of them climbing into bed. Mason smiles as Deaton curls up in my arms, playing with my hair. “I could get used to this,” he says softly, reaching over and running his hand over Deaton’s tangly curls.

“Waking me between my legs?”

Mason smirks, but there’s no mistaking the tenderness of his gaze. “That, too, of course, but not what I meant, Pretty Little. You know that, though.”

“I do,” I whisper. “And you should get used to it.”

Confusion draws a line between his brows, and he opens his legs for Deaton to climb between.

“The university is expanding the Avix Inquirer. They negotiated a two-year contract with Embers Elite for a full-time, paid position.” My heart beats wildly as I gaze into his eyes. “They offered it to me.”

Mason stares, his brown eyes boring into mine as he wraps his left arm around Deaton, keeping him close to his chest. “What are you saying to me right now?”

“I’m saying I’m staying instead of preparing to say goodbye. Get used to saying good morning, because we’ll be here as long as you are.”

Mason swallows, reaching with his free hand and taking mine.

“And after that?” he whispers.

“Where you are is where we want to be.” I give his line back to him with a smile.

A harsh exhale pushes past his lips as he slides them along my knuckles.

“No matter what?” His hold on Deaton’s back tightens as he tugs me closer, wrapping us in his warm embrace. “Promise me, baby.”

Reaching up, my palm covers his on Deaton’s back, the other sliding along his jaw and drawing his face to mine. “Tell him, baby boy.” I peek at Deaton with a smile. “No matter what. No matter where. With your daddy is where we want to be.” I meet Mason’s eyes, moisture building in his dark lashes and matching my own. “We promise. I promise. I love you, Mason, and I’m never going to run from that again.”

“Sorry to break it to you, baby, but I wouldn’t let you if you tried.”

“Promise?”

Mason chuckles, but there’s a slight sniffle in there, too, he tries to hide, and when he presses his mouth to mine, it’s with more than just a promise.

It’s a life debt, a blood pact. It’s a pledge of allegiance from him to me.

From him to us, the fractured family he made whole when he didn’t have to.

He chose to.

And me?

I choose him.

Forever. Always.

No matter what.