CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ZADE
The moment we are cleared to leave the hospital, a wave of cold relief washes over the group.
The doctor assured us it was nothing more than a sudden drop in blood pressure that caused Ellie's fainting spell.
Without bothering to check back in at the university, Nate immediately takes her straight home to rest, his protective instincts entirely consumed by her.
Mio rides back to campus with me, but the silence between us is deafening.
She hasn't spoken a single word to me since my outburst in the café, her quiet disapproval radiating through the car.
It squeezes my heart....But My mind is entirely elsewhere.
The second we pull up, I make my way back toward the lecture hall.
Before I even reach the doors, they swing open and several students begin to filter out into the corridor.
My eyes instantly lock onto her. Alice.
She doesn't notice me standing in the shadows.
But I notice everything.
Her uniform is completely drenched, sticking to her skin, and her entire frame is shivering violently.
Fury and curiosity twist in my gut as I follow her from a distance.
She weaves through the campus, making a bee-line toward the sports complex. She never goes to the gym.
I assume she must be heading there to change into a spare set of clothes—I'll find out later who the fuck dared to get her wet—but as I trail her inside, she slips into a private bathroom stall and shuts the door.
The sudden, vivid image of her stripping bare behind those thin walls hits me like a physical blow.
My dick goes rock-hard, straining against my trouser.
I freeze, a dark realization washing over me.
I haven't been hard like this in... Fuck, I don't even remember the last time my body reacted this fiercely to a woman.
Ever since the accident, I've been numb. A dead man walking.
But the mere thought of her naked body has my blood boiling.
Driven by a feral impulse, I locate the main electrical breaker panel on the wall.
I grip the heavy master switch and throw it down, plunging the windowless room into pitch-black darkness.
The distant hum of the shower instantly cuts off. Then, her voice pierces the dark.
"Who's there?"
That voice. That intoxicating, fucking voice. It acts like a tether, pulling me forward.
I violently slam the stall door open, and even in the deep shadows, the view in front of me steals the air straight from my lungs.
She is standing there completely naked, her chest heaving in shallow, panicked breaths that cause her breasts to bounce slightly.
Fucking hell. How is it possible for her to have a body this perfect?
Before she can process my presence, I lunge forward, slamming my heavy body into hers and pinning her flat against the cold tile wall.
She gasps, her hands frantically striking my chest. "Let go of me—"
I don't let her finish the sentence.
I bury my face in the crook of her neck, my teeth sinking sharply into her soft skin.
"Shut up, Alice," I growl against her pulse point.
My mouth tracks a burning path down to her breast, my fingers wrapping around the soft flesh and squeezing it ruthlessly.
She tries to stifle it, but I hear the broken, breathless sound she suppresses.
No matter how much she tries to pretend to hate it but know she is loving it just by the way her body is reacting to my touch....
I know her sounds better than she knows them herself.
I continue to trail my hands down her damp torso, the friction making my dick ache with an unbearable, agonizing hardness.
My fingers slide lower, parting her thighs until I find her slick, wet folds.
Fuck. She's dripping wet. And it's not from the remnants of the shower water—it's pure, unadulterated arousal.
Without giving her a second to prepare, I thrust two fingers deep inside her tight channel.
She startles against the wall, a sharp gasp tearing from her lips, immediately followed by a needy, involuntary moan.
"Oh God..." she whimpers.
I ignore the restriction in my own throat and begin to pump my fingers in and out of her pussy with a brutal, relentless rhythm.
Just as her inner walls begin to twitch, signaling she's right on the edge of breaking, I force a third finger inside her.
A loud scream tries to burst from her throat, but I slam my lips over hers, swallowing her voice entirely.
I feel the exact moment her pussy violently clenches around my fingers, clamping down in a crushing, spectacular climax.
She comes with a force so violent it steals the very breath from her lungs; if I hadn't been pinning her securely against the wall, she would have collapsed right onto the floor.
I slowly pull my mouth away, breathing heavily into the dark as her inner walls continue to throb and twitch around my hand.
I slide my fingers out of her slowly, a wet, heavy pop echoing in the small stall.
Her thick juices completely coat my hand.
I lift my fingers to my face, my tongue darting out to lick them completely clean right in front of her.
"You taste so fucking sweet for a wildfire like you," I whisper, my voice dark and gravelly.
I turn on my heel and walk out into the corridor before I lose what little control I have left.
Because I know one thing for a fact—if I stay in that stall for even a fraction of a second longer, I will rip my pants open and bury myself inside her.
And I don't want to do that yet.
I'm going to make her beg for it first.