Beyond by Katie May

5

Bianaca

Why did Aiden have to be such an…such an asshole?

I was fuming when I left the kitchen, the heavy duffle bag full of water bottles hitting my leg with every step I took. It was sure to leave a nasty bruise on the outside of my thigh, but the pain barely registered.

I was still muttering to myself, most of my curse words incoherent, when I ran face-first into a familiar female with jet-black hair and too pale skin.

Kelly.

Her wide, guileless eyes turned to saucers when she saw me, her gaze dropping briefly to my duffle bag before she refocused on my face. She trembled, tiny convulsions that made me fear for my friend, before she whispered, “Between.”

She’d been saying that same word for weeks, and I’d never thought anything of it. I’d assumed they were the ramblings of a slightly unhinged woman, but now…

Between.

As in…

Between life and death.

My heart hammered against my rib cage as I stared intently into her skittish, light blue eyes.

Did Kelly…did Kelly know the truth about this place?

She’d been the one to show me the monster, after all. And why would she repeat “between” if she weren’t aware of where we were? It couldn’t be a coincidence. No, not something like this.

“Kelly,” I whispered, my breaths sawing in and out. The noise was deafeningly loud in the silence of the halls. “Do you…do you know the truth about where we are?”

Her eyes shifted from side to side nervously, searching the emptied hallways, before she repeated, “Between.”

“You know.” It wasn’t a question, yet I found myself needing some sort of confirmation.

She licked her upper lip, her frail body still shaking erratically, before she dipped her chin in a nod.

She knew.

She knew.

And this entire time, she’d been trying to warn me. How did she know? What did she know? Was it different from what Heath had told me?

Indecision warred within me, a fierce battle of sharp swords and iron shields, before I came to a decision.

Aiden was going to fucking kill me.

Grabbing her arm before she could hurry away, I moved both of us towards the far end of the hall, away from any prying eyes or way too curious ears. She blinked at me, her blue eyes appearing white in the vivid lighting.

Without giving myself a chance to overthink this, to regret my decision, I placed my hands on her shoulders and spoke in a low, terse voice. “Okay, listen. We don’t have a lot of time. I don’t know what you know exactly about this school and why we’re here, but I’m assuming it’s the same as me. We’re leaving, Kelly. Tonight.”

Not an ounce of expression crossed her elfin face as she stared, just stared, at me.

“Leave your room at exactly eleven forty-two PM and meet me at the shed. Not a minute earlier or later. Got it?” Again, not a single facial tick formed as she stared up at me with that unnerving intensity of hers. Unease skittered up my spine before I shoved it down, reminding myself she was my friend. “We can’t stay here a second longer. It’s not safe. Do you understand, Kelly?”

Slowly, she nodded, a single dip of her chin. My breath wooshed out of me as I gave her shoulders one last squeeze before releasing her.

“Good. That’s good.”

Aiden was going to be furious at me, but I couldn’t leave her behind. Not after she’d tried to warn me, tried to save me. If we were getting out of here, I’d be damned if she didn’t come with us.

Kelly gave me one last unreadable expression before hurrying down the hall, her black pigtails flying behind her. It was only as she turned the corner did I glimpse a shock of white-blonde hair. But when I looked closer, the head of hair was gone, and I wondered if my nerves were playing tricks on me.

Because if they weren’t…

It meant that someone had overheard what I’d told Kelly.

Someone knew we were planning to escape.

I didn’t sleep.Didn’t do anything, really, but pace and think and pace some more. My nails had been chewed down to stubs as I glanced at the gray sky outside my window, the sun still hidden behind bloated rain clouds.

It was only three in the afternoon, meaning we had hours until we put our plan into effect, but I didn’t dare do anything else. Not rest my eyes, not go to the cafeteria, not leave my room.

Numerous what-ifs played on repeat in my mind.

What if the reapers got wind of what we had planned?

What if Kelly told someone about the escape?

What if that person I may or may not have seen tattled?

What if…

What if…

What if…

A knock on my door shook me out of my reverie, but it did very little to slow down my racing heart. If anything, my heartbeat increased as I stared intently at the wooden door.

Was it a group of reapers coming to feed my soul to a monster?

Or maybe it was a camera crew and Ashton Kutcher hiding behind the corner, waiting to jump out and scream, “You’ve been punk’d!”

I really, really hoped it was option number two.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Little gymnast, I hear you pacing in there.” Tanner’s voice was laced with amusement. “And your heavy breathing. You’re not as stealthy as you think.”

“I’m totally as stealthy as I think,” I retorted, my anxiety dissipating as quickly as it had arrived. It was actually kind of funny, the instant relief I felt at knowing Tanner was on the other side of that door. At one point, I’d hated him, maybe even feared him, and though those feelings hadn’t completely dissolved, they were no longer as prominent.

I moved to the door and pulled it open, biting on my lip to contain my smile when I saw Tanner leaning against the door frame, a cocky grin on his face. As usual, he wore a leather jacket that clung to his muscular frame. An unlit cigarette hung from his lush lips as his Caribbean blue eyes twinkled.

“So you think about how stealthy you are a lot?” His tone was teasing as he pushed past me and made his way into my room, removing his cancer stick from his mouth and placing it inside his jacket pocket.

“I didn’t say you could come in,” I deadpanned, shutting the door behind him.

He smirked as he all but threw himself onto the bed, folding his hands behind his head and hooking his ankles together.

“You wound me, little gymnast. I thought our sexual chemistry was off the charts. I totally thought it was deserving of unannounced bedroom visits.”

I snorted, moving to perch on the edge of my bed and flicking a distasteful look at his shoes.

“Not enough to allow you to put your dirty shoes on my bed.”

“One, my shoes aren’t dirty.” He held up a single finger before adding a second one to it. “And two, you’re not sleeping in this bed ever again if everything goes as planned. And even if it doesn’t…” He trailed off, deep lines pulling at the skin around his eyes, and I filled in what he didn’t say.

“And if it doesn’t go as planned, we’re probably dead. Goodie.” My voice was just as empty as his had been, though I tried to hide my growing unease with humor. “But that doesn’t give you the right to put your big feet up on my bed.” I pushed at said feet in annoyance, and his smirk widened. “Seriously, those feet belong to a giant. That can’t be normal. Have you had a doctor look at them? Are you sure they’re not two big tumors?”

“Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny,” he quipped, rolling his sea-blue eyes. His tongue rolled across his teeth as his smile widened. “Though you know what they say about big feet…”

“Ew!” I gave him a look of complete and utter disgust. “Don’t say it.”

“What?” He stared at me innocently. “I was simply going to say—”

“La! La! La! La! La! La!” I sang, bringing my hands to my ears and covering them. He sat up in bed, gripped my wrists, and forced my hands back down to my sides. When I stuck my tongue out at him, he bent down and captured it with his teeth.

My heart thundered, fire racing through my veins, when he released me with another dangerous chuckle. Heat flooded my veins, a molten trail of lava.

“I was actually going to say that big feet means big socks and big shoes. Naughty, naughty girl. Where did your dirty mind go?”

I reached around him to grab my pillow and whack him across the face.

“Shut up,” I drawled, and he laughed.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he protested, holding his hands up like he was completely innocent. “You’re the one putting dirty words in my mouth.”

“You were thinking said dirty words.” I hit him with the pillow again while he cried out in exaggerated pain. “Don’t lie to me.”

He laughed maniacally and rubbed his hands together like a stereotypical cartoon villain. “You’ll never get the answers out of me!”

Before I could stop him, he jumped to his feet and did a somersault across the room, stopping in mid spin to cry out, “My back! Fuck, my back! I think I broke my back!” He toppled sideways, sprawling across the floor with his arms and legs extended. His tongue lolled out of his mouth. “I’m dead,” he said, though his words were garbled with his tongue halfway out.

“Well if you’re dead…” I dropped to the floor and crawled towards him, positioning my body until I straddled his. “It’d be weird if I did this.” I ducked my head and planted a tentative kiss to the corner of his mouth, opposite his extended tongue.

I had to give him credit—his tongue didn’t recoil back into his mouth and his eyes remained closed, though his hands did move to rest on my hips.

“You can’t move if you’re dead,” I whispered against his lips, then I moved my mouth to the column of his throat, peppering kisses across the sensitive skin there. His hands tightened almost imperceptibly.

“Muscle reflex.” His garbled voice made me smile as I continued to move farther and farther down his body, planting kisses on his stomach before I reached the waistband of his pants. Before I could go any further, his hand snaked out and captured my chin, his eyes burning a hole into me.

“What are you doing?” he whispered roughly, his cock straining against the denim of his jeans. With his messy blond hair falling around him and his crystal-clear blue eyes resembling the freshest water I’d ever seen, he could’ve been an angel—a fallen angel seeking to lead me to sin, but an angel all the same. He was so beautiful, so perfect, that he took my breath away. It was the sort of elusive, ethereal beauty you read about in romance novels. Something so unattainable, you didn’t think you would ever see it for yourself.

It occurred to me that while I was feasting my eyes on him, he was doing the same to me. His eyes were as tender as I’d ever seen them, full of warmth and a heat that made my core clench and skin crawl.

“I asked you a question, little gymnast.” He lifted a hand to brush a strand of my golden hair behind my ear, and I felt my entire body tremble with need, with want, with desire. With emotions I didn’t dare look too closely at. “What are you doing?”

I touched the skin just above his waistband, where his shirt had risen up, and whispered, “Feeling alive.”

Keeping my eyes locked on his, I unbuttoned his pants, unsurprised that he hadn’t worn any underwear. I was beginning to think that the man didn’t own a single pair.

Not that I was complaining.

His long, thick cock sprang free, the tip already beaded with pre-cum.

“Bianaca.” His voice was a growl, a command, and I paused to meet his fire filled eyes. “What are we doing?” There was more to his question than I cared to answer.

What are we?

Does this mean more?

Do we want it to mean more?

He wanted to define our relationship, and I was unsure how I felt about that. On one hand, liquid heat cascaded through my veins as desire inflated my lungs, and on the other, I was terrified. Terrified of him and the way he made me feel. Terrified that this would change everything in a way that was confusing and irrevocable.

And I couldn’t ignore my feelings for Beau and even Kace. If I was with Tanner, did that mean I couldn’t be with them too? Did I even want to be, after the way they’d both ran out on me?

“Do you want me, Tanner?” A hint of vulnerability crept into my words, but when his eyes darkened with lust, I knew that his need for me had never been an issue. He definitely wanted me…but I also was beginning to believe he wanted more.

How much was I willing to give him?

How much did he already have of me?

“Yes,” he gritted out. “More than anything. But—”

“I don’t want to think about what this means,” I whispered, moving to pull my shirt over my head. I was happy I’d changed out of my leotard and into comfortable clothes when I arrived back at my room. It was impossible to be sexy peeling off a skin-tight bodysuit.

His eyes turned hooded, half-mast with lust, as my breasts sprang free, my nipples already beaded. I swore I saw his tongue sneak out to lick his lips, as if he was hungry for a taste of them, hungry for a taste of me.

“I don’t…” He trailed off, squeezing his eyes shut. When he reopened them, he speared me with an unreadable look. “I can’t just have sex with you, B,” he confessed. “Because to me, it’s something more. I don’t know what it is yet—”

“I don’t either,” I confessed, my heart thundering against my rib cage like a jackhammer.

As if he couldn’t help himself, one of his hands came upwards to caress my aching breast, his fingers grazing my nipple. Just as quickly, he dropped it back to his side.

“B…” My name was a prayer on his lips, and that reverence spurred me on.

He didn’t stop me as I wrapped my hand around the base of his thick cock, silky smooth skin over iron steel. A breathy moan escaped him as his back arched.

I’d watched him pleasure himself before, and he’d fingered me to orgasm, but I’d never touched him. Not like this.

Though his dick had starred in more than one of my nighttime fantasies.

My blonde hair brushed against his stomach as I lowered my head to his throbbing cock, wrapping my lips around the tip. His pre-cum assaulted my tastebuds, a flavor that was both salty and musky. I’d never particularly enjoyed the taste of cum, but I found the act of swallowing too erotic to ignore. It was a way of having complete control over a man, of taking his pleasure into your own hands. I saw the cum as my reward for such endeavors, as twisted as that might have been.

I took him as deep into my throat as I could, my hand wrapping around the base where I couldn’t quite reach, traveling up his cock in a corkscrew motion. And then my mouth and hand were working in tandem, stroking and sucking and licking until his eyes were closed and his hips were jerking.

My breasts brushed against the top of his hairy thighs, the texture somehow stimulating the peaked buds and adding to my own arousal.

I released his cock from my mouth and ran my tongue from the base to the mushroom tip. When he groaned, my name leaving his lips on a breathy exhale, I repeated the ministration, keeping my eyes locked on his face.

His own eyes were shut, his golden hair splayed on the floor around him. A slight sheen of sweat coated his tan skin as he twisted his head from side to side, trying to both escape and accept the pleasure I was offering him.

His eyes snapped open when I began to run my tongue in a circle around the tip of his cock. Those blue orbs captured me, drawing me forward like a moth to a flame. I honestly feared that if I got too close, he’d burn me to ash.

He reached forward to push my blonde hair behind my ears, his eyes never leaving mine.

I brought him back into my mouth, wanting to control him and his pleasure. Wanting him to fall apart for me.

Tanner and I… Our relationship was complicated. He’d been cruel to me when I first arrived, but never on the level Aiden had been. He was honest in his initial animosity for me, but more than that, he was truthful about his attraction towards me. He never hesitated to let me know that he desired me.

I knew what I felt for him wasn’t love—how could it be, when we barely knew each other?—but I also knew it could easily change. Falling in love with Tanner would be as easy as breathing. I could lose myself in his bad boy ways, in his cocky, mischievous smile and those fathomless blue eyes. In his sharp wit and sarcastic drawl. In his tattoos and broken soul.

He wrapped my hair around his fist, guiding my movements.

Giving a man a blow job was one of the most intense forms of intimacy someone could experience. Watching him wither and lose himself to the pleasure you evoked within him…

It was impossible to describe in words.

“My turn.” Before I could protest, Tanner used his grip on my hair to force my lips off his cock. In the next second, my back was on the floor, a pillow brought down to cushion my head, and my pants and panties were discarded on the floor beside me, as well as the rest of his own clothes. Tanner removed the garments with an ease that made me both jealous and grateful of his experience.

I didn’t care about his past…as long as I was his only future.

He nestled himself between my thighs, and I brought both legs as far apart as I comfortably could in the splits. His grin was wicked, sinful, as he glanced from my dripping pussy to my spread legs.

“Perks of dating a gymnast,” he murmured, and I lifted a brow, even as my chest turned warm and butterflies took flight in my stomach.

“Dating?” I tried for teasing, but the breathless quality of my voice gave away how much I liked that idea.

“I told you.” He gave my pussy a slow, languid lick. “This isn’t just sex for me.”

And then he was eating my pussy like a man starved. His tongue made delicious figure eights in my slick folds before he moved to my clit, pulling it between his teeth.

I brought my hand to my inner thighs, holding my legs apart, as he alternated between tongue fucking my pussy and sucking on my clit. Whenever he paused, it was only to add light kisses to my throbbing core that had heat shooting through my veins like errant fireworks on Fourth of July. Fuck, that was what his touch reminded me of—a fireworks show in the dead of night, vivid colors penetrating the darkness until the world was on fire.

“Tanner,” I gasped, rolling my head back in pleasure. “I need…”

“What do you need, little gymnast? I’ll give you the fucking world.”

And from the conviction in his tone, I knew he meant it.

“You,” I responded, and I didn’t need to open my eyes to know his smile turned dark and predatory—a lion feasting on a defenseless gazelle caught wandering in his territory.

He crawled up my body, something I felt rather than saw, and his lips met mine in a featherlight kiss.

“Open your eyes, baby,” he whispered. “Open your eyes and watch me take you.”

His words had me panting with desire, and my eyes flew open, clashing with his blue ones. In the dim lighting of my room, golden flecks seemed to swirl in his irises, somehow accentuating his golden hair and skin. My eyes greedily lapped up his elegant, angular visage, as his did the same to me.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured as he grabbed my thighs, forcing them upwards until they crushed my breasts. His cock prodded the entrance to my pussy, not quite entering but sending licks of heat cascading through me anyway.

“So are you,” I gasped out, claiming his lips once more in a possessive, claiming kiss. His tongue tangled with my own, and I knew right then and there that there was no falling with this man…I’d already fallen. I didn’t know how or when or even fucking why, but I had fallen anyway.

Finally, his cock slid inside of me, and we both paused as he allowed me to adjust to his size. I broke the kiss, twisting my head to the side, and he took the opportunity to pepper kisses down my cheek and neck.

And then he began to move.

Pleasure coursed through me, setting my blood aflame, as he thrust in and out of my pussy, his balls slapping against my skin and providing a soundtrack to our lovemaking. His eyes left mine only once to stare at where we connected, where his cock stretched my channel, filling me to the brim.

His spicy, leather scent surrounded me as I brought my hands to his shoulders, my nails digging into his sweat slick skin.

“Tanner, my god,” I praised as he rutted into me faster. With my thighs on my chest and my ass slightly raised, his cock went even deeper inside of me. I couldn’t remember ever feeling so full, so completed.

“So beautiful. So perfect,” he whispered repeatedly, and I brought one hand to his chiseled cheek, holding him hostage. His lips devoured mine once more, but the kiss was sweeter than before. Softer. There was a lifetime of unspoken words in that one press of his lips against mine. “Ride me, baby. I want you to ride me.”

When his cock slid out of me, I wanted to cry out, but Tanner quickly rectified the situation by falling to his back. I landed on top of him, his cock brushing my ass cheeks, and I didn’t hesitate to guide him inside of me once more.

His hands moved to my breasts, holding onto them as I placed my feet on either side of his hips and began to push myself up and down. He didn’t caress them or pinch them or play with them, he just gripped them like they were damn handles or something.

I wanted to tease him, but the words got lost in my throat when this new position made his cock go so far inside of me, I saw metaphorical stars.

Or maybe they were actually stars. I was pretty sure my soul left my body, made a few circuits around the galaxy, then flew into the sun and turned to ash.

His hips thrust upwards in tandem to my movements, and I soon couldn’t tell if I was fucking him or if he was fucking me. I could feel his cock pistoning in and out of my pussy as his hands finally left my breasts to touch my ass cheeks. When he slapped first one and then the other, it was enough to send me hurtling over the edge. The intensity of my orgasm scoured all thoughts except the pleasure that washed over me in a blistering hot wave.

He pulled out of me before he came with a roar of pleasure, his cum hitting his stomach and creating a sticky trail I yearned to lick clean with my tongue. I didn’t believe we had to worry about pregnancies or STDs while we were in this place, but I appreciated his foresight.

“Fuck!” he cursed, putting pressure on my back until I was lying on top of him. “Fucking hell.”

“Your cum is sticking to my tits,” I whispered like the classy bitch I was, shifting in his arms until my head was on his chest and my leg was crossed over his. I couldn’t help but note it was a very similar position to the one I was in with Aiden just the night before.

Tanner released a breath of laughter. “Fuck. Are you trying to turn me on again? If I could, I’d fucking paint you in my cum.”

“How romantic,” I teased, tracing patterns on his gorgeous tan skin. “What is up with men wanting to possess and claim women?”

His hands lowered to my ass and gave it a squeeze. “Because we want the world to know she’s ours,” he whispered, and a second later, his teeth bit down on my earlobe.

I squealed, but I didn’t leave his embrace. I couldn’t, not when he felt so warm, his body molding to my own as if it were made for me.

For a moment, we were silent, and I listened to his heart race beneath my ear. His hand stroked soothing circles on my bare skin, though I could tell he was a million miles away.

“B, about tonight—”

“Don’t,” I interrupted as drowsiness bombarded me. “I don’t want to think about it.”

“But I want you to know…” His chest heaved with his next exhale. “I’ll protect you. You know that, right? No matter what.”

My heart migrated in my throat, choking me, as I took in his confession. Devoured it.

“I’m scared,” I confessed after a long moment of silence, the words tumbling from my lips before I could consider the ramifications of saying them.

For a long moment, Tanner didn’t speak, and I would’ve believed he’d fallen asleep if his finger hadn’t repeatedly been drawing patterns on my skin.

“I am too,” he whispered at last. He pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. “Go to sleep, my little gymnast. I’ll stay with you tonight.” His arms tightened around me, the move both possessive and protective. “No monsters will get you as long as I have breath in my lungs.”

And that was exactly what I was afraid of.

Because now that I had feelings for Tanner…

The thought of losing him was inconceivable.

Somehow, I had the strangest sense that we both wouldn’t make it out of this mess alive.

It terrified the shit out of me.