Chapter Seventeen

Havermouth High School, Five Years Before

Rhett pulled up into the driveway of Aislen’s house, music blaring, and grinned as he got out of the car and opened the back seat. “Hey,” he caught her face between his hands and kissed her, his finger drawn to the curls of her hair and running through them to feel them straighten and spring back whilst he leisurely explored her mouth.

His kiss was accompanied by flashes of a balcony overlooking the water, and the sunlight dappling over her skin as she lay naked on a blanket. Forewarned was forearmed, she thought to herself as he eased back with a smile, not that it was exactly surprising that he planned on getting her naked.

She shivered a little as a fission passed over her skin.

“Today is going to be great. You’ll love the river house. Come on,” Rhett took her art supplies and placed them on the back seat along with his own before holding the door open for her.

She saw her mother watching from the front door as she got into the car and felt a warm buzz of achievement as Rhett made sure she was inside and closed the door behind her. Her mother had been overflowing with excitement that morning when Aislen had told her that she was going out with a boy, and the unusual approval felt good.

Rhett glanced at her several times as he drove and seemed to buzz with energy. “You’ll love the river house,” he told her. “It was the original homestead of the area and is on the edge of the Edison’s land. I don’t know why they stopped using it, it’s incredibly beautiful.”

They passed out of the town, the houses dropping away from the street and the trees crowding in. It was beautiful, she thought, looking out the window at the forest that spread far and wide around them, the road on which they travelled being the only sign of civilization.

Rhett took a turn off onto a dirt road. The trees had been precisely planted as to line the road, and she could see signs of past habitation through them – a dilapidated shed, an old wrought iron bathtub stranded in a field, and a windmill, blades broken. The road before them opened up, revealing the house.

“Oh, wow,” Aislen said as Rhett pulled up. It had been built on a stone base, the pointing breaking away in places, with a wraparound balcony that overlooked the riverbank. Like many houses in the area, it was a simple square design, but on a much grander scale, and the roof had windows indicating an upper storey built under the roofline. The woodwork on the veranda was beautifully tooled. “It’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah,” he agreed as he got out of the car. “Come on.” They took the art supplies around the veranda to where it overlooked the water, and both stood and admired the view. “It’s a good spot, right?” He said to her.

“Yeah, it’s great,” she agreed. She could see where the veranda had been repaired with new boards and could see in the rooms facing the water that there were tools set up. “You guys are repairing it?”

“Mostly Cameron,” Rhett spread a blanket on the balcony - the same blanket he had been imagining her naked and lying upon - and began arranging his supplies. “He’s the one with that sort of know-how.”

They sat facing each other, their sketch pads on their knees. “How are you planning on painting the portrait?” He asked.

“I was thinking watercolour. You?”

“Same. Not really enough time to do an oil, is there?” They worked in companionable silence until he groaned and stood. “Need to stretch my legs. You?” He held out a hand.

She set her sketch pad and pencil down. He lifted her easily to her feet, displaying the werewolf strength referred in her grandmother’s grimoire, she thought.

“About the other day,” he said quietly, and she stiffened. “What happened? Heath said the police questioned you?”

She shrugged, and walked to the edge of the balcony, placing her hands on the railing. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Was it something to do with how you know… about us?” He stood next to her so close that his arm brushed against her, and she had flashes of adults she didn’t know discussing her, their expressions tight and Heath shaking his head.

She turned and stepped into him, reaching up to draw his mouth down to hers, and the memory of Heath’s declaration: “Two ways to silence a mouthy cunt, with your tongue or your cock, am I right?” flashed through both of their minds.

Rhett’s hands closed behind her, drawing her body tightly to his, and he began to think of getting her naked on the blanket, the thought making his blood rush and his breath unsteady as his desire for her rose with demand within him. She felt her body react to the suggestion, the throbbing ache that she had been feeling in the nights when she dreamed of the Triquetra demanding satiation.

Her hands went under Rhett’s top, feeling the heated silk of his skin under her palms, and he groaned, pulling back from the kiss to lift his t-shirt up and off of him, dropping it to the wooden boards at his heels. She did not protest when he peeled her t-shirt from her and saw the flash of his werewolf in his eyes as he stepped back into her, and their skin came together.

“Oh, god,” she breathed out in a sigh. He felt good against her, the sensual slide of his skin against hers combined with a tumble of his erotic thoughts, flashes of Cameron and Heath interspersed as his mind automatically compared his experiences with them to the moment.

He kissed along the line of her neck, finding spots that shivered sensation down her body, and his hands released the closure of her jeans. Her fingers found the button of his, and as she released it, the press of his cock against the fly slid it down. He wore nothing beneath them, and his cock brushed her hands so that she took hold of it, exploring the petal-soft skin over the rock-hard core. His groan was filthy with pleasure, and she experienced with him his imagining of sinking his cock into her warm, wet cunt…

She was going to have sex with Rhett today, she thought, as he slid his hands into her jeans, cupping her arse.

The sound of cars and music jerked both their heads to the side. “Fuck,” Rhett said breathlessly as she scrabbled for her top, pulling it back on. Rhett did up his jeans and walked to the side of the house as car doors sounded. Aislen heard the familiar sound of Heath and Cameron’s laughter, and the higher voices of Lillian and Diane.

“I’m sorry,” Rhett said to her as he returned to where she stood. “It looks like we have company.”