Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky
Heartless Sky: Chapter 17

I ran through the tunnels with my tongue hanging out the side of my mouth and a bottle of bourbon locked in my fist. I was excited as hell as I raced away from the cavern where the wedding had descended into a messy party since Hamish and Catalina had gone to bed.

Everyone else had gotten drunk as fuck, but not me. My shoulder bumped off the wall and I stumbled sideways, hitting the opposite wall. Oh who was I kidding? I was as drunk as a mouse in a tiny house and I had plans. Big, big plans.

I made it to our room door, shoving it open and finding Orion on the bed with his shiny little gemstone book open on his bare chest, a hopeful glint in his eyes. But then his face fell as he realised it was me, not Darcy and I smirked, swaggering into the room and holding the bottle of bourbon behind my back.

“Everyone’s having fun,” I announced.

“Great,” he said flatly.

“But you’re here all alone like a lonely llama.” I moved to the bed, crawling onto it as I kept the bourbon behind me and his eyes narrowed.

“I was, but now a dog has come to annoy me,” he said.

“Lemme see,” I urged, reaching for his book but he whipped it off his chest and put it in the nightstand drawer with a burst of Vampire speed.

I hadn’t listened much when he’d told us about what he’d learned in his glittery gemstone book earlier, I’d had my eyes trained on a chocolate bar sticking out of Tory Vega’s pocket. A chocolate bar that was now stashed under my pillow. It was cute how she kept playing this snack hunt game with me. Sometimes she hid the snacks so well, it was almost like she didn’t want me to find them. But I always did.

“What do you want, Seth?” he growled and I held out the bourbon to him with a tempting grin.

“I brought you a gift.”

“Is it laced with poison?” he asked suspiciously and I pursed my lips.

I tipped my head back and howled sadly that he’d think that about his moon friend, but he lurched forward, slapping a hand to my mouth to stop me.

“What’s wrong with you? Go back to the party.” He shoved me away and I hit the floor, clambering back onto the bed and pawing at him while offering him the bourbon.

“Darcy asked me to come get you,” I lied. This was my surprise to Darcy, because I was going to butter her up tonight and get her to put the feelers out on Cal. It was the perfect crime. But she was always the most butterable when Orion was around. Plus, maybe this would be a good bonding exercise for us.

“She did?” he asked, his eyes brightening and I nodded, waving the bourbon at him. “But you have to catch up because everyone else is drunk off their tits.”

He slowly accepted the bourbon, twisting off the cap and sniffing it.

“Come on, if I drugged you Darcy would neuter me,” I said. “It’s just a gift.”

He gave me a narrowed eyed look before taking a sip of the bourbon and I smiled Wolfishly.

“Can I tell you a secret?” I whispered, leaning forward to rest my chin on his shoulder.

“No,” he said bluntly, sipping more of the bourbon as he tried to jolt me off of him, but my chin was staying right there on that meaty muscle bit.

“It’s a good one,” I whispered. “One that could ruin me.”

He frowned, observing me as he swallowed another mouthful of bourbon, intrigue glittering in his dark eyes. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. But if I give you this power, Lance Orion, you have to be my friend,” I said, prodding him in the dimple. “B to the double F. Got it?”

“Sure,” he said lightly, and though the echo of my sober brain said he was probably playing me like a whore of a flute, drunk brain said it was green lights all ahead.

“I’m in love with my best friend,” I breathed my most terrifying secret.

“Darius?” he balked.

“No.” I swatted him.

“Max?”

“No!”

“Darcy?” he growled dangerously.

“No,” I snarled through my teeth. “Forget it.” I shoved off of the bed, but I paused as he said the name that unravelled me like he was pulling on a thread of my soul.

“Caleb?” he asked, his voice softening ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” I rasped, wheeling around again with a whimper in my throat. “I love him and he’ll never love me back because he’s not – because he doesn’t like – because I have a massive – and he has an equally big – and – oh.” I flopped down onto the bed, burying my face in Orion’s chest and he growled in warning, shoving me back.

I looked up at him, finding his fangs on show and I pointed at them. “Wait – you have fangs! So you must have the answer I’ve been looking for. Does drinking blood turn you on? Like, say you drank from an ugly leprechaun but he tasted like a rainbow, would you get a hard on? Or do you have to find your blood bags hot to get hard? You have to tell me, Lance, how do you get hard?!”

A movement in my periphery made my head snap sideways and I spotted Justin Masters looking in at us with wide eyes through the open door with his lips parted in shock.

“How much did you hear?!” I bellowed, ready to slice his ears off and make threats to every single member of his family so he never spoke a word of this.

He backed up several steps, fear crossing his features.

“J-just you asking Professor Orion how he gets hard,” he spluttered and I breathed a sigh of relief, hurrying to the door and slamming it in his face.

“Thank the stars,” I said heavily.

“Oh yes,” Orion said sarcastically as he glowered at me. “Thank the stars.”

I wheeled around, casting a silencing bubble and leaping back onto the bed as Orion chugged more of the bourbon. It was almost like he wanted to be drunk to endure my company, but it couldn’t be that. I was a delight.

“So?” I demanded. “Do you get hard for Darcy’s blood or is it because it’s Darcy’s blood that it makes you hard? Have you ever gotten hard just off of blood? I need to know, Lance. Stop holding out on me.”

He sighed, lowering the bottle and giving me an exasperated look. “Fine,” he huffed. “Yes, I’ve gotten hard from powerful blood before.”

“Before Darcy?” I asked and he nodded, not meeting my eye as he clearly didn’t want to discuss this. But discuss this he would.

“Whose blood was it? Did you fuck them? Or was it an uggo? Or did you fuck an uggo?”

“It was Darius, alright?” he snapped and my lips parted.

“Oh my stars…you fucked Darius. That explains everything.”

“No I didn’t!” he balked. “His blood turned me on, that’s all.”

“Right.” I winked. “It’s okay, Lance. We’re in a sharing circle here. You can tell me the truth. Did you do the downward Werewolf with him? Or did you let him ride your Milky Way?”

“We did not fuck,” he snarled and I sighed.

“So why are you telling me you did?” I asked.

“I didn’t,” he said in disbelief.

“Okay, okay, so you’re saying you got hard for your best friend and you didn’t stick it in him?” I asked, needing to clarify this because he just wasn’t making any sense.

“I got hard for his blood. And anyway, that was when we were Guardian bonded, it was different,” he said with a frown. “It has no bearing on how Caleb feels about you.”

“Hm…so you’re saying I should Guardian bond Cal to me, then I’d be irresistible to him?”

“No, that’s not what I said.”

“Uhuh, but let’s say I could figure out how to do that-”

“Seth,” he hissed and I sighed.

“Yeah, yeah, I wouldn’t actually do it. You know what I could do though…”

“Tell him the truth?” he suggested and I waved a hand dismissively at that.

“Don’t be ridiculous, now you’re sounding like Darcy.”

“So telling him the truth is ridiculous but Guardian bonding your best friend to you so that he might be more tempted to fuck you isn’t?”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “You see, Lance, I’m trying to find an angle where I don’t have to tell him, but I still get to have him. And especially a solution where I don’t have to take any responsibility for it all going wrong if he rejects me.”

He shook his head at me. “Have you ever Faed up and owned your own shit, Seth Capella?”

I thought on that, frowning at my new friend as I slipped the bottle of bourbon from his hand and took a long sip. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“No.”

“Hmm, seems like it is. Shall we go to the party now?” I sprang off the bed and headed to the door, but turned back to him before I exited, vulnerability spilling through me. “You won’t tell anyone I told you that, right? Especially not Cal. If he finds out and he doesn’t like me back, I’ll lose him. And I can’t lose him. I’m so fucking scared to lose him.”

He frowned, pushing to his feet and pulling on a t-shirt before swiping the bottle of bourbon from my hand, keeping me in suspense as he hung this secret over my head like an axe. “As much as you deserve to have that bomb go off in your face, I’m not going to stoop as low as you have in the past.”

“Hey, I never told anyone about you and Darcy,” I countered. “Not even the Heirs. I just liked messing with you.”

He kicked on some sneakers and shot to my side in a blur, a cruel smile lifting his lips. “And how confident are you that I don’t like playing my own games, Capella?”

I chuckled darkly, liking this psycho side of him. It reminded me of me. And me was awesome. “Go right ahead. But I have a secret weapon now. Darcy’s my bestie. So bring it on.”

He flashed his fangs at me then opened the door and I dove on his back before he could shoot away from me, his Vampire speed nearly giving me whiplash as he took off at the same moment. I howled loudly in excitement, holding on tight as he cursed, tearing along in the direction of the cavern where the rest of our friends were partying.

He slammed to a halt so hard that I went flying over his shoulder, my howl turning to a yelp as I hit the stone floor and bounced along it, catching myself on a gust of air a second too late. He laughed obnoxiously and I couldn’t help but join in as I shoved to my feet and gave him a challenging glare.

“Oh, you wanna play rough with me, do you Lancey?” I ran at him with a battle cry tearing from my throat but he shot out of the way, darting through the door into the party and I twisted on my heels to follow him, immediately losing interest in the game as I spotted Caleb up on the table between everyone with his shirt off and five beers levitating over his head upside down. His mouth was wide as Max guided the liquid to his lips and he chugged it. Half of it missed, running down his naked chest and my cock rose like the sun at dawn as I stared at his glistening abs and the flex of his throat as he swallowed again and again. STAY by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber played from someone’s Atlas and it instantly became my favourite song of all time.

Fuck…me.

“Lance!” Darcy squealed, leaping from her chair amidst a mass of orange taffeta and he caught her out of the air, crushing her to his chest and looking down at her endlessly ugly dress in amusement.

It was just our group of friends here, which was my favourite place in the world because they were my real pack. I didn’t need daily blowjobs, creampies and ball tickling to keep me content. I mean, sure, I’d have thrown those things into the mix with Cal if I could have, but as it was, I was going one hundred percent celibate these days – which for a Werewolf was a big ass deal. I didn’t even jerk off that much because I only ever ended up thinking of my best friend and feeling guilty for being so obsessed with him. So I was down to like twice a day.

“Hey beautiful, what in the ever loving fuck is this?” Orion asked, plucking at the bright material as she laughed into his chest.

“My dress,” Darcy’s voice came out muffled against his shirt.

“It’s a radiant gown for a queen of Solaria!” Geraldine cried.

“And there was me thinking a pumpkin had puked on her,” Orion said with a smirk and Geraldine smacked the table in anger.

“You have no taste at all, Lance Orion. You would have her dress like a common beansprout.”

“She can dress in whatever the fuck she likes so long as I’m the one tearing her out of it later.” He gave Darcy a wicked smile and Tory tossed an empty beer bottle at his head. His hand snapped out, catching it at the last second as he turned his grin on her. “Problem?”

“You’re being gross with my sister,” she complained.

“Says the girl with her hand an inch away from my best friend’s cock.” Orion gestured to where Tory’s hand laid on Darius’s thigh.

“Agreed,” Xavier said as he swigged on a sparkly bottle of something called Bacarroti Ice.

“Touché,” Tory said, leaning back in her seat.

“If you keep ripping me out of my clothes, I’m gonna have none left,” Darcy chastised Orion, though her eyes sparkled like she didn’t mind all that much.

“That’s precisely my intention,” he joked and Darcy laughed, the two of them unable to stop staring at each other. It was cute, and I wasn’t jealous at all of having that kind of unwavering bond with someone. Sigh, who was I kidding?

My eyes flicked back to Caleb as he dropped his head to look at me and beer spilled over his hair from another couple of bottles Max had sent up there, washing down onto his shoulder as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Which was the least of his problems considering he was fucking drenched now. But by the stars, I wouldn’t have minded cleaning him up with my tongue.

“Seth Capella!” Geraldine cried from where she was sitting beside Max. “You missed your turn, now you will double dog dare someone to do something extra dastardly.”

A smirk hooked up the corner of my mouth as I strode toward the table and plucked a beer out of a large bucket of ice Max had cast earlier. The white tablecloth was filthy from drinks that had been spilled all over it, but the rest of the place was still pretty well intact, twinkling Faelights strung all across the ceiling and beautiful ice and flower decorations everywhere. It was so pretty it made me wanna puke. In a good way though.

Orion grabbed a seat next to Darius, pulling Darcy onto his lap as Tory climbed over Darius to hug her sister, looking drunk as hell as she nuzzled her like a cat. She sure wasn’t huggy when she was sober. She’d throat punched me the last time I tried to snuggle her, but I wondered if now was a good time to try and get that snuggle…

“Well, what’s it to be, Capella?” Geraldine demanded and I sucked on my lower lip as I looked up at Caleb, taking a moment to sip some of my beer as I decided on the dare. Cal seemed happy to remain up there as Max flicked a finger and let the empty beer bottles plonk down onto the table behind him. My mind raced as I tried to come up with a dare that might help me figure out if Cal was into me or not. And my little drunk mind had just the idea.

“Alright, I dare everyone to sink a bottle of beer. The last one to finish has to kiss me.” I grinned widely, looking Caleb right in the eye as his lips parted for a second then he shrugged like it meant nothing. And maybe it did, but also, maybe it didn’t.

“Roxy isn’t playing,” Darius announced with a growl in the back of his Dragony throat.

“Or Darcy,” Orion chimed in and I looked over at them with a chuckle.

“You guys just want me all to yourselves, huh?” I taunted and Darius flipped me the finger while Orion gave me a hollow look, though I could tell the bourbon was having an effect on him now, his angry little eyes not quite as bloodthirsty as usual.

“Gerry can’t play either,” Max said, but Geraldine conjured a turnip in her hand and whacked him round the ear with it.

“Nonsense, Maxy boy!” she cried. “I will not be excused from a game of daring and wit. I shall beat this beast head on.”

Max shot me a look that said if I dared lay my mouth on her he’d cut my tongue out, but Geraldine Grus was definitely not my target in this game.

“Come on then,” Caleb said, jumping down from the table and landing in front of me with a sideways grin. He plucked a bottle of beer from the ice cooler and clinked it against mine, never breaking eye contact with me and my heart raced to a dangerous, hungry tune. “Game on.”

Max, Geraldine, Darius, Xavier and Orion grabbed fresh beers and I smiled around at them, my heart thumping harder as I wondered how this was gonna play out. If Cal secretly wanted me, surely he’d drink slow and lose the game, right? This had to work.

“Ready…set…go!” I cried and they all started drinking their beers as fast as they could.

Max kept side-eyeing Geraldine, drinking slower so he was always a bit behind her, and my jaw ground as I prayed I wasn’t gonna have to kiss him just so he could save Gerry from my edible lips. I mean, he was hot and I’d definitely get off on it a little, but his wasn’t the mouth I wanted to claim that kiss from.

Orion and Darius raced through their drinks in two seconds flat and Xavier seemed well on his way through his too as I let my eyes slide to Cal. He had at least half the bottle left and as his eyes met mine, my pulse drummed to a furious tune, hope filling me up and calling me lucky.

Geraldine finished hers with a gasp for air and Max followed her, leaving it down to Xavier and Caleb.

“Wow, how bad would it be if we had to kiss, right?” I said to Caleb, chuckling nervously. “So bad, right?”

“Done!” Xavier announced and my heart took off and flew to the moon, doing fifty cartwheels around it before crashing into a crater to make a home there.

It’s happening.

It’s on.

It’s going down to Tucana town.

Caleb finished his drink half a second later, lowering the bottle from his wet lips and our friends started laughing and cheering us on like this was one big, fat joke. But it secretly wasn’t a joke. It was what I’d wanted for so fucking long and now he was stepping closer to me with his eyes on my mouth and I couldn’t breathe as I stepped toward him too.

“Come on then, sweetheart. Gimme a kiss,” Caleb said cockily, fisting a hand in my shirt and drawing me so close to him that I could taste the beer on his lips already.

His smile was for the game, but his navy eyes were deadly serious and they were devouring me just like I was aching to devour him. Or at least, that’s what I wanted to believe. That there was a deeper reason for him finishing last and surely once we’d kissed, I’d know for certain. I’d be able to feel it without ever having to ask him. And he’d feel it too and then, and then-

“Wait, wait, wait,” Max called, as Caleb’s smile fell and his eyes bored into mine with a want in them that I felt right down to the centre of my being. “Xavier didn’t finish his.”

“You’re such a snitch, man,” Xavier complained and Caleb turned to look at them, leaving me staring at him with my jaw grinding as his fingers tightened in my shirt.

“Well you shouldn’t be a little cheat,” Max tossed back and I forced myself to look, my gut plummeting as I saw the bottle of beer which had half an inch of liquid left in the bottom of it.

Max shook it as proof that Xavier hadn’t finished the game and my heart was speared on my own misery.

“No,” I breathed and Caleb’s eyes snapped back to me, but I forced myself to step away, his fingers still knotted in my shirt like he couldn’t let go.

But then he did and he slapped on a bright smile, a laugh leaving him like he was relieved.

“Well thank fuck for that,” Caleb said and maybe it was just a lie, but it didn’t feel like one. It felt like a knife driving right into my chest and carving out my heart.

Xavier shoved out of his seat with a sigh, striding towards me and suddenly I was faced with kissing Darius’s goddamn little brother and Caleb was walking away to sit down beside Max.

No. Fucking no. It wasn’t fair. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

Xavier looked to me with a frown and I grabbed the back of his neck, yanking him against me with a growl and kissing him with so much bite that he whinnied in protest. Then I shoved him away from me and drained my beer in one before throwing myself down onto the chair beside Orion and Darcy.

Darcy looked at me with pity in her eyes as the game continued on, but I slapped a fake ass smile on my face as I pretended my heart hadn’t just been kicked and stamped on. That I didn’t feel like I’d been rejected. Because I hadn’t, but somehow, I had.

“My turn!” Geraldine cried, pointing a finger at Orion. “You sir have gotten away with this game far too easily.”

“I literally just got here,” he said as he swigged from his bourbon bottle.

“Precisely,” she said. “So I dare you to wear all the A.S.S. regalia I can carry from my room to here for the rest of the night and right through breakfast tomorrow as well.”

Orion wrinkled his nose while Darcy and Tory burst out laughing, nodding excitedly as he groaned and gave in.

“Alright,” he agreed. “Bring it here then.”

“Come salmon man, I need your bulky arms to assist me.” Geraldine hopped up, pulling Max after her who seemed more than willing to follow as he stared at her ass, though how he could see anything through the miles of pink taffeta covering it, I had no idea.

Caleb glanced over at me as he grabbed himself another beer and I pushed my fingers into my hair, pretending I was as chilled as a cucumber on ice when inside I was dying.

“I can’t believe you bit me, man. Is that how you always kiss people?” Xavier dabbed at his swollen bottom lip.

“Ah shit, did I just steal your rough kiss V-card?” I asked. “Or was it your first kiss V-card?” I gasped in horror.

“Dude,” Darius growled at me and I shrugged innocently.

“What? He shouldn’t have cheated if he didn’t wanna be mouth fucked. I can’t help it if it was his first time.”

“Seth,” Darius hissed. “I’ve already had to watch you kiss my fucking brother like he was one of your little Wolf pack Betas, can we stop talking about it now?”

“Alright, alright,” I said, backing down and looking to Xavier whose cheeks were pinking. “Sorry, man. If you need some cherry popping pointers though I’m all ears.”

“Who’s popping Xavier’s cherry?” Tyler stepped into the room with Sofia under his arm and Xavier swore beneath his breath.

“Look who we found in the hallway!” Geraldine exclaimed as she came prancing back into the cavern with Max trailing after her, his arms full of A.S.S. merchandise.

Tyler smirked at Xavier as he grabbed a couple of beers, passing one to Sofia as they moved to sit with him.

“What happened to your lip?” Sofia asked, reaching out to heal it and Xavier’s blush deepened.

“Seth bit it,” he murmured.

“It was weird,” Tory said thoughtfully. “It was such an angry kiss, like he was trying to rip Xavier’s mouth off.”

Caleb’s eyes slid to me as I fought to keep my smile hitched in place.

“Says the girl who kisses Darius like she’s trying to eat his whole face,” I tossed at her.

“I do not,” she protested as Darius boomed a laugh.

“Circling back to Xavier’s cherry,” Tyler said lightly, his eyes glinting maliciously at Xavier. “Still a virgin then, are you buddy?”

“Fuck off,” Xavier growled. “I’m not a virgin.”

“It is quite alright for the moon to not yet have shone upon your delicate lampoon, Xavier,” Geraldine said as she walked over to Orion and started directing him to dress in the A.S.S. gear. Apparently he’d had enough bourbon to slide into it willingly too.

“The moon has shone on my – I mean, I don’t have a delicate lampoon,” Xavier spluttered.

“It is a plain lampoon though, isn’t it?” Tyler taunted. “Not a gemstone in sight.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Sofia insisted, elbowing Tyler in the ribs.

“Rhinestones turn you on though, don’t they baby?” Tyler said with a smirk and Sofia blushed. “What did you say about mine? That they make your pussy sparkle.”

“Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to get them,” she protested.

Darcy slipped off of her chair, helping Orion change into a jumpsuit which was silver with A.S.S. embroidered across the back and over the crotch. Geraldine hung an A.S.S. medallion around his neck before pinning on an A.S.S. badge then pulling on an A.S.S. beret over his head too. Darcy wrapped a fanny pack around his waist and belted it in place while he downed more bourbon and the rest of us started laughing at him. He looked fucking ridiculous, especially when Geraldine slapped some flashing neon stickers all over him and Tory reached up to stick one on each of his cheeks.

“Happy now?” Orion asked as a stupid smile pulled at his mouth.

“Yep, and I’ll be even happier when you show up to breakfast in this stuff,” Darcy said through a laugh. “You look so freaking cute.”

“No one looks at me anyway, beautiful,” he reminded her. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“They will now,” Darius muttered, looking caught between amusement and irritation over his friend being dressed up as a Vega supporter, though it was a bit late for that. Orion had gone full royalist and he didn’t even pretend otherwise, though I reckoned when he sobered up tomorrow, he was gonna regret agreeing to this dare.

“My turn,” Orion said with a feral smile, pinning Geraldine in his sights as he dropped back into his seat. “You have to sing that awful fucking away, away, away song but do it as if you love the Heirs, not the Vegas.”

“You krout of a lout,” Geraldine gasped, falling to her knees at the twins’ feet and shaking her head. “I would never besmirch the name of my fair ladies.”

“It’s just a game, Geraldine,” Tory said.

“We really don’t mind,” Darcy promised as she dropped onto Orion’s lap. “I actually really, really wanna hear it.”

Geraldine released a strangled noise then nodded, slowly rising to her feet and lifting her chin up as she started singing. And while everyone was distracted by her wincing her way through the song with our names in place of the Vegas’, I subtly cast a silencing bubble around Darcy and Orion, leaning closer to them.

“He doesn’t want me,” I groaned and Orion jerked away as he realised I was right by his ear.

Darcy frowned, patting my head. “You don’t know that.”

“Hey, let me innnn,” Tory poked her sister as she scooted her chair past Darius to join us and Darcy looked to me with a hopeful plea in her eyes.

“She won’t tell anyone,” she said and I whimpered.

“You swear?” I asked and Darcy nodded.

“I pinky promise. Plus she knows Caleb pretty well, so maybe she can help?”

She did know Caleb pretty well. She even knew his dick pretty well. In fact, she could probably tell me all the things he liked doing in the bedroom and give me some idea as to how big of a deal her tits and vajooza had been in the equation. I mean, what were the chances that he’d enjoyed getting her to wear men’s clothes and put on a gruff voice while he bent her over and called her Bernard from time to time? Sure, I was totally down with him liking the tits and stuff some of the time because it wasn’t like I hated them myself, but if he’d gotten her to do the whole Bernard thing at least a few times then I’d have a glimmer of hope that he was at least cock curious. That didn’t even seem all that unlikely.

I flicked my fingers to let Tory into the bubble and she glanced between us all, leaning on her sister.

“Are we telling secrets?” she whispered conspiratorially. “Do you have a secret, Lance?”

He considered that then nodded. “Actually, I do. I have a secret about Gabriel, but I can’t ever tell anyone. It’s so fucking funny though.” He started laughing to himself about it and the twins immediately pounced on him.

“What is it?” Darcy demanded as Tory brandished her beer bottle at him.

“Tell us,” Tory pleaded. “It’s a girl’s right to have dirt on her brother.”

“Come on, Lance,” Darcy begged, giving him the big eyes. “Gabriel let me fall in a puddle the other day even though he totally saw it coming, and he laughed like a dick so now I want revenge.”

“I can’t,” he said, shaking his head. “I swore I’d never tell. You’ll have to try and get it out of him.”

“If you tell us then I’ll…” Darcy leaned forward and whispered something in his ear that made him growl and I bounced in my seat.

“Did she say she’ll let you do her in every door? Front and back? In whatever order you like – you won’t even have to knock?” I asked and Darcy swung around and punched me in the arm, making Orion smile satisfactorily.

“What’s your secret, Seth?” Tory’s eyes flipped onto me again and I sighed, glancing over at Caleb who was still distracted by Geraldine as Tyler recorded her singing the song and Sofia laughed her ass off.

“It’s Caleb,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?” Tory leaned in closer.

“It’s Caleb,” I repeated louder.

“What about him?” she asked and I tossed another look his way before blurting the truth. I was too drunk to have any kind of filter now anyway.

“I love him. I’m in love with my best friend and I’m a stupid fucking loser because he will never love me back and every time I think he might feel something for me too, I realise I’m just kidding myself, but I also keep holding onto the teeny, tiny possibility that maybe I’m not imagining things. But then stupid horse boys have to go around not finishing their beers and stealing kisses meant for hot Vampires and here we are Tory. Here we fucking are.”

“Woah,” she breathed, exchanging a look with Darcy. “You like Caleb?” she asked in shock.

“Yeah,” I said tightly, flopping forward to bury my face in Orion’s shoulder and he tried to nudge me away, but I clung on tight. “I think it started longer ago than I like to admit, because there was this one time in the Shimmering Springs where we started a threesome with a girl but then she left and we kissed a little, but he denies it ever happened, so maybe I’m crazy. But I think I need to find out for good, you know?”

“So ask him,” Darcy pressed and I lifted my head, turning to look at her and grabbing her cheeks between my hands.

“No. I won’t,” I said stubbornly. “I can’t face the rejection. I can’t look him in the eye when he turns me down and says I’ve been imagining this whole thing. I won’t do it, Darcy. I won’t.”

Orion grabbed my arms, yanking my hands off of his girlfriend’s face and baring his fangs at me, but I jerked free and grabbed hold of Tory’s face instead.

“Tell me you have ideas. You didn’t tell Darius you liked him for ages. You danced all around it beautifully. How did you figure out he liked you without actually admitting you liked him back? I need to know, Tory. How did you evade telling him the truth for so long, because I need your skills.”

“Well…maybe if we’d been honest with each other from the start, we wouldn’t have wasted so much time,” she said, her lips pushing out as I squished her cheeks.

I let go of her with a sigh of annoyance. “Useless. I need a solid plan where Caleb has to kiss me without knowing he wants me to kiss him, so I can get a read on his dicktuation while we’re cock to cock and then I’ll know. I’ll just know. And I had the perfect plan, but Xavier had to go and cock block me. Again.”

“Again?” Tory asked excitedly, but then Caleb dragged a chair over and dropped down beside me.

“What are you lot talking about?” he asked and I dropped the silencing bubble as my heart thundered up into my throat.

“Lance has got a mysterious ball rash,” I blurted the first thing that came into my head and Orion shot me a death glare, his lips parting to contradict me and his fist rising like he was going to punch me.

Darcy caught hold of his wrist, giving him a subtly imploring look as she pushed it back down to his side and – whipped asshole that he was – he gave in.

Tory snort laughed as Caleb’s eyebrows arched. “Oh…shit, sorry bro,” he said awkwardly and if looks could kill, Orion’s gaze would have incinerated my brains by now.

“We were just discussing his best options, but if he doesn’t get it treated soon, I think they’re gonna fall off,” I said sadly, patting Orion’s arm and Darcy shook her head slightly at him in a clear warning not to murder me.

“Have you seen them?” Caleb whispered to me in alarm and I nodded seriously.

“Yeah, it’s not good. They’re like two purple pears just hanging there, ready to fall from a doomed dick tree,” I said sadly.

Orion lunged for me and I moved fast, leaping out of my seat and dragging Caleb away with me as Darcy intercepted, sinking her tongue between his lips. He resisted for a few more seconds before she shamelessly ground down on him and he gave in. He’d probably thank me tomorrow, it looked like the guy was gonna get laid as fuck tonight. Yeah, he’d definitely be grateful for this come morning. Besides, what was a little ball rash rumour between friends?

I dropped down beside Xavier across the table, putting a healthy amount of distance between me and my potential murderer as Cal sat down beside me.

“There’s nothing wrong with a plain Jane D,” Tyler was saying as he slung an arm around the back of Sofia’s chair, looking over her to Xavier. “I mean, some people might say a perfect dijazzle is the mark of a true Dom, but you’re just a Sub, so what does it matter?”

Xavier stamped his foot, glaring at him with a challenge in his eyes and I slid my hand into a bowl of chips on the table, slowly bringing them to my mouth and crunching through them as I watched this play out.

“I could be a Dom,” Xavier said firmly. “And I will be.”

Sofia glanced up at him through her lashes, then back to Tyler as she bit her lip like she couldn’t decide which of them had her more intrigued. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with, Xavier,” she said.

“Yeah, Xavier,” Tyler said through a bright smile. “But if it bothers you, why don’t we do a poll to find out what’s more popular among our kind?” He took his Atlas out of his pocket, twirling it in his hand. “But we’d get the best response if we had a couple of photos for people to compare.”

“Oh my stars, you mean with dick pics?” Sofia breathed.

“Yep. Only if Xavier isn’t too chicken shit,” Tyler said, looking to him.

“Fine by me,” Xavier said instantly, puffing his chest out and I shoved a few more chips into my mouth. This was gold.

Tyler stood up and I shared a look of amusement with Cal as he pulled out his waistband and snapped a photo of his cock before passing the Atlas to Xavier. Xavier immediately got up, pulling out the waistband of his own trousers and taking a picture before handing the Atlas back to Tyler.

I glanced over at Darius, sure he’d go apeshit if he realised his brother was about to post his junk all over social media, but he was distracted by Tory as she fed him chocolates from a box. A box I assumed she wanted me to come and steal from her. The snack game is on.

“Um, Xavier,” Caleb said. “That’s not a good idea.”

Xavier ignored him as Tyler started furiously typing out the FaeBook post and Caleb looked over at Darius, clearly torn on what to do.

“Posted,” Tyler announced, stuffing his Atlas back into his pocket and smirking at Xavier. “It’s my peen versus yours, dude. May the best cock win.”

I snatched my Atlas from my pocket, curious as hell over this post and opening up FaeBook as Cal leaned closer to read over my shoulder, his manly scent rolling under my nose and making me want to get even nearer to him.

Tyler Corbin: One, two, three, four, did someone declare a peen war? Because we’re about to VIOLATE someone’s newsfeed with a #cock-off. It’s no secret that Xavier Acrux has been vying for the position as Dom of MY herd, so may the best wang win.

Close your eyes and imagine this, you’re walking through a wild and untamed meadow, your nips brushing the grass fronds and a Lunar Eclipse hanging above you in the sky, drawing you towards a #perfectpecker. What do you come across as your wishes are fulfilled? Is it a #decorateddong that glitters in the moonlight, a cocktacular masterpiece which stands tall and proud, adorned with #prickpearls and #trousersnaketreasures?

Or is it a #boringboner without a single shiny thing on its plain ding-a-ling?

Comment below to vote for the sheen of a #gemlesspeen or the glory of a #gildedschlong in the ultimate #battleofthedicks.

Oceanis Deason: Oh my stars, I’ll take a spangly wangle all day and night, but the size of that unadorned leviathon is making my waters tingle #whychoose #sparklecock #hardandlongisneverwrong

Bianca Movileanu: Is that a peenasaurus rex I see? Perhaps it would like to come plunder my treasure trove to find the missing gold? #tojeweliscool #studsforthestud

Stephen Mulgrew: I’m all for a simple peen, and that mammoth of a man marrow is something else! #keepthepeenclean #letmeseethoseveinsofglory

Justin Battles: I need some gleam on my peen #glitterisfitter #jazzyjizzer

Telisha Mortensen: So long as it’s hairy this munching Mindy is always down #thehairierthebetter #everymanhoodneedsamane

Lucy Burfoot: Oh my stars! I have a #glammerpuss that could match your #lustrouslovestick if you want some inspiration for a dijazzle, Xavier! #razzledazzlethatD #gilditdontgeldit

I barked a laugh as Caleb started chuckling in my ear and I turned my head, finding him so close to me it made me ache. I swallowed the lump rising in my throat as he met my gaze for a second and I realised how wholly, desperately in love with him I was as his dark blue eyes swallowed me up.

“If you were going to deepthroat one of those bad boys which would you pick?” I asked him super subtly.

Cal frowned as he looked at the images again before shaking his head. “Between my best friend’s baby brother or risking my life through choking to death on a loose dick gem? Pass,” he replied with a laugh and I huffed because he hadn’t outright objected to the D just these particular Ds, but what if there was another D in the mix? What then??

I considered taking a dick pic and sending it to him, but even my drunk brain could see that that was a little much, so I let the idea go along with my hopes and dreams for finding an answer to that question. Unless I challenged every guy in the room to a ‘who has the best cock’ competition and made Cal judge it. But what if I didn’t win? No, I couldn’t do it to myself. Not when I was going up against Darius’s talented mega dong and Orion’s jumbo secret sausage which I heard was so gifted it granted wishes. And then there was Max’s Siren slammer that could probably turn on everyone in this room the moment you looked it in the eye. Dammit, there had to be a better way.

Caleb sat back in his seat, falling into a conversation with Max as I continued to steal glances at him. And when his hand dropped to his side and brushed my leg, I swear a thousand bolts of electricity awoke every nerve ending in my body. He didn’t move it either, his fingers barely touching me and yet I could feel them as if he was dragging them over every square inch of my skin. And I realised how hopelessly fucked I was. Because I’d fallen too deep, too fast, and now there was no going back. I was on a collision course with Caleb Altair, and I feared what was going to happen if I ever let a word of this slip out. Because I was sure it would equal our absolute ruin.

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