Poison Throne: A Dark College Romance(24)

I frowned in concern, my attention pulled from the still-running shower. "Are you sure you'll be okay alone?"

Jordan's lips curved in a wide smile, and he traced my cheek like I was the most precious object he'd ever handled. "You're incredible, Violet," he whispered in awe. "And yes, I'll be fine. My room is just down the hall, and it's not me Uriel is after."

My mood soured, and I grimaced.

"Go and let Rafe know the coast is clear. His water is probably running cold by now." Jordan snickered a smug laugh, then quickly pulled his clothes on and slipped out of Rafe's room with a parting wink.

I hesitated only a moment longer before sliding out of the bed. I picked up my shirt from the floor, then changed my mind and tossed it aside. Rafe knew what we'd done. He'd basically told us what to do. So why pretend otherwise? If he wanted to get used to the idea of me with Jordy, I was doing him no favors by hiding.

Besides, I needed to rinse off too.

Nerves flooded through me as I turned the door handle, but I shoved them aside. There was no place for second-guessing while navigating the mechanisms of a ménage relationship with two insanely alpha males.

I pushed the door open. Rafe was still in the shower, his forehead against the tiles, his eyes closed while the water sluiced all over his hard, tattoo-wrapped muscles.

He looked up at me when I kicked the door shut and leaned my shoulders against it.

We just... stared at each other for a moment, then I gathered up my courage and stepped closer to him.

"Mind if I take a shower?" I asked, casual as fuck.

Amusement flickered across his face, and he stepped aside, indicating that the shower was all mine to use. That small movement drew my attention south, and my brows shot up to realize he hadn't been taking care of himself in the shower after all. In fact, it seemed like he'd just been torturing himself.

I stepped under the decidedly cool spray and shivered as the water coated me. With a teasing smile, I turned to grab Rafe's body wash.

A dark chuckle was all the warning I got before his hand wrapped around the back of my neck. He spun me around in one smooth motion, pinning me to the wall with his body and crushing his mouth to mine. I welcomed that like I'd welcome a fucking macchiato first thing in the morning.

Wholeheartedly and full-bodied.

"Nothing satisfies me except you, princess," Rafe groaned against my lips. "My fucking hand is useless."

I slid mine down between us, wrapping my fingers around his thick length. "What about mine?"

I stroked him, rougher than I'd normally be—mostly so I could see if he liked it.

"Fuck yes. Just like that." Rafe said, eyes closing as his head dropped back a little. He still had me caged into the side of the shower, his bulk taking up all the room, along with the oxygen in the air.

Not sure why, but I obeyed him. As I moved my hand faster, the feel of silky skin on top of rock hard flesh had me clenching my thighs together. No need to worry if I had the sexual stamina to handle two boyfriends; clearly when it was my princes, I had all the stamina in the world.

Just when I was starting to get into his low groans and that look on his face, his eyes shot open and he wrapped both hands around my hips, jerking me up against the side of the shower. He slammed into me in the same instant. Fuck knows how he coordinated that so well, but I was in no head space to think about it.

I was being fucked within an inch of my life.

Rafe kissed me as he used the wall and one hand to hold me up. I liked how much he kissed during sex—it was almost the antithesis of his normal personality, but during sex... his kisses... fucking hell.

"I'm not going to last much longer," Rafe told me, eyes locked on mine. "I've been staring at your tits for half the night with your ass pressed along my fucking leg, and now that you're cunt is wrapped around my cock..."

I came. My head cracked into the wall as a scream ripped from my lips. Rafe groaned, his lips landing on my throat as he followed suit, coming into me for what felt like a fucking hour and leaving both of us completely wrecked by the time we were done.

We sank to the shower floor, and I was grateful that this school didn't have shared bathrooms. Because I was lying down until my legs worked again.

Rafe dragged me into his lap and reached up to adjust the water so it was finally warm as it crashed against my trembling limbs. We sat like that for so long I wondered if he'd fallen asleep. Cradled against him like I was, I couldn't see his face, but I could feel the steady beat of his heart beneath me.

Moments like these could destroy the tough shell I'd spent a decade perfecting.

"If we stay like this," Rafe said, startling me after all the silence, "maybe the rest of the world will fuck off and leave us alone."

Sucking in a deep breath, I wiggled my way around so that I was facing him with a leg on either side of his torso. His cock was still mostly hard against me, but I managed to ignore it for the more pressing conversation we needed to have.

"Why were you so angry at me?"

Rafe's face was expressionless, but his eyes were raging fires of blue. I didn't think he was going to answer—everything about him screamed that he was not going to answer—but then he shocked the shit out of me by reaching up and lacing his fingers into my hair, holding me so I couldn't even move an inch away from him.

His strength was scary, in the best fucking kind of way. He'd never used it against me, only for me, and that was the sort of asshole prince I needed in my life.

"You reminded me that I hate to be out of control," Rafe said. "When that helicopter took me away from you, there was a moment when I wondered if I'd see you again. I realized that if the answer to that is ever no, I’m not sure I can continue to exist." He swallowed roughly, and I tried to remember to breathe.

"When I saw you the next time, it was with that fucking asshole's hands all over you, touching you in a way that made it clear he'd touched you before. Something inside of me snapped. I decided that I was no use to you or Jordan when I was so emotional, so I fucking shut it down. I had to. For all of us to survive, I couldn't do what I desperately wanted, which was walk over and snap Uriel's neck."

He dropped his head, chest heaving with emotions. "I let you down."

"No!" I snapped back, my voice cracking. "I understand being a fighter, Rafe. Being a warrior. Turning off emotions to get the fucking job done. I would not have blamed you for that."

"I blamed me," Rafe said with force. "I fucked up and I couldn't turn it off. The further I fell down the hole of shutting you out, the worse it got. You deserve better than me, but I'm not a good enough person to let you go."

I shrugged, my heart hammering in my chest. "Pretty sure of the three of us, only Jordan is good. Here's hoping he doesn't decide to throw our broken asses away one day."

"No worries about that," Jordan said drily, and both our heads jerked to the side to find him perched against the sink, arms crossed as he watched us. There was no unease on his face—someone had gotten to the party quicker than Rafe, apparently.

"Mattie is at the door demanding we get to breakfast," he added. "She brought clothes for Violet."

"Get off that sexy hunk of a prince and get out here," my friend shouted, her words clear even through the closed door.

Jordan laughed. "If I didn't come in and get you, she would have."

I was laughing myself as I attempted to stand, but Rafe's hand, still tangled in my hair, kept me from moving. I turned confused eyes on him, and found his face close, lips lifting to press to mine. This kiss was softer than I was used to from him, and in it was a moment of healing, of acceptance, of love.

"Mine," he breathed as he pulled away.

"And mine," Jordan added.

With my fucking heart doing dumbass flips in my chest, I sighed. "Whatever this is between us, it's important to me. You're both important to me. I just hope..."

I let it remain unsaid, but we all knew the truth.

I hoped that no one ripped our world apart again. I feared that just one more tear would sever our fragile bond forever.





Chapter 20





Going back to school was like the first day all over again. I’d returned to my original schedule—not stuck in all of Alex’s senior-level classes—but at this point I’d missed so much material I was lost. Students stared at me constantly, and I felt about as fucking welcome here as a fish in a shark school. Now that I knew about Uriel and all of his plans for me, this ballot thing made more sense.

Royals were assholes. Arrogant assholes.

It was easy to hate them.

It was also easy to love them. "You ready for lunch?" Jordan asked, looping his arm around me, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, no tie, and his hair a mess like he'd run his hands through it a dozen times this morning.

"Like you wouldn't believe," I said. "Today has fucking sucked. I think I'm going to have to repeat this year; after Alex screwed with my classes, I'm so behind."

Mattie had warned me about falling behind, and she was right—there was no way to catch up. It hadn't exactly been my choice, though.

"I'll chat to the teachers," Jordan said, shooting daggers at a group of chicks that were blatantly staring and talking about us as we walked down the hall. "See if we can modify the system and give you some leeway."

I shook my head, stopping where I was. "I don't want you to pave royal gold on my path to the future, America. I need to stand on my own feet, learn how to fight my own battles. I've already made an appointment with Dean Morgan, figuring he might have some advice. He’ll probably be a huge prick about it, but it’s worth a try."