Mad Love (Slateview High 3)

“Maybe she thought he was. Maybe she didn’t know why he did what he did.”

“Yeah. Well, how could she when he just up and left?”

“She couldn’t.” My chest ached, and I breathed in the sweet scent of cloves, wishing I could steal his pain away. I would take it all into myself so he didn’t have to feel it if I could.

“That’s not…” He trailed off, then shook his head. “That’s not what gets to me the most though. Not what fucks with my head the most.”

“What is, then?”

“The whole time he was talkin’, I couldn’t stop thinking—that’s me. That’s us. Me and you and Kace and Bish. He said he was about our age when he started workin’ for that Jackson dude. Then he met my mom and fell in love. And then people tried to fuckin’ kill her.”

Misael finally lifted his head, craning his neck to meet my gaze. I could see dozens of emotions swirling behind his dark brown irises, and the tortured look on his face broke my heart.

“Coralee, what if that happens to you? What if we’re putting you in danger just by havin’ you in our lives? Nathaniel already sent you with us to meet with Claudio. You’re too deep already. What if some fucker comes after you because of us? I couldn’t fuckin’ live with myself if that happened.”

Raw fear flooded me, coating my insides with acid. But it wasn’t fear of what might happen to me if someone came after me because of my association with the Lost Boys.

It was fear of what would happen if they did what Claudio had done.

If they left me.

“Misael, no.” My voice was harsh and raspy as I sat up on my knees, turning sideways to face him. “No! Don’t even think about that. I don’t fucking care. I don’t care what being in this world of yours means. If it means more danger or risk, I can live with that.”

My breath felt like it was trapped in my lungs, and panic like I’d never known flooded me. For a split second, I saw a future without the Lost Boys. A future where I married Barrett and lived in a big, cold house, cut off from everything that made me feel.

Cut off from everything I loved.

“I love you, Misael,” I blurted. “I love you so fucking much, and I don’t care if that puts me at risk.” I reached out to press my hand to his chest, feeling the rapid thud of his heart against my palm. “I love you. Don’t you dare fucking leave me to keep me safe. This is the only place I want to be. The only place I feel safe is with the three of you. If I lost you, I—”

My torrent of words ended in a gasp as Misael palmed the back of my head and crashed his lips against mine. His kiss was fierce and hot, an answer to everything I’d just said, and I met each stroke of his tongue with my own.

I could taste salt on his lips, and I realized belatedly that he’d been crying. That realization only made me kiss him harder, as if the two of us could heal the wounds in each other just by the connection—the love—between us.

Keeping his lips pressed to mine, he rose up onto his knees, pulling me flush against him. And when that wasn’t enough, he looped an arm around my waist and stood, nearly lifting me off my feet as he pulled me up with him. We groped at each other desperately, stumbling sideways and bumping into a wall as we made our way down the corridor.

I wasn’t sure where we were going, and I didn’t much care. I just needed to get this boy into a room with a fucking door.

When I felt a doorknob at my back, I reached for it blindly, and Misael and I spilled into what turned out to be a bathroom. He shut the door behind us, and I was vaguely aware of him turning the lock on the knob as I scrambled for the button of his pants.

He was already hard for me, his cock straining against the fabric, and he groaned when I unzipped him and slipped my hand inside. Then he grabbed both sides of my face, his fingers threading through my hair as he drew back a few inches to stare at me.

I gazed back at him, my chest heaving as I breathed hard and fast. I gripped his cock through the fabric of his boxers, and I could feel it throb against my palm. I moved my hand up and down, and his nostrils flared as his grip on me tightened. His eyes bounced back and forth between mine, and his breath tickled my face.

“I love you too, Cora. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you.”

His words were thick with emotion, and I believed every one of them, all the way down to my soul.

“So you won’t ever leave me?” I pressed, still working his cock in hard strokes.

“Fuck,” he gritted out. “No fuckin’ way, Coralee. Never.”

Then he dropped his head, stealing the breath from my lungs with a kiss that made the world around me seem to spin. He walked me backward, hands still gripping my face, until my ass hit the edge of the sink. I kicked off my borrowed shoes just before he hoisted me up onto it, sliding his hands down my legs to wrap them around his body.

His cock pressed against my core, and a breathless whimper fell from my lips as the thick length rubbed right where I needed it most. My heels dug into his ass, urging him closer even as I wrenched my lips away from his and gasped, “Dress! Off!”

With a low growl in the back of his throat, Misael groped for the zipper at the back of the dress. As he tugged it down, revealing more and more of my bare skin to the cool air, I moaned greedily. His hand delved inside the split in the fabric, running over my back and down my spine. Then he stepped back and grabbed the hem, and I shifted my weight, allowing him to pull it off and over my head.

It hit the ground a second later, and Misael’s lips were already on the swell of my breast, tracing the line of my bra with his tongue. My nipples pressed against the soft fabric, already so sensitive that it was almost painful. And when he dipped his head lower and drew one tender bud between his teeth, I clamped my lips together to drown my cry of pleasure. His mouth closed around my bra-covered breast, and when he began to suck in long pulls, I arched against him, demanding more.