Growing Pains Keeping Me Up At Night - Chapter 10 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Kira

It was funny how much slower a day passed without Aiden’s presence. Kira supposed she would need to get used to that when she left for university - she’d been accepted by her first choice. It was exciting, but her mind couldn’t keep itself from poking at the wound of Aiden’s disappearance.

He was still somewhere in the Bonnet mansion, it was only Kira that could never seem to catch him. Almost a month had gone by since the little… love declaration situation. A taste of her own medicine, she supposed, since he always accused her of running away from him. Why now, though? In that moment, right before he ran, Kira was in bliss. She had felt loved, genuinely, by him. Either he was an incredible actor, or he was desperate for her. And for a moment she had really believed the latter.

After a celebratory toast with the family over her acceptance (what a waste of champagne), Kira loped back to her bedroom to start short-listing flats to visit. As she turned the corner to reach her door, a head of dark curly hair jerked up, and a bouquet of roses hit the carpet.

“Aiden?” she breathed.

He plucked the flowers up and leant them against the door hurriedly.

“I was just- I was walking by and I wanted to leave those for you, but they-” He was shuffling along the opposite wall, as though he couldn’t bear to be a hair’s breadth closer to her. “-they wouldn’t balance.” He reached her end of the corridor and turned to flee.

“Aiden!” she yelled. “Stop!”

He hesitated, his back to her.

“I’m sorry.” His voice shook. “I can’t.”

“Why?” Kira huffed. “At least tell me why you’re hiding from me one minute and then… leaving me flowers the next.”

“I just- I can’t trust myself around you… yet.” He gave her a grim look over his shoulder. “Words over actions.” A blur of black, brown and green, and he was gone again.

Words over actions, Kira’s arse. If he wanted to work on his communication skills now, he could start by explaining his cryptic behaviour.

Kira snatched up the roses and stomped into her room, slamming the door behind her. She knew he would hear from wherever he was hiding.

A piece of folded red card was tied to the front of the bouquet with a ribbon. Inside, golden calligraphy read:

Congratulations Kira

- A

If they weren’t so beautiful she would have thrown them angrily across the room. Instead, she plopped them into a crystal vase.

After two weeks, they had wilted, but Kira wouldn’t toss them. Not until Aiden got over his little game.

With only three weeks till she would be moving to the other side of the country, a little desperation was beginning to creep in at the edges of her emotions. Vanessa had tried to keep her mind on the move, on the exhilaration of being allowed out of the clan. For the first time since she was a baby, Kira was going to be surrounded by… humans. People just like her, but everywhere.

Three years of freedom. How would she ever get this kind of opportunity otherwise? Once she returned with her degree, would she ever leave the clan lands again?

Did she want to go at all?

Kira started, her eyes flying open to stare at the canopy above her bed. Of course, she wanted to go. It was freedom. It was her only chance to be with her own kind, just for a bit.

It was leaving Aiden.

She turned over, rolling herself in her duvet and squashing her face into her pillow. It wasn’t forever, and she was only hurting her own feelings by thinking these things. Sleep would make her feel better, she just had to force it. She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Aiden.” His name fell out in a slippery whisper.

The silence pressed down on her in the dark room, and this time she spoke with deliberation. “Aiden, please.”

Her door creaked, but she had her blanket-wrapped back to it. The mattress dipped as a heavy body climbed in behind her.

“Kira?” Whispered just loud enough for human ears. “Are you awake?”

Kira rolled her eyes. “Do I usually say your name in my sleep?”

“Sometimes.”

“Oh.”

He climbed over her, forcing them to face.

“Please talk to me again,” she mumbled. “I hate this.”

The tips of his fingers skimmed along her hairline. “I’m sorry.” He said it like there was no other option, like his silence was all he could offer her.

She pouted, feeling pathetic. “I don’t understand.”

“Words over actio-”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t trust myself not to behave like a horny creep around you!” He didn’t give her a chance to argue, continuing as soon as she opened her mouth, “When it comes to you I have no self control. I have to stay away.”

“What if I want both words and actions?”

"I wish I could give you that but it’s not possible. I keep pushing you and touching you a-"

"And last time you told me you loved me."

"With my head between your legs," he groaned shamefully.

"That's words and actions."

"I tried to have a serious conversation with you and ended up eating you out."

Kira couldn’t keep from smiling at the memory. "Best serious conversation I've ever had."

He gazed down at her, fondness in his face, and sighed. "Just... give me some time to get better."

Kira spluttered over a laugh. "You're not sick."

"I'm delirious in your presence." His lips brushed her temple. "Whenever you're near I'm feverish."

Another laugh bubbled out of her. "I prefer your actions to these soppy words."

He grinned at her in the dark. "Sorry."

"Stop apologising," she whispered. "I actually... wanted to be the one to apologise tonight."

His grin dropped instantly.

"You told me you loved me, and I didn't say it back."

"You don't have t-"

"But I do. Because... I love you, Aiden."

"I love you more," he said quickly. Ever the child he had always been to her. Always in competition with each other.

She scoffed. "I love you most."

"Not possible."

"I love you so much I don't want to leave.” She said it so quickly she had no time to think about what she was admitting. Her feelings falling out of her mouth before she was ready to address them.

Aiden bolted upright beside her. "What?"

"I've just..." Kira pulled herself up, too, slower and more creaky than his fluid vampiric movements. "I've been having second thoughts..."

Long arms dragged her into his lap by the waist, and she flopped her head to his chest easily. It all felt too natural, too simple for her to stay like this forever, safe in his arms. Loved.

"You need to go," he said into her hair. Gentle but firm in his words. "You know what the rules are like here, this could be your only chance and I'm not going to let you lose out on it."

"But you don't get to have that chance," she reminded him. "I wish we were both going on this adventure." Together always, best friends for ever.

"I applied, too."

Kira flailed back, grabbing Aiden's shoulders and shoving her open-mouthed face in close to his. "Really?!"

"Online," he added, sheepish. "I'm staying here."

"Oh."

"Couldn't let you do anything without me, of course." He winked, but his smile was sad. "My dad is finally letting me in on the family business, and mum isn't even arguing about it anymore. They've always been so protective of me getting involved with clan operations, that this is kind-of my own brand of freedom. But for you, freedom is getting to be away from it all for a bit. So… do it. If you hate it, come back. No one is locking the door behind you."

Kira slumped in his lap, mulling over his words. Stupid Aiden and his stupid reasoning.

She looked up at him, heart in her stomach. "Promise you won't grow up too much without me?" she asked quietly.

He tapped the tip of his nose to hers. "I've gotta catch up at some point.”

"Best friends forever?"

"Best friends forever."

Kira launched her mouth into his, and he allowed her to knock him back down to the bed with the kiss. His tongue waltzed with hers, the perfect dance partner. Neither forceful, nor limp, he followed her lead effortlessly. Beneath his mouth, the rest of his body was taking control. Hot and hungry, he tore her clothes off as she kissed him. Suddenly, she understood what he meant about feeling feverish when they were together.

She unlocked their lips with a loud gasp, uncaring as to how many supernatural ears in the house might hear. "Yours, too," she panted, pulling at his t-shirt. She couldn't be the only one naked, she needed to see him. All of him. In the state the curse of vampirism had solidified him in.

He stripped obediently with a cocky grin, the moonlight that pushed through the gaps in her curtains shone off his white teeth. As more clothing was relinquished, the more of his smooth tan skin was lit up, too. Kira's hands snapped to it like an elastic band let loose. Perfectly cool skin met her palms, rippling to form the lines of frozen flesh. The pads of her fingers skimmed over his stomach, round the lines of his hips, then tracing the part of him that was hard for a reason other than vampirism. His chest pushed out a little, proud under her appreciation. Kira glanced up through her lashes and pulled a face. His grin didn't shift, sea-green eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

With a few fingers of preparation, he lowered her down onto him, stretching her open. Her body strained against him, squeezing and fluttering until she was full. His hands at her waist, keeping control of every inch offered to her, kept her nerves in check. She was always safe in his arms.

Her breaths hitched a few times until she’d adjusted to him. He was watching her, eyes alight, waiting for her to grow comfortable with the thick intrusion. Kira bit her lip and nodded up at him.

Ready.

He leant his back against the headboard, curving his torso, and rolled his hips. The knock of the tip of him against her tight insides, what she had thought was the very end of her, sent a spark of pleasure that she felt all the way down to her toes. She needed that times a hundred. A thousand. Forever.

“Ah-Aiden,” Kira choked. Her knees shook under her, although he was supporting ninety-nine percent of her weight.

A tilt of the head, checking she was okay, although his hips continued their elliptical motion, rocking her playfully against him.

She nodded again. She was fine, it was new, and intense, but so good. Trailing her hands up her thighs, to her tummy, she finally skimmed them over her breasts, resting them on the very tips of her nipples. She let her head lull back and pulled on them, letting loose a loud moan. The cock inside her jolted, but Aiden played it cool, never falling out of his rolling rhythm. He was a ride for her to enjoy, and watching her was his reward.

Round and round, she traced the buds with her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth making the dirtiest of noises.

“Aiden,” she panted. “I’m so full.” She bit her lip to muffle a whimper. “It’s too big. Ah! Aiden, I-”

Without a single sign of warning, Aiden snapped. Hands grabbed her forearms and yanked her close, clutching at her skin desperately and hips slamming against hers. His breaths had turned ragged and… was that a soft moan that slipped out from under his breath? He was losing control and it was opening the floodgates of Kira’s arousal. Calm, cool, collected Aiden couldn’t hold back his dirty noises.

His rhythm stuttered more and more frequently now as his controlling façade fell away like a sheet of distorted glass to reveal the genuine Aiden underneath: his eyes dark with lust and his shoulders heaving. She had done this to him, she caused this reaction in him. For the first time since the day he found her out, Kira felt her confidence bloom as she was struck even more deeply with the realisation that he truly loved her. And he always had. He was never teasing or trying to make her cry. Clearly he had as much trouble keeping his feelings and urges in check around her as she did him, it was she who simply hadn’t noticed.

Deep in her guts, the thumping of him against her was shattering her walls, dragging her to the very edge of desperate, destructive release. Two fingers dug between them, running up and down her swollen lips until her cracked voice was squeaking nonsense through the room. When they finally pressed against her clit, the vibration shook her all the way to her brain.

“I love you,” she sobbed through her orgasm. “I fucking love you.”

“I love that half the house can hear you,” he chuckled.

“I don’t care!” Although her volume had dropped to barely a whisper.

He only laughed again. The thrusts never slowed, although his brow furrowed and he groaned long and low. Restraining himself, she could tell, from going in too hard on the poor, weak, helpless human.

“Stop holding back,” she urged, so quiet she barely heard her own words.

His stupid, cocky smirk under those gorgeous green eyes was the last thing Kira coherently remembered of that night. It remained on his face long after she regained the ability to walk.