The new house Ruby found for us wasn’t as grand as the last. The modern three bedroom, two bath home sat in the middle of a dead-end street. We’d all agreed that we shouldn’t stop until we were at least two states away from where we left Calliope in Alabama. Eli drove, Ruby prepared everything for our arrival, and Clark and I created as many magical false trails as we could with to send the Coven on a wild goose chase. The blockers should keep our location off the radar, but locator spells weren’t the only means of tracking the Coven would try. If they tried to track us through street cameras, they’d find that there were several dozen cars that looked exactly like ours headed in just as many directions. We arrived at our destination just after one in the morning and no one saw us pull into the garage. We were all too exhausted to do much else besides sleep.
I woke up alone to the smell of coffee brewing. I wasn’t ready to get up; the bed was still warm and comfortable. Umbra drifted into my thoughts, showing me images from their patrol. Clark and Eli were already awake and laughing about something in the kitchen. Ruby hadn’t emerged from her room yet. The residents of the neighboring houses went about their business, walking their dogs, maintaining their lawns, and leaving for work or errands. None of them gave much attention to the house we were staying in. We were as safe as we could be for the moment. I let myself think about finding a place like this of our own. Between the four of us, maybe we could keep each other safe from our various pursuers. The blockers were working so far. I knew they didn’t account for everything, but couldn’t we think of ways to non-magical means of detection?
“Milo, are you up?” Clark asked as he came into the room carrying two cups of coffee.
“No, but I could be persuaded,” I said. He smiled and closed the door behind him with his foot. Umbra slid out of the room to give us our privacy.
He set the mugs on the bedside table and lifted the blanket to get under it with me. I pulled him down into a kiss. We were both hard and ground his hips against mine. His left hand went to my neck as he kissed me back. I moved my hands down his back to the bottom of his shirt and started pulling it up. He broke off from kissing me long enough to get the shirt over his head. His lips were on mine again before his shirt hit the bookshelf across the room. We ignored the sound of paperbacks tumbling to the floor. He kissed down to my neck as he lifted me enough to slip my boxer-briefs down past my hips. He made his way down my body until he took my shaft in his mouth. My sharp breath spurred him on, and he worked his way up and down.
I bunched the sheets in my hand as he got me closer and closer. Before I finished, he stopped and lifted my legs. I moaned softly as his tongue flicked down my perineum and he started rimming me. His tongue moved faster, making me arch my back. He kissed his way back up my body until he reached my chest. As his tongue teased my nipple, he slid a finger inside me. My whole body shook with pleasure when he massaged a second finger inside. My heels and shoulders pressed into the bed as I lifted my hips in encouragement. He slowly removed his fingers and rolled over next to me so that he could get out of his tight jeans and underwear. I didn’t wait for him to get back up, straddling him and grinding on him. He handed me a bottle of lube and I squeezed some into my hand. I guided him into me slowly. His hands rested on my hips, but he let me control the speed at first. I couldn’t help thinking of our first time together. Some of the same hesitance I felt then made me move slowly at first. I hadn’t done this in far too long and it took a moment to relax into the rhythm of it.
Soon he was gripping my waist and thrusting into me. He sat up to kiss me and used the motion to flip me onto my back. He kept kissing me as he worked in and out. I wrapped my legs around him and locked my ankles to keep myself aligned with him. Our breathing sped up as he got faster. He didn’t suppress his moans of pleasure as came. I gripped the pillow behind my head tight as he stroked me until I finished too. We stayed tangled together as our breathing returned to a normal rhythm. He rested his head on my chest, and I noticed that the shadows in the room were dancing across the walls. I’d lifted the entire bed with my magic at some point and didn’t know it until it gently landed on the ground. The longer we stayed there, the more I imagined a future where we could settle somewhere and stop running. He’d embraced this life for me, but it didn’t seem fair. Was it really worth him giving up his whole life to be with me? It felt like so much pressure to make this worth it.
“I love you, Clark,” I said. I felt good to say it out loud, to say it with his real name. “There isn’t anyone else. There never has been for me. It’s okay if you’ve been with someone else. I just wanted you to know, I’m sure about this.”
“It’s only ever been you. I love you too. I’m with you, Milo, always.”
I didn’t say anything. Instead, I put my arms around him and held him to me. I needed to find a way to make a safe future for us. The first step was dealing with Newton. Once Ruby didn’t have to worry about him coming after her anymore, we could focus on getting ourselves out of reach of the Coven. There had to be somewhere that they couldn’t reach us. There had to be a place where we could build a home together.
