From instructions sent to Lane Jones: “We remind you who we are.”

  “Tea, huh?” Lane teased, waking up with Talia’s head nestled in the nook between his chest and his shoulder. He stroked her hair gently, smelling it in wonderment that it always smelled so good. Vanilla? It must be a girl thing. Just like it must be a girl thing that they always found a way to steal his clothes. Talia wore black underwear and a large t-shirt - his t-shirt - and despite bringing an entire change of clothes with her, she wore nothing else.

  Not that he was complaining.

  “I’m a high-born lady, Lane Jones, and ladies say things like ‘would you like to get a tea with me?’ or ‘sure, I’d love to see your rock collection’ when we really mean something else. You should know this,” Talia said groggily, blinking as she woke up.

  “Ah yes, how could I forget?” Lane said, rolling his eyes. High-born lady, indeed. “What time is it?”

  “How would I know that? I just woke up, dummy,” Talia said, snuggling deeper into his bare chest. “You smell like a man.”

  “Thanks? I think we slept in,” Lane sighed. “On the first day of the town weekend. Flo is going to be pissed, he wanted me to help him pick out a Ye Evergreen gift for some people. I bet that’s why he and Thad are gone.”

  The Death Dealer dorm room had a similar setup to the Warrior dorm that Talia spent most of her nights in, except this one had three beds instead of four and the room's layout was more rectangular whereas her room was more square. The Dealer boys each had a large wardrobe, similar to Talia’s, but the colouring - the Warrior items had hints of red whereas the Dealers had hints of white - and the lack of a roaring hearth were differentiators. Talia also thought Lane’s bed was larger but she couldn’t prove that without taking measurements and well, she had other things to do in his bed.

  “Is it Madeline?”

  “I’m sworn to secrecy.”

  Talia groaned. “Madeline. Oh no. I promised I would meet her by the carriages in the morning. Ugh, I threatened her that if she left without me I’d do some…not so very nice things. I think I threatened to shove her talisman up her, well, you know.”

  “High-born lady, huh?” Lane joked.

  “Shut it. I hope she went, she had a meeting with someone today, she wouldn’t say who. Wait, what do you mean sworn to secrecy? You know the rules. No secrets.”

  “That doesn’t apply to this,” Lane argued. “That applies to big things, like when Anik Valentine bent over yesterday to pick up the talisman she dropped, I could see down her shirt. See? No longer a secret.”

  Talia smacked his chest. “You did what?!”

  “It’s not my fault,” Lane protested. “I had to look!”

  “Were they nice?” Talia added in a hushed tone. “Wait, no, don’t answer that you’re trying to change the subject on me. Will you shut up and tell me who? Spill, now. Or else.”

  Lane grinned mischievously. “Or else, what? You got nothing, T.”

  Talia raised her hand like she was confused. “Huh. Weird, looks like my hand has a mind of its own right now, I’m trying to control it but,” she waved it around theatrically. “Oh no, where’s it headed, oh no you better watch out-,” she flung the sheet off him, exposing his nakedness and the male body’s natural morning function. She grabbed his length in one hand and started stroking gently, up and down. “Oh what’s it done, naughty hand, naughty!” Talia mock scolded her hand, returning his mischievous smile with one of her own.

  Lane sighed softly. “Naughty hand,” he agreed. “Don’t stop.”

  "Oh my," Talia said. "The hand has a mind of its own." She stroked him a little faster and started kissing his chest, feeling his breath rise and fall with increasing speed. "You like it when I do that?"

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  Lane grunted.

  She stroked for a time, kissing his cheek and his neck and whispering sweet nothings into his ear. Abruptly she stopped her movement.

  "What, why did you stop?" Lane groaned. "I was getting close!"

  Talia stared at her hand quizzically. "I think the hand wants to know who Florian is buying a Ye Evergreen gift for. I could try and talk to it, see if maybe it is willing to ignore this secret?" She pretended to listen to it. "Nope, sorry. I tried. It needs to know."

  "You are such a dork," Lane said. "It's Madeline, okay? I mean, obviously he's going to get Thad and I gifts but he specifically wants help with picking something out for Madeline. Now that I’ve betrayed guy code, can you..."

  Talia slipped her fingers into the waistband of her panties and slid them down to her ankles then off. “You did what?”

  “Guy code, you must know what that is.”

  Talia used the muscles of Lane’s torso to position herself on top of him without falling - hard, defined muscles enhanced by the consistent exercise the Second mandated - eliciting a soft moan from the man when she rubbed his head against her clit, moaning herself at the rubbing sensation felt through her neatly trimmed hairs. “Never heard of it,” she forced out.

  “Take your shirt off,” Lane demanded.

  Talia listened, gripping the bottom of Lane’s overlarge shirt she wore and pulled it off, tossing it at his face gently. “Explain yourself,” she said, positioning him against her entrance then sliding down with a groan and a grunt, his thickness still a challenge at first. His hands met her perky breasts, tweaking both nipples in concert, eliciting another moan, this one louder.

  “The code, it’s like you never betray your friend for a woman,” he breathed heavily, bottoming out inside Talia who’d begun rocking her hips. “God you take it so fucking good,” he said.

  “Any woman?” Talia asked, pace increasing.

  “It’s more of a feeling. It’s hard to explain when you’re doing-,” another grunt and a harder tug on her nipples punctuated his words.

  She leaned forward, spilling her raven-dark hair over her shoulders, abandoning all conversation, and placed her hands on the scars on his neck, ass bouncing now, chasing an orgasm right around the next corner. Some might be turned off by Lane’s neck scars but not Talia, no, Talia associated them with danger and danger turned her on. Guys like Florian were pretty. Guys like Lane were dangerous. One day she’d get him to tell her the story of the six deep slashes in full and without deflection which is what happened every time she’d asked.

  His hand roamed upward from her breast, taking his time with her body before wrapping a wide hand around her throat. He squeezed from the sides, not hard enough to be truly threatening - he’d never do anything to hurt her, Talia believed that with her whole heart - but just enough to let her feel him. She whimpered in pleasure. “Is my little Warrior going to cum for me?” He teased.

  “Yes!” Talia cried out.

  “Ask.”

  “Please?“

  “Hold on,” Lane ordered and Talia clenched, her wetness soaking him.

  “Lane please, please let me cum,” Talia damn near begged.

  Lane moved his hands from her throat to over her mouth. “Just preparing,” he grinned insolently. “Cum, baby.”

  Talia erupted, wave after wave of pleasure ripping through her, legs clenching, pussy clenching, hands clenching on Lane’s skin. His hands over her mouth prevented the loudest of her moans from escaping and soon she panted hard, catching her breath.

  “That wasn’t nice,” she complained.

  “I didn’t hear you protesting,” Lane answered, a smile still splitting his asymmetrical face. “My turn.”

  Talia was loathe to remove him, she just felt so dang full with him inside her, but she knew that a child would be infinitely worse so she slowly unsheathed Lane, and took him in her mouth. After she swallowed the fruits of her effort, she nestled naked into the crease between his shoulder and his chest again.

  “You’re sweaty,” she said softly. He just laughed and wrapped an arm around her. “Let’s get into trouble today.“

  Lane kissed the top of her head, inhaling and mumbling something about vanilla. “What sort of trouble?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, I didn’t think about it too much. Um, off the top of my head… why don’t you wear my underwear and we can get drunk on Saberwine. The real cheap stuff. Then we can go streaking on the pier and skinny dip. But you leave the panties on. I’ll get naked. And we can make out in the water, I’ll keep us warm. It’s town weekend, we need to enjoy it.” Her smile was the most mischievous he’d ever seen it.

  “Good thing you haven‘t thought much about this.”

  Talia stuck her tongue out at him.

  Lane looked at her longingly. “I can’t. The code. Plus you should spend some time with Madeline, she needs you. She’ll never admit it but you know it’s true.”

  “The code, the code, your stupid code,” Talia argued, mocking him. “Oh, look at me I’m Lane Jones and I’d rather spend time on the guy code than with my beautiful girlfriend.”

  “Talia.”

  She sighed, admitting defeat. “You’re right, the truth is I wish Madeline would admit her feelings for Florian already and then we could all double date. It would be so much fun, but until that happens I should spend more time with her. Let’s all meet at one of the pubs downtown after you and Florian do your guy code shenanigans?”

  Lane nodded. “Sounds good.” He watched Talia change lecherously, drinking in every soft curve, every bounce, every scowl she gave when she caught him looking.

  He didn’t expect her. He didn’t expect this.

  Well, he’d just have to find a way around it.

  Or through.