Page 54 of Tainted Love
It's so sensual and erotic, it sends my heart racing so fast I feel like it’s going to explode. My body is trembling with a mix of desire and anguish over the realisation we cannot be doing this. He promised. The fundraiser is tomorrow night, and I can’t be so distracted by him my granddad notices. Especially after Hunter’s threat today. And I still need to figure out how to deal with that douchebag.
“Elias,” I manage to whisper, pulling away from him. “Don’t.”
A pained expression crosses his face before he hides it with a mischievous smirk. He leans down and swipes my sketchbook from beside me. “What’s this?” he asks, flipping through.
“Nothing! Give it back.” I try to snatch my book back, but he holds it out of my reach, so I give up and flop back onto the couch with my hands crossed over my chest.
“These are good,” he muses, studying one of my designs closely. “You drew this?”
I draw my bottom lip between my teeth and nod.
“Have you shown these to your dad?”
“Why?”
Elias arches his brow. “You’re talented, Duchess. Really talented. I’m sure if you show Darren or your grandfather?—”
“It’s a hobby, Eli. Nothing more.”
He grins, throwing me for a loop.
“What?”
“You called me Eli without me prompting.”
I roll my eyes and hold my hand out. “Can I have it back now, please?”
He shakes his head. “I think I’ll hold onto it for a while.”
Dropping my hand, I shrug. “Whatever. It’s not like I need it anyway. I won’t have time now classes have started.”Especially with how much work I have to catch up on from today alone. I’m already so far behind and it’s only the day one.
“Don’t do that,” he says, frowning.
“It is what it is. I’ve accepted it.”
“Come with me.” He grabs my hand and pulls me off the couch with such enthusiasm, I stumble into him. My free hand lands on his sculpted chest as I steady myself, but I drop it quickly, as if I’ve been burned. “I want to show you something.”
Knowing I shouldn’t, I let him pull me upstairs to the old theatre room—his new practise room. I haven’t stepped foot in here since he moved in, and my mouth drops.
The large movie theatre seats have been removed and replaced by a couple of smaller well-worn couches, but the 80-inch TV is still mounted on the back wall. There’s a massive desk along one of the other walls with two large speakers, a desktop computer, laptop, a couple of microphones, and some mixing equipment covering the surface.
There are five or six guitars resting on stands against the opposite wall. A drum kit with Forever Summer’s logo on the kick drum, and Wyatt’s keyboard are set up in the middle of the room. It looks like what I’d imagine a recording studio would look like, and I’m impressed.
As soon as we enter the room, Elias drops my hand and I feel the loss of his touch immediately. “This is incredible,” I murmur as I step further into the room. There’s a lingering scent of weed in the windowless room, and I shake my head with a hint of a smile that he doesn’t give a fuck about either of our parents finding out. “Why are you showing me this?”
He's over by his laptop fiddling around and he doesn’t look at me when he speaks. “I wanted to show you why the fundraiser is so important to us.”
I wince, feeling terrible for threatening to take away theirbiggest opportunity just because I can’t control my emotions. “Elias?—”
“Take a seat. Please, Bea,” he implores when I hesitate. “No funny business. I promise.”
Blowing out a breath, I cross the room and lower myself onto one of the couches. His scent suddenly invades my senses, wafting up from the worn cushions. I close my eyes briefly and count to ten, trying to get a hold of myself.
“Are you okay?”
I open my eyes as the couch dips, and I find him sitting only inches away, the laptop balanced on his lap. “I’m fine,” I squeak out, praying he can’t hear my erratic heartbeat.
Elias smirks, and I don’t doubt he knows exactly what he’s doing to me. “Relax, Duchess. I won’t bite … hard.”
