╔═══ Author's note ════╗
I like consistency in chapter length and the previous long chapter botherem me so much, I split it and put around 400 words here (this chapter has around 1,2k words). Apologies for the reread.
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The sketching sounds resumed.
The pencil became her new chewing toy, which she nibbled on to calm herself down, but not before glancing at him a few more times.
'Is she using me as a reference?' Lucian could only guess by the way she was blushing, her attention focused on the new obscene artwork she was creating.
She definitely got a bit too inspired by his exposed stomach, and her imagination ran wild.
A silhouette of a naked woman and a man appeared on the paper, entangled in a rather inappropriate way. She was kneeling in between his legs, her head resting on his stomach.
'Don't react. Don't react...' he chanted to himself, trying to engage in a conversation with Voice to kill the mood and to keep the blood from rushing to his lower half which she had yet to draw.
Voice, of course, abandoned him, not wanting to deal with his nonsense. He was on his own.
Celine took the drawing and compared it with him. She stretched her neck, nodded cutely in approval, then continued drawing.
She even used herself as a reference, twisting and bending her body to get the angles and shading right.
Lucian covered his face with his right arm; he was supposed to go through hardship that was to come from their silent war.
Not to be seduced to the point of his body betraying his own mind.
'I need to focus on her flaws, and not on her...her...'
Lucian's thoughts trailed off to her hand sliding across the paper, the way she held the pencil, the way her fingers curled around it, and the way her teeth dug into it once in a while.
'Focus on her bad character...her arrogance, her selfishness, her... her... Ugh... I can't leave it for next time...I've delayed it too much already...'
His neck was aching, not because it got squeezed, but because it was parched.
It was craving her lips to touch it.
Her teeth biting into it.
Her tongue sliding against it.
'You can't love her more than you already do, idiot...' he tried to knock some sense into his head, but the damage was already done.
He was good at fooling himself, at telling himself that things weren't the way he thought they were. But that didn't mean he was not aware of the truth.
'Why is she not pouncing on me?'
'No, I'm not being needy.'
'I'm just... just...trying to understand what's happening.'
She outstretched her hand in his direction, making a grabby motion with her fingers. She entertained herself by acting all silly, not realizing Lucian was dying inside. Dying to touch her, to kiss her, to cuddle her to death!
She was clearly horny and had her own fantasy going on, yet she refused to make a move.
'Is she waiting for me to make a move?'
'Is this why she is being so slow? She wants me to pounce on her?'
'But I'm not a pouncer, I'm a catcher,' he insisted.
Lucian was the one who would wait for the right moment, for the perfect opportunity to present itself. And when it happened, he would strike and capture the prize.
"Mm," Lucian mumbled sleepily. Maybe a small bait would do. Just a small bait to see if she would grab it, "Celine..."
Her ears twitched at the sound of her name, stopping what she was doing.
Lucian's body's reaction would make one guess what dirty dreams he had. He shifted in the bed to hide his 'problem' from her, covering his face with his arm and pretending he was still sleeping.
Killing his mood with depressing thoughts did put his body under control, but he didn't like the price he had to pay for it. So he let it be, to see where it would take him.
She grinned from ear to ear, giggling like a kid who was given candy. The head of the pencil was covered in teeth marks, which she started to bite into again.
He had asked her why she loved to bite him so much, and she would say how she loved him so much that she wanted to gobble him up.
The load in her chest couldn't be relieved by any other way. She had to vent it out in small bits that bordered on violence.
Lucian didn't understand what she was talking about. He never had a need to pull her hair until she hissed in pain, suck her skin until it bruised, or scratch her back until it bled. He just wanted to love and cherish her, and that was it.
She didn't enjoy seeing him in pain, nor did she want to cause him pain, so he didn't know where this sadistic side of her came from.
Could it really be because she was overwhelmed by her love for him?
Celine tiptoed closer, lowering the notepad to peek at his face, making sure that his eyes were still closed. Her pink cheeks were puffed up and she looked as if she was about to explode from holding back her urges.
A small part of Lucian felt like he should be scared for his safety, and the other part of him was cheering her on.
'I'm sorry dad, mom...' Lucian apologized in his mind, 'Please don't look down on me from the heavens above.'
Celine wasn't a girl he would have ever introduced to his parents. They wouldn't understand why he was drawn to her and would definitely doubt his motives.
They always did, since he remembered himself. No matter how much he proved them that he was a good boy, they would still worry that he would do something terrible one day.
'Celine is a great actress. I wonder if she would be able to trick them into believing she is an angel...'
She would probably bully them to death, or at least make their hair go white before their time, or even worse, give them both a heart attack.
He was exaggerating with his thoughts, he knew that. Celine could be generous with her pampering and sweet words when she wanted.
They would probably behave like such a loving couple before his parents that they would puke their jealousy at them. That would be more like it. He ate vinegar every time he saw his parents together, and he would return the favor.
'Now that I got my morals straightened out...' Lucian thought, 'I feel like I'm ready to face her again.'
Celine's values were corrupted and it was his duty to correct them like his parents did with him. Though he was doing such a half assed job at it, he might as well be encouraging them.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
Lucian didn't get fully influenced by Voice's ideology thanks to his parents balancing it out.
Do you feel how he is unconsciously embarrassing the 'an eye for an eye' philosophy in the prologue?
Boy even wants to get back at his dead parents for making him feel jealous (jokingly, of course), lol.
He also thinks his parent's teaching is the 'right' way, and the reason why he became a 'good' man. At this point, he is just asking for trouble with Celine. 🤣
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