No Vacancy
Chapter Fourteen

-o-

Jason pulled back from their kiss-

Sweet Azar, they kissed!

-and looked down into her eyes. She could feel his heart thrumming into her chest, rumbling and vibrating as he pushed against her, his hands on either side of her shoulders. He was swallowing air as if it was the only thing that kept him chained to earth, and his hands tightened in the comforter with every breath.

Everything around them felt painfully tight, like a rubber band that had been stretched too far for too long, and eventually it was going to snap. Raven wanted to say something - anything - that might have filled the silence, but her mind couldn't quite pin down one thing that she could say. It was racing wildly, flitting from one memory to the next until it seemed as if her whole body was filled with thoughts of Jason. His sarcastic comments. His smile. The little pieces of himself that broke through the facade he created. The excited, almost boyish way he looked after sex. His touch. His laugh. His kiss. Everything that she thought was bothering her seemed to melt away and here, in this moment, she realized something that she should have seen coming from a mile away.

I think I love you.

Raven tried to hold onto that thought so she could try to explore it, but the realization of it bubbling to the forefront of her mind at a time like this made her nearly lose her sanity. Her heart slammed against her own ribs, practically matching Jason's in its ferocity, and she stared up into his eyes. They were like little flecks of malachite staring down at her, practically glowing in the thin light that slipped through the space between the curtains.

He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, as if the words were going to tumble free and suddenly they would both be left exposed and raw. Unsure if she wanted to face those words, Raven reached up and buried her hands in his hair, pulling his closer to her. Their lips brushed against one another, sensitive and swollen from the kiss that had stolen her breath. Her eyes met his own, fingers tightening in his dark hair and she whispered something she never thought she would say in her life.

"Make love to me."

His eyes widened, and Raven could feel his heart skip a beat. It stuttered against her chest, and he searched desperately for something to say to her, but nothing seemed to escape. Jason just swallowed and rested his forehead against her own, his nose brushing against hers. Without even uttering a single syllable, he pressed his lips to her own and kissed her again. Raven let herself drown in his kisses, barely registering when his fingers hooked into her panties and he pulled them down her thighs.

Every touch seemed to spark over her skin like it never had before. His fingertips were practically electric, sending little shocks through her nerves and straight into the pit of her stomach. Jason kissed down her throat, his tongue feathering over her pulse as his fingers drew patterns over her arms and shoulders. Raven closed her eyes and she let herself feel. She wasn't sure if it really was different now, or if her perception had simply changed everything, but it seemed as if her body was made of light and she was worshiping every part that he could.

His lips curled around and nipple and his fingers dipped between her thighs, tracing the length of her with careful touches. Everything was planned and patient, it wasn't about how amazing their sex could be, but about how the journey felt. Raven gasped and her back arched as she bit back a soft curse. Jason just smiled and he slipped two fingers inside her, pumping slowly as his thumb brushed up against her clit. She twitched and her eyes fluttered as he scraped his teeth along her nipple, drawing it into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it before releasing it. Seconds would pass and he started the whole process again, taking his time with her body.

Raven whimpered, and her head tossed on the pillow as he toes curled. She had never known him to go so… slow. He'd been slower with her before but not like this, not when he was practically drawing out minutes into hours and using time as another tool in his arsenal. Raven had never had to wait for him to give her what she desperately wanted and he was using that to his advantage. He flicked his tongue over her nipple again, and his fingers curled against that spot, making Raven see white fill her vision.

"J-jason, please."

His hands stilled and he looked up at her, his eyes wide. Raven flushed, suddenly realizing how desperate she had sounded, and how his name fell so easily from her mouth. Her teeth came out and chewed on her lower lip as he continued to stare, not moving, not saying anything, just staring.

Lightning flashed outside, filling the room with bright, white light for just a moment.

"Say it again."

She swallowed.

"My name," he whispered, resting his head against her sternum. He almost sounded like he was pleading with her, begging for this one request. Pressing kisses over her heart, he glanced back into her eyes. "Say my name again, Raven."

Raven lifted her hands to his hair again, curling her hands through his dark locks. "Jason."

He began kissing down her stomach, his tongue dipping into her belly button. Raven's skin started to burn again, and her legs widened to accommodate his shoulders, watching with bated breath as he continued to kiss down her body. There was a fire inside him that she had never really felt before, and it warmed her and gave her life that she didn't know she could feel. Everything felt infinitely different now. Not bad, just… different. Raven gasped again, his mouth finding the inside of her thigh and licking. His tongue was tracing little patterns to her hips, teeth scraping softly against skin as he moved closer and closer to her dripping, needy core.

"Again."

She gasped as his teeth nipped at her thigh.

"Say it again."

"Jason."

His tongue traced the length of her core, and Raven's heart stopped in her chest.

"Again."

"Jason."

"Again."

"Jason."

Raven gasped as he spread her wide and stabbed his tongue deep. Screaming at the top of her lungs, her back arched and she let go of a sound that wasn't entirely human. Her hands tightened in his hair and her eyes screwed shut as she focused on the feeling of his skilful, sinful mouth licking and biting and sucking and bringing her the kind of pleasure that she had only read about in bad romance novels. She pressed her hips up into his mouth and his name became a mantra - the only thing she really knew how to say in this moment.

"Jason. Jason. Jason. Jasonjasonjasonjasonjason…"

He attacked her body with fervor, fucking her with his tongue before curling his lips around her clit. She shivered and gasped, pulling at his hair as she lost control of her senses. The world around her was imploding, disintegrating with every moment until it was just him and her and this seedy motel room where their sins were suddenly something else. Raven threw her head back and she screamed again, her muscles convulsing as her orgasm rushed through her. The storm raged on outside, reflecting the turmoil inside her as Jason continued to tease her, drawing out her pleasure for as long as he could. His mouth never relented, and Raven felt as though hours passed before she began to drift down to earth.

"Jason."

He smiled, resting his cheek against her thigh as he watched her through a heavy-lidded stare. "Again."

Raven's cheeks flushed, and before she could stop him, his mouth was already taking her to the heavens again.

-o-

It was getting late.

The clock next to the bed blinked 12:00, but Raven could tell by the exhaustion seeping into her bones that it was getting far past the time she had promised herself to go home. Dawn was very likely just around the corner, and it would be a few hours before her friends would stir to life, looking for her and begging for her presence and demanding her attention. And yet… she didn't want to go home yet. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go home at all.

Instead, she laid against the lumpy pillows on the hotel bed, her hands clutching the sheets as Jason's mouth continued its relentless assault on her senses, his tongue fucking her and curling around her clit and giving her everything she could possibly need again. Raven swallowed a few lungfuls of air, and her eyes slid close as she buried one hand in his hair, mouth falling open as she tried to hold out for just a little bit longer.

Jason's lips wrapped around her clit and he drew it into his mouth, sucking on it as he flicked his tongue over her. Raven's body convulsed and her back arched as she pushed his mouth harder against her. She was so deliciously close to that edge, and he'd already brought her to orgasm several times that night, but she wanted to come again. She wanted to know that it was him eating her out like she was a treat, and know that if she asked him he would do it again, no questions asked. She wanted to hold onto this feeling forever.

Raven took a deep breath and let it out slowly, opening her eyes to see him staring up at her, waiting until-

"Jason!"

She threw her head back and screamed, shivers raking down her spine as he threw her over the edge again, letting her float weightlessly on pleasure. Raven's hips bucked and her stomach tightened with each delicious spasm racing through her body, her muscles giving out again. It felt like she was flying through the heavens before being coaxed back down to earth very, very slowly. Gasping for breath, Raven tilted her head down and watched as Jason licked his lips, resting his cheek on her inner thigh.

"Again?"

This time it was a question, not a demand, and Raven flushed.

"No." She shook her head and leaned back against the pillows again. "G-give me a moment to breathe…"

"I can." He kissed down her thighs, paying special attention to the little marks of pleasure he had left for against her skin. Offering her a proud, almost boastful smile, he nipped playfully at the inside of her knees before sitting back on his heels, watching her. His fingers trailed over her ankles, drawing invisible patterns against her skin.

Raven flushed, and she somehow resisted the urge to bury her face into her pillow. What in the world was he doing? And to her? Raven was not a woman who was easily swooned, and yet somehow he was doing just that. Every movement felt almost affectionate, as if he wasn't just doing it for the physical sensation, but more of an emotional one. Jason Todd, Red X, was making her swoon. That thought made Raven's head a bit fuzzy, and she watched as he reached over her to the nightstand and grabbed a bottle of water, taking a long drink before looking back at her.

The silence was heavy, weighing down on both of them as they both fought with their emotions. It was different this time and they both knew it. This was the first time it hadn't been all about the physical aspect of their meetings, and they weren't clamoring for orgasm simply because it made them both feel better. This time, there was something strange just roiling underneath the surface, something that whispered to both of them in different ways.

Raven chewed at her lower lip and she turned away from him, rolling on her side as she waited for the inevitable question that hung in the air between them.

"Wanna order take out?"

That… that was not the question she was anticipating.

She looked over her shoulder at him, watching as he flicked through a few take-out menus that were left in the nightstand drawer. He looked relaxed, almost at ease with what was growing in the silence, and Raven wasn't sure how she should respond to him. That wasn't what she was expecting at all. She was expecting him to ask her about what was going on and why she was acting strange. Or why she was so close to tears when she came here, or why she chose to come here in the first place. Or why she started screaming his name like every cell in her being demanded it of her. She wasn't expecting him to ask about food.

Raven sat up and cautiously took the menu offered to her, as if it were a snake that was getting ready to bite. "Take out?"

"Sure." He sat down on the edge of the bed at watched her, his expression unreadable. A few long seconds slipped by in heavy, unadulterated silence before he spoke again. "Look, Raven… I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you need to tell me everything going on with you. But I'm not going to sit here and pretend that there isn't something bothering you either. I can tell that you're upset, and it's not my place to push it…"

Raven swallowed and watched as he reached for his cell phone.

"…but if you want to talk, I'm here."

"One night of hanging out doesn't make you my friend."

Couldn't she keep her mouth shut for once, and not be a defensive idiot? He was trying to help her, trying to be nice to her, and Raven had just come to terms with the fact that maybe she felt something more for him than just a physical attraction. Her face flushed as she watched hurt flash across his face, and Raven shook her head trying to calm her pounding heart. She reached out for him, resting her hand on his arm. "I… I didn't mean it like that, Jason. It's just… you've never really tried to connect with me before."

"Because you wouldn't let me." His smile looked a little broken, and he moved his arm so that her hand slid easily into his own. "Your rules, remember?"

Raven's face darkened and she looked at his hand and hers tangled together. "I thought I was just a fu-"

"Chicken fried rice sound good?" He cut her off, suddenly choosing to page through the menu as his lips twitched in annoyance. "It sounds good to me. How about that and some hot and sour soup? Nothing fancy."

Raven blinked, a little taken aback by how easily he cut her off. It was almost as if he didn't want her to say the words that were building up inside her. Like it was a kind of curse that he wanted to avoid. She blinked and stared at their hands again, not sure of what to say or even how to interpret his expression. Raven simply nodded.

"That sounds fine."

Jason smiled and he closed the menu, looking at her for a long moment again. "You don't think this is crossing our boundaries, do you, Raven?"

She shook her head, lifting her eyes to his impossibly green stare. "I don't think dinner is going to be a problem."

He took leaned closer to her, his nose brushing her own as if he was going to kiss her again.

"Besides," she whispered, eyes fluttering close. "I think maybe it's time we redraw our boundaries anyway."

Who lets me touch things?