A/N: Thank you all so much for all of your reviews, favourites and follows. I cannot believe how far this story has come and all of you who are sharing it with me. Thank you. Also, I'm sorry for the delay of this chapter. It's been a very stressful couple of months and it took me awhile to be able to even get time to write, let alone the motivation for it. Seeing all of your reviews helped prompt me into action. Without further ado, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it!


Chapter Twenty-Four

I wake up slowly to warmth and someone stroking my hair. I am laying on my stomach and there is a weight on one of my legs. As I slowly become more aware, I shift my body, looking for the source. Eric is sitting on the bed next to me, shirtless and reading a book. His lower half is under the sheets, his bare leg hooked over one of mine. As I turn to look at him, he looks away from his book. I push up into my elbows.

"Where are my clothes?"

"You don't need them."

"Eric," I snap, "you can't just steal my clothes to keep me here."

He raises his eyebrows at me, daring me to push further. "You're not leaving this apartment until the roads clear."

I stop myself from retorting sharply, clenching my jaw shut. I need to find another option. I cannot stay and give more of myself to him than I already have. I did not mean for it to happen, not like this.

"Has it stopped snowing?" I ask. The look Eric gives me tells me he's not impressed with my question. "I only ask because you've destroyed my only method of communication, and all subsequent work that was on there. You will replace it." I turn and push myself to sit up. I clutch the sheet to my breast, ignoring his stare on me. Such a little thing that gives comfort.

"How do you expect that?" He asks. "Dauntless don't create the technology."

"You have your ways," I snap. "Figure it out."

Eric moves slowly, placing his book on the stand next to the bed before he turns to me. I cannot decipher the look in his eyes and it is my only warning before his hand shoots out and grabs my hair, pulling my face closer to his.

I wince, automatically shifting closer to lessen the pull on my scalp.

"And here I thought you were against my methods," he says softly. There's a twist to his lips, as if he's amused at me.

I try not to show any reaction. "I am when they present issues for me. You have destroyed my property. I expect compensation."

His lips expands to a small grin, one that leaves me unsettled. "I'll give you compensation." He moves forward, covering my lips with his. The hand in my hair prevents me from pulling away, and as his tongue begs entrance, I find myself granting it.

He pulls back, moving his mouth to the side of mine before going further down, teeth scraping against my jaw before his lips settle at my neck.

"That's not what I meant," I say softly. It is hard to think as his hand that is not in my hair moves and settles on my thigh, pushing under the hem of the shirt I wore.

"I know what you meant," he says. He shifts, moving his hand from my hair and angling his body over mine, forcing me to lie back. "This is better." He returns his attention to my neck, as if attempting to brand me with his lips. His hand moves up my side, trailing heat in it's wake.

I use one of my hands and touch his shoulder and his back, feeling the muscles tense under my fingers. My other hand touches his side. The ridges of his abdominal muscles feel like steel under his skin. I shouldn't be doing this. I shouldn't be touching him, not like this. It wasn't supposed to be soft and slow, like we were half asleep early in the morning and eager to touch each other. This was wrong.

"Eric," I call out. I am not surprised that he ignores me. His hand reaches my breast, barely touching it before pinching the nipple hard. I can't help my yelp and I feel him grin against my neck.

"You're thinking too much."

"One of us has to!" I snap. Despite his fingers skimming over my nipple softly, it still hurt. "This is illogical. Whatever this is, it cannot go further than this."

He pulls back finally, propping himself up on his elbows above me and staring down. He doesn't look pleased. There is something in his eyes that warns me about my words. Nonetheless, I continue.

"We're different factions," I say. I don't tell him that it shouldn't have happened in the first place. That it was wrong. "It can't continue after I leave."

He smirks at my words, looking more amused than I expect. The last time I said something like this, he got angry. Finally, he speaks. "Then just fucking enjoy it."

He kisses me hard and I am left with a choice. I can submit to him willingly, let myself enjoy this moment of freedom away from the demands of my position and the fear of my biology, or I can refuse and fight him until I am coerced into it as I was last time. I cannot deny that I welcome the release he gives. I will return to Erudite soon and with that back to the reality of Jeanine and her machinations. I think of Vera...and reach for Eric.

I break the kiss and move my mouth to his jaw. He tilts his head slightly, granting me access. I kiss and nibble against the scruff of the growing facial hair before moving my lips to his neck. His tattoos are striking against his skin and remembering the last time I tasted them, I bite down harder than before. His hips jerk into mine. He's half hard and not wearing any underwear. Somehow, I'm not surprised.

"You play dangerous," he says, mouth against my ear. His hand slides back up my thigh.

"Turnabout is fair play," I reply, thinking of the sharp pinch he had given earlier.

He pulls away, breaking the contact of my mouth on his skin and grins at me. I am struck by how young he seems in that moment, how innocent. He doesn't look like a man who once threatened my life, nearly throwing me into an abyss, nor one who willingly surrendered a boy to be tortured.

The look in his eye darkens as I stare up at him, shifting into something I don't want to acknowledge. I pull him back down, kissing him of my own accord and closing my eyes. I don't have to see it. I don't have to watch him.

His hand moves, cupping my jaw and keeping my lips against his as he deepens the kiss. The other one moves lower, sliding up my thigh until he reaches my underwear. His fingers press against it, hard enough that I can feel them clearly. He swallows my gasp. "So fucking wet already," he murmurs.

I expect him to make me beg, or to push the edge of my underwear aside and push his fingers in further. It doesn't happen though. He pulls his hand back and away from me, a loss of heat that I miss instantly. He shoves the blanket that covers us off and I am certain that it is half on the floor. He moves his hand that was on my jaw to my back and pulls me up with him as he moves and sits back on his heels. He pulls my shirt up and I raise my arms without question to let him pull it off me. I lie back as he throws it across the room. The only covering left on me, shielding me from him is my underwear. He slides them down my legs, watching me the entire time. His fingers leave trails of heat in their wake.

I lean my head back and close my eyes, content to concentrate only on the physical sensations he causes. I feel him press against me, his hardened penis lower than I expect until I feel his mouth enclose around one of my nipples. My body arches against him.

Instead of one of his hands touching my other breast, which feels achingly empty, his fingers are back at the apex of my thighs. He uses one of his knees to push my legs open wider, settling himself between them rather than straddling one of my legs. His fingers brush along the lips of my vagina slowly. He changes between getting closer to my clitoris to stroking my thigh. It is torturous.

I will not play this game. I drag my fingers over his scalp, scratching just enough to get a reaction. I can't reach his erection. My fingers dig into his back.

"Eric," my voice is almost breathless, but I can still maintain a steely tone. "Stop teasing."

"Fair play," he says, repeating my words back to him. He moves his mouth to my other nipple.

I lean back, frustrated. I move the hand that is on his back, trying to wedge it between us so that I could reach my clitoris myself.

He grabs my hand with his free one and pins it to the side. He bites down on my breast, hard.

"OW!" I grab what hair of his I can and yank his head back. He stares up at me, as if daring me to go further. I am surprised he's let me get this far. "Stop that," I demand. I'm going to bruise.

The grip on my hand tightens. "Do not get between what I want," he says slowly, his voice low and dangerous sounding. My heart feels as if it's stopped. This was the Eric I knew.

"Then do something," I force myself to say. I can barely get the words out.

He smirks at me before his mouth returns to my skin. He moves from my breast, up to my collarbone. His fingers finally touch my clitoris, pressing against it and circling.

My fear fades with every touch until I am arching against him. He kisses my neck slowly. I doubt there is any skin on it that he hasn't marked. "Eric," I breathe. "Please."

"What do you want, Amelia?" he says. His mouth is against my ear. "Tell me what you want."

"You know – " my voice cuts off by a moan of frustration. His fingers were so close. I needed them in me. He slides them down, along the entrance before he pulls them back.

"Tell me," his voice is low. "Use your fucking words. I want to hear it." He moves and the fingers that were playing and teasing me so efficiently are in his mouth.

I watch as he licks them and his eyes meet mine. I can feel his erection pressing against me, exactly where I want it. The heat between us feels as if it thickens the air. "Please," I beg.

"Please what?" he asks. He is getting too much enjoyment would of this and I clench my jaw tight. "I'm not letting you go," he says quietly. "I will keep teasing you and bringing you closer to climax and never let you reach it unless you say it." The look in his eyes tells me he's not lying. I have no doubt he really would. "What do you want, Amelia?"

I know what he wants to hear, but saying it feels as if I am giving him too much. I have already lost enough of myself to him. The ache between my thighs, the climax that I know awaits me breaks my resolve.
"Please, Eric," I watch him carefully and use words I know he will understand. "I want you to fuck me."

He kisses me hard enough that our teeth hit. We both pull back slightly, but don't break the contact. His hand moves to my hip, stroking it softly before guiding my leg to wrap around his waist. He angles himself as I pull him closer with my leg, and in a swift thrust, he pushes into me.

My body arches into his at the intrusion. The stretch of my muscles to accommodate him is painful but welcoming. The last two days of activity has been more than my body has seen in a long time. I move my arms around his back, one going to the back of his neck and keeping his lips against mine. The other hand I use to dig my nails into his back. I will not be the only one to leave with scars.

He moves, pulling out of me slowly before thrusting back in hard.

"Oh god." My body is already heightened from the foreplay and each move just brings me closer to an edge I will gladly jump from. I break the kiss. My mouth goes over his jaw, scraping my teeth against it. I bite at his neck when I get there and I hear him chuckle above me.

"Amelia," he sounds nearly as breathless as I feel. His hips hit mine with a particularly hard blow.

"Harder," I demand. It's not enough.

His hand shoves between my back and the bed and he moves, pulling me with him. It takes me a moment to recollect myself. He is lying on his back as I now straddle him. It seems almost strange to be in this position.

He jerks his hips up, his hands on my waist keep me in place.

I move slowly, adjusting myself to get more comfortable before I start rocking against him. My hands go to his chest, pressing against the solid muscle for leverage. I pinch one of his nipples as I find my rhythm. His mouth encases one of my breasts as I lean over him and I focus on the feeling of him.

His hands help my keep the pace I set though when one of them touches my clitoris, it is almost too much. I cannot seem to move fast enough or hard enough.

"Doing so fuck – " his breath catches for a moment. "Fuck, Amelia!"

I ignore him. I am so close that when I shift slightly, it feels as if he hits something deeper. "Eric," I cry out. "Please, please, please..." I beg.

His hands seem as if they're everything and his mouth licks my collarbone before he pulls me down to kiss him.

It's too much and I feel myself clench around him as I finally reach my mark. I lean back, away from him. His hands move back to my hips, keeping me steady as he thrusts up. My name is on his lips when he finally climaxes. His body jerks against mine before finally slowing.

The exhaustion hits me suddenly, and I feel as if I could collapse against him. I should be moving. I pull away, feeling the loss of him instantly and attempt to ignore the feel of the fluids from our activity. I go to leave and clean myself up. Instead he pulls me closer against him. His grip is tight, informing me that there is no current escape. I sigh and rest my head on his chest, my head tucked under his chin.

His hands strokes up and down my back slowly and I can hear his heartbeat in his chest. I stare at the fine hair on his chest, the muscles that belong in Dauntless as I belong in Erudite. I should not be doing this.

"Stop that."

I don't look up at Eric. His voice vibrates though his chest. "Stop what?" I ask.

"Thinking."

"You do realize that that is physically impossible. A person cannot just stop thinking unless they are critically injured and have no brain activity or they are dead." I push back to look up at him. He raises his eyebrows at me. "I am clearly neither."

A smirk grows slowly on his lips. "I can feel that."

I feel his muscles move under me as he prepares to move. A knock sounds at the door suddenly, causing me to jump and glance at the door. I look back at Eric to see any expression on his face has shut down.

He moves me off of him, sliding me to the side and throwing the blanket that had been tossed away earlier over me. I sit up and watch as he shoves on a pair of sweatpants and storms to the door.

He opens it quickly, snapping a "what?" to the person on the other side. He keeps the door closed enough that I cannot see who it is.

I cannot hear what they say but I can see Eric's body tense.

"Fine," he snaps before slamming the door on whoever was on the other side. He walks back to the bed and stares down at me. He is angry but I can see his gaze soften slightly. It is an alarming look, holding a series of possibilities that I do not want to explore. "Get ready," he says slowly. "Your ride is here." He turns and storms out of the apartment and I am left staring after him.

My ride? The realization strikes me and I scramble out of the bed as fast as I can. Finally. I can go back to my faction and job. Back to normality. I make my way to the washroom and shower as quick as I can.


I am back in my clothes, the very same I arrived in. The buttons had been replaced somehow and Eric had miraculously recovered the shoes I lost. I never expected their return.

Despite his actions the past couple of days, Eric doesn't say a word as he leads me through Dauntless. I can't help but be relieved. We both know that it cannot go further than this. My mind is wrapped up in the events of the past few days that I do not even consider the fear of the height of the path.

As we reach the very same door I had run into a snowstorm from, he stops.

"Your ride back to Erudite awaits you." He turns, watching me carefully.

I nod. "Thank you," I say, though for what I am not sure. Perhaps the opportunity to pause, and not think about what was occurring in Erudite to an ex-Amity and my participation in it.

He smirks at me; his eyes roam down my body. "Thank you," he repeats far more salaciously than I.

I stop myself from rolling my eyes at him. "Goodbye Eric." I turn to leave and exit the door but his hand grabs my wrist and he pulls me back. His hand goes to the back of my neck and he kisses me.

I kiss him back until I finally press my hands against his chest and attempt to push him away. "I have to go now."

He lets me step away from him and when I finally open the door, there is an Erudite man awaiting me. The snow has melted slightly and a path has been cleared to the truck I can see awaiting me.
"Ms. Elswood!" The Erudite man exclaims. He smiles at me but I can see the wary look in his eyes as he glances behind me. I have no doubt that Eric is glaring at him. "Let's get you home." He offers his hand to help me down the path.

"Please," I say, graciously taking the assistance. As I walk away from Dauntless and get into the truck, I don't look back. I have larger concerns awaiting me.

[tbc]