Erotomania

Chapter 9

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Ryan didn't sleep that night. He was too worried about Landon showing up at Hope's house and trying something again to sleep. He wanted- no he needed- to protect Hope to the best of his abilities. And if that meant not sleeping so that he could fight off any harm that might befall her, then that's what he planned to do. He and Klaus had agreed, even though Ryan and Hope weren't dating, that it was okay, going forward, that Ryan and Hope slept in the same room. Landon's actions had crossed a line that Klaus could not forgive, and Ryan made Hope happy and kept her feeling safe. And that was enough for Klaus to put an end to his own rule. But staying awake brought on its own issues for Ryan. Like overthinking what he had agreed to do the next day for Hope's drawing class. That was something that Ryan had definitely not told Klaus about.

Halfway through the night, however, after having falling asleep from crying and having still been wearing her regular clothes, Hope had woken up suddenly and mumbled something about needing to change. Ryan couldn't tell if she was fully awake, or only partially awake, but either way, Hope didn't seem to realize that he was there. Especially when she started undressing without asking him to step out of the room. Ryan tried to look away from Hope to give her some form of privacy, but he couldn't help it. He had always known that Hope was beautiful, and after what they had almost done earlier that day, he was enjoying seeing her naked body as she pulled his t-shirt on and then climbed back into bed, curling up against his side and draping a leg over one of his.

Wrapping his arms around Hope, Ryan pulled her on top of him and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He knew that he would have an even more painful erection come morning than he had been dealing with all day, but to be able to hold Hope close, to keep her safe, it was something that Ryan would live with. Hope was all that mattered to him. And after everything with Landon, Ryan swore to himself that he wasn't going to push Hope for sex. If she wanted it, then he would give her what she asked, but if she didn't, then he wouldn't force himself on her. Swearing that to himself, though, had Ryan shuddering at the possibility that that's exactly what Landon could have been planning if he and Klaus hadn't pulled Landon away from Hope. God, he hated his brother.

Legacies – Erotomania – Legacies

The following morning, Hope woke up slowly and felt something pressed against her stomach. Slowly opening her eyes, Hope took in hers and Ryan's position and what she was wearing. She was in nothing except Ryan's t-shirt again, and she was laying on top of Ryan. The only issue with both of those things- not that she actually had an issue with either thing- was that she firmly knew that she had been wearing her regular clothes from the day before when she had fallen asleep the night before, curled up against Ryan's side. The only thing that she could think was that she had woken up in the middle of the night to change. And she could only pray that Ryan had been asleep himself when she had done so. Bracing her hands on Ryan's chest, Hope slowly sat up and looked at Ryan's sleeping face. Even asleep, he looked like he was battling mental demons instead of looking peaceful. She couldn't help feeling like what had happened with Landon the day before had something to do with what Ryan was seeing in his mind.

As the memories of what Landon had done flooded her memory, Hope had the overwhelming sensation of being sick and she was bolting from the bed and to the bathroom, just managing to reach the toilet before emptying what little contents she had in her stomach into the bowl. Sitting back shakily, Hope held her head in one hand and her stomach with another. She closed her eyes against to try to fight back the onslaught of the memories again, but it didn't work and she was leaning over the toilet once more. This time as she sat back, Ryan was behind her, wrapping his arms lightly around her. As she breathed deeply, Hope let Ryan's presence calm her down. She felt him shift behind her and then a cool washcloth was being pressed to her forehead.

"I think you should get a restraining order against him, Sweetheart." Klaus commented from the doorway and Hope opened her eyes to look at him.

"He would have to be removed from the school if I did that." Hope commented.

"I don't care about that, Hope. He assaulted you yesterday, and just the memories of it are making you physically sick. You're safety is more important than his continued education at our school."

"Give me some time to think about it, Dad. Yes, I hate him for what he did, but I don't want to ruin his chance at a good education if it's avoidable." Hope said with a sigh.

With a tight nod, Klaus headed downstairs. Once her father was gone, Hope leaned back against Ryan's chest and let out a shaky breath. As she did so, Ryan turned the washcloth over and pressed it against Hope's neck and then back to her forehead. When the washcloth was no longer cool to the touch, and was doing nothing to help Hope's fevered skin, Ryan set it to the side pressed his lips to Hope's neck in a light kiss.

"Are you feeling any better, Princess?" Ryan muttered.

"With you holding me, I want to say yes, but no. I don't. I still feel like I'm going to be sick." Hope replied as she lifted her hands to her hair and pulled it over her shoulder so that Ryan had more access to her neck.

"What can I do to make you feel better?" Ryan asked.

"I have some ideas." Hope mumbled.

Lacing her fingers with Ryan's, Hope moved his hands to where she wanted them to be touching her body. One hand was cupping her breast while the other rested just above/below the apex of her legs and Ryan let out a shuddering breath as he pressed his lips to Hope's neck more urgently. When Ryan didn't start moving his hands of his own accord, Hope squeezed the hand on her breast and moved the hand on her thigh to between her legs.

"Fuck, Hope." Ryan groaned.

"That's the idea, Ryan." Hope replied as she turned her head to pull him in for a kiss, only for Ryan to slightly turn away. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Give me a sec, Princess." Ryan said as he managed to move his hands away from her body and stood up.

Hope watched Ryan closely as the beginnings of tears sprang to her eyes. 'Great. Landon assaults me, and now Ryan wants nothing to do with me.' Hope thought as she blinked the tears back. When her vision cleared, Hope looked up at Ryan and found him handing her a cup of mouth wash and Hope ducked her head to hide her blush. Of course he hadn't wanted to kiss her. She had just thrown up. Taking the cup in one hand, and Ryan's hand in the other, Hope slowly stood up and tossing back the mouth wash. After she swirled it around in her mouth for a couple of minutes and spit it out, Hope glanced as her reflection. Only it wasn't just her reflection that was looking back at her. It was her and Ryan. Locking eyes with him in the mirror, Hope let out a sigh.

"Please know that I do want to have sex with you, Hope, but I don't want you to lock away what he did and pretend that it didn't happen. I don't want to see it eat you up from the inside. I want you in every way possible, Hope, but I don't want you to think that you have to prove anything to me by us having sex." Ryan said as he wrapped his arms around Hope's waist and pressed a kiss to her shoulder.

"Ryan, wanting to have sex with you has nothing to do with what he did. I've wanted to have sex with you for a while now. This weekend just shifted everything." Hope replied as she held his gaze in the mirror.

"Do you want to stay home today?" Ryan asked as his lips moved from her shoulder to her neck.

"Would you be staying with me?" Hope asked in return as she leaned her head back against his shoulder and moved her hands up around the back of his neck.

"Until a decision is made on what you want to do about him, I either want myself, your father, Kaleb or MG by your side at all times. Since your father needs to be at the school, and Kaleb and MG don't know what happened this morning, that just leaves me." Ryan replied.

"You just made it sound like you don't want to stay..." Hope trailed off with a frown.

Turning Hope around in his arms, Ryan lifted her up onto the counter and pressed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. When she opened her legs wider, Ryan stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. Wrapping Hope's legs around him, Ryan carried her back to her bedroom and laid her down on the bed. This time, when he started to push the hem of the shirt up, Hope didn't stop him. And with every inch of exposed skin, Ryan placed kisses along Hope's body.

Legacies – Erotomania – Legacies

Klaus was pacing in his art studio. He had never been fond of Landon Kirby, but after the events that unfolded the day before, Klaus downright hated the boy. With Hope getting physically sick that morning because of the events that transpired the day before, Klaus had reached a level of loathing towards him. And now he had to contact Caroline and Alaric to inform them what had happened so that they knew that Hope and Ryan wouldn't be in class. Well... contact Caroline to let her know that Hope and Ryan wouldn't be in class, since she had informed him the day before that she had asked Ryan to model for Hope's drawing class. Grabbing his phone from the table next to his easel, Klaus dialed Caroline's number, almost regretting this decision when she answered on the first ring.

"Klaus, is Hope alright? The girls told me what happened with... what happened yesterday." Caroline said, changing the direction of her statement part way through, knowing Klaus' temper.

"That's actually why I'm calling, Caroline. When she woke up this morning, she got physically sick because of what happened. She and Ryan will most likely be staying home today. So if it's not too much trouble, can you switch your lesson plan for this week, with the one for next week?" Klaus asked with a sigh.

"Of course. And you know you can stay home for a day to be with your daughter, right, Klaus? You are first and foremost a father." Caroline commented.

"As much as I want to be a father today, I need to properly handle things from an administrative standpoint. A female student was assaulted on campus, and there is a hallway full of other students that witnessed it happen. I need to talk to everyone who was there and consolidate all of the reports of what happened. And once that is finished, I need to bring in the boy and his mother." Klaus said.

"And in the meantime, your daughter just has to deal with all of this without her father there to help her through it?" Caroline asked.

"She has Ryan, and your daughters. As well as Kaleb and MG. To be perfectly frank, I don't think she wants me around right now. She'd much rather just have Ryan with her."

"That's bullshit, Klaus, and you know it. Whether she seems to need you or not, a girl never truly stops needing her father. Especially after something like what happened yesterday."

"Caroline, please. Let me deal with this the way that I need to for now. If I put off punishing him in some way, he'll think that he can do it again. And I will not put my daughter, or any other female student, in that kind of danger."

"Fine... but make sure when you're at home, you're being a father and being there for Hope."

"I always do, Caroline. I really didn't call to get a lecture. I just called to request you switch your lesson plans. That's all."

"No, Klaus, you called because you also needed to talk to a friend."

Klaus gave a small grunt of acknowledgement before ending the call. He was about to head upstairs to inform Hope and Ryan that he had cleared their absence from class today with Caroline but thought better of it. He would let them know that it had been cleared up when he got home that evening. He would allow them true privacy and time alone during the day. They were both adults, and he trusted them both to be responsible.

Legacies – Erotomania – Legacies

As much as Hope had wanted to have sex with Ryan, when he went to completely remove the t-shirt, she chickened out. Despite what she knew of her parents relationship, and how they had fooled around a bit before they had started dating, her father had always instilled in her that as long as she lived under his roof, that she was not to have sex before being in a committed relationship. Now, more than ever before, she could see that committed relationship being with Ryan, but that feeling of disappointing her dad by breaking his main rule had Hope stopping short of letting Ryan see her completely naked. And if Ryan was getting upset with her for stopping him, he didn't show it. And for that, Hope was grateful.

Over the next week, Ryan made sure that someone was by Hope's side at all times. Klaus had finally talked to everyone that had been in the hallway that day and was gearing up to call Landon and Seylah into his office. But Ryan didn't like the thought that Landon might try to spin what he did into something reciprocated from Hope. That somehow, despite her words, that Hope had wanted to kiss him. That everyone else that had been around them was simply misinterpreting what had gone down. Because that would be something that Landon would do, and it would be something that Seylah would believe, because there was no way that her precious boy could ever assault someone. So if it wasn't himself, Ryan made sure that Kaleb or MG were walking Hope to and from her classes if Klaus was busy as well. And because he wouldn't put it past his half brother to try to get to Hope if she was just with Lizzie and Josie, Ryan insisted that one of the guys be with them as well.

And while the conversation of sex didn't come up again over the week, Ryan and Hope both had it sitting in the back of their minds. Vocalizing to each other that they both wanted to have sex had been a huge step in their relationship, and it wasn't something that either of them wanted to take back. It was out there, just like the topic of them not dating yet simply because neither had asked, so now it was only a matter of time before the next step was taken. And almost every night when they were sitting in Hope's room studying, Hope eventually found herself drawing Ryan. Since the first day of her drawing class, Caroline had always pushed Hope and her classmates to draw people. And while she had never had much muse to draw people before, having these intimate moments with Ryan had her overflowing with muse.

It got to the point, exactly a week after everything had happened with Landon, that most of Hope's drawings were of Ryan in various positions while studying, and a small handful were of her other friends. She felt ready to show her drawings to Caroline the following day in class.