"sweeter than heaven, hotter than hell"

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I check the time telling me I have around half an hour before tutoring with Laney. I look out my window, seeing a typical Canadian day, snow gracing the world with its presence.

My mind immediately goes to Laney who frequently walks to the library when her brother has their car. I decide on driving to her house to make sure she doesn't get caught up in the snow.

After telling Theo about my plans I get into my car and drive over.

I knock on her front door and wait for her to answer it.

Except she doesn't.

So this time I ring the doorbell.

Again, no answer.

Finally, right as I pick up my phone to call her, I hear one of the girls shout, "Doors open! Just come on it!"

And so I do. Kicking the snow off my shoes I open the door yet I don't see Laney or the rest of the girls.

I follow the loud, high pitched noise into the kitchen.

"Sterling? What are you doing here? I thought you were Chase," the fucking angel of a woman speaks as she struggles to clasp a necklace onto her neck.

I barely even notice the rest of the group leave us alone, probably going upstairs, as I stare in awe.

"You look," I start but get distracted by her every movement.

"I look?" she tilts her head and chuckles at me.

"Good, you look really good, Laney."

Her cheeks turn crimson and she smiles brightly, "Thank you."

Laney is always gorgeous, don't get me wrong, but holy shit. Her hair is down in loose curls, falling a couple inches below her shoulders. I can tell she's wearing makeup, the specifics, I have no idea. All I know is she looks absolutely breathtaking. Her plump lips are more red than usual and therefore so much more tempting. Her eyelashes somehow look longer than usual and her cheeks are slightly flushed.

The deep green of her dress flatters her fair skin and hugs her body in the best fucking way possible. Her curves and athletic body is put on display and I can barely even function when I see her leg uncovered by the slit.

I feel my body tense and my dick twitch as my mind wanders off thinking about how incredible she looks in that dress, and even more so out of it.

God damn.

"Darling?" her words pull me out of what I can only describe as a trance.

I clear my throat, hoping it'll bring me back to reality, "Um, studying," I stutter out. Jesus, she's turned me into a prepubescent boy. "We had a tutoring session today, I came to pick you up because of the snow," I finally get a few coherent words out of my stupid ass mouth.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot." Worry coats her face, "I'm going to Chase's team banquet tonight, can we reschedule?"

"Of course, I'm free whenever, Laney."

"How about later tonight? Is it alright if I just go to your house when the event is done?"

All I can do is nod my head in confirmation, still barely able to form anything higher than a toddler-level sentence.

She shines a grateful smile and sighs as she makes another attempt the put the necklace on.

"Here," I start as I walk over to her. I stop behind her and slowly brush her hair to the side, loving the way my fingers graze across her soft skin.

The goosebumps that appear down her neck from my touch make me smirk. I take the silver chain into my fingers, trying my best not to fumble it around too much. Surprisingly, I manage to hook it on first try but I savour our proximity, my body not letting me walk away.

"Perfect," I whisper into her ear, my voice coming out raspier than I expected. She spins around, looking me directly in my eyes, "Thank you, darling."

Something about the way she looks at me feels so different. Like she is truly seeing me. Like she's reading my expression, trying to figure out exactly what I'm thinking, and probably succeeding.

I feel like an open book with this girl. I could tell her anything, I want to tell her everything.

I reluctantly leave to let her finish getting ready without me as a distraction and I head to the gym to kill time and blow off some steam.

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I get out of my shower and slightly dry off my soaked hair with a towel that I end up tying around my waist.

I open the door, feeling the temperature change from the steamy bathroom to the hallway.

Walking into my room I get the scare of the century when I see Laney standing by my dresser, looking at a picture of me when I was younger.

"Holy shit," I breathe out, still trying to calm my heart rate down.

She just laughs at me, "I didn't mean to scare you, darling. Theo let me in and told me to go right up." Laney puts the picture frame down and turns to face me, her eyes going wide at my almost naked appearance.

Her cheeks immediately flush and I think I catch her eyes lingering just above the towel.

Now it's my turn to chuckle at her, "Alright, we can start in a second, I just need to get changed."

Laney just nods her head and turns back around for me to slip off the towel and quickly pull on some sweats.

"Are you decent?" she yells, still covering her eyes.

"Mhmm, you're free to turn around."

So she does, letting me get a full look at her.

Her hair now messy and tied up, her dress replaced by leggings and a shirt, and her makeup gone from her face. She astounds me, how she can look so incredible, no matter what.

The two of us make our way to my desk, laying out our notes for this evening.

We spend a significant amount of time working, so much so I'm honestly impressed with myself. I watch as her energy slowly drains and her yawn reminds me of how late it really is.

"Let's be done for tonight, Laney."

She tiredly nods her head, clearly in desperate need of sleep.

"You know, I can take you back to your place, but you're always welcome to stay too."

I read her look of contemplation and her next words surprise me, "Can I just stay here tonight?"

"Of course, I can sleep downstairs on the couch if that would make you more comfortable."

"No way, I'm not kicking you out of your own bed, I'll sleep on the couch."

I laugh at that idea, "Not a fucking chance, sweetheart."

"Well, I'm okay to sleep with you, if that's fine with you too."

I smirk at her unintended innuendo and she rolls her eyes at my immaturity.

What? I can't help it.

Laney ruffles through her backpack trying to find something and worry adorns her face. "Darling," she starts, hesitating over what she's about to say. "Do you have anything more comfortable for me to wear? I didn't bring a change of comfier clothes. Usually I do, but I did laundry yesterday and forgot to put them back in."

I walk over to my closet and pull out some sweatpants that haven't fit me in a while and an old hockey camp shirt for her to wear. She takes it, giving me a grateful smile and I leave to give her privacy.

Brushing my teeth in the bathroom, letting her change, I find a spare toothbrush in the cabinet from when Charlotte stays.

I laugh at the Olaf illustration on the front of it and even more so the fact that I know she'll love it.

She accompanies me as the two of us get ready for sleep and I won't deny how fucking incredible it feels to see her in my clothes. She has the waistband of the pants rolled up about a thousand times and the shirt tied in a small knot so they fit her body.

They suit her, she looks like she belongs in them.

Which, she does.

Finally, we make our way to bed. I turn the lights off but flick the lamp on so her face is still visible, just under dim lighting.

Of course she has a book in her hand and she already looks deep into it.

Sitting down beside her, I pull the covers over us, making sure she's comfortable.

She doesn't say anything, but the small smile that spreads across her face shows me she's appreciative.

"Read to me," I remark, not really realizing what I had said until she fixes her gaze on me.

"Oh god, don't tell me you're illiterate now. Did you get hit in the head or something? A puck? Maybe someone threw something at you while you were being annoying, which I understand becau-"

"No smartass," I cut her off, hoping to stop her tangent of how she'd clearly like to chuck something at my head. "Something happens to you when you read, you seem so much more peaceful and at home, I want to see that again."

Her eyes go wide and I catch the faint blush decorating her cheeks. "I do? You've noticed it?"

God, of course I've fucking noticed it. I've noticed everything about her.

She doesn't even know how fucking beautiful she looks when she's just simply existing.

Laney shuffles her body in closer to me, leaning her body into my side and resting her head on my shoulder as she starts reading out loud. I snake my arm around her waist and bathe in our close proximity.

I rest my eyes and just listen to her as intently as possible, trying to memorize every detail of this moment not wanting to ever forget this feeling.

Maybe 10 minutes in and her words are cut off by sleep. I take the book from her hands, putting the book mark where she finished reading, and rest it on my nightstand.

Tucking the peaceful girl beside me into the covers I peer at her one last time before I shut my lamp off and drift off to sleep.

⋆✧⋆✧⋆

I really can't tell if I like this chapter or not. I had high expectations for it because I knew where I wanted to take it, but I had such a hard time actually putting it all into words.

Anyways, I was planning on writing another chapter right after I finished this one because I've had it planned from the first night I came up with this book idea, but I think I'm too tired.

Question of the chapter: Do you guys enjoy reading sad books?

(Because they absolutely destroy me and fuck me up but I cant help but love that about them :') Am I psycho?)

Comments and votes help me so much if you're enjoying the book so far.

Stay safe and healthy everyone! I love you all <3