Within The Stars | ✔️

41

~Elias' POV~

When I returned to our table per Samara's request, I found that Poppy and Sterlyn were already here, waiting on us. The second they spotted me, Poppy pouted and Sterlyn raised a brow. "Where have you been?" She asked as I sat down. "Nowhere." I said with a shrug, running my fingers through my hair in case it had gotten a little messy from Mara running her fingers through it. Neither one of them looked very satisfied with my response, or even like they believed my incredibly half assed lie.

"Right." Poppy said with a click of her tongue. "And where's Sammy?" She added, to which I just shrugged. "I'm not sure." I lied again, and she narrowed her grey eyes at me. I knew by that alone that she didn't buy it for a second. Obviously I didn't blame her, but I wasn't about to say that I was busy screwing Samara in the women's bathroom.

A few minutes passed before Poppy squealed happily, the shrill noise catching my attention. She only got that excited when it came to Samara, so I wasn't surprised that I saw her walking towards the table when I glanced in the direction Poppy was gazing at.

To my surprise, Samara didn't look anywhere near as freshly fucked as she had when I'd left her. Her denim skirt was perfectly in place and the insides of her thighs had been wiped clean, the black tank top she wore had been fixed as well, no longer drooping down over her cleavage. Even her dark hair had been fixed upon her head, the loose curls falling down her back. I bit my lip as I studied her closely, watching the sway of her wide hips and the way her skirt teased me with the display of her thick thighs. She was so fucking beautiful.

"Sammy!" Poppy exclaimed, causing Samara to smile happily as she sat down beside me in her chair. I was tempted to put my arm around her, but I managed to refrain. "You were late." She pouted to Mara, who just giggled in a slightly nervous way and fiddled with the bottom of her skirt. "I was just using the restroom." Samara excused simply, which I suppose wasn't technically a lie. She just wasn't using it to go to the bathroom, that's all.

Sterlyn gave a dismissive wave and leaned his forearms onto the table. "Let's just order already because I'm fucking starving." He suggested, but he didn't look through the menu in front of him so I assumed he knew what he wanted already.

After we all had ordered our food, Samara shifted beside me in her seat, the brush of her arm against mine causing me to glance down at her. I placed my hand on her thigh beneath the table and she immediately grabbed my hand in hers, lacing her fingers with mine in a way that made my heart skip. Having her touch me in any way just made me feel warm, and comfortable. I had the urge to kiss her but I held back, not wanting to do it in front of the other two.

"What happened to your neck, Sammy?" Poppy suddenly asked with a tone of concern, the sudden mention causing me to glance at Samara's neck. I had forgotten about the fact that I'd bitten her neck a couple of times, and I could see now that it had left behind a couple of little love marks on her pale skin.

Mara formed a slightly alarmed look on her face, her full lips parting as she reached up and brushed her fingertips over the love bites. "U-Um," She stammered, clearing her throat. "I-It's just a rash...?" She tried to excuse, but what was meant to be a statement came out as more of a question. I rolled my lips into my mouth and looked down at the table, trying not to laugh at the terrible lie she'd tried to come up with. Maybe it wouldn't have been a bad excuse if she was actually confident in her lie, or if the marks weren't distinctly a light purple, getting lighter as they trailed down her neck.

Judging by the way she raised a brow, Poppy didn't look like she believed the lie. "They look like hickeys." She told Samara, those words making Mara bite her bottom lip and glance up at me as if asking for help, and Poppy noticed it immediately.