Chapter 25
Breakaway: When a player suddenly bursts out of the pack and runs free. Pure escape vibes.
Translation: Run for your life, Wolfy.
Wolf
The morning sun wakes me as it pours in through the giant windows of Everly’s bedroom the next day. I frown at the wide-open
curtains, wondering what time it is because it looks well past early morning. I glance at the nightstand for my mobile to
check the time and am shocked to see it’s almost eleven. I never sleep this late.
Last night comes rushing back in flashes. Her legs around my waist, her laugh going breathless as I nibbled her earlobe, the
sounds she made when I fucked her from behind on our sides one more time before we were both lulled to sleep by the rain pounding
on the roof.
Her bedroom smells like warm skin, jasmine, and the kind of sin you hate to wash off in the shower. Sleeping here was probably
a bad idea. But so is fucking the girl I secretly stalked for nearly four years.
Everly is sleeping on her side, facing away from me. She’s practically sideways in the bed, long limbs flung out everywhere,
her blonde hair a nest and crusted to the side of her face. And I can’t help but smile. She sleeps like a messy disaster.
How very on-brand of her.
At some point, I need to tell Everly about my little trailing habit. She deserves to know the full scope of my dark obsession. I hinted to her last night that I noticed her at Trinity, but she deserves to know it all. Then she can decide if she wants to sic her uncles on me. I’d deserve it.
But when I think about it, I don’t truly believe it was an obsession. It was just fear. I saw something in Everly that felt
kindred. She reminded me of my mate Finn. Too pure for this harsh world. Protectively, I pull the blanket up over her naked
back. I want her to be warm and safe and happy. I’m desperate for it.
Telling her all of that before we had sex would have freaked her the fuck out. And I don’t even know what this all means.
Is this just sex? Is it more? Fuck, I don’t know. One second, I’m telling myself to never touch Everly again, the next I’m
sucking her face off on the side of a mountain cliff.
The girl makes me crazy.
Guilt niggles as I think of my sister, who told me to give Everly a chance. I’m sure this isn’t quite what she had in mind.
I’m really fucking up on all fronts here.
My head jerks when I hear tires crunching on the gravel outside.
“Everly.” I give her shoulder a nudge to try to rouse her, but she doesn’t move a muscle. “Everly,” I state louder, and she
finally shifts a little before murmuring, “Sexy Irish tree trunks,” and burrowing into her pillow.
My lips curve up into a smile. But when I hear car doors slamming outside, I know we need to figure out what the fuck is going
on out there. “Everly, wake up.” I shake her again, harsher this time. “There’s someone outside.”
She jerks up, hair wild, creases from her pillow streaked on her cheek. “Oh my God.” She scrambles for her phone on the nightstand.
“It’s—Wolf, it’s my parents.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. We’re hosting brunch with the baby here today.”
“What the fuck is that?”
“The whole family is gathering to . . . I don’t know . . . brunch with the baby.”
“They’re all coming here?” I exclaim, my heart hammering in my chest as I swing my legs off the bed. “That might have been
nice to know last night. I wouldn’t have slept over.”
“You would have just left?” she asks, hurt evident in her voice.
“I don’t know,” I growl, irritation prickling up my spine as I slip into my boxers and shorts, sliding my mobile into my pocket.
“I don’t know what we’re doing exactly. We need to talk about that. But first, is there a back door in here?”
“No,” she squeaks, grabbing her shirt up off the floor. “It’s a cabin, not a panic room.”
I eye her harshly for her snide tone. “Does the window open?”
“Of course the window opens. It’s a window,” she hisses, yanking on her shirt inside out.
“You’re not a morning person, are you?” I state to the woman who was screaming my name into a pillow last night.
She bites her lip and sighs. “No . . . sorry. I need coffee.”
“I’ll remember that for next time.”
Her brows lift. “So, there’s going to be a next time?”
A knock rattles at the front door. “Ev? You up?” Everly’s dad’s voice calls, and I jump like he’s about to walk right into
her bedroom.
We scurry over to the window, and she slides it open, popping out the screen like she installed the bloody things herself.
It’s decent-sized, so I straddle it and hoist myself through it, shirtless and barefoot as I drop down onto the ground and
pause when my feet touch the gravel.
She tosses my shoes out the window as she kneels in front to be eye level with me. “Just pretend you were on one of your runs, and no one will be the wiser. I’ll get your bag out of my car later.”
“Okay,” I reply, as I clutch my still-damp shirt in my hand.
She smirks, her messy bed head a stunning spray around her glittering eyes, all signs of makeup washed off in the rain last
night. Christ, she’s beautiful.
“Is it too much to ask for a goodbye kiss?” she asks, her blue eyes wide and anxious as we shine some daylight on whatever
this is.
“So cringe,” I murmur before reaching up and grabbing her face to crush my lips to hers.
She giggles against my mouth, and I feel suddenly frustrated that I have to go when all I want to do is climb back into her
bed and taste every part of her body again.
Slightly dazed, I back up and yank my shirt down over my head. “I’ll see you later, Stretch.”
“See you later, Wolf.”
I hop into my shoes and allow my feet to carry me over the mossy bank along the creek, up my normal path. I glance right and
swear I see movement in the window from Luke’s cabin but pray it’s just my eyes playing tricks on me.
By the time I circle back to the barn, my lungs are burning, and my hair’s plastered to my skull. I push open the dutch doors
of the barn and step inside, using the hem of my T-shirt to wipe the sweat off my brow as Millie, Handsome, Butterscotch,
and Reginald all peek their heads out from their gates. The goat bleats at me, long and loud, like it knows where I’ve been
and is judging me. Harshly.
“Fuck off, you,” I mumble as I lean back on the counter, heart still racing.
Whatever this thing with Everly is, it’s happening. And I hope to fuck I’m able to survive it.