Chapter Fourteen #3
“We’ve got to talk about getting you a new mattress,” I complain. “I don’t think I can take sleeping on a slab of stone for much longer.”
“Feels good to me,” he slurs in that way that says he’s already falling asleep again. A grin nearly breaks free at knowing I wore him out just as much as he’d done me.
“Clearly you’ve never slept on a cloud before.”
Thorin doesn’t answer. Feeling restless despite the thorough fucking he and Khalil gave me, I roll over in the safety of Thorin’s arms and look out the window. The position of the sun though has me frowning as I reach for Thorin’s wrist and glance at his watch.
It’s after four.
Shit.
Sheriff Kelly will be expecting me to check in soon. His conditions for me returning to the cabin were clear. I have to radio him at the station every day before the end of his shift or he’ll be back here in force to rescue me.
For good reason, I haven’t told the guys. They’ll only see the sheriff’s misguided determination to save me as a threat to their ownership of me. I don’t want the sheriff harmed. I don’t want to tear myself open again to live with that guilt, and I don’t want my guys doing so either.
I let go of Thorin’s wrist, and his arm falls back to the bed like deadweight. It’s all the confirmation I need that Thorin is asleep again before I quietly crawl from the bed and grab my robe. Feeling right at home in the cabin, I don’t bother to tie the sash as I leave Thorin’s room.
I immediately regret it once I reach the switchback stairs that lead down to the den.
Zeke is coming up the stairs, and he’s wearing dark blue basketball shorts, no shirt, and headphones. There’s an old iPod in his hand, and even though it looks ancient as fuck, I’m actually impressed.
Our eye contact is brief before his gaze drops.
I feel my nipples tighten the moment his green eyes land on the inner curve of my breasts peeking through the robe panels.
All too soon his focus is shifting again, over the swell of my belly and then between my thighs.
It feels clinical more than appreciative, so I quickly tie my robe to remind myself that he isn’t interested and clear my throat.
Zeke’s gaze snaps up to meet mine.
“Hoping to jog your memory?”
“Something like that,” he mumbles as he starts walking again. He’s careful not to touch me as we pass on the stairs. Meanwhile, my body is already recalling our brief touch near Meera’s den and wanting more.
“Well, at least I didn’t make it weird!” I retort as I reach the landing. When he doesn’t respond, I glance over my shoulder and catch him frozen in front of the front door.
He’s glaring at my ass like it’s personally wronged him in some way. If I were less confident, I’d feel self-conscious, but I know my ass is amazing, so I wiggle it a little and it snaps him out of whatever the hell is going on in that head of his.
Zeke meets my gaze, and his frown deepens at the same time his grip on the door handle tightens. But in a blink, the reaction is a mere memory. Or maybe I imagined it. “If they ask, tell them I’ve gone running, will you? I should be back in a couple of hours.”
“Sure.” With a curt nod in thanks, Zeke opens the door and starts to leave. I feel my heart leap inside my chest when I can’t stop the words already forming on my tongue. “Wait!” To both of our surprise, he does. “Can I come?”
His green eyes flare. “What?”
“R-running. Um…” My hands are shaking. Why are my hands shaking?
“Khalil is teaching me how to defend myself, but he wants me to improve my stamina first. The only problem is that he was a professional athlete and I’m not.
” Some of the suspicion leaves Zeke’s eyes, and he actually looks amused when he snorts.
“I’m serious. The man’s gone mad. You have to help me. ”
“Yeah, there’s a reason Thorin and I work out alone. Khalil can be intense.”
“I think sadist is more accurate.”
Zeke’s lips twitch, and my eyes are drawn to them, remembering the way they felt when he kissed me. Seth wasn’t as practiced, but he learned quickly how to melt my bones from one kiss.
Would Zeke? I’m sure he knows how to kiss, but would it feel the same or earth-shattering in another way?
“Yes,” he answers before I can think about the answer too hard. “You can come.”
“I only need twenty minutes.”
“You have ten,” he says just to be a dick. Zeke’s gone before I can say something to mess up this tenuous truce of ours, so I hurry downstairs to the basement.
There’s a lot of noise coming from behind the closed door of Zeke’s room. Khalil must be in there working on the new bed. It was meant for me, but now that Zeke is awake, it’s only right he has his room back.
Maybe if he’s willing, we can share it.
Not together. Obviously. We can alternate nights, or Zeke can use it whenever I sleep in Khalil’s or Thorin’s bed, which is often considering the two of them act like it’s impossible for them to sleep without me now.
Seth will wake up, and though I don’t wish to see Zeke in pain, I know it’s inevitable. In fact, it’s all Khalil and Thorin tell me when I ask about him. Seth will wake up soon.
Weirdly, they never sound as if they actually believe it, but I can’t put my finger on why.
I radio the sheriff before hunting for clean clothes. It takes a while since I’ve been slacking in my “duties.” Only the milkmaid dress is clean, but I obviously can’t run in that.
After a full minute of internal back-and-forth, I finally decide to raid Seth/Zeke’s clothes in Khalil’s closet for some shorts and a T-shirt.
I do manage to find a clean sports bra, so I quickly slip on the clothes and go hunting for my new trainers that Khalil got me from town a few weeks ago.
It gives me goose bumps how he’s always anticipating my needs before I’m even aware of them.
When I open the box for the first time, I’m surprised to see a note tucked inside, and now I’m anxious and feeling guilty for not wearing my sneakers sooner if Khalil had left me some kind of love note.
Feeling my heart race with a thousand apologies for being the world’s biggest bitch already forming in my head, I quickly pluck the note from inside and set the box aside. But when I unfold the single sheet of paper, I realize it’s a letter, and it isn’t from Khalil.
It’s from Seth.
Sunshine,
If you’re reading this, it means I’m sleeping now. With any luck, it’s Zeke who’s awake.
I’m so sorry for leaving you, Sunshine. You must be so confused and have a lot of questions that those assholes Zeke calls friends won’t answer. I know my Sunshine will get curious. I want you to know that I’m okay with it. With you and Zeke.
But don’t try to win him over by being nice. He won’t buy it, and that isn’t you—
I pause reading and look up from the letter as if I’m going to find Seth standing in front of me so I can argue that I’m a fucking delight.
Instead, I’m standing alone in the den with only the sound of Khalil hammering away behind the closed bedroom door.
My heart seems to match the rhythm of the hammer, and this note is the nail piercing it.
Exhaling shakily, I go back to reading.
Tatum’s got him all twisted up and no amount of tugging will unravel that knot.
All he needs is you. Give him hell, baby.
I’ll miss you.
—Seth
P.S. Oh, and if you’re ever in trouble, just say CHRYSALIS to make it stop.
My breath is caught in my chest by the time I finish reading the note.
What the hell, Seth?
I fold the note and tuck it back safely inside the box where I found it before slipping on my sneakers. After, I rush through the front door, five minutes late and half expecting to find Zeke gone.
Instead, I find him in the middle of a side lunge and waiting for me. His gaze is impatient when he looks over at me while continuing to stretch, and then something shifts in his gaze when he notices a moment later that I’m wearing Seth’s clothes.
His clothes.
“Sorry. Laundry day.” I tug at the hem of the T-shirt self-consciously. Seth loved when I wore his clothes. He practically preened when he caught me in one of his shirts.
But Zeke isn’t Seth. I should have asked.
“It’s fine,” he answers curtly and then avoids my gaze. “You should probably stretch before we hit it.”
“Umm…” My mind recalls the many ways Khalil and Thorin took turns twisting, bending, and folding me to their will. My abused muscles are still twinging from it. “I think I’m good.”
“Let’s go.” Zeke takes off before I can ask him where we’re running to.
I’m left with no choice but to follow, staying a few steps behind him.
He keeps the pace easy for the first mile, but the moment I find the courage to move up and run beside him, he starts running faster like he’s trying to get away from me.
I match his pace, and this cat-and-mouse game goes on for another mile until it feels as if I’m being dragged along by my stubborn pride rather than keeping up.
“He-ey,” I croak out. “Can we…can we…take a…break?”
Zeke ignores me and keeps running. My vision becomes spotty while my head swims. There’s a stitch in my side that shortens the length of my strides.
I could just stop and let him run off, but I don’t want a repeat of three weeks ago if I get lost. I know Thorin and Khalil still don’t fully trust me and it’s that shred of doubt that feeds Zeke’s.
Until my men trust me completely, Zeke won’t be able to trust me at all. Of course, they don’t see it, and I’m too much of a coward to confront them about it.
I guess…I guess I don’t fully trust them either.
When the death squad came for me, Thorin’s solution was to pack us up and run again, but I can’t live like that. Our cabin and these wilds feel like home. A life on the run is just another prison.
Something has to be done. About Isaac and my uncle.
But first, the four of us need to be on the same page. We need to be a team.
We need Zeke.