EMERSYN
I wasn’t spying. I was just—lingering in the hallway while I waited for Griffin to be done talking to Kyllion.
I caught glimpses of them through the sliding glass door.
Griffin looked exhausted and sad. Kyllion looked pissed off and hurt.
I hoped they could eventually reconcile.
It didn’t look like they were there though and when Griffin stepped back inside, he looked pale.
I rushed to him before he even hit his knees.
“It’s because he hasn’t slept,” Seven’s voice came from over my shoulder.
I scowled at him. “What do you think you’re doing out of bed?” I exclaimed.
“I was going stir crazy in that room,” Seven protested. He leaned up against the wall for support and frowned down at Griffin who was half-slumped against the wall.
“I knew this was going to happen.”
“It’s happened before?” I asked.
Seven nodded.
“Fuck. Alright, that’s it.” I looked over at Kyllion who stood at the sliding glass door benignly staring at the scene in front of him. “You. Help me get his ass upstairs.”
He turned cold eyes my way, but Seven cleared his throat and I watched him throw a look of warning Kyllion’s way. The man sighed and came over to Griffin’s other side.
“And you—” I rounded on Seven.
“I’m not going back in that room,” Seven stated.
“Fine. If you can make it upstairs by yourself, you can come with us,” I said.
“Bet,” Seven nodded immediately and hobbled up the stairs.
I sighed and took up Griffin’s other arm. “Men,” I muttered.
Somehow our pitiful group made it upstairs. Kyllion deposited Griffin roughly onto the bed and stalked out. I pulled off Griffin’s shoes, while I listened to Seven’s voice on the stairs as he said something to Kyllion.
Seven was probably pushing things a little, but I was going to pick my battles.
I yanked the covers out from under Griffin and then pulled them back up over him.
By the time I was done, I was panting from the exertion—he was no small man.
Seven leaned heavily against the door jamb.
He looked paler than I would have liked.
I quickly went and wrapped my arm around his waist.
“Stubborn asshole,” I muttered.
“You know it,” Seven said, but his voice was strained.
I gently eased him onto the other side of the bed and helped him under the covers. I stood back and surveyed the two of them.
“I know, we’re pathetic. You can make fun of us later,” Seven chuckled, but it was a breathless sound, and I knew that climbing those stairs had been taxing. His eyes closed and his breathing evened out.
A soft knock on the open door made me turn.
“How are they doing?” Rune asked quietly. “Kyllion told me.”
I shrugged. “Pushed themselves too hard probably.”
Rune smirked. “They tend to do that. Hey, I just wanted to let you know your—dog—is downstairs in the computer room with me.”
“Yeah, he likes how warm the servers get,” I said. “I can come get him if he’s bothering you.”
“No,” Rune said quickly, and I had to fight a smile. Fang tended to weasel his way into people's hearts. “No—he’s cool. Just wanted to let you know in case you were looking for him.”
“Can you keep everyone away for a bit so they can rest?” I asked. “I don’t think either of them has slept in days, honestly.”
“Sure thing,” Rune smiled knowingly and softly closed the door.
I pulled the blinds closed and threw the room into a cozy dimness. Before I could second guess myself, I crawled in between the two of them and lay on my back. They were both furnaces, and their heat enveloped me until I couldn't fight off sleep and it claimed me too.
I was so comfortable I didn’t want to move.
It took me a minute to realize why. I was buried into Seven’s side, my cheek rested on his bicep and our fingers were entwined on his chest. A wall of muscle pushed against my back and Griffin’s arm was banded around my waist with his fingers barely touching Seven’s thigh like he needed to keep track of both of us.
His face was buried in my hair, and his breath was still heavy with sleep.
At some point he’d aligned his entire body with mine. His hips pressed against my ass and holy hell, I could feel everything. It took all of my willpower, and then some, not to push my hips back against him and explore that sensation.
“Morning, gorgeous,” Seven’s sleep-laced voice whispered against my hair as he turned and rested his lips there. “Don’t you dare move, I’m too comfortable.”
I was surprised to find I didn’t want to move. None of it felt strange. In fact, it felt wonderfully right, like this is how we should have been sleeping all along. I hadn’t even dreamt. I sighed, and goosebumps broke out along his side where my lips lay inches from his skin.
When had he taken off his shirt? I wasn’t complaining and it was hot now with three bodies. Plus, the view was immaculate, even if most of him was covered in bandages. What I could see was indeed covered in ink.
“I know, but I have to pee,” I groaned.
Despite my screaming bladder, I didn’t move.
Well, I did shift my hips, because I was a very weak human.
A delicious rumble vibrated through my back as Griffin came awake.
He froze when he realized how he’d found himself, but when he noticed Seven and I weren’t freaking out, I felt him relax against my back again.
“No wonder I slept so well,” he muttered.
His arm tightened around my waist, and he nuzzled into my neck. It was my turn for goosebumps to break out, and I couldn’t stop the full body shiver that raced down my spine.
“Mm, sensitive,” Griffin said in amusement.
Fucking damnit—why did his voice have to sound so delicious, all gravely with sleep?
I couldn’t hold out any longer and went to get out of bed.
I tried to extract myself without rubbing all along their bodies like a cat, but I’m not sure I succeeded if the heat that rose to my cheeks was any indication.
I didn’t dare look at them, as I practically ran to the bathroom and shut the door behind me.
I did what I needed to do, and then turned the water on and leaned heavily over the counter.
I wanted more. I wanted to know what Griffin’s lips felt like.
I wanted to see Seven’s eyes heat the way I suspected they would when I gave him permission to really look at me.
The ache to be touched in the gentle way they handled me nearly made my knees buckle.
I finished in the bathroom, opened the door and completely forgot everything—my mind blanked—because Griffin stood at the dresser in only a pair of jeans that sat low on his hips.
He’d just zipped them up. I’d seen him shirtless before, but for some reason this time was better.
A quiet laugh came from the bed. “Is she drooling?”
I glared over at Seven, about to snap out a retort, but he sat propped up against the headboard and despite the bandages across his chest, there was plenty to look at there too.
“Yeah, she’s definitely drooling,” Seven said smugly.
Somehow I found my voice. “I am not.”
I looked back at Griffin who held a t-shirt in his hands, but he made no move to pull it on. He stared with an intensity that seemed more pronounced. I looked down at myself and realized I’d also taken off my shirt sometime in the night and was only in a sports bra and sleep shorts.
Seven sighed. “This is the longest game of chicken I’ve ever seen.”
My cheeks heated in a blush. It’s not like they both hadn’t seen me naked, but for some reason in this bedroom, after sleeping side by side, this felt more intimate somehow.
I didn’t hate it.
I grabbed my shirt from the floor, which brought me deeper into the room. I pulled my head through and there was Griffin, now right in front of me.
“Fuck, you’re so quiet.” I wrestled the shirt on. “Are you going to put that on?” I nodded to the shirt in his hands.
“Maybe.” His lip twitched. “Maybe not.”
He took another step, and I involuntarily took one back.
“Maybe I like it when you stare.”
“I’m not staring,” I scoffed.
“You’re absolutely staring, baby girl,” Seven chuckled.
Griffin came closer. “I like it even more when you blush.”
My back slammed into the dresser, and a flash of victory crossed Griffin’s face. He planted his hands on either side of the top of the dresser. I should have felt trapped, but no part of me wanted to be anywhere else. I noticed somewhere along the way, he’d dropped the shirt altogether.
“I don’t blush,” I said, my voice far more breathless than I needed it to be.
“It’s actually adorable,” Seven chimed in.
Griffin’s stare drew me in and his presence was all encompassing. He’d moved even closer, but still not an inch of him touched me. It was only his stare that held me captive.
“Stop looking at me like that,” I whispered.
“Like what?”
“Like that,” I said lamely because I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it. His laugh was a rumble that I felt in the pit of my stomach, and lower still.
“Why?”
“It makes it hard to breathe.”
And then he smiled—
Oh boy—I sagged against the dresser, thankful there was something to hold me up in the face of whatever the fuck that was, because it was brilliant.
I thought his smirk was deadly, but I hadn’t seen a full smile until that moment and holy fucking hell—it was devastating.
He leaned even closer, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
“That’s where the river meets the sea, baby,” he said. “I always told you it was inevitable.”
“But, what if I drown?” I asked, half-teasing, half-worried he truly would steal my breath away.
He was so close there was nothing more than inches of space between where I ended and he began.
A glint of amusement appeared. “Don’t make me make a mouth-to-mouth joke. That’s Seven’s department.”
“Well, looks like he’s slacking,” I said with a small smile.
“There’s no way I’m ruining this with a joke,” Seven scoffed.
Even he sounded a little breathless, but I couldn’t tear my attention from Griffin. I watched his eyes drop to my lips and spark into green fire. I suddenly didn’t care about rivers, or oceans, or drowning.
“Emersyn,” Griffin said.
“Hmm?”
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
His words landed somewhere between my ribs, and my heart forgot how to function. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing if I drowned in him—maybe I should stop fighting it. Or maybe, like he said, it was inevitable to begin with. Despite his words, he waited.
Our eyes locked, and I let the fire in his ignite the storm in mine.
“Okay,” I said.
With the intensity that radiated from him, I thought he’d attack me, but I should have known better.
His hand came and lightly moved my hair off my cheek.
His fingers brushed my skin and left trails of fire in their wake.
When his lips finally brushed mine, it was so feather light it ached.
We shared a breath—his teeth caught on my bottom lip, a light graze that sent heat straight between my legs and made my head spin.
Then his lips pressed more firmly and I understood. It wasn’t about ownership. It wasn’t about possession, or territory. Because the sea doesn’t own the river. It simply waits for the inevitable collision—
And that’s what this was. That’s what Griffin meant. His kiss sparked the realization that I’d arrived at a destination I’d been moving toward far before I knew it existed. One that was vast, endless, and impossible to fight.