Chapter Thirty-Two
Ingram
Well, this could be worse.
Fuck knew I’d spent enough missions sleeping on the ground with fucking rocks in my back that anything with a bed was one hell of a luxury at this point.
The plane ride had been easy enough—they had their own military crafts that they shoved us into for the trip. We met up at a small, private airport and traveled with only four squads—none of which I knew or gave a fuck about.
Kenyon had thrown up in the bathroom—that boy never did like flying—and Yun had slept through the whole thing.
It wasn’t that long a flight, thankfully, before we were escorted to one of the small trailers they used to house the squads. It made sense to set the place up like an RV park, with each trailer functioning as a little house. It wasn’t comfortable, but it had the essentials we needed.
Beds. Showers. A small kitchenette.
Good enough.
Carter was with Kenyon and Shear getting booked in. I’d gotten pulled aside first thing for my little meet and greet—thanks to my reputation and the way I looked, most likely—which left Yun and me wasting time in the trailer.
The sun had gone down a few hours ago, and she looked as though she were dragging ass already.
“You can sleep.” I gestured at the large room at the back—the only regular room in the place—where we’d all agreed she could sleep. Women needed doors and shit, so the rest of us could bunk on the other beds around the place.
Her expression said she didn’t trust me that far. “That’s hardly a door,” she pointed out, the pocket door tucked away little more than a piece of paper.
“And the door at home wouldn’t stop me either.
If you want to worry—worry—but at least do it about shit that matters.
Your eyes are drooping closed every few minutes.
It’ll take the others at least another two hours to get through all their screening.
No reason to stay up all night for nothing—tomorrow’s coming early, whether you’re ready for it or not. ”
She pressed her lips together, that little spark of anger, something that I liked way more than I had any right to.
Fuck, hadn’t that gotten me into trouble enough times before? I didn’t care for weak women, for ones who sat down and shut up. They were boring. It was why I’d ended up with crazy women who had no problem putting me six feet under when I disappointed them—and I always disappointed them, eventually.
They wanted something I didn’t, didn’t understand the arrangement I was looking for. Didn’t matter how clear I was with them, they always thought they were special.
“If you’re tired but can’t fall asleep, I’m pretty sure I could help you.” The words left my lips before I thought about them, before I realized how fucking stupid they were.
She snorted. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“You sure? You’ve been with us a while and I’m pretty sure you haven’t gotten any at least since then. You’ve gotta be pent up by now.”
“What would you know about that?” Her voice came out sharp and angry.
Sure, I’d seen plenty of guides get pissed over espers stepping out, acting like scorned lovers, but the anger from Yun seemed larger than it should have been. What exactly was she so angry about?
I thought back to the portal, to when I’d turned her down.
Oh, that…
Yeah, women tended not to like getting ditched like that, huh?
“You want to shame me? Go for it. Wouldn’t be the first time.”
She blew out a long breath. “I’m not shaming you—I’m trying to figure you out. Why would you do that to yourself?”
“To myself? What, like I’m some precious thing that’s gonna get dirtied? Stop with the fucking princess shit and fairytales—it’s exhausting. If I want to fuck my way through the population of San Diego, who the fuck are you to tell me I shouldn’t?”
She jerked her gaze away, her cheeks flushed pink.
It made me feel as though I were on the attack, and I wanted to keep it going. I wanted to corner her, to force her to submit. “Maybe if you tried that once in a while, you wouldn’t be such an insufferable bitch all the time.”
The word that hung between us was the one I didn’t say, the one that lingered on my tongue but remained silent. Even I didn’t want to push things that far, after all.
Frigid.
That’s what my brain screamed, what she thought, no doubt. It’s what the espers called her. Blizzard was the name and why? Because she was cold, frigid, but also devastating.
I expected her to yell back, to throw out man whore or some other insult, to stand toe-to-toe with me as she usually did. Instead, she drew her hands into fists and got up, off the seat, then headed back to the room. The slam of the door was impressive, given how thin it was.
Yeah, that was the Blizzard, huh?
I sat there, in the main space of the trailer, guilt gnawing at me. I didn’t normally feel that guilty, but something about running her off caused the unfamiliar feeling to prick at me.
She’d already gotten dragged here because she was our guide, forced to deal with a bunch of espers in a tiny trailer, and now I’d fucked with her enough to run her into a tiny room.
I sighed, ready to make it up to her later.
At least I was until a gasping noise floated through the door.
Is she crying? Talk about a lance through the heart sort of pain… Pissing her off? That was fine. I was pretty comfortable in that position. But to think that I’d actually made her cry? That was too much.
Even I wasn’t enough of an asshole to be okay with that sort of bullshit.
I got up and went to the door, ready to apologize—first time for everything. I pulled the door to the side, mid-conversation already. “Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you—”
The words dried right up in my throat, falling silent as I stared at what was very much not the sight I’d expected.
I’d thought I’d find her crying, curled up on the bed, wiping her tears away as she used a pillow to muffle the sound.
That sure as shit wasn’t the sight laid out in front of me.
Instead, there was not-so-sweet little Yun lying on her back, her pretty thighs spread wide, her frustratingly tight leggings gone, her hand in the heavenly space between. She stroked her clit with two fingers, her other cupping her breast through her shirt, her thumb brushing over the nipple.
Fuck, I had never seen anything that sexy in my entire life. I’d seen women do things that would shock a whore, but none had made me feel like this, none had made me want anyone this badly.
Her hands stilled—it seemed my voice was enough to kick her free of whatever she thought about. I tore my gaze from her cunt, moving up her body to her wide eyes.
Normally, people would cover themselves, but she just lay there, frozen in place.
And just like that, I was pretty sure I’d just fallen for her.