25 #3
Huffing while Cooper stares at me, unimpressed, I snap, “Fine.” I fold my arms over my chest and lift my chin so I can pretend I am not purposely avoiding their gazes but rather standing as tall as I am born to.
“To answer the questions swirling through all your minds, I will put this simply. There are two reasons I like to have such a rigid schedule: One, I like the control, the power I feel, and the fact that it is the reason I am the way I am with my Score and part of the reason I am revered worldwide. Two . . .” I hesitate, and Scotty moves closer, hand out like he is about to place it on my lower back, but I step out of his reach.
The mood in the room plummets.
Fist clenching, Scotty clears his throat as if to remove a clogging in there, chin dipping as he brings his hand back to his side. His hurt is so strong, so soul-deep, from the perceived rejection, it feels as though I could reach out and touch it.
“Two,” I try again, averting my gaze as something like .
. . nauseating guilt twists through me. It is a new feeling, that, and I truly despise it.
I should not be able to feel such things.
But these men are forcing me to feel a lot that I have not been able to before them.
“It is . . . it is always the time I was . . . permitted to leave my fath . . . Joseph’s bed. ”
A piercing silence descends.
Grinding my teeth, I try not to shift uncomfortably, glaring ahead.
Finally, Scotty groans, “Fuck, Ezla, Love. Please let me hold you.”
I flick my eyes to him, and he looks to be in agony.
I nod sharply.
He eats up the distance my rejection of his previous touch created in a few long strides, pulling me into his arms with a harsh breath of relief.
A hand cradling the back of my head, the other arm is wrapped around my waist securely, and he whispers hoarsely, “I thought you didn’t want my touch anymore for a second there, Love.
Please don’t do that. It’s the way I show all my affection for you. ”
Swallowing, I am now the one with a strange lump in my throat. So I send to only him down the bond, I apologise. I did not mean to reject you and your care. I do not . . . I do not hate it as I once might have. I am learning to like it. I simply needed a moment, my sensible one.
More of his relief washes over me, cleansing his previously panging and stinging side of the bond.
It is more instinct than anything that urges me to pull away and settle his mind, and I reach up to take the back of his neck in my hands, pulling him down to my height.
A breath shudders from him before I press my mouth firmly to his, and his hold on me tightens as he dips his head to deepen the kiss at once.
I am not sure if I meant for it to be so .
. . passionate, but I am certainly not objecting as our mouths move together slowly, his tongue curling and gliding along mine.
Pulling away when that insistent nagging about time grows louder once more, I find Scotty staring down at me, almost stupefied.
Then he gives me one of his heartachingly loving smiles, and, evidently sensing my stress through the bond, nudges his chin towards the open doorway.
“Let’s go. Do we need our helmets today? ”
I consider. “Yes. But we will return here for lunch, so we can get them then.”
Tiger’s hands clap together once loudly. “You’re going to start eating lunch with us?!”
“Yes,” I reply shortly. “And you will eat more later,” I direct at Alby. “You did not finish your breakfast.”
Gold-green-brown eyes widen. “O-oh, don’t worry, there’s only a few bites left.”
My eyes narrow.
“Of—of course I was going to listen to you anyway!” he rushes out in alarm.
“Very good.” I give a solid dip of my chin. “I like when you are well-fed.”
The shade of red dyeing his pale skin deepens.
“Come on,” Scotty urges again with a smile still dancing on his lips.
Kicking into motion, Alby and Tiger both dart to my side.
Cooper takes the back of my head in his hand before lowering his own to press a firm kiss to my forehead, finally more comfortable in seeking out what he wants after our night together but still getting used to it.
Then he pulls away to allow room for Tate, who shows far less self-discipline when he makes a hungry sound in the back of his throat and claims my mouth with a savage kiss.
“Tate,” Scotty sighs heavily when the kiss goes on for far too long and I am planning to boot him off me, and my beast finally pulls back with his teeth denting his bottom lip once more as he looks me over.
“Yeah.” His grunt is like gravel. “Let’s go.” And with Tiger snatching up my right hand, Alby taking my left more hesitantly, and Cooper and Scotty grabbing everyone’s gloves from the dining table that had been off while they ate, we leave to head to the Training Centre.
It does not escape my notice that I am not striding ahead of them for once, and although I do feel as though I should be, I find I am more satisfied with two of my Bonds connected to me like this. So the entire way there, I let them hold my hands.