Pressing my lips together, I watch the water shifting around us. My cheeks feel hot, my ears prickling under the weight of his stare. I know I’m in the wrong and that I need to apologize, but saying sorry doesn’t feel like enough. Hux nudges closer, bumping my shoulder.
“This is a new look I haven’t seen on you before. What is it?” He leans forward, cocking his head and studying me. The blush on my cheeks turns to an inferno.
“I’m… embarrassed.” I scrunch my eyes shut. Suddenly, large hands spin my legs, dislodging my arms banded around them. I fall clumsily against Huxley’s front, forced to look up at his smug expression.
“What are you embarrassed about, Swan?”
I toy with my tongue between my teeth before speaking quietly.
“That Wyatt had to reprimand me.”
Huxley’s entire face lights up, a smile breaking free and his eyebrows rising.
“Embarrassed?” he chuckles to himself. “That sounds mortifying.” I laugh too, relieved to have the rigid atmosphere burst wide open. I finally feel like I can breathe again, straightening my spine and squaring my shoulders. Offering his hand, Hux waits for me to accept it before pulling me into the safety of his body. His chin is on my head, his biceps caging me in. “Take me through what’s happening in that beautiful mind of yours.”
“That I love you.” Hux’s arms tense, his entire body going stiff beneath me as he inhales sharply. It isn’t the apology he was expecting, but it’s the truth, so I keep going with that. “I know it’s unfair to hold you each to a different standard, and if Garrett had offered himself up last night, I wouldn’t have been so angry. Actually, I probably would have expected it, and I’d have rolled my eyes and cursed him out in the morning.” I wriggle free to look into Hux’s patient brown eyes.
“But with you, you’ve worked so hard to build yourself back up after the shooting. Both physically and mentally, and when you offered yourself up last night… I wasn’t upset. I was terrified. I saw you at Warren’s table, offering yourself up like it didn’t matter, like you didn’t matter, and it… it broke something in me. The lengths you’ll go to protect me and to save Meg,” I shake my head, my throat tightening. “I’mterrified that I’m going to lose you again in the process. Every way that I picture us getting out of this situation, I lose someone. And instead of dealing with that, I lashed out at you. I made you feel guilty when you were just trying to protect me. I’m truly sorry.”
Hux’s expression shifts, a flicker of pain crossing his face before he looks away, his gaze dropping to the water.
“I wasn’t only trying to protect you,” he says quietly. “I was trying to do something, anything, because I felt so fucking useless just sitting there while Sharon paraded those kids around like cattle. The whole game she’s playing, the money she’s making, and they’re all encouraging her. Every single person in that room. I’d kinda hoped by attending the auction, we’d see a way to shut it down for Axel’s sanity. So that he can finally move on. But it was apparent there’s no stopping her, and that was eating me alive.”
The raw honesty in his voice cuts through me like a knife, and I reach up to push his wet hair back from his sharp jawline.
“You’re not useless, Hux,” I say, staring into his eyes so he might actually hear me. “You’ve never been useless. You’ve always been the one who holds the Souls together without them even realizing it. Wyatt might be the leader, but you silently protect them all. And now, you’re doing it for me and Meg too.”
“You shouldn’t put me on a pedestal, Swan. I’m just… me,” he exhales sharply, dragging a hand through his wet hair. I raise a brow and tilt my lips. Exactly. He’s just Huxley, and that’s all anyone needs him to be. “I just wanted to make it stop. All of it. I thought if I put myself out there, maybe I could get some sort of win for us. I’d sacrifice anything for you.”
His sentiment strikes my heart, smashing through my reserves. I’m not going to be able to explain to Hux just how incredible he is today, not when I’ve spent the morning bringing him down. I hate myself for that, but he’s still here. Right here in front of me, so I start with pushing up and touching my lips to his.
Huxley lets out a quiet breath, his shoulders relaxing for the first time since I walked in. He holds me like I’m delicate, his mouth slanting across mine. He tastes like chlorine, a metallic hint twinged with salt. The water around us stills, the strain easing with it. The knot in my chest loosens just a little, and I pull back with a faint smile.
“I love you,” I say again, making sure he sees and hears my sincerity this time. His chocolate brown gaze flicks between my eyes, searching for something. Reassurance, maybe. I brush my thumbs over his cheeks, feeling the weight of his head push against my palms. His lips part, ready to return the sentiment.
“Cannonball!” A yell slices through the quiet, reverberating off the tiled walls.
“Garrett, don’t you dare—” Hux shouts. But it’s already too late. Garrett has launched himself into the air, tucked into a ball. Hux throws up a futile arm, but the impact sends a massive wave crashing toward us, soaking my hair, face, and even the dry steps behind me. I gasp, sputtering as I wipe water from my eyes, my laughter bubbling up despite myself.
“Now that’s how you make an entrance!” Garrett cheers triumphantly, grinning like a mischievous child as he shakes water out of his messy, dark hair like a wet dog. A black T-shirt clings to his broad chest, and his boxers fluorescent neon green flash beneath the surface.
“For the record,” Dax says smoothly as he steps into the pool area, settling on the step behind me, “I did try to convince him to wait until you two were done with your moment.”
Despite Hux’s arms wrapped around my waist, Dax casually kneads my shoulders, one more firmly than the other. I gasp, twisting to see that both of his hands are on me rather than just one. “Doc Marcus approved me for no more bandages. I just have to be careful.” He gives me a small wiggle of his fingers. I can’t help my beaming smile at the relief that one of our issues has finally worked itself out.
Oblivious to the joy Dax and I are currently sharing, Garrett hollers across the pool. “Freezing my nuts off on the stairs while these two eye-fuck each other? Not my idea of a Saturday night!” He dips beneath the water, the outline of his silhouette gracefully gliding through the water to resurface at the base of the stairs. His dark eyes dazzle with mischief.
“You’re insufferable,” Hux mutters, although his annoyance is tainted by a trickle of humor. Like me, he’s probably thinking it’s nice to have the old Garrett back for a little while, although Hux would never admit to such a thing. Garrett kneels on the lowest step for his shoulders to leave the water and plants a hand on his chest.
“Me?! You guys are the ones who didn’t invite us to your pool party.I found Dax moping around the kitchen, eating peanut butter straight out of the jar.”
“That was you,” Dax deadpans. “I was doing recon with Thiago on the other party guests.”
“Exactly. We all needed a break,” Garrett flips onto his back and floats, spreading his arms wide like a starfish. Dax’s tentative hands leave my shoulders to pull my soaking hair back and tie it in a ponytail for me.
“Wait,” I frown, “who’s with Axel?” Garrett rolls his head my way, only one ear out of the water.
“Wyatt’s on the graveyard shift.” Garrett drawls lazily, waving a hand back and forth in the air. I gasp, looking to Dax for clarity.
