“Ooooohhh and here’s that tell you have when you’re getting close to being all pissy thief on us. The flared nostrils. Don’t you see?” I nodded to Ajax like he was my buddy in all of this.
Ajax moved around me and started up the stairs out of the pool. “We’re not solving anything here. Let’s just agree to not get in each other’s way.” Then he scowled back at us. “Or else I’ll kill you for standing in the way of what I want.”
He got out in all his naked glory, showing off those buns of steel I was a tad bit jealous of, and wrapped a towel around himself. Rykon moved around me, mumbling something that I couldn’t quite hear, and did the same as Ajax.
I was about to do the same when I got an idea. A brilliant, wonderful idea. I looked up at them. “Don’t wait for me. I have to talk to the owner about more pillows and blankets, since some of us are going to be sleeping on the floor.”
Ajax huffed, “Like I give a fuck what you do.” Rykon nodded in understanding, and they both left.
Perfect. Those boys are going to go up and tell Emerald that it’s her turn and my prey will come to me. I can feel it. The ambiance, the smell of the air, the feeling in my gut. This was my moment, and I wasn’t going to waste it being stuck in a room with those two duds. No, I was going to choose to have a taste of heaven.
Chapter 11
Assoonastheyall left, I wrote an update to Vance with the two way parchment. He didn't tell me much. Just saying that he was trying to keep a low profile as he was meeting with all the nobility individually to see if he could find out how loyal each family was to the king. I told him to be careful and he sent over a smiley face. So like Vance.
I tried to sit in the room and meditate, to take my mind off of Zayden and his flirty hands. Rykon and his sultry looks. Even Ajax, with his surly attitude, was turning me on, which was idiotic. I was never that girl that was overtaken by men. Never letting males affect me this way.
That was until you gave yourself those few days of ultimate freedom. To do everything, experience everything, feel anything with those boys, my mind spit back at me like this was all my fault from my past self, and maybe it was.
I shoved those thoughts into a box in my head, telling myself it wasn’t helping me here and now. As I started the entire process again, I could hear two sets of footsteps making their way to this room. It must be two of the guys, but then where was the third?
I opened my eyes as soon as the door cracked open. I almost gasped as all I could see were two very naked wet chests. My eyes zeroed in on the deep lines of Ajax’s large tight muscles, a drop of water that trailed down Rykon’s sculpted abs. I got the sudden urge to touch them, feel their bodies with my hands and lips, see if they tasted as good as they looked. I felt myself bite the inside of my lip; the pain reminding me that this wasn’t some manifestation of my wants and desires.
I heard one of them clear their throat and my head snapped up to see them both smirking at me in their own ways. Rykon’s was a knowing smirk, like he knew all he had to do was wait and I would soon be drooling all over him. Ajax’s was more of a prideful smirk, happy that my attention was on him for his large physique that he worked hard for.
“Eyes up here, Em.” Rykon teased. I scoffed at him, playing off my blatant staring of their bodies.
“I was surprised, that’s all. I expected you guys to get dressed down there.” Feeling my neck turning red, I looked at their clothes in their hands, but I kept my breathing in check, hoping that my hair covered it enough that they couldn’t tell. I needed to control whatever I could to gain back power over the situation. These boys are sharks and if they smelled blood in the water, they would come for the feast.
I glided off the bed, trying to show a calm, cool demeanor as my insides were screaming to be put in an Ajax and Rykon sandwich. “Going to head down for my soak.” I looked around them and then towards the door. “Where is Zayden?” Curious where our fourth was.
Ajax frowned at my question but still answered, “He said he was going to talk to the inn owner about more blankets and pillows for those of us who are going to sleep on the floor.”
I looked down at the uneven hard floor boards and nodded, “Good idea.” I turned away and walked to the doorway in slow, long strides to show that they didn’t phase me, did not intimidate me with their delectable half-naked bodies. My fingers itched to yank those towels away and see if anything else had grown in the last six years. I know for a fact Ajax has gotten thicker, but I think a side-by-side comparison would be adequate.
I shook my head at my lustful thoughts. No, I just needed a good hot soak to get that shit out of my head. If they had their damn clothes on, I wouldn’t be thinking or feeling this way, so in a sense, this was their fault. With that ironclad logic circling my brain, I told myself that all I needed to do was get to the end of the hallway, out of earshot, and then I could run the rest of the way. Putting as much distance as I could between them and me.
Thank the maker god that it wasn’t all three of them. I don’t know what I would’ve done, but I’m sure it would’ve made me look silly and weak.
I stepped through the door when Ajax’s rumble sounded behind me. “Don’t take too long, we still need to get dinner.”
I snapped back at him, “You don’t have to wait for me.”
Rykon took a step forward, but stopped himself before he said, “Yes, we do. We travel together and eat together. That’s a rule somewhere, I think.”
I rolled my eyes and left, rushing down the hallway, not caring if they heard me run. I needed to get away from them. If they wanted to wait to eat until I got back, that was their problem.
Before I knew it, I was walking out of the inn. A cool night breeze met me and I let out a big gulp of air. Breath, Mika. Breath.
I looked at the bathhouse and on the outside it looked run down, about to cave on whoever entered. The boys still made it, so I felt it was relatively safe for me.
I made my way to the right where it had a female sign pointing and the first thing that hit me was the faint smell of sulfur. The stronger the smell, the deeper the water went, but I liked it was faint. I wasn’t a fan of the strong sulfur smell.
I looked around. Saw that there was only one way in and out, which made my shoulders relax. I can definitely defend one entry point with my eyes closed, which meant that I could really relax here. Let my mind go while I soaked.
I moved over to the left where they had a few stones benches and cutouts for your belongings. It was space, but clean and useful.
I couldn’t help but have the feeling that they made the outside look dingy on purpose. Maybe it was done with magic? It was such a stark difference that it had to be on purpose.
