It’s him. It’s all Gunner.The heat and the salt, and now when she inhaled more, there was that same faint smell of hops from that first day. The smell of Gunner’s jacket.
Sweat beaded her brow and she leaned in to rub it across her knee. The more she took in the smells surrounding, the more she was consumed by it. The more shelikedit. It was thick and overpowering, dark and gloomy. For a single moment, the smell made her feel at home.
She scooted a little closer to his side and basked in his scent, closing her eyes and letting her mind craft a fantasy to take her away. One where she didn’t have to be on edge every second of every day. One where she could appreciate his smell for what it was to her—desirable—and not feel bad about it. She let the walls fall away until she could imagine herself for who she really.
A woman. One who wasn’t alone among men. Only one man.
She let go of her knee and curled her hand around the bar below her head, the backs of her fingers coming in contact withhis clotheson the other side. A sizzling twitch took her by surprise, but she didn’t shy away from the contact.
Elodie felt him move and press closer to her even though she wasn’t sure if he really knew she was there. She wiggled her fingers, seeking more contact, actually wanting him to know she was there, but Gunner didn’t move again.
Stop wanting dangerous things. Not with this heat he gives off.His body was warm, far warmer than what could be normal for any man.
She’d been in this position before, leaning into the bars, her thoughts lost in her head when her dad was still with her. This was different. With her father, it’d been security; with Gunner, it was comfort.
Gunner was attractive. Elodie had noticed it early on. It was in the way he moved and the air he had about him. There was something so vastly different about him compared to the other men that surrounded her that she’d taken notice. Not only did he frighten her, he lured her in. There was a rawness in the way he moved, the way he spoke, and it was so exacting that it demanded her to believe in it.
Everything about me is fake.She wiggled her fingers again feeling his clothes abrade her knuckles.I know fake. He’s not fake. He smells so good.Her throat closed up when a warm breath fell across her temple.
Elodie didn’t jerk back even though her instincts warned her too. Instead, she remained still in hopes of prolonging the moment, knowing his lips were a hair's breadth away.
If things were different...
The thought was almost too dangerous to complete. She clenched her eyelids tighter.
If things were different, I wouldn’t even be in this situation.
His breath caressed her forehead and she sighed with contentment.
She didn’t know how long they remained that way but when the sirens finally stopped, she wasn’t prepared for it to be over.
Elodie sat upright and pressed both of her hands to her ears, trying futilely to get the throbbing to go away, kneading the flesh at the crux of her lobe. Real sound slowly returned, and with it, the voices of the others around her. The lights came on with a warning flicker.
The door groaned before her vision fully returned and another, very different bout of chaos ensued.
“Holy shit!” Kallan’s voice eclipsed the rest. “Royce?”
His exclamation was followed by others and she tore her attention away from the guards storming into the brig to look at the man on the other side of Gunner’s cell. Elodie’s eyes widened.
“Everybody stand up!” One of the guards screamed.
She followed the order without thought, staring at Royce. He hung up against his cell door, his arm hooked and crushed through the bars over the door’s locking panel. Blood flowed over it, dripped beneath it, and ran in rivulets of rusty burgundy to pool on the floor.
That smell...
“Get in the center of your cells and put your arms above your heads,” the same guard roared.
Gunner stepped forward, blocking her line of sight to Royce’s body. She glanced at Gunner, but he was looking at the guards.
Shit.Elodie scrambled to the center of her cell and raised her arms. Everyone else was already in position and she was thankful no one was paying attention to her. They were all staring at Royce’s hanging, blood-drained body.
“What do you think happened here?” one of the guards said, covering his nose. “Man, the smell in here is foul.”
“I don’t know,” another replied, “but maybe it caused the alarms to go off? Doesn’t explain the others though.”
Others?She didn’t like the sound of that and only prayed that her dad wasn’t among theseothers.
“Ballsy’s going to get his dick shot off for this and we’re the ones he’s gonna take it out on. Damn, did he claw through his wrist? It’s all torn up.”
