“Believe me.” She’s on her knees, her hands pulling me closer, eyes locked on mine. “I’ve made my decision, I’ve signed your silly contract, I’m in your bed, for Goddesses’ sake.” Her fingers brush my cheek, somehow tender and teasing. “Is that not enough?”
“Well…” Now my body isn’t fuelled by anxious dread, I give her a small smirk. “A kiss would help.”
She gasps, eyes wide. “But what happened towooingme?”
How did she…
“You heard us?” Red winces at Zeek’s question, peering up at him with an adorably guilty expression.
“Yeah… I’ve kinda heard you all for a… while,” she mumbles the last word.
Kane steps out of the shadows. “Since when?”
She stares up at the ceiling, mentally calculating. “After we slept together.”
“Which time,” I mutter, well aware I sound bitter.
“Erm.” She closes one eye. “The very first time, after my nightmare.”
We’re all silent, desperately trying to recall exactly when that was. It was at the house, weeks, maybe even months ago?
“But that was…” Zeek glances at us all, looking slightly panicked.
“And you’ve heard us, all of us, since then?” Julien tries to clarify without sounding concerned, but completely fails.
And if Julien is worried…
Normally, I’d send out a quickwe’re fucked, but seems a bit pointless now I know she’ll hear it.
“Sometimes.” She shrugs, leaning back on her elbows like the queen of smug and sexy. “Normally, I can only hear you when you’re all together. And it’s been…” She tilts her head side-to-side thoughtfully. “Helpful, to hear your thoughts.”
She’s so damn sexy.
And now she’s looking at me, wearing a dirty little smirk that…
Oh shit. Can she hear me now?
But it’s too late, every crude, filthy thing I thought was safely hidden floods my mind. My darkness skitters to the surface, letting those needs out in sharp, heated growls as I battle to drag him back.
“Stop… all of you… this…” she tries, but her words dissolve into laughter. Her arms clutch her stomach, breaths comingin short bursts. “Your faces… your thoughts…stop… I can’t breathe!”
I snap to attention. We all do. What the hell does she mean she can’t breathe?
“Oh fuck… no… I’m joking… it was a joke…” She rolls onto her side, practically dying with laughter while we all stare at each other in silence.
No mental messages. Nothing. Because we’re all fucking terrified she’ll hear it.
“I’ve stopped…” she wheezes, gasping between laughs. “I swear.”
Red tilts her head back, breathing hard from laughter, and she’s so damn beautiful.
The room settles into suspicious silence. Because we’re all doing the same thing, desperately not thinking the thoughts we’re now painfully aware we’ve been thinking.
Zeek is staring into the distance, eyes tight, probably reciting code.
Julien looks at Red with some concern, but also a hint of admiration.
But Kane… his lips are not flatlined into his usual grimace. There’s a subtle upward curve, barely noticeable if I wasn’t desperately avoiding thoughts about Red.
