He’d caught up on the news, reorganized the clothing he’d hung in his closet and gone for a swim. Finally, when he’d glanced out the window to find Alison in Daniel’s lap, her lips around Kyle’s cock, he’ddecided there was no option besides lifting the heaviest weights he could.
At least when he was doing that, he wasn’t thinking abouther, or about how badly he’d wanted to go outside and join in.
But he couldn’t bring himself to.
The wounds between them ran too deep, created too little foundation. Sure, taking her together would have been like old times, but Trent had said goodbye to that life already. He wasn’t a man who liked to lie to himself and he’d accepted that it was over.
“Oh.”
Trent turned to find Alison at the doorway to the gym, a towel over her shoulder, frozen in place. A bandage on her shoulder drew his focus, proof of his loss of control the night before.
He turned away, shame crawling along his nerves. “Sorry. I didn’t realize you wanted to work out. I’ll get going.”
He went to pass her, to leave, but Alison’s small hand closed on his arm. He had to either stop or try to fight her—and for reasons he didn’t understand, he didn’t want to fight her.
“You can’t avoid me forever,” she said.
“I thought you might want some time to yourself.”Meaning without me.
She sighed but didn’t let him go. She probably knew that if she did, he’d keep walking. “I didn’t ask for that, did I?”
“No.” He turned toward her but kept his gaze on her hands, on her cuffs, anything but her face—or worse, the bandage on her shoulder. “But you ran pretty fast that night.”
“You bit me. I am allowed to be a little freaked out.”
He blew out a long, slow breath then met her gaze. He expected fear there. After grinding against her in her sleep, coming on her thighs and leaving a permanent bite on her shoulder, why wouldn’t she be afraid?
He braced for it, but her green eyes lacked any fear. Instead, he found that same strength he’d spotted the first night, that steel that ran through her.
He’d given her every reason to fear him, but she stood there as though the thought had never crossed her mind.
“I’m sorry I bit you,” he said, trying to make his voice as earnest as possible. Heneededher to understand he hadn’t crossed the line on purpose, that he would never do something like that without her permission. “I was asleep, and I had no idea what I was doing.”
Alison released him, then nodded. “I know you didn’t mean to.” She slid her hands over her hips as though to put them in her pockets, then frowned when she realized her pants didn’t have any. “We were both asleep. It wasn’t either of our faults. I know this isn’t the most comfortable situation.”
He huffed a sound that was almost a chuckle. Her phrasing was funny—not the situation. “Comfortable, huh? Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it.” Even with how easily she spoke of what had happened, he struggled to let it go entirely. “I really am sorry. I’m not anywhere close to perfect, but I’m willing to admit it when I’m wrong. It won’t happen again. I need you to know that, to understand that.”
She nodded once, a quick jerk of her head. “I know. We’re good, okay? I don’t think you’ll pass as a slaver if you’re afraid to even look at me.”
Trent lifted his fingers but froze half-way to the bandage. Would she want him to touch her?
Alison didn’t move, and that gave him the confidence to touch the soft bandage that covered the only claiming bite he’d ever given in his life. With her that close, it also let him inhale.
She smelled of Daniel and Kyle. That took him back, like an old taste of home.
Maybe that was fucked up, but it didn’t stop it from being true. He knew that scent, something he’d lived with, something as reassuring as his own.
“You smell like them,” he admitted before his brain could catch up and stop him.
She froze for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. “If you’re going to try and embarrass me—”
He shook his head, cutting her off. “Nothing like that. It just surprised me for a minute.”
She didn’t look away, and her gaze felt far too knowing. “What happened between you three?”
“Nothing that matters anymore.”
“With the way you three are acting like scorned lovers? It seems like it matters.”
