Lock got something out of the antique black fridge, and Grim sat at the table across from Wraith, talking about something I couldn’t discern. I felt like a teenager again, back at boarding school and sneaking into the boys’ dormitory.
Upon my entrance, the conversation died, and all three turned to me. Grim’s eyes met mine, blazing. Raze pulled out a chair and gestured for me to sit. I looked at it, nonplussed. Since when did the Horsemen act like gentlemen?
“Sit,” Raze barked.
Thatwas more like it.
I sat, more and more uncertain about the game they were playing. Grim hadn’t spoken to me, but neither had he stopped staring.
A quiet, discomforting possession radiated from him.
“If I’m going to be your prisoner,” I said, “I’m going to need access to certain things. I’m accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Like what is the thread count in those sheets? Negative five?”
He tilted his head. “You don’t like my sheets?”
“I…”
Hissheets?
That was his room?
But…of course it was. Somehow this felt more intimate than anything we’d done before. This was him without any pretense. The bed had been made by him. The book open on the nightstand—he was reading it.
“Is there a breakfast menu?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Here’s your menu.” Lock slammed down a box of off-brand cereal. I looked between all of them.
“Do you have any almond milk?”
“That shit’s terrible for the environment,” Lock said.
Lock turned away and I saw his tattoo. His Horseman had crystal blue eyes to match the owner, and instead of a scythe, Lock had a sword and crown.I shouldn’t see this,some distant self-preservation whispered. I shouldn’t have seen Grim’s, let alone all of theirs.
But I couldn’t stop staring.
Grim gripped my jaw, dragging my gaze from the tattoo and into his eyes.
“Eat.” He shoved his bowl of cereal in front of me.
“Not hungry,” I said. He said nothing, his eyes punishing. “I don’t eat breakfast,” I continued. “Let alone sugary treats disguised as breakfast?—”
He shoved his thumb between my lips, forcing my mouth open, a hot weight on my tongue. A moment later he shoved a spoon in my mouth. A slow smile split his lips when I swallowed.
Grim pushed another spoonful into my mouth while the conversation continued around us. This shouldn’t be lighting me up. Want shouldn’t curl in my gut and drip down to my thighs. He pushed another spoon into my mouth, and I fought the urge to squirm.
His nostrils flared, like he knew.
“Someone forgot to replace thevegan butter.” Lock shut the fridge door. “Wasn’t me, Wraith. So kill one of these two.”
I blinked, nearly choking on my cereal.Wraith was avegan?
“Not me.” Raze laughed. “Like I’m going to fuck with a guy who’d gut a man but won’t eat a steak.”
They started talking about all kinds of sundry things, like who used what video game and didn’t return it, if anyone noticed the shower was making a weird noise.
It was all so…normal.
Grim dragged my attention back to him with another bite of cereal. You could never say Grim was atenderperson, but a softness smudged the feral possession in his eyes.
