Oh, good Lord.
I settle back into the couch just as Wylder gives Kor a dark chuckle.
“Your Evie?I’m the man who’s been here for the last three years. I’m the man who has helped her through every nightmare, whose shoulder she cried on every time she thought aboutyourdead body, the man who has owned every single one of her orgasms ever since he walked into her life.” Wylder shakes his head with a smirk. “How many of her orgasms do you own exactly?”
The room is deathly quiet as Wylder’s words sink in, and I don’t think anyone is ready for Roman to lean forward and say, “I own three of them, if we’re keeping track.”
Wylder busts out in laughter as Atlas punches my couch, muttering different things in Italian too low for me to hear. Kor, though, he turns around and runs his fingers through his hair, shaking his head a few times before spinning back to face Roman.
My eyes widen when I look at his face, because I’ve never seen my best friend look like he does right now. He looks…dark. Too dark to be my Kortez. My Kor is supposed to be light.
“I’m going to fucking kill you, Roman Bavone!”
Kor lunges for Roman but I jump forward, reachingmy arms out and wrapping them around Kortez as tightly as I can. His body stops as soon as I touch him, his knees dropping to the ground in front of the couch as my arms wrap around his neck and my hands dive into his hair. My legs go around his waist, effectively wrapping my entire body around him until we’re both shaking so hard we’re collapsing into the side of the couch.
One of his arms wraps around my waist and the other tries its best to stabilize us as we continue to hold each other, breathing each other in.
“Evie…”
I try to breathe and end up choking out a sob, my body shaking as reality begins to hit me.Kortez is alive.
He’s alive.
He’s…
“Oh my God! You’re alive!” I pull back just enough to slam my lips into his, kissing him with ten years of pent-up heartbreak and love. His lips taste like copper and salt, blood and tears, but nothing has ever tasted better. His arms tighten around me as my lips begin to slow, peppering smaller kisses all over his jaw as I begin to pull away. “I can’t believe it…I thought you were dead. You…you...Oh my God! You cussed, Kor!”
Roman laughs from behind me and I feel his hand stroke my back, “Yeah, he does a lot of that now, Little Moth. You should hear him when I beat him in Call of Duty.”
I pull back, my eyes flitting from Kor to Atlas, still standing behind the couch and staring at me. His body shakes with tension as I watch his eyes linger on the hickeys Roman left on me last night.
God, he probably thinks I’m a whore. Hell, they probably all do.I remember how Wylder and Romanboth claimed me a few minutes ago and smile to myself.Well, maybe not all of them.
“I am so sorry, Evie. We tried to find you, I swear. But with Atlas’s father breathing down our necks and now Wade, we could barely find the time to breathe and – “
I lift my hand up and stop Kor before he can continue. “Atlas’s father?”
Kortez nods and I turn to look at Atlas. “Is that who is responsible for your disappearance?”
Atlas sighs and walks around the couch, sitting back down and looking over at me. “Yes. My father got word that I was getting too comfortable there and came to collect me. When he did, though, I fought him. Then Kor showed up and…well my father liked him a little too much and took him, too.”
My mind flashes through my memories of the warehouse, the man I killed and what he told me.
Mr. Valente.
He never explicitly said Atlas’s name. I just assumed.
“What about all the blood? Your warehouse…it was covered.”
I shove my hands between my thighs to try and stave off the shaking as Atlas groans. “When my father ordered his men to take Kortez I didn’t respond in the best way. One of them knocked Tez out and…” He sighs and rubs his palms on his pants. “I killed him. That’s what all the blood was. Well, that and my father having me beat for going against him.”
My forehead falls to Kor’s shoulder, and I let out a deep breath, “I’m so stupid.”
Kortez rubs at my back, and I feel Wylder approach my side. He’s the only one who knows what this new revelation means for me. For ten years, I’ve had toforce myself to hate Atlas because I thought he killed Kortez, even though my heart swore it still loved him. I was set on taking revenge for my best friend even though I knew it may kill me in the process to spill the blood of the man I loved – and I was okay with that.
I had to be.
Now, it turns out that Kortez is alive.
