It doesn’t make him happy. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I don’t… but I know how this ends, and that’s almost as good.”
CHRYS
I want to crawl into bed with Arc, but he needs to sleep and I’m too antsy.
Curling up next to him, with my head that close to his, I’m sure I’d wake him. Or, at the very least, I’d screw up his dreams.
A sadistic little laugh escapes me as I slip into the bathroom and slap off the lights. I can only imagine what nightmareswould come from my current thoughts leaching into his unconscious thoughts.
The replacement meds sent over by the doctor have worn low and my mind has run riot.
I need something to turn it off.Thatdoesn’t exist, but there is a bathtub. Hot water might get me close.
Enough light spills in from the windows that I can see everything I need to. I twist the lever Shock showed me and the water immediately flows up from the bottom. I shiver when the gentle steam hits me. This isexactlywhat I need.
Tossing in—probably too much of—the Epsom salts they got me, I wait until it’s half full before slipping out of my clothes and into the water.
I exhale and wish I could expel the jittery feeling beneath my skin into the air with my breath.
Something is wrong. There’s something we’re all missing and being horny as fuck isn’t helping.
I hear Arc moving in the other room and cringe.Damnit.I didn’t mean to wake him.
“You didn’t.” He sits on the floor beside the tub as the water level reaches the small line around the tub that sucks it back in again.
Laurel said something about Isian tech constantly recycling water, but I wasn’t paying attention.
“I’d hoped that taking a bath would clear out my head enough that I wasn’t thought-bombing you.”
“Kissu is exploring. His inner monologue is quite loud right now.”
“I guess that makes sense. This place is new to him…”
He catches my hand, pulling it up to trace the lines along my fingers. “I like your tattoos.”
“My mom tried to scrub the first one she saw off of me. She wassomad.” Chuckling, I sink lower into the water and then bob back up. “She’s given up on trying to make me stop.”
“There’s not much space left.”
I shake my head, the wet ends of my hair brushing at my jaw. “There’s always room for more tattoos.”
He laughs, but it’s strained. He’s tired, and I’m keeping him awake. I should get out of the tub, I should?—
“You should stay exactly where you are. I didn’t come to you to make you get out.”
Maybe being able to read minds is more of a bitch than I thought it was.
“It can be torture.” He sweeps my hair back behind my ear. “But it has its uses.”
Trailing his fingertips down my neck, he takes hold of me with the barest squeeze. “I know what you want… Being able to give it to you—what I can, anyway—that isn’t torture.”
He knows what I want, but what if…
“I can’t readyourmind. I need you to tell me you want this too.” I lick my lips and ask a question I need to know the answer to and am terrified of at the same time. “Do you want me? Or do you just know that I want you and?—”
He catches my face in his hand. “I want you more than I knew was possible.”
