His eyes narrow, sensing my bullshit. His knees hit the bed before his hands dive under my legs and grab my ankles. Before I can stop him, I’m being dragged over the sheets, my shorts and tee riding up.
Here he is looking like some model who just came off the runway and I look like a troll just pulled from a dumpster. I scream and kick but get nowhere.
He’s over me before I can escape, my wrists instead of my ankles now in his hands, his thick thighs straddling mine and pinning them together.
“What are you doing!?” I snap up at him.
He just quirks a brow, “What’s with the attitude, Red?” He purrs, “I just saved you from a terrible beast.”
My eyes narrow, “You’re mocking me.”
“Me? I could never.”
I glare up at him. He doesn’t smell like another woman, there’s no lipstick stains or kiss swollen lips, just Bast and his playful smirk and soulful eyes.
Maybe he wasn’t with a woman before he came here.
It doesn’t matter either way.
“What’s the matter, Wills?” He asks softly, fingers flexing on my wrists. “Why have you been quiet on me?”
I flick my eyes away knowing he has the power to make me talk. I didn’t want to be vulnerable with him anymore. I value his friendship far too much and I know he values mine. We’re two sides of the same coin, destined to be together in every sense but the one I want.
A shame, but it is what it is.
“I’m okay,” I breathe, bringing my eyes back and erecting a thick steel wall to shut out those feelings. I’m Willow fucking Stanton, I don’t get felled by some stupid emotions over a man who doesn’t want me back.
Willow Stanton,you hear me?
He cocks his head, eyes tracing my face, “You don’t seem okay.”
“What about you?” I retort. “Why are you awake at three A.M?”
“Malakai wouldn’t let me kill a man,” He says seriously, and I can’t figure out if he’s joking or not, “I was stewing over it with a bottle of whiskey I stole from his house.”
“Did you drive!?” I hiss.
“Of course not,” He scoffs, “I’m not stupid. I ran.”
My mouth drops open, “You ran here!?”
“You needed me,” He frowns.
“I didn’t expect you to run here, Bast.”
He sighs, almost contentedly, “You needed me.” He repeats.
Well okay then.
“Since neither of us can sleep,” He releases my wrists, “Get your ass into bed, we can get no sleep together.”
Chapter Seven
Idon’t think I have ever been more comfortable in my life.
My fingers flex against a warm chest, the gentle thump of a heart beneath my ear almost enough to lull me back to sleep. And then I remember whose chest I’m lying on, whose body my leg is thrown over, their arm banded around me, cradling me close and tight.
Sebastian still sleeps at my side, in my bed, still wearing his trousers but he ditched the shirt after he climbed into bed with me.
