Jett’s cheeks were flushed and eyes glassy. “Want to make you feel good.”
He was transparent as glass, and in that moment, I realized I didn’t need to know his real name to know who he was.
And who he was to me.
“Come for me, baby,” I whispered into his sweaty temple when I couldn’t hold back any longer and my body pounded into his.
“Oh god,” he whimpered. “Fuck. I can’t… oh fuck!”
His release was intense, overwhelming both of us and sending my brain and body flying.
By the time we recovered, I was cum-drunk and not in my right mind.
And maybe I wanted to be real with him for a minute. Connect with him in a way that might help him understand why I was the way I was.
Which was my only excuse for what I said a little while later.
“Santi’s right. The game isn’t just a game,” I said into the darkness, after we’d cleaned up and returned to the bed. Jett’s head rested on my shoulder, and I was drawing lazy shapes with my fingers up and down his arm.
I couldn’t tell him everything. But I could give him this.
“We use it to communicate things that can’t be said aloud or written down. Each move carries meaning beyond the board.”
He blew out a long breath. “Okay,” he said softly. “That’s what I thought.”
I moved my hand into his hair. “Please forget I told you that. Santi should never have brought it up, but since he did… I just… don’t want to keep secrets from you.”
The silence stretched.
“Santi didn’t say anything.”
I shifted until I could see his face in the dim light from the edges of the shutters. “What do you mean? You said he told you?—”
“I lied.”
28
JETT
If Locke was goingto make a confession, then I was, too. Because this wasn’t just sex for me, and I was beginning to realize it wasn’t for him either.
The angles of his face in the shadows carried the usual tension, something that had returned after I’d softened them earlier with pleasure.
I hated seeing him unhappy and stressed.
“I knew something more was going on,” I admitted. “But I didn’t know how to get you to admit it.”
His jaw moved, but he said nothing.
If he was upset with me, he didn’t have a leg to stand on. His silence was a pain in the fucking ass.
I shoved him away and sat up, turning to flick on the bedside table lamp so I could see him better. “You’re going to be mad at me?” I asked incredulously. “That’s rich.”
“You manipulated me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Join the fucking club, Locke. You’ve been manipulating me, too. Or were you really having me look up a location in the Kiel Canal just to test some tech?”
The accusation hit its mark. His nostrils flared, but I also saw a brief look of contrition before he wiped it away.
