“Ihaveto go.”
And then—he’s gone.
One second, I’m wrapped around him, still pressed up against my door, still feeling him everywhere, still coming to terms with the very real possibility that I was about to commit a crime against god and nature by trying to take his huge cock for a spin—and the next second, I’m not.
Garrik disentangles himself from me so fast I almost fall. He hauls me upright, sets me down so gently I barely even register it, and then steps back like I just burst into flames.
I stare at him, breathless and dazed.
His golden eyes are huge, his chest rising and falling in quick, sharp bursts, his hands still half-raised like he doesn’t quite know what to do with them. My head is spinning. My body is on fire. I feel hot all over, and I need him back, and I am about to say exactly that—but then he takes another step back.
“I’m—” His voice cracks. He clears his throat. “I’m sorry.”
He is gone before I can even process the words.
Just turns on his heel and walks away.
I don’t even get a chance to be like“Hey, my guy, you just cracked my goddamn doorframe, maybe let’s talk about that”—he’s already halfway down the stairs before my sluggish, alcohol-soaked brain catches up with the moment.
And by the time I can even think about calling after him, he’s at the bottom of the steps.
I lurch forward, wobbling a little as I reach for the railing, barely catching myself before I tumble straight down after him. “Garrik, wait?—”
“Nope,” he calls over his shoulder, not slowing down.
My mouth opens and closes. I raise a hand,gesture vaguely at everything that just happened, and blurt out the only thing I can think of:
“You broke my door!”
At this, he actually speeds up.
I watch as my best friend of ten years, my very large, very powerful, definitely strong enough to rip a person in half best friend, books it down the street like he just realized what he was doing—what we were doing—and his entire body went into emergency shutdown mode.
Which, to be fair…probably exactly whatdidhappen.
I stand there, still pressed against my half-destroyed door, mouth slightly open, watching as the biggest, brawniest, most terrifying warrior I have ever met disappears into the night at an actual dead sprint. I watch all the way until he disappears around a corner toward the train station, most definitely heading all the way back to the Arborium just to get away from me.
And me?
My drunk, stupid, horny self?
I can’t do anything but start laughing…and hope like hell that I didn’t just ruin everything.
4
GARRIK
Idon’t remember everything.
That’s the worst part. The edges are blurred, the details fragmented. I know I was drunk. I know I said things I shouldn’t have. I know I kissed her—she kissed me—and I kissed her back like a man starved. I know I broke something, but I don’t know if it was athingor apart of her.
And I haven’t heard from her since.
That silence is killing me.
Iris has always been the one to reach out first, always the one with an easy smile, an invitation, ahey, big guy, you busy?I’ve never gone this long without hearing from her—not even after I left Earth, not even when I moved back to the Arborium and told myself I needed distance. She messaged me. She checked in. She sent me updates about the Grand Library, complained about her colleagues, sent pictures of ridiculous book covers that made her laugh.
Now? Nothing.
