HANNAH
Ihave no idea what time it is as we stumble through the doorway of the hostel.
“Shhhhh—” Dane hisses so loud there’s nothing quiet about it. Ethan laughs at him as one foot slips off the first step and he falls into the staircase. Now it’s Dane’s turn to laugh while Ethan shushes him.
Ethan doesn’t drink much, so to see him like this, laughing and care-free, makes my heart soar. It’s not that I would like to see him drunk all the time but he always runs himself on such a tight rope in our day-to-day schedule. Especially since he started working for his father.Thisis exactly what we needed this summer.
He was hard on himself before the accident. Adhering to a rigorous workout and training schedule. All his focus was on baseball and getting the grades he needed to get his scholarship. After the accident, when he was told he would never play college or professional baseball, he kept the same schedule. Waking up early to go for a run and the gym, but the hole that baseball left in his life has changed him. Like a part of his heart died.
His focus shifted to supporting me in all the classes I was taking to make up for the healing time with all the surgeries I needed, and I think that made him feel like he had purpose. But now that we’re both working toward our future, I know he feels lost.
To see him let loose like this is a treat that I’ll be taking full advantage of. Especially because Dane brings out this playful side to him that I rarely see.
I climb up the stairs first, finally making it through the doorway of our room. I fully expect a crowd of other travelers so I’m shocked how dark the room is, as I trip over my own feet, plopping down in the bean bag chair.
“Hannah, where are you?” Ethan’s voice carries through the room. I can barely see the outline of his shadow, his arms are out in front of him, trying to feel his way around the darkness.
He trips over something and falls forward, just as a loud bang echoes through the room.
“Ouch. Shit.”
The lights flash on and Dane stands in the doorway, his eyes glancing over the room to see me, giggling on a bean bag chair, and Ethan on the floor in front of his bunk holding a hand over the top of his forehead.
“I was only a second behind you guys. What the hell just happened?” Dane walks over to Ethan, helping him sit on the edge of the bed, inspecting the area just above his eye.
I sit back, attempting to make myself invisible as Ethan’s intense gaze bounces between Dane’s lips and eyes. Dane is wholly invested in making sure Ethan is okay, pressing the pad of his finger gently over the reddened area of his skin.
As usual, the room is swimming in sexual tension just like every time those two are next to each other and I love the sensation it brings.
There’s a wave of anxiety that rolls off Ethan but asuncomfortable as he is, there’s a high behind his eyes that I can feel, even from a distance.
“You didn’t break the skin but you’ll probably have a gnarly bruise,” Dane tells him as he drops his eyes meeting Ethan’s gaze.
Dane’s finger trails over the side of Ethan’s temple, circles around his jaw, then slowly dips down the column of his neck. Ethan's throat bobs as he swallows thickly, shifting in his seat.
There’s a long pause and a heaviness in the air. It weighs on all of us like an anchor, holding us in place.
Ethan peers out of the corner of his eyes in my direction. I squeeze my hands together, holding myself back from saying anything because I want him to act on his own free will based on how he’s feeling.
His eyes shift back over to Dane, who’s nervous and tense, unlike his normal casual demeanor. His finger is still hovering over Ethan’s skin, in the sensitive spot where his neck meets his collarbone.
Finally, Dane breaks the silence.
“Are you done pretending that you don’t want me?”
“What?” Ethan’s brows pinch together.
There’s an eerie silence in the room, only the sound of Ethan’s steady, but heavy breath before Dane finally speaks up again.
“I know it was you in the glory hole atAvec Plaisir.”
16
ETHAN
“I—” My throat bobs as I swallow thickly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I manage to spit out even though I can’t keep a straight face. It dropped, as did my stomach, the moment the words left his lips.
“Ask me how I know,” he says with far too much fucking confidence, looking me dead in the eye.
