“Good,” he repeats, quieter this time.
A comfortable silence settles between us. His body is warm and firm under me, his heartbeat slowing under my ear, steady and heavy like a drum.
He drags his knuckles down my spine again, softer now, like he’s trying not to wake some wild part of himself back up.
“You’re really quiet,” he murmurs after a moment, thumb tracing the curve of my hip. “What are you thinking?”
“About,” I start.
“About what?”
I swallow, suddenly shy. “About how ridiculous it is that five days without you felt like a month.”
“It messed me up more than I want to admit,” he answers and my chest fills with relief instantly.
I’ve fallen so badly.
My fingers slip across the side of his stomach, brushing the dark red and purple wounds, making him exhale sharply through his nose.
It looks severe, rough and raw.
I know he’s not telling me something, I can sense it and I fight the urge to ask but I’m so afraid it will push him away. I feel likesomething’s happening to him, something he’s ashamed of. I lift my head just a little to look at him.
He avoids my eyes for a second, and that tells me more than anything he could say. My chest tightens. I let my fingers trace one of the bruises gently. He tenses, not from pain, but from the fear that I’ll ask. And I do. Quietly.
“Kasien,”
His breath stills just for a moment, one heartbeat where I swear he almost tells me the truth.
“What’s happening to you?” I ask.
He shakes his head lightly against the pillow, brushing his lips against my hair like he’s soothingme, not himself.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he whispers.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I know,” he admits and for a second it sounds like there’s more to it. “It’s just the training,” he adds.
I fear that’s not the truth. I want to be angry that he lies, but I can’t. I just can’t be angry at him. So I don’t push it anymore. I don’t want to ruin this.
Kiara
Present
I slowly open my eyes, darkness all around me, disrupted by moonlight coming into the room through the French window.
Did I fall asleep?
Adrien’s arms are still wrapped around my waist, and his face is buried in the pillow beside me. My gaze drifts to Kasien instead.
He’s now only in his boxers. He must have taken off his clothes when I was asleep. I get it, I’m literally sweating, but I can’t just take my clothes off like him.
I can’t take my eyes off his body. He’s so much bigger. He used to be lean and muscular, but now he’s huge. His body is tight and sculpted, but not that pumped up as those gym rats. He’s still lean, everything about him is just darker, bigger, colder. My eyes automatically fall to the dark and thick trail of hair, leading down into his…Oh God, stop Kiara.
“Is he okay?” I whisper softly.
He barely moves, his hand still on Adrien’s neck. He must have been awake this whole time. But it’s still dark, so I guess it can’t be more than four or five in the morning.
