Ender rips open his closet door, yanking out a t-shirt and pulling it over his head. I’m still watching him when he unravels his towel. He glances back at me, as if suddenly remembering that I’m there.
“Do you mind?”
“Is modesty really necessary after last night?” I ask.
It seems selfish of him not to share a glimpse of what I might have looked upon last night.
“We didn’t sleep together, Warrick,” he says, with an exasperated look. “I don’t bed my drunk recruits.”
“Oh,” I say.
My cheeks burn as I turn around. Fabric rustles as he dresses, and I frantically search for a reason as to why I wanted to see him naked.
“I was just kidding about the modesty thing.” I chuckle nervously. “I wouldneverask you to?—”
“You just did,” Ender says dryly. “You literally asked your reporting officer to undress before you? Do you know the punishment for such an offense?”
“Well, why am I even here?” I ask. I raise my hands to gesture at his bedroom. “What happened last night?”
“You drank too much. I brought you here to sleep it off. I took the couch,” he says.
“Oh,” I say. “We never…”
“There was one point when you woke up scared and asked me to hug you, or rather demanded,” Ender says. “I did it to oblige you, but beyond that, we didn’t touch.”
Now I’mreallyembarrassed. I can’t believe I forced him to comfort me from a nightmare. I hate how I feel indebted to him, so I turn it back on him.
“I’m surprised you would care to help a weak Common,” I say, reminding him of his foul words the other day.
His jaw unclenches, and a flash of regret crosses his eyes.
But I don’t care to indulge in this conversation; Ender has made his thoughts about me rather clear. I am beneath him.
I head to the door, prepared to do the mortifying walk back to my bedroom.
There will be whispers about where I vanished to. I might run into the others in the hallway in my rumpled sleepwear. If I’m lucky, they will assume I went back to Grayson’s room and not the man engaged to my sister. This is such a mess. How could I do this to Mercy? Even if there is nothing between them, the rumors will affect her.
It doesn’t matter if she wears my name or I hers. At the end of the day, this is the life we both agreed to live, and I have to respect that.
“You can’t go out like that,” Ender says.
He offers a shirt from his closet.
“I’m not wearing your shirt,” I say. “That is entirely inappropriate.”
“You were begging for me to strip five seconds ago?” Ender says sarcastically. “Now you want to be appropriate?”
“Go die in a ditch, Vale,” I snarl. “You disgust me.”
I walk to the door and grab the doorknob. It slams shut behind me. Ender’s palm lies flat above my head.
“Don’t test me, Warrick,” he warns. “I’m having a shit morning, and your attitude isn’t helping.”
I spin around, startled by the feel of his body against mine. He’s in a pair of dark cargo pants and a shirt that hugs his muscular frame.
I swallow, losing my nerve for a second, before I quickly collect it.
“You’re engaged to my sister,” I say, refusing to balk under his hot gaze. “I’m not walking around Block A in your shirt so people can whisper.”
