There are a million words on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t speak a single one. When he approaches, he picks up my hand, staring at it as he strokes his thumb over my knuckles.
“Thank you,” he murmurs.
“What for?” I ask in a huff of desperation. Underneath the layers of our scents are the cleaning products that were used and a faint and neutral vanilla. It’s not entirely unpleasant, in fact, it feels like something my mother created.
He looks up at me from under his lashes, and I freeze, the instinct of an omega being confronted by an alpha locking me in place.
“For being you.”
Bam. That was a fatal blow. I wheeze, but he somehow maneuvers me, and I don’t even know how it happens, but now I’m trapped, and they are all around me, squeezing us into the most delicious couch I’ve ever sat on, Fox on one side, Bas on the other, and we’re watching a romance movie, and I don’t know how I got here. I’m trying to pay attention, but I have no idea what’s going on.
I am, however, aware of how hard Fox’s thigh is where it’s pressed to mine. That he can’t sit still. He wriggles forward and back incessantly, but not in an annoying way. I’m aware that Bas hasn’t even tried to watch the movie; he’s just staring at me as if he’s waiting for me to explode.
It’s not going to happen. I can handle this. I just need to stay long enough to be polite, and then I can run away, back to my room, where I can drown myself in his jumper and expel all this sexual tension through the raunchy sex scenes in my manuscript.
As if he can sense my thoughts, he pulls off his hoodie. It’s white with grey and black trim and smells like him. He drags it over my head, and I find myself swamped in the material. My entire self goes to a happy place where I can smell him and lose myself in it for a few long moments.
When I come back out, they are talking.
“I don’t believe you,” Bas says.
I languidly focus on them and try to figure out what they are talking about.
“I’ve read the books,” Sebastian says in challenge. Alarm bells start peeling.
“Yes, so have we.”
I reach over discreetly and pinch the skin over Sebastian’s ribs. He winks at me, but otherwise ignores me.
“Still don’t believe you,” he purrs in pure challenge. It’s a thing all the Sol’s can do. Just arrogantly challenge everyone around them with the confidence of royalty.
“What do you want, Sebastian?” Katsu asks calmly. There’s a stoic serenity on his face that I know Sebastian won’t back down from. These two are going to go head to head. It’s like alpha chicken.
Except I think Fox and I might end up being collateral.
“I want to see you two. Together.” He sits back with his fingers interlaced on his stomach and grins like he’s just won.
I stiffen as if I've been electrocuted. “What?” The strangled shriek escapes from me but is ignored by the three alphas.
“You want to see us have sex?” Katsu asks calmly, with no hint of embarrassment or shame.
“Yes, I want you to role-play one of the sex scenes out of the book and show us what sex could look like between us. An…” he pauses, pretending to think. I wish I could make him shut up. “An audition.”
I choke. Sebastian slaps me on the back, and when I try to bounce up, he catches me and pulls me back down.
“An audition?” Fox says and turns a grin on Katsu. “Baby?”
Katsu groans. “Fine.”
“But not from the novel-”
“The novel is our control,” Sebastian says with a grin that I’m going to smack off his face. How could he do this to me?
“What are you doing, Bas?” I hiss.
“Getting a memory to last a lifetime. You’ll thank me later.”
Katsu pulls out a copy of my book and thumbs through it. He pauses, reads a page, then shakes his head before he finds another one.
