Mano stepped back on instinct until his back hit the wall.
Ody planted both hands on either side of him, caging him in completely.
Mano’s eyes widened, the smirk dying on his lips. “Ody… what are you doing?”
Ody leaned in just enough for Mano to feel his breath. “Why are you looking at me like that?” he whispered, repeating Mano’s words from yesterday.
Mano shoved him. “Have you lost it? What the hell are you do—”
Ody shoved him right back. Mano hit the wall again, breath catching. “Why do you keep provoking me?” he asked, his voice low, sharper than before. His green eyes locked onto Mano’s with an intensity that made his stomach twist.
“Provoking you?” Mano repeated, completely thrown.
“One minute you talk about how you do it with Ranya. The next, you pin me to a door and ask why I freaked out seeing you naked. Why do you keep provoking me? Weren’t you the one who pushed me away when I kissed you?”
“Shh! Are you insane?” Mano hissed, panic flickering in his eyes. “You can’t say that in here.”
“Answer me!” He slammed both palms into the wall on either side of Mano’s head.
Mano flinched at the sudden movement. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, unable to hold Ody’s stare.
Ody reached out and tilted his chin up with two fingers, forcing their eyes to meet.
Mano’s breath hitched. His hands hovered helplessly at his sides, unsure whether to push, grab, or stay still.
Ody stayed close. “I’m waiting.”
Color spread across Mano’s cheeks. He didn’t know if Ody wanted an answer, a confession, or a reaction he couldn’t give. The closeness scrambled every thought he tried to form.
For a second, neither of them moved. The silence pressed in tight and hot between their bodies. Ody held his stare, watching the way Mano’s throat worked, how his eyes kept flicking down and back up again.
Ody’s mouth twitched, then he laughed. Sudden and sharp.
He stepped back, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe how easily Mano froze.
Mano blinked, thrown completely out of his own panic.
“I won,” Ody said, still laughing under his breath. “You really freaked out.” He let the silence hang for a second, watching the way Mano’s face tightened.
Then he turned away, voice light again. “I’m going back to the pool. You coming?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He opened the door and walked out, letting it fall shut behind him.
Mano stayed against the wall, breathing unevenly. His pulse hammered in his neck, louder than the quiet room around him. Heat crawled under his skin, not from desire this time, but from the sting of being caught off guard. Of losing control, of letting Ody see him flinch.
His jaw tightened. His fists closed.
Ody thought this was a game. Maybe to him it was. Mano hated that he couldn’t treat it the same way. But if Ody wanted to play, then fine.
The game’s on. Let’s see who backs down first.
Chapter 35
When Mano finally headed back toward the pool, the voices reached him before the water did. Laughter, splashing, Ody’s voice loudest of all. As if nothing had happened upstairs. As if he hadn’t left Mano pinned against a wall with his pulse racing.
He forced himself forward anyway.
“Come on, Ody, stop splashing me,” Anna whined, laughing.
Mano stopped a few steps back from the pool. He stared at Ody with a tight, angry look that he never noticed.
