Page 65 of Aviatrix

STILL HUNG UP ON THE COLONEL?

I juggle two cups of coffee as I pad down the corridor toward the room Eli and I are sharing. It’s the first time I’ve slept a solid six hours in over a week. I thought I’d feel rested, but I’m still groggy, yawning every few steps.

Using my hip, I nudge open the door, then stop cold.

Eli’s standing at the dresser, wearing nothing but a white towel wrapped low around his hips, his damp hair clinging to his forehead.

My eyes betray me. I trace the dips and ridges of his stomach, the trail of dark hair that starts at his belly button and disappears into the towel.

Dammit.

My gaze catches on the slight bulge beneath it. And suddenly, I’m back there—my first time. His bed. His hands. The way he took his time peeling away every layer of clothing like I was something sacred. The way his lips worshipped every inch of me before he covered me with his body and made me feel like I was his.

Forever.

But forever doesn’t look the way twenty-two-year-old Kinley imagined.

“My eyes are up here,” Eli drawls, closing a dresser drawer and leaning against it.

I clear my throat and hand him his coffee. “I’ll wait outside while you get dressed.”

I turn to leave, but he calls after me. “Or you could stay. Enjoy the show.”

My hand tightens around the doorknob. It would be so easy to say yes. But no matter how tempting it is, it won’t fix anything. It’ll just complicate things.

“I’m good,” I say, pulling the door open.

“Still hung up on the Colonel?” he asks. The words come out casual, but there’s something raw underneath. Jealousy he’s trying to hide.

I pause, a wry smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Would it make a difference?”

Eli looks away. “No.” But I hear the truth in what he doesn’t say. In the way he won’t meet my gaze. In the tensing of his jaw. It would matter. It would eat him alive if I was still in love with the man who betrayed me by having an affair with his secretary. Maybe Lark took advantage of Gina. Maybe she took advantage of him. I’m not sure it matters anymore.

What does matter is that no one is safe. Not while the constant threat of alien invasion hangs over our heads. Not while the Legion remains an even bigger mystery than it was before. Not while Project Aviatrix is out there, waiting to be uncovered.

And yet, with all that weight pressing down, it’s the smallest ache that won’t let go.

I’m tired. Tired of being stuck between two men who don’t deserve me.

The worst part? Feelings don’t come with off switches. I wish they did.

“I’m not hung up on him,” I say, the sound like steel. “There’s only one thing I hate more than men who disappear, and that’s men who cheat.”

With that, I walk out, leaving the door open behind me.

I want to stay. God, I want to. But forever doesn’t start in a towel. It starts with trust. And that’s still broken.

I head straight for the hangar. For VAL. For a way to stop whatever’s coming.

But before I get there, Frances hollers down the hall, “Captain Quay, it’s the Colonel!”

Amber.

I wonder if Lark has news about his daughter.

I stop and whip around, pivoting toward the office. But not before I catch Eli in the hallway behind me, towel still knotted around his waist.

“Not still hung up, huh?” He scoffs, then turns, disappears inside our shared room, and slams the door.