Page 19 of Bloom in Darkness

"Whatever you two finally figured out earlier seems to have helped," Forrest adds, nodding toward Bryn, who is currently tearing the wraps off his hands with his teeth and looking directly at us. "He's walking over here like he has somewhere to be, and he's not heading for the exit, so I'm guessing that somewhere is you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I crack a smile, heat slowly traveling south.

Forrest gives me a look that is entirely too knowing for a man who supposedly doesn't pay attention to his brother's personal life. "Sure you don't."

"Go bother somebody else."

"I am bothering somebody else." His smile widens as Bryn rounds the ring to get to us. "He's about to make that very easy."

People move without being asked as Bryn crosses the floor. Sweat shines across his shoulders and chest, one cheek beginning to darken where Marek managed to catch him, and his wraps hang loose from one hand where he's already started tearing them off. The crowd noise is still deafening, but Bryn moves through it like it isn't there, his green eyes locked on me with a focus that makes the back of my neck prickle.

He stops directly in front of me and catches the front of my shirt, pulling me half a step closer. “Come shower with me.”

Forrest makes a sound beside me that I choose to ignore while I close my hand around Bryn’s wrist and feel his pulse hammering beneath my fingers. “You planning to wash any of Marek off before you get it all over my clothes?”

Bryn glances at the blood smeared along one forearm. “Probably.”

Behind me, Forrest laughs, a deep, genuine sound that carries over the crowd noise. "Don't let him bleed on the good shirts, Caelan. I just had those pressed."

I don't give him the satisfaction of turning around before Bryn leads me toward the tunnel.

The locker room is mostly empty by the time we reach the showers. Steam has already fogged the far mirrors, water dripping somewhere beyond the stalls in an uneven rhythm. Bryn strips the rest of the tape from his hands before we both start stepping out of our clothing.

Bryn steps into the spray and reaches for me before the water has fully warmed. His mouth comes down on mine hard. I let him have the first few seconds exactly as he needs them, taking the weight of his body when he presses me into the tile and curling one hand behind his neck. He tastes like sweat and the faint copper left from a split inside his lip, and when his breath finally breaks against my mouth, I slide my other hand over his ribs.

"Hey, big guy," I murmur. His forehead rests against mine as some of the tension finally leaves his shoulders. I’ve only ever seen him come down this quickly for me and Astra. “Feeling a bit better?”

Bryn hums as his hands settle around my waist. His thumbs move slowly against my sides, and when I turn my face into his neck, another scent catches beneath his.

I inhale again, catching Astra’s scent on him as Bryn tenses beneath me. "You can still smell him?"

"Barely." I let my mouth brush the side of his throat before breathing him in once more. "But yes. He smells good on you."

Bryn watches me closely. "I really didn’t think you’d like him so much.”

I snort and angle my head to look up at him. “Seriously? Babe, listen to the way you talk about him. He’s soft with you and needy, and I can see what he does to you every time you smile at him. Do you know how many times I’ve wanted someone to crawl into my lap just because he wanted to be there? Someone who felt safe enough with me to stay?”

I run my hands over Bryn’s sides. “He’s beautiful. He’s funny when he forgets to guard every word, he notices more than he lets people think he does, and I liked talking to him enough that I nearly stayed on the phone after he fell asleep.”

Bryn's hand slides around to the small of my back. "You could've." His eyes narrow, but the tension in his body has changed. I can feel it loosening beneath my hands, the fight adrenaline bleeding away into something warmer. I lean back against the tile and let him crowd into the space between my thighs.

“I meant what I said earlier, Bryn. Astra isn’t something you bring home and split with me. If something ever happens there, it happens because he wants it.”

Bryn’s hand settles more firmly at the small of my back. “I know.”

“Good, because I’m not waiting around to see whether he makes us legitimate either.” Bryn's expression tightens, so I touch his jaw before he can misunderstand me. "You and me are already something. You finally used enough words to make that clear."

His eyes drop to my mouth. "I meant them." His palm closes around my ass and I grunt before I can help it. Bryn's mouth curves again.

I melt into him, Bryn taking his time as he kisses me, his mouth moving over mine while his hand stays firm around my ass and the other slides up my chest. Astra’s scent still clings faintly to Bryn’s skin. I should’ve figured out sooner that some of what I kept smelling on him belonged to Astra.

Bryn’s hand tightens on my ass before he turns me around. My palms hit the wet tile, water running over the back of my head and down my shoulders while his chest presses along my spine, hot enough that I feel him through the spray. His cock pushes between my thighs, and I close them around him on instinct as he rolls his hips once.

“No lube,” he grumbles against the back of my neck. His fingers spread over my hip, holding me steady while his cock drags forward between my thighs and then back again.

“I’m aware.” I glance over my shoulder, but he’s already looking down between us, watching himself disappear between my legs. “You’re the one who dragged me into a shower like you had a plan.”

Bryn answers by thrusting harder. The head of his cock slides past mine before he pulls back, wet skin dragging against wet skin, and whatever else I was going to say disappears when his other hand slips between us as one thick finger presses against my hole.