Unbroken

He slid his arm up so that his eyes showed and looked at me. “Sometimes not knowing everything is best, Skye.”

“Why?”

His gaze intensified. “Ignorance is less painful than the truth.” Then he added in a quieter tone, “Isn’t it, Skye?”

I caught his double meaning, and I swiftly looked away, playing with a loose thread on my bedsheet.

What was happening?

Hunter returned with cups and a bottle of who the fuck knew at that point. I stared at his bare back, at the muscles flexing with every movement. I looked away by the time he turned around and served us. He gulped it down in one swig while Leo and I just stared into our cups. I shut my eyes, letting my mind drift, drowning in the light music instead.

Hunter paced the room, knocking back the booze while I passed the cup over to Leo and he situated his and mine on the night table.

“Lay down,” Leo murmured, tugging at my arm. I shuffled closer to him instead, resting my head against his shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.

“Mm,” I moaned, nodding. “I’m good.”

“You feel hot.”

“Because it’s boiling.”

“Have another rinse.” When I didn’t budge. He grasped my hand and tugged. “Come on.”

He picked me up and plopped me back in the bathroom, running a cold shower for me. He shut the door behind him, and I quickly threw my clothes off. I rinsed under the cold spray, shutting my eyes tightly. Being this tipsy meant I was hypersensitive to touch. The shower felt like cold pebbles hitting my skin. I ran it through my hair, sliding my hands across my skin, using the bodywash to rinse the sweat and day from me. I ignored the pleasured flutters I felt every time my fingers grazed the nub of nerves between my legs, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted enough to take the edge off…

I wrapped a towel around my body and stepped out, buzzed and cool. The room was still dimly lit. My steps paused in the centre of the room, catching Hunter’s body standing against the dresser, arms crossed, staring at Leo. Leo was sitting at the edge of the bed, elbows on each knee, face raised to stare back at him.

Another wordless exchange of looks.

Another loaded emotion between the two of them.

I wondered if there was friction between them, but then Leo smiled warmly at me. “Feeling better?”

I nodded. “A little. You should rinse, too.”

He disappeared into the bathroom and ran the shower as I sat down on the bed, my hair dripping on the hardwood floors the only sound in the room. Leo’s music was off, and I missed its gentle beat already. It distracted me from the beating of my heart, intensifying with every second I existed in this room with these guys.

What was happening?I asked myself once again.

My eyes focused on the drops on the floor, though I was very aware of Hunter’s footsteps. He paced the room, stared out the window, paced again. I couldn’t stop looking at him in secret—at his bare torso, at his form that just kept on growing with every passing year.

Then he ambled to me slowly, and suddenly there wasn’t enough air in the room as he stopped before me. I still didn’t look directly at him—too afraid of what I’d find in his face if I did. But I felt him. Felt his hand on my head, running through the wet strands of my hair. He bunched it, tugging sharply so I could look up at him. Light pain shot through my scalp—a promise of pain behind his touch, a pain I felt I would like.

My heart picked up as I stared up at him, catching the edge in his expression—pure, hot need. Desire so thick, I felt the heat all over again. It was nothing a simple rinse in the shower could fix.

It didn’t help he was staring into a mirror when he looked at me. I felt it, too. Knew he could read it in my eyes, could see it by the way I didn’t breathe.

He would fuck me—

He would fuck me, and I’d never recover—

If only I’d let him.

They were waiting.

The shower pipes went off, and he swiftly let go. By the time Leo returned, Hunter was standing in front of the dresser, palms pressed down on it, eyes pinned to a spot.

Tension thickened the air, made my heart flutter with unease.