I let out a groan as my other hand dug into her hair, tugging it, holding her prisoner as our mouths greedily fused harder.
The sound of the water bottle dropping broke us apart again.
“Consider it a favor, Junior.” She sounded confident, but she looked shaken.
“The kiss?” I rasped, mouth swollen from her.
“Yeah.” She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal when we both knew that blood could be shed over us kissing like that. “Just a friend helping out a friend. I couldn’t let you go to bed with her taste still on your tongue. Better you fall asleep with the flavor of someone you hate, don’t you think?”
“Better for my nightmares maybe, sure,” I agreed, and without saying another word, picked up the discarded water bottle and left. I squeezed the plastic so hard it crinkled in my hand, and I knew I would never look at water or plastic again without getting painfully aroused.
I nearly impaled the guest room door when I turned to close it behind me.
And when Serena’s footsteps sounded down the hall and her door shut, I whispered under my breath. “Hate you for as long as we both shall live.”
Chapter Thirteen
Serena
Junior was at breakfast, drinking a cup of coffee when Ash and Claire barged in. None of us had classes today, and typically we hung out together, sparred, shopped, cleaned our guns—not even kidding—but today, Ash looked irritated as he jerked a seat out and shoved a piece of bacon in his mouth with a growl.
“Hangry, party of one,” I sang out.
“Ash, it’s not a big deal,” Claire said softly. She reached for him then seemed to think twice about it and pulled back. “I mean, we just hung out for an hour.”
“An hour,” he repeated. “Without protection. Without me.”
She glared. “Look, I get that I need protection, but you’ve been teaching me, and I’m pretty sure I can take apart ten different sorts of guns and put them back together with a blindfold on.”
He snorted in disgust. Ash was calm until he suddenly wasn’t. It was like once he’d had it, he was done.
He was a perfect mini-me of Chase, gorgeous thick dark hair that the girls went wild over since it was a little on the long side, tattoos peeking out from beneath his collar, a few on his right hand, and those damn Abandonato blue eyes.
It didn’t help that he was arrogant as hell.
But recently he’d been on edge, especially when it came to Claire.
“Guys, don’t fight,” Junior said without looking up from his phone. “It just makes Ash angry, which makes him more hungry, which means he’s going to steal the last piece of bacon and I’m going to have to stab him in the throat, and I promised Nixon no bloodshed this morning, I said it before prayer and everything.”
Ash chose that moment to snatch the last piece and shove it into his mouth then flip him off.
I sighed. “Mature, Ash.”
“She started it.” He pointed at Claire, mouth full. He chewed a few bites. “She thought it would be a good idea to go hang out with Annie and Tank, so she got in their car by herself, disappeared for over an hour without any security, and strolled her ass back to the house while I had a mini-panic attack thinking I was going to find her body in the back of their trunk!”
I made a face. “You do realize that Annie looks like she’d pass out if she saw a gun in real life, right?”
“You don’t know…” His face paled. “…what people are truly capable of.”
“And you do?” Junior asked, this time finally looking up. “What’s this really about, man? Is it about Claire not being safe, or you not being in control?”
“No.” Ash put his head in his hands and gripped his hair. “It’s this really horrible feeling that something bad’s going to happen. Ever since that night, I can’t shake it. I keep having these nightmares about something happening to us. First, it’s to Claire, and then it’s you, Junior.” He locked eyes with him. “Last night it was Serena and Breaker. Violet saw everything. I just—it’s not about control. It’s about not knowing anything and having to just wake up every day prepared for the worst.”
Claire started rubbing his back with her hand. “I’m sorry, I just—think about it from my perspective. This is all really new for me, the way you guys live, and it was nice to go to coffee, talk about movies instead of people plotting our bloody deaths.”
“Shocked,” Junior said dryly. “That you don’t like talking about death. I mean, it’s like my number one favorite thing to do.”
“What’s your second?” Claire frowned.
Junior’s eyes flickered across the table, landed on me for a few heated moments that had me clenching my thighs together. “Kissing, I love talking about kissing and watching a girl’s face go from ghost white to red with embarrassment, then arousal. I like to see her eyes dilate; her tongue slide out and wet her lip in anticipation. You know, boy things.” He winked.