It did not matter that he had brought some faceless thing into our room hours before, because for Thay, sex wasn’t intimacy. When it was over, it was over. But my sleeping in some otherman’s arms had violated something fundamental about who we were. I knew this because I had spent the entire night trying to get back to him without breaking whatever Wolfe and I were.
“I…” My voice rolled into a stutter when he stood, cloaking me in his shadow. “I missed you,” was a stupid thing to say, but the offset look in my expression must have appeased something growing inside of him because he stepped forward.
“Mmm hmmm,” he nodded, glancing at Wolfe’s door. “Start the shower. I need to talk to Wolfe.”
I glanced behind me at the shirtless man standing in the doorway, observing our interaction. Wolfe was beautiful in the morning; his rugged features made wilder by the disheveled state of him.
“Don’t kill myboyfriend,” I said with a laugh, but Thay didn’t smile. He only dropped his gaze lower to meet the darkness in my eyes. I tilted my head, giving him the look, then turned to Wolfe, who watched me with a playful grin. An expression I was surprised to find, considering I had pretty much run from his bed at first light.
“You’ll learn,” he rasped, throwing his arm around my waist to draw me closer.
The shadow at my back tensed, creating a cold sweep down my spine, but I didn’t turn.
“I’ll learn what?” I asked, allowing the heat from his fingers to ground me, if only a little.
“To stay,” was all he said before pressing his warm lips onto the shape of my mouth.
Maybe I would. Maybe I wouldn’t. But more and more, this man was feeling like mine. Not in the way Thay was, but I could make space. I could love both.
I nodded, slipping the kiss into my back pocket to dream about later.
“I mean it, Thay,” I warned. “Don’t hurt him.”
Thay didn’t speak, but the impulsive way his muscles moved told me the only thing holding him together was my presence. I pretended to close the door to our dorm when I watched him lunge, taking Wolfe by the throat and squeezing until all the color in his face dissolved.
Wolfe wasn’t afraid. He was… ignited.
“You’d better think long and hard before choosing to enter a relationship with her,”Threxsaid, tightening his grip around the rugged line of Wolfe’s neck. “Because you won’t be her boyfriend. You’ll be mine. And I promise I fuck harder, and not in the ways you’d imagine.”
I blinked, heat flooding into places pleasure should never gather. But seeing Thay claim me this way made all my darkness dance.
Wolfe smiled, locking his resolve on the center of the threat. If Thay were the storm, then Wolfe walked through it without flinching.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Thay dropped his head low, hovering over Wolfe’s mouth in a dangerous promise, “I have to go wash your cum off my woman’s body.”
Then, in a slow-motion daydream, Thay kissed him.
Hard.
Deadly.
Broken.
And my thighs lit on fucking fire.
“You don’t get to taste like her.” He took my kiss back, dropping his chin so he could wipe Wolfe’s blood from his lips.
Wolfe released a punchy smile, spitting on the ground. “I’m not going anywhere, Threx,” he growled. “And enjoy washing my cum offourwoman’s body, because we both know I will never have to do that with you.”
“Daphne!” Finn stopped the engine and fell onto the sand. “Are you okay?”
“What?” I asked, staring at the hundreds of unread text messages with a scowl. I did not have Lyla’s number, and besides, even if I did, what the hell would I say? Run?
“Look, I didn’t mean to freak you out this morning. I am sorry.”
Finn searched my expression for signs of disapproval.
“What?” I asked again. “Finn, I’m not mad at you,” I promised. “You slamming a door is the least of my concerns.”