16
Chapter 16 Rory
Wakingup to Alek’s naked form standing by his bedroom window wasn’t a sight I got to see every day…but then not every night was like last night. I was still gobsmacked. I couldn’t quite believe things had gone that way. I wasn’t expecting it, even if I ached for it, and I couldn’t have imagined that we would actually all cave to temptation and the burning feelings between us, but we did, and it was…wow. I’d heard that harem sex was something else, and I finally got to experience it for myself. The connection, the phenomenal intensity, the power, the pleasure. Oh my God, the pleasure. That was the strongest drug on the planet, I was sure of it, and I was instantly addicted and needed another hit. I would have done anything…
But of course, that thought left me a little vulnerable and confused. After all, we were at the Astro Games, we were here for a reason, and that wasn’t exactly this. After Alek’s crushing defeat at the hands of the Bear King yesterday, who knew where we stood? What if I was the only one who wanted that to happen again? God, was I really about to make a fool of myself here? I couldn’t bear that idea.
I propped up onto my elbows and glanced around at the others in the bed, but my eyes were drawn to Karly’s sleeping form most of all. She was even more beautiful as she peacefully slept. She looked like an angel. I cocked my head to one side as a nervous smile spread across my lips. As gorgeous as she was, she was at the center of all of this. She was the one I needed to hear from most. What if she ran now that we’d all been intimate? What if the idea of a harem scared her? I’d never considered it myself, but there was something about this particular group that felt really right, which was proven last night. Burning bliss like that didn’t come from nothing. It was chemistry, it was passion, it was…well, feelings. I definitely knew I wasn’t just attracted to Karly. There were some real feelings there for me.
I felt that the moment I first met her. It was like a lightning bolt hitting my chest. I just knew she’d knocked me off my feet for a reason, and that reason was this.
My heart skipped a beat as Karly’s eyes flickered open. I wondered if she’d woken up because she sensed my gaze on her. Almost immediately, she shimmied across the bed closer to me, wrapping her arms around my waist to hold me tight. The feeling of her holding onto me only intensified the addiction I was trying to suppress. I just knew there was something real there. I had never felt like this before and I wasn’t going to be able to cope until I knew how she felt too.
“Morning,” I whispered as we wrapped around one another. “Did you sleep well?”
She nodded against me. “I did, how about you?”
What did that mean? That she was so physically blissed out from the night of fun? Or that she was drowning in love and slept well because of that? How could I discretely find out without making a total ass out of myself?
“Ah, you guys are awake.” Alek smirked as he grabbed our attention. “I was just thinking about ordering some breakfast. Should I get you guys something too?”
“Just coffee for me,” I answered. My stomach was churning too much with the need for answers. I didn’t have an appetite.
“Croissant for me, if you don’t mind,” Karly said. “And a coffee too.”
She turned as we felt movement in the bed. It seemed that Chase and Hatcher had both been disturbed by the conversation, and they got up right away.
“I’m going to pick up my own food,” Chase said with a laugh. “I like a big breakfast and I don’t trust you to get it right, Alek.”
Alek rolled his eyes. “I can handle a food order. But whatever.”
“Have you ever taken a food order in your life?” Hatcher teased. “As CEO of Gemini Liquor, don’t you have a person to do that for you?”
Normally, as a simple mechanic, a conversation like this would make me feel self-conscious, almost below everyone else because I didn’t come from the same background as them. But there was something special about these guys, and they didn’t make me feel that way at all. I could simply continue holding on to the bliss I’d found in Karly, to enjoy the moment as much as I could with everything swirling through my brain. But it was still nice to not feel judged or less than. Alek was this fancy guy with money spilling out of his pockets at all times. He could afford luxuries like private jets and likely never had to worry about paying bills, but he looked at me and treated me like I was his equal.
I waited until the other guys headed down to the breakfast buffet to get us some food, before I finally let out the panicked breath I was holding in. We probably wouldn’t have too long alone together, so this was going to be my only chance to ask what I needed to. As scary as it was, I needed to summon up every bit of courage I had to just get it out in the open. Although Karly’s soft, sweet eyes were not making it easy for me.
“What do you think?” I spoke so fast, my words practically tripped over one another. I was going to have to be a bit smoother than that! “I mean, how do you feel about everything? Like…you know, last night?”
Karly tensed. I hated knowing I was the one to make her feel that way. “What do you mean? It was…great, it was fun.”
“Fun? Only fun?” Yep, my mouth had officially run away from me. I couldn’t control myself. But then this was something I did want to know.
“Well, yeah. I mean…” She pulled back and stared at me. I loosened my grip on her much too easily. I guess I was shocked. “You know fun, right? You have fun?”
“I have fun, but this…” I made a sweeping gesture with my hands. This was a really awkward conversation, and I wasn’t sure I was helping anything. “This is…you know, different.”
Karly slipped further back in the bed, creating a chasm between us. Great, just great. “You are the one who talked about marrying Azariyah last night. You are the one who kept going on about the competition. You want to marry the princess and become the Bear King just as much as everyone else in the competition, right? So it isn’t fair of you to ask me to have feelings for you when you’ve set your sights elsewhere.”
Now I was horrified. “I shouldn’t have to ask you to have feelings for me. It doesn’t work like that. You should just have feelings…”
Karly slipped out the bed and hurriedly pulled her slip dress over her head. “You’re confusing me, Rory. You’re asking all these really heavy questions and I can’t seem to answer them right. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…” She threw her hands in the air in obvious frustration. “We all only just met a few days ago, and it’s been an intense few days. I don’t know where my head is or what I’m feeling. Plus, you are all in the games and we don’t know what is going to happen.”
I tried to reach out to take her hands, to make it better, but she snatched them away. I’d pushed her too hard and now she didn’t want to be anywhere near me. That really hurt me on a level I couldn’t believe.
“Karly, you just sound indecisive,” I snapped. “And that isn’t fair. You can’t be indecisive when there are other people involved, hearts on the line. It isn’t right.”
“Well, it isn’t right for you to ask me this when you’re all competing to marry the princess.”