I fight to drag in the air I need as my head begins to spin.
My fingers curl around the edge of the counter as I try to force my legs to hold me up and get myself under control.
The water cuts off down the hall, and I know I need to move. I can’t be caught snooping. I’m already in enough shit. Potentially a hell of a lot more than I bargained for when I saw a way to get out of Daemon’s flat yesterday. But that’s all I wanted. An escape. I didn’t want to—
A sob erupts from my throat, pain slicing through my chest at the harsh reality of this situation.
But then, just as I’m about to close down the app and run back to the sofa to pretend nothing has happened, dots start bouncing on the screen.
“Oh my God, oh my God.”
The wait for the words to appear takes forever as the sounds of Alex moving about behind me increases. He’s going to be out here any minute and I’m going to get caught and—
Daemon: I’m good. Long weekend. Popped a pill and crashed.
“Holy fuck,” I gasp.
“If you need someone to talk to, you’re more than welcome in my boudoir, baby C.”
Squeezing my eyes closed for a beat, I try to pull myself together.
“I’m good without a visit to your herpes-infested bed, thank you very much,” I call back, much to his amusement.
Finally, I close down the app and put his phone back to sleep. I cringe that Alex isn’t going to see that message alert and will still be worrying about his brother, but there’s not much I can do about it right now.
I’m still standing in the kitchen like a spare part when Alex reappears dressed in a pair of grey sweats and a white, skin-tight shirt.
I stare at him with a smirk.
“Nice choice of outfit,” I mutter, trying not to blatantly stare at the more-than-obvious outline of his dick through the fabric. “You could have put underwear on, though.”
“Why would I do that?” he asks smugly. “You okay?” he asks, his eyes bouncing between mine.
“Yeah, I was just getting a glass of water.” I smile sweetly at him, hoping that he’ll buy my bullshit.
He studies me for a beat and I hold my breath, waiting for him to call me out, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he steps forward. His freshly showered, sexy boy scent hits my nose, and fuck if it doesn’t make my mouth water.
I’m so lost in him for a beat that I don’t notice that his attention has dropped from my face. That is, until the heat of his fingers burns my neck.
“Calli?” he growls, his brows pinching as he stares at—
“Fuck,” I hiss as his thumb brushes over what I know is one of the brightest hickeys I had to fight to cover up this morning.
“Who did this?”
My heart rate spikes, and I have no doubt he can feel it against his fingers that are now wrapped around the side of my neck.
I stare into his concerned and possibly jealous grey eyes, begging him not to do this.
“Alex, please can we not—”
“Who, Calli? Who marked you?” he forces out through gritted teeth.
His grip on me tightens, and it does little to calm my racing heart.
“It doesn’t matter. Please, just leave it.”
I try slipping from his hold, but he’s having none of it. His other hand clamps down on my hip, his grip just a touch too harsh to be friendly.