And I think Synder sees that.
Leavon’s fingers pull at the neck of my cotton shirt. It rips there with ease beneath his strength. His icy hands are like spiders crawling down my back, and all I can think of are the times he used me to forget himself. The nightmares I wanted to keep covered come clawing up through layers and layers of dirt that I’ve buried them under.
I can’t breathe.
Synder’s touch turns gentle against my hips. He pulls me close, but it isn’t demanding. It’s entirely calming.
“Focus on me,” he whispers like a prayer against my ear.
My lashes flicker open and then closed, and I nod hard to him. I can’t stop nodding. I can’t—I can’t.
I slam my lips to his. Tension lines his entire body as he holds me loosely and waits. But for what, I don’t know. I part his lips with a flick of my tongue, and he takes me in without question. All the shitty things we’ve said to each other aren’t spoken. They aren’t thought of at all.
Because he feels good. His fingers press harder to my hips, but he doesn’t drag me against him. He doesn’t pin me down and fuck me until he’s done.
He simply lets me lose myself in him.
The protection of my thin shirt falls low, exposing myself, but it doesn’t matter. Because Synder melds into me, covering my nakedness with his smooth, hard chest. But it doesn’t stop the cold, crawling fingers from slipping between the heat of our bodies. Big hands cover my nipples, rolling them and teasing them and making me kiss the beautiful man in front of me even harder. I kiss him like I want to fall into him and hide.
Lips brush against my ear, kissing lightly there before the creeping waft of his breath meets my skin once more.
“Give me your word you’ll protect Ivy, and I’ll give you so, so much, Trix,” Leavon promises like a fool who doesn’t know I’ll protect Ivy with my last dying breath.
But I want nothing from him.
Especially this.
Synder pulls back from me, leaving me gasping against his lips as he stares his starry gaze into my big, pleading eyes.
“She’s friends with the girl,” Synder says suddenly. Betrayal is a word screaming out to me over and over in my mind. He’s going to betray everything he knows about me in this very moment. “I think—I think something like this might cause jealousy or issues between them,” Synder explains.
I blink at his expression, but he’s ungiving of any emotion.What is this cruel Monster thinking, and why did he say that?
Leavon’s assault against my breasts halts immediately. He stares blankly over my head like he’s lost in thoughts he’ll never be able to climb out of.
“Fucking her roommate will cause problems between the two women, My King,” Synder explains rather harshly.
Leavon drops my breasts like he doesn’t know how they got in his grubby little hands to begin with.
“Leave me,” Leavon orders like a true king of commands. He turns his back on me and strides to his bed.
Synder’s palms slip away somewhat regretfully, and I can’t explain the feelings tangling inside of me.
Thank you, I mouth to him.
As always, his blank expression reveals no hint of his thoughts. He isn’t a kind man who does kind things. But for some reason, he protected me from Leavon.
And I’ll always remember that.
With my hand covering my torn shirt against my chest, I slip past him. I pull open the door with the means of rushing down the dark corridor and never looking back.
Except I do.
And when I peer back over my shoulder, those starry eyes are watching me.
Until I’m entirely out of sight.
Chapter Ten