Page 28 of Embers

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KOLE

It’s late. Luther has downed half a whiskey bottle waiting for Nova and Mack to return, and Sam’s been out in the woods so long I’m starting to worry where he got to. Opposite me, Tanner sighs and shoves his coffee mug across the table. “Fuck,” he says. “Shouldn’t they be back by now?”

“It’s not midnight yet. Give them a chance.” I sit back in my chair. Every time I look across the living room, I see the last time the three of us were together. When we were playing with each other like there was nothing else to think about. When I hung her upside down and buried my face between her thighs. Before I lost it and sunk my teeth into her neck.

I must have been licking my teeth because Tanner says, “You still want her?”

I inhale slowly and lean onto my elbows. “When I’m near her, I wanther.” I steeple my fingers together. “I don’t think about…” I pause.

“Her blood?” Tanner finishes for me.

I nod. “That happens when we fuck. When she comes. When she melts around me… it’s intoxicating.”

Tanner adjusts himself under the table. Before Nova came into our lives, we’d have blown off steam together at a time like this. Now, it feels wrong doing it without her. Like she was the missing piece we needed to complete us.

On the couch, Luther starts to snore and drops his whiskey glass from his hand. “Shit,” Tanner says, “what are we going to do about him? He’s driving himself crazy.”

“Not much we can do. He needs to talk to Nova.”

“I think he did a little more than that.” Tanner picks up a handful of potato chips and starts crunching on them loudly. He watches my face for my reaction.

“What?”

“This morning. I sensed something between those two. Something that wasn’t there before.” He shrugs. “Could be wrong, but didn’t you wonder how the bathroom mirror got broken?”

Something bubbles deep in my chest. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m shoving my chair back so hard it clatters to the floor and striding to the couch. Tanner calls my name, but I ignore him. I grab Luther and throw him to the floor. He wakes up, scrambling to his feet.

“What the fuck, Kole?”

“You fucked her?” I slam my hand around his throat and squeeze. “After everything we said, you fucked her?”

Luther starts to cough. He could burn my hands off his throat, but he doesn’t. Tanner watches us. After several long moments, I let go and shake my arms at my sides. “Fuck, Luther, why?”

“Because you’re right!” Luther yells so loudly the walls of the cabin rattle. “You’re right. I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t get her out of my head.” He taps his forehead hard with his index finger. “She’s in here, twenty-four-seven. Even when I was inside her, it felt like it wasn’t enough.” He laughs loudly and reaches for the whiskey bottle.

I swipe it from his hands. The anger beating in my ribcage is subsiding. “So, then why are you torturing yourself?”

Luther opens his mouth to answer me, but no sound comes out.

Stepping between us, Tanner says, “Because he’s fucked up, Kole. Just like the rest of us. He’s got demons living in his head the same as you and me. Only his demons come in the shape of humans, so the fact he’s falling for one is a head-fuck.” He looks at Luther. “That about sum it up?”

Grimacing, rubbing his palm over his shaved head, Luther nods. “Just about.”

Watching my friend’s face crumple, I sink to the couch and lean onto my thighs. “Shit, man.”

“Yeah. Shit.” Luther sits opposite me on the coffee table. After a few seconds, he meets my eyes. “I won’t hurt her,” he says. “I might be handling this all kinds of wrong, but I won’t hurt her.”

I shake my head at him then hand Tanner the bottle. “Ditch this,” I tell him. “Down the sink. It’s making things worse.”

Luther looks like he’s about to object but decides against it.

“I’ll make more coffee.” Tanner takes the bottle to the kitchen and puts the kettle on the stove.

When he returns with three mugs of terribly made coffee, he sits next to Luther. “So,” he says, “how’d it happen?”

Luther glances at me.

“Might as well tell us,” I say. “I’ve got the visual anyway.”


Tags: Cara Clare Fantasy