11
CASSIDY
Steele let out a heavy sigh and then stood off to the side to let whoever was at the door into the room. I sucked in breath and stared at him in shock. Part of me believed it was Xander and Steele had given up on making him go away. But the second my eyes took in who they were, my anxieties spiked even higher.
Dallas and Malachi stepped into the room, moving past Steele, who held the door open for them. Dallas met my gaze as he walked by the bathroom. His eyes were full of concern as they took me in within those brief seconds.
Under different circumstances, I would be happy that they were here. But we weren’t under different circumstances, and I wasn’t thrilled to see them. Not by a long shot.
Now more than ever, I needed to leave. These men… I had no idea what to think about them. But with Xander close by, their presence was too much. They were practically begging him to come back.
What a freaking nightmare, and I was stuck with no hope of ever waking up.
I finished throwing all of my toiletries into my bag and carried it out of the bathroom. I set the bag with the others and headed deeper into the room to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
The second I lifted my gaze. I halted. Steele stood in front of the bed, arms crossed over his chest, staring at me with his bright green eyes. Dallas sat on the foot of the bed. He leaned on one knee, with his body twisted toward me. His dark blue eyes shone like sapphires in the light of the room as they took me in. His mouth curved up at the corner in a devious sort of grin. And Malachi lounged on the bed with his back against the headboard. He winked a light blue eye at me and settled his arms behind his head. His legs were crossed at the ankles, and he seemed like he belonged there. Almost like I had pulled the men out of magazines and magically made them come to life in the middle of my hotel room.
The way each of them stared at me was startling and the emotion behind them was even more so. It was suddenly much harder to breathe than it was seconds ago. And I’ve had a great deal of difficulty in that department to last me a lifetime.
Steele gestured toward the room. “Come. Sit down. Let’s figure this out together.”
I shook my head, meeting his beautiful gaze. “I don’t have time for this.”
“Why not?” Dallas asked, pulling my attention to him. “We came all this way too.”
“That’s why,” I snapped and started rushing through the room, looking into every drawer I could find. “You three have a serious death wish I want no pat of.”
Steele huffed and caught the men up on what had just transpired. I stopped in my search halfway through the explanation and watched the other two men’s reactions. I didn’t know why. I supposed it had something to do with a general curiosity. After all, what could have possessed these men to be invested in my life? It didn’t make sense. They didn’t know me, and I certainly didn’t know them.
Sure, we had some amazing, mind-blowing sex, but that didn’t give them a key into my life.
Then again, there was something about them. I found myself wanting to judge their reactions to see if they were different than the other men I’ve dated. Not that I thought we were dating, but Malachi didn’t seem to hide the fact that he wanted more than one night with me. It might have been the same with the other two as well.
Or we could just call it deadly curiosity.
Dallas stiffened and stood from the bed. He stormed to the patio door and shook his head as he listened.
Malachi sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and stared at some invisible spot on the floor somewhere between standing up and staying seated. He lifted his hardened gaze to mine. His jaws clenched and once Steele had finished his story, Malachi’s gaze met mine.
“I’m sorry. I failed you.”
I gaped at him. A pinch entered the center of my forehead. “What?”
He stood and closed the gap between us. His eyes were intense as they took me in. And his lips were so close to mine as he leaned in and whispered, “I should never have left you.”
“Why did you?” I asked before squeezing my eyes closed, pulling my hand from his, and adding, “Never mind. I don’t need to know. I have to go.”
I had to figure out a way to stop Xander for good. Not stand around and fall victim to my raging hormones again. No matter how tempting it was to stay with these men. Thanks to their appearance in my life, they were also now on his list. And I wasn’t about to stand by and let them get hurt because of me.
This whole vacation was such a massive mistake. I wished I had never made the decision to come. My life had just gotten so much more complicated than I wanted to deal with.
I tried to step around Malachi, but he caught my wrist and pulled me closer to him, pressing my back against the chest of drawers that sat in the room.
“Why do you have to leave?” he asked. His voice was deep, low, and sent shivers through my body and set goosebumps to pop up all over my skin.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough for one day, Malachi?” Steele asked. His voice came from very close by. Almost as though he was standing next to us. I wanted to look just to be sure, but I was stuck in Malachi’s gaze.
Malachi smirked and pulled away. He settled his gaze on Steele’s, who stood less than two feet away from us. “What is that supposed to mean?”