Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
“I was thinking about getting something here.” I show Blake the space on my hip that would be covered by most underwear and swimwear.
He trails his fingers over the soft skin there, assessing. “You could have something really nice here. Birds. Butterflies. Flowers. They’ll all work to fill the space.”
“What about an angel?” I ask.
“Yeah. An angel could work. Maybe a sleeping angel, wrapped in its wings.”
I never thought of that before, but that could be exactly the idea that would be perfect.
“Could you draw me something?” I ask him. “I’d like to see your ideas.”
“You want me to be the one to do something to your body that your mom would go ballistic over?”
“I think you already did that,” I laugh. I kiss his concerned grimace and slowly, our mouths start to move in a synchronized way that flicks all my switches back on to go. We have time for more, I think. Time for it to be less frenzied and kinky and more about discovery. I’m hungry to find out what that piercing will feel like in my mouth and to know what other skills Blake has to show me.
Instead of cooking another meal, I make a meal of Blake and he makes a meal out of me. And it’s perfect.
12
KAIN
Coach has a hard-on to hurt us today. Instead of our usual grueling training, he’s testing out some new techniques which have left my muscles screaming and my whole body covered with sweat. I glance around at my teammates, finding ruddy cheeks, filthy training gear, and broken spirits.
All training is good for us, especially the kind that pushes us outside comfortable boundaries, but when we’re all tired beyond capacity, it doesn’t feel positive.
“Fuck,” Dornan grumbles. “If Coach doesn’t sort out his marital problems soon, I swear I’m going to need to get involved. Maybe we could pitch in and send his wife a big bunch of flowers and some chocolates. Maybe that would do the trick.”
“You seriously think he’s taking out his marital issues on us?”
Dornan grimaces, running his shovel hands through his disheveled hair. “I don’t think it, I know it. I heard him on the phone the other day taking an absolute grilling from his Mrs. He’s in the doghouse for sure!”
“That’s the side of relationships I can’t fucking stand,” I say. We start to make our way towards the locker room, following our other lumbering teammates. There’s been a different dynamic since a load of men left at the end of last year. Getting used to the newbies and becoming one of the old-timers feels weird. One more year and I’ll be done with this, but I’m still not certain what I want to do next.
“You with anyone right now?” Dornan asks.
I turn my head to catch his expression and find the corner of his mouth pulled up in a small grin. It’s the kind of grin that tells me he knows something, but he’s not saying. Ellie and Dornan are best friends and Ellie is also friends with Gabriella. There could have been a chain of information flow between them all.
“Not with anyone,” I say.
Dornan nods, making a very fake interested noise which vibrates my nerves. I’m too tired to mess around with this bullshit. If he has something to say, he needs to just come out and say it.
“You want to play games like a girl, Dornan? Or just come out with whatever you’ve got balancing on the tip of your tongue.”
“I may have heard that Ellie has been flipping the dares Gabriella’s way. And that you and your brothers might have been the subject of the dares.”
“Dares?” This is new to me. I thought Gabriella agreed to the deal because it was what she wanted, not because of a stupid game she was playing with her friend. My stomach twists with discomfort, the memory of our morning together suddenly colored differently in my mind.
“It’s just a stupid game. I used to play it with Ellie. When I knew she wanted something but wasn’t brave enough or motivated enough to go after it, I’d dare her. It was a way of encouraging her to live her best life.”
“So that’s what Ellie is doing for Gabriella?”
“Most likely.” He studies me as he holds the door open for me to pass through first. “Ellie’s not a bitch. She wouldn’t encourage Gabriella to do something she didn’t want to do, and Gabriella is pretty headstrong.”
“You can say that again,” I mutter.
“So, you guys are banging?” Dornan’s grin is so mischievous that I can’t be mad at him for asking very personal questions. If the subject of his interrogation was anyone other than Gab, I wouldn’t care about spilling all the gory details, but I want to protect her from the locker-room gossip if I can.
“Dude. She’s a good friend of mine. Even if I was, I wouldn’t share it with you.”