He was the last person I expected to find awake before dawn.
Houston was usually the early riser. My theory was that he used the quiet time alone to plot how to make the rest of our lives hell.
Leaning forward, the faint glow of the LED lights activated by the dark allowed me to see Loren’s tired eyes. I wondered if he’d been up all night and if it was for the same reasons that plagued me?
I’m so sorry.
I couldn’t tell him that, though, because Loren was too used to getting his way. I owed him nothing.
“Are you going to let me through? It’s too early in the morning for your shit, Lo.”
Loren stared at me for several heart-pounding moments before moving his arm. I thought I’d gotten off scot-free when that same arm hooked around my waist and proved me wrong.
I was lifted off my feet before I could tell him to let me go. I was then dragged inside the bunk and the darkness surrounding him.
I didn’t fight him when he placed me on the mattress next to him. Even with all the custom modifications they’d done, the bunks were narrow, and Loren took up a lot of space.
There was nowhere for me to go.
Spooning me from behind, Loren trapped me between his naked body and the wall. Who the hell slept in the nude with other people sleeping less than five feet away? All he wore was his medallion.
“Sorry, were you going somewhere?” the sarcastic ass finally spoke.
With sleep adding an extra dose of gruffness to his voice, my reaction was the same as drinking fine liquor. My belly warmed, and I was drunk instantly. If I were standing right now, I’d be swaying on my feet and then lying about the cause to keep my dignity.
“Yup.” Before I could push his hand away, his arm tightened around me, and I knew it wasn’t a reflex. By now, he knew my natural instinct was to fight even when I didn’t want to. “Do you mind?” I snapped. It was obvious he wouldn’t let go.
“Actually, I do. I’ve been staring at this fucking ceiling and listening to that whore snore all night,” he griped, referring to Rich. “I was finally drifting off when your rude ass stomped through here like you wanted to be noticed.”
“I was not stomping.”
“But you wanted to be noticed?”
I didn’t respond. Whatever I said, he’d find a way to twist it. Unfortunately, my silence spoke louder. I couldn’t see Loren’s face, but I knew he was smug.
“Jericho is not a whore,” I whispered and immediately felt lame. It was the only thing I could think to say with his footlong spreading my ass like a bun. I wanted to see for myself if he was truly as long and thick as he felt.
Please, God, no. It wouldn’t be fair for Loren to be this cocky and back it up.
Houston was big.
Rich was bigger.
Statistically, one of them had to have a little dick, right?
“Defending your boyfriend while you’re spooning his best friend’s dick? Real classy, baby fawn.” I rolled my eyes at his insistence on using a nickname that didn’t make any sense. I’d asked him a dozen times to stop, but he was determined to claim me any way he could.
Was Loren that desperate to have me or using me to provoke his friends? Houston wanted them to keep their hands off, but he never banked on me being the problem. Men never do. It’s why women made better spies and were ten times as lethal.
Rather than waste time explaining that Rich and I weren’t together when he already knew, I decided to kick him while he was already down. Loren’s mind might be sharp, but my claws were sharper.
“Jealous?”
I waited and waited for a response that never came. Had he finally fallen asleep? I tried to peer over my shoulder, but he held me too tight.
“Loren?”
“I don’t answer stupid questions.”
Don’t head butt him, Braxton. “No. You only ask them and then throw a tantrum when you don’t like the answer.”
Loren tucked his face inside my neck with a tired exhale that I felt in my bones. I hated myself even more for being the cause.
As if he could hear my mind turning, he said, “Go back to sleep, baby fawn.”
This time I found myself smiling at the nickname. I hadn’t broken him, after all. “I thought we had an agreement?”