Phoenix Academy - Lucy Auburn Page 0,46

though I barely feel qualified. "You guys. What's going on?" Their gazes shift away from me. I can tell they're keeping something to themselves. "Whatever it is, just out with it. I don't have time to figure it out."

Sighing, David sets his mouth at a mulish angle. "You won't like it."

"Which is why you should tell me now before I figure it out on my own or force it from you."

"I don't think you'd do that."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I'm tempted to reach into our bond and yank at it. I could do something like that. But he knows I wouldn't unless lives were in danger—which is part of the problem. So I shift my eyes to Reggie, who is steadfastly refusing to look in my direction at all. "Spill the beans, Black."

"Is that a reference to my race?" He puts an exaggeratedly offended hand on his chest, but I just narrow my eyes menacingly until he drops the act. "Fine, fine. But referring to me or my brother by my last name is a bit of a faux pas, Wolfe. What David is not talking about is—"

"We'd agreed we wouldn't push you into anything," David interjects, voice overlapping with Reggie's before he can finish his sentence. "Which is why he shouldn't be flirting with you or touching you intimately. Not while you're still recovering in the infirmary."

I'm touched, but frustrated. Crossing my arms, I stare them both down. "Don't you think those are boundaries for me to be setting? Not the two of you, since it's not your business."

Xavier chooses this moment to stir from his nap, though I have the feeling he's been awake for a while and faking it to avoid the tension. "We just didn't want to push things, since the lake... well." He clears his throat. "We were all equally drugged, but it's still..."

Horror and nausea roll around in my stomach. My voice rises to an uncomfortable octave as I ask, "You didn't think that you raped me, did you?"

The guys all look just as horrified as I feel. David says, "Not in those exact words—"

"We didn't use that word at all," Xavier clarifies. "Just... we didn't want to assume that you'd be okay with everything that happened in Hell happening here, too. Especially with all three of us. We thought you might want to choose."

Reggie adds, "And we didn't want to pressure you. So none of us were supposed to make any overtures. Not until you were feeling one hundred percent. We agreed we'd just be there for you platonically. Which is what I was doing, only David took it the wrong way, because he's an asshole and an idiot."

"You're describing yourself."

"Am I, wolf?" Reggie narrows his eyes and raises his brows. "Anyway, Ari, I hope you don't feel bad about anything that happened... I mean, what we did... together... consensually... I hope..."

"It was consensual!" I flap my hands in the air, feeling heat at my neck as a blush crawls from my temple to my ribs, a truly remarkable feat. "All of it was consensual. I'd wanted—I mean, before the water... I was attracted to you. All three of you. I just didn't have the courage, or experience, to know how to make it happen."

Reggie quips, "It's usually pretty easy. Just unbutton a few buttons on your blouse and it will happen, if you know what I mean." When none of us responds, he clarifies, "My dick will get hard. That's what I mean."

"Gross, Reg." Xavier wrinkles his nose in distaste. "Unnecessary clarification."

"So let me get things clear." David shifts his weight and holds out his fingers, ticking each point off on them as he speaks. "One, you wanted all three of us before we were in Hell. Two, everything that happened there was consensual, though trippy as balls, I have to say. Three, you still want us... question mark? Because that part is unclear, and if we're going to do this thing, it should probably be clarified."

I can feel the weight of their gazes. I can't stop thinking about how they looked for me in the woods, frantic and prepared to charge into Hell itself for me. They may not have been able to see or hear me, but I felt the comfort of their protective presence all the same.

When I woke up in the infirmary to find them around me, it was the biggest relief of my life.

"I love you guys," I tell them, feeling a little more brave now