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“What? That’s what they do in the movies.”
“He tried.” She laughs. “Total player. But I made him work for it.”
I’m jealous. I don’t like it, but it’s there, boiling in my stomach.
Fuck her husband and the gurney he rode in on. He’ll never stick his dick in her again.
“Denver said he saw me the first time in the hospital.” She watches our expressions.
Mine fails to hide my surprise. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He said he was fishing in Sitka two years ago and came in with a kidney stone. I didn’t meet him.” Her posture withers. “But he noticed me.”
News to me. I didn’t realize he traveled that far south. But he goes where the fish bite so…
“A kidney stone?” Leo glances at me, confusion etched across his features before he wipes it away and lifts a shoulder. “He’s old. Probably has hemorrhoids and cataracts, too.”
“You don’t know where he goes when he leaves.” She sits up, eyes flaring. “He doesn’t tell you.”
“Why would he?” He mirrors her posture, his fuse lit. The shortest fuse in existence.
“He keeps things from you.”
He tsks. “Insignificant bullshit.”
“You want to leave. You want out of this godforsaken hell, and he won’t let you.”
“Who says I don’t leave?”
“I do.” She stands, hands anchored on her luscious hips.
I should probably deescalate the situation, but I really want to see how it plays out. They’re either going to fuck or throw punches. I’m rooting for both at the same time.
“This is exactly why you shouldn’t be breathing.” He rises to his full height.
“Why? Because I stand up for myself?”
“You don’t belong here.”
“I don’t want to be here!” she screams, throwing out her arms. “What are you going to do about it? Hurt me? Or get us the fuck out of here?”
“No one is leaving.”
“You’re a fucking coward.”
He lunges.
“Okay, enough,” I jump between them and ram into his chest, shoving him backward.
He fights me for a moment, swinging his dumb arms. I catch his nose with my fist, hard enough to snap him out of his tunnel vision.
“Stop.” I grab his face, forcing him to look at me.
Raging, he shoves away and rubs his mouth.
“Apologize.” She walks right up to him like he’s not about to go full Hulk on her ass.
“Excuse me?” His head jerks back.
“Apologize for the threats you’ve made against my life and the way you’ve treated me since day one.”
He laughs, hollow and vibrating with evil. “Go fuck yourself.”
“You will.” She smiles. “One day, you’ll crawl to me on your fucking knees, begging me to forgive you. But it’ll be too late. You will be the one fucking yourself.”
Extending her middle finger, she walks out the door and slams it behind her.
“Goddamn.” I’m in love.
“We need to give her a weapon.” He flexes his hand.
“Good idea.” I nod. “She shouldn’t be walking around outside by herself without—”
“Something sharp. With any luck, she’ll trip and fall on it.”
16
Kodiak
—
Civil twilight blankets her sleeping form in shades of red and sets her fiery hair ablaze.
I stand beside the bed, my legs growing numb with inactivity. How long have I been here without blinking or moving a muscle?
Why do I keep coming back, night after night?
I work my jaw. This is my room, dammit.
With a jolt, she flails her legs and balls her hands in the sheets. Several gasps later, her body relaxes, and her breathing returns to a deep, steady rhythm.
Another dream.
I’m tempted to throw her over my shoulder and haul her down to Denver’s bed.
He’s biding his time, waiting for one of us to make the first move.
Who will give in first?
It won’t be me.
I want no part of this.
She twitches again, whimpering, and her legs saw together like she’s running from something. The covers slide free, exposing satiny thighs beneath the hem of her shirt.
Then she falls still again.
Why do you kick so much in your sleep? Are you always this restless?
Maybe it’s the bed.
Or the room.
It’s definitely Hoss.
Beyond the window, the tundra lies eerily still, the black silhouettes of endless hills rippling toward the blood-red horizon.
Inside, no one stirs. Not a creak nor a snore disturbs the silence.
But this place, it never sleeps. When the lights go out, the very walls come alive, possessed with hellish memories that invade the subconscious and put even the hardest sleeper on edge.
I’ve never slept hard. And now, without my own space, I can’t sleep at all.
She kicks again and flops to her stomach, her breaths shortening, coming in bursts. But her sounds fade to the back of my mind as I home in on the skin no longer hidden by her shirt.
Round, tight, milky-white cheeks clench with restlessness. Her underwear hikes up both sides, hardly enough fabric to serve a purpose. It covers her crack and molds the juicy, supple flesh between her legs. It doesn’t conceal. It tantalizes.
Heat surges south, hitting me where it hurts. Hard as steel, I can’t stop myself from lowering to my haunches and putting my face inches from the sloping mound of her rear.
