I relinquish the washcloth and turn, bracing my hands against the granite wall and letting the water sluice down my body. He starts at my neck, using both his hands and the cloth to gently clean my skin, and then he works his way down my back, following the lines of my tattoo as if he were cleaning my real wings. The contact immediately eases some of the strain, and I hate how obvious it is, an audible low hum of relief vibrating in my chest.
Before I can open my mouth to demand for him to start talking again, with a quiver in his voice, he asks, “What did Callie say?”
“What is it with you two?” I mutter, then in a clearer voice, I give the abbreviated version of events. “You fed. Callie’s magic made you both naked. You freaked and threw her out.”
I leave out the irrelevant information, like how she went to Connor afterward, and there’s no doubt what they got up to with the way Callie blushed the next day. God damn, I love the way she turns fucking pink when she gets up to something naughty. I start to think about all the ways I can make her blush but quickly shut those thoughts down because the last thing I need is more stimulation.
Nolan clears his throat as he starts on the scratches low on my back. “That’s pretty much what happened.”
“Don’t make me drag it out of you. You know I hate that,” I grumble, grabbing his wrist and pivoting us so we’re facing each other with his back toward the wall. It’s my turn to use the washcloth on him, scrubbing at the grease on his arms and the blood staining his fingertips. “I’m not an idiot. It’s fucking obvious that you want Callie and not in a friendly way. Don’t pretend that if it was you and me who magically got naked, you wouldn’t have just cracked a joke about cutting down on time and made a run for my dick. This isn’t about her accidentally—which is what it was, anaccident—making your clothes disappear.”
“I know it was an accident,” he retorts. Ripping the washcloth from my hand, he starts washing my chest. He’s not as gentle as he was before, and I wince every time he passes over one of the scratches. He continues, not noticing me at all anymore. “She wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone, but that doesn’t mean… it doesn’t mean there isn’t any fallout from what she does.”
Grabbing his wrists to keep him from moving, I look him straight in the eye and murmur, “Bullshit.”
“What?” he squawks, surprise making his eyes wide and his jaw slack. He wrestles with my grip, but I hold him in place.
“You heard me,” I growl, shifting so we don’t both fall on our asses on the slippery floor. “Callie has done some crazy shit and she owns it, but none of this is about her, not really. Youknowthat.”
“If you know so fucking much, why the hell are we talking about it?” he shouts, his breaths picking up speed and his eyes dilating.
When his entire body starts to shake, I pull him against me, trapping his hands on my chest while my arms wrap around him. In his ear, I whisper, “Because you need to say it. If you don’t face it, it’ll ruin you.”
“It already has,” he whimpers, his tears hidden within the spray of water thumping down on our heads.
“Bullshit,” I counter, eliciting a small laugh while I squeeze him as hard as I can without injuring him.
In a hollow voice, he confesses what really happened. “In my mind, she turned into Gina. One minute, she’s Callie, and I want her so badly that I’m ready to beg for more. I love her and want to make love to her. I’ve been dreaming about it for weeks.” His body stiffens, his muscles as tight as bowstrings, and his fingers dig into my chest like claws. In a strained voice, he continues, “Then wearenaked, and I still want to fuck her, but she’s drugged out on the bite. She reaches for me, and she’s… not Callie anymore. It’s Gina pawing at me, using her magic to finally get what she’s been after for years, and I hate myself because I’m horny and want it.” He gulps for air, choking on his own tears. “I hear her voice, she becomes Callie again, and I’m horrified with what I was ready to do. Then she’s Gina again, and I’m so furious I’m ready to break her neck.” His body shudders, and in a quiet whimper, he begs for understanding. “I had to get away. I had to get her away from me.”
“I’m not blaming you for it,” I assure him, clearing my throat and blinking away the water that’s collected on my lashes. “But you can’t keep going like this. You’re letting that bitch take over your life and keeping you from being with Callie, whom you just admitted to being inlovewith.”
He shakes his head against the crook of my very sore neck—the bastard not bothering to clean up his mess—and murmurs, “It’s more than that. I’m not…”
Gripping his shoulders, I pull back so he can see how serious I am when I say, “No. This is onher.There’s nothing fucking wrong with you. Do you understand?”
Nolan shrugs, clearly not believing me.
“Say it out loud,” I demand, staring unblinking into his eyes. This feels so fucking stupid, but he’s so far removed from the suave, smart-ass I know that if it takes me having to sound like a damn life coach to drag him back to himself, then fuck it, I will.
“This is stupid,” he grumbles, echoing my thoughts, but I refuse to move on until he does it.
Keeping my mouth shut, I let my raised eyebrows and stare down do the talking for me.
“You’re really going to make me say it?” He sighs, his shoulders falling slack under my hands.
I nod.
After releasing an exasperated sigh, he looks just past my shoulder and mutters, “There’s nothing fucking wrong with me.” Then, much louder, he adds, “You’re an asshole.”
“And water is wet,” I reply, pleased to hear that some piece of my friend is back, even if it’s the annoyed version. My voice gentles as much as I’m capable, doing my best to channel Kaleb’s tone with the hard advice Nolan needs to hear. “Look, what the bitch did to you, what she’s still doing to you, is fucked up, but you have to make a choice. Either do something about her or let that shit go.”
Wiping at his face, he moves to the side and laughs sadly. “You make it sound so easy.”
“If it were easy, you would have already done it,” I concede, turning on the showerhead that is fitted into the ceiling.
A whoosh of water drops directly on Nolan’s head. I chuckle as he curses and shoves his hair out of his face. I hand him shampoo because he seriously needs it. The fucker really is a mess.He glares at me, but he also squeezes some of it out, hands the bottle back, and starts scrubbing his scalp.
After putting the bottle back on the shelf where I found it, I lean against the wall and wait for him to rinse out his hair. He gives me a curious look, but I shake my head.No, I’m not coming on to you.
