That slim hand slipped inside my shirt, smoothing over the skin on my chest. Like she knew I needed that touch.
“You want him to be afraid,” she whispered.
“I want him to be terrified.” I pulled in another breath. “He killed my friends, my brothers, without a single fucking thought.”
She pressed into me.
“I’ll never share the details with you.” Those bloody moments that had ripped me apart…I never wanted her to share that nightmare. Never wanted to touch her with that. She’d never know my terror as the bullets ripped into my skin, the hot spill of blood.
She hugged me tighter. “Tell me more about them.”
I stared at the ceiling, wondered how, with all the things I’d done in my life—things only the darkness knew—I’d ever deserved her holding me, comforting me.
“Brent would always start singing when he had a few too many. God, the man could murderYou've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. Austin considered himself quite the ladies’ man, and Gus told the worst jokes.”
And then, holding sunshine in my arms, I told her about my friends.
CHAPTER 15
LILI
Mmm…I felt so warm and so trapped. But in a good way.
I opened my eyes. Sunshine was pouring into the bedroom. I was flat on my stomach, and Cole was lying behind me. Okay, to be fair, he was lying half on top of me, pinning me down. His arm was curled protectively around me.
My heart did a little happy dance. This felt so good. I loved this. I could wake up like this every day.
Careful, Lili. You know what happens when you want something.
Yeah, life usually punched me in the face and took it away.
I ran a finger down his arm. He had a tattoo of some sort of stylized cat with tribal-style markings. It looked badass. I traced the dark ink.
He stirred behind me. I felt that big, strong body brush against me and bit my lip to stifle my moan.
“Hey.” He nuzzled the side of my head, lifting some of his weight off me. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel…” I stopped to consider. “I feel really good, actually.”
“Landon said you could feel groggy.” Cole rolled onto his back.
I sat up and turned. He stuffed a few pillows behind his head, but I was too busy getting an up-close view of that magnificent chest. He’d clearly taken his shirt off at some point. God, there were so many muscles. He was hard everywhere. There was nothing pretty about him—he was all pure male.
“I don’t feel groggy at all.” I plucked at the T-shirt I was wearing. I had vague recollections of Georgie helping me change, and once again, it seemed I’d bypassed my pajamas to wear one of Cole’s shirts.
My gaze drifted over his hard pecs and snagged on the tattoo of the snarling wolf on his chest. Yum. It really suited him. I realized now that the triangle around the wolf was the symbol for the Greek letter delta. For his team. I let my gaze go lower. I clutched my hands together to stop myself from reaching out to touch him.
Then, I noticed the bulge in the front of his black pants.
Oh. My pulse tripped.
“Lili.”
I jerked my gaze back to his face. I knew my cheeks were on fire.
“You have to stop looking at me like that,” he growled. “My self-control is only so good.”
“I can’t stop. I don’t want to stop.”
