Page 40 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

Yun was right, of course, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it. It still felt like a ploy, like something she was forcing herself to do. After everything she’d gone through, the last thing I wanted was for her to ever feel as though she were being forced into guiding. I never wanted her to associate us with what Corsa had done.

The idea alone made the soup threaten to vacate my stomach.

“You don’t look up for it,” Ingram said.

She looked across the table, meeting Ingram’s gaze head-on. “I’m just anxious, okay? About being here, about all of this. The only thing I can do is guide you all, so please, let me do it. Besides, what if…?” She didn’t finish the statement.

She didn’t need to.

The fears that swarmed her spilled out from her expression. What if we don’t make it back? What if this is the last time?

Any of us could have reassured her, but we didn’t. I didn’t want to lie to her, and none of us knew for sure how it would go. I didn’t like the idea of false hope, of offering that up in place of real solutions or help. Yun deserved more than that, after all, especially from us.

This went beyond guiding—this was Yun reaching out, trying to grab onto us when other things drifted away from her, when she felt lost.

And no matter what else happened, I had a feeling we’d always reach right back to her.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Carter

I’d learned to trust my instincts. They rarely steered me wrong, after all, especially with all my powers and skills.

However, they seemed useless when it came to Yun.

They screamed in my head—this is a bad idea. They said there was something else going on, but I ignored them. Who wouldn’t, when Yun removed her shirt as she walked out of the kitchen, the line of her back somehow sexier than any other woman had ever been in my entire life?

Something was off with her, but fuck it. We could work it out later. Maybe this was what would help her? Fuck knew sex could distract a person, make them feel less alone, less isolated, and sometimes that was all they really needed.

And if using guiding and sex as a distraction was what Yun needed, well, I was more than happy to provide.

First, though, I peered over at Shear for confirmation. He might be trying to stay out of her head, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t sense her feelings, that he couldn’t gain some sort of idea of if we needed to worry.

“She’s anxious,” he said. “She isn’t lying about that. I think she’s just overwhelmed.”

“So this is fine?” Ingram asked.

“I think so. I’ll stay focused in case she starts to panic, give you a heads up if it happens.”

I nodded, figuring that was the best we could get. It was better than most couples got, after all, the ability to head off a panic attack should she go downhill.

That was good enough for me, so I rose, my lap still warm from where she’d been. Chairs scratched against the tile behind as I followed Yun.

I had a feeling I’d never stop following her, and for the first time, I thought that seemed like a rather nice way to spend my life. It had only been fighting before, just waiting until combat or corruption got me, filling the days and months and years with whatever quick pleasures would distract me.

Yun offered me the first chance in my life when I felt like I could do something else, be someone else. My end would come all the same, but at least I’d fill the time until then with something that mattered.

My senses made following her easy enough, and the trail of clothing helped as well, like breadcrumbs to lead me to my treasure. She’d dropped her shirt, toed off her shoes, taken off her pants, her underwear, and even her bra hung over the back of a couch like the best tease.

“My math isn’t that good,” Kenyon whispered from behind me when I paused to look at the basic white fabric, still warm from being against her skin. “But I’m pretty sure that’s everything she was wearing…”

“Yeah, that’s all of it,” I agreed. “That means she’s past that door, naked and ready and waiting.” My voice grew husky all on its own when I said that, as though my brain just got a glimpse of that and didn’t find a thing to complain about with the sight.

“Taking too long.” Ingram traveled past us, through the door without opening it, the impatient, cheating bitch.

I swung the door open, but instead of the cool, suave person I wanted to portray myself as, the one I usually had no problem being, the slamming of the door into the wall sort of ruined that. Even still, I leaned against the frame as though it had all been on purpose.

Ingram had Yun against him, his lips to her throat. She jumped, looking over toward me, but the lust in her eyes removed any doubts I had about this.