Page 110 of Resurgent

Korr begins to sigh deeply, but she nudges his arm, interrupting him while giving him a look I know he won’t be able to resist.

“Please trust me. He’s not going to say anything.”

“Of course not. I’m not a monster.” I pause. “…But I am absolutely going to mock you about it for as long as she lets you stick around.”

Annalise points toward the hallway. “Five minutes.”

“Three,” I counter.

“Five.”

“Fine,” I sigh dramatically.

I start backing toward the door, then stop and look at Korr again.

“You know what the funniest part of this is?”

His eyes narrow slightly. “What?”

“I used to wonder what it would take for you to take your dick out of your ass.” I gesture toward Lee. “Turns out, you just needed her grinding against it in your lap.”

The cheeriest laugh bursts from her lips, and I mentally check the box for today—my mission to make her smile every day might come a little easier with the new recruit.

Korr exhales slowly through his nose, and I grin as I step outside.

Best brunch pickup ever.

Chapter thirty-two

Annalise

“Annalise—” Hunt says, lowering his forehead to mine as he lets out yet another exhausted breath caused by Matt's unexpected arrival.

“We have to be careful from here on out, though, okay?”

Reality crashes back, and I repeat my mantra once more. “Careful because you’re still an instructor, and I’m still a recruit.”

He nods. “We can’t get caught. Not by staff, not by other recruits, not by anyone. It wouldn’t just look bad; the punishment would be worse than death.”

I swallow hard, letting his words really sink in. “So, what do we do?”

Korr leans in, voice low and sure, as if he’s already made peace with the risk. “We keep it quiet. We take it slowly. And we don’t let anyone see anything they shouldn’t. I'll treat you the same way I treat every other student.”

“No, Hunter, you treat me worse," I say, the consequences for both of us far too great than to commit fully. "Make them think you hate me.”

“I won’t do that. I can’t do that to you, not after what you’ve gone through.”

A scoff pushes at my lips, but I know he's seen too much to fall for a false bravado at this point. “I’m not saying torture me, but criticize me, make me work harder…hell, I planned to up my training as soon as I’m allowed to, so you won’t be doing anything that I don’t already want.”

I see the battle happening in his eyes, so I add, “If you want to see where this is going, those are my conditions. I won’t risk your life or mine.”

He slowly shakes his head, and I know I’ve already won. “Okay, I’ll do my best to be an asshole to you.”

“Keep being an asshole, you mean.” I giggle, then ask the question I really need the answer to. “If this is happening, what happens when I graduate? You obviously know about my sentencing...”

I know I could be dooming the relationship before it starts, but I don’t want to be blindsided again just because I was too afraid of the answer to ask the damn question.

The room goes still, the air charged and bright, and terrifying.