Page 33 of False Catch

"What did he say to you this morning?" I ask instead.

Gray's expression shutters. "Nothing important."

"You're lying."

"Let it go."

"No. If this affects the team—"

"Everything affects the team." He's close enough now that I can feel his heat. "You being here affects the team. You leaving your scent all over Quinton affects the team. You pretending we're just nine people who row together affects the team."

"We are just—"

"We're not." He cuts me off. "We haven't been since the moment you walked into that boathouse. We're something else now. Something that scares the administration, that threatens people like Quinton, that makes us vulnerable."

"Then maybe we should stop."

"Can you?" His voice drops. "Can you walk away? Pretend you don't feel it? This thing that pulls us together?"

I want to say yes. Want to lie.

But Jackson's on the deck ready to commit murder over Quinton walking me home. Bo made sure I had breakfast when I couldn't sleep. Eli kissed me like I was the answer to a question he'd been asking his whole life. And Gray... Gray looks at me like I'm both his salvation and his damnation.

"No," I admit. "But that doesn't mean we should give in to it."

"Even if fighting it is tearing us apart?"

Before I can answer, someone pounds on the door.

"Team meeting," Bo calls. "Dinner's getting cold and we need to talk about tomorrow."

Gray doesn't move. Neither do I.

"Five minutes," Gray calls back.

Bo's footsteps retreat.

"He's going to hurt you," Gray says quietly. "Quinton. Whatever game he's playing, you're going to get hurt."

"I can take care of myself."

"I know." He reaches up, thumb brushing my cheekbone so gently it aches. "That's what terrifies me."

He drops his hand and steps back. "We should go down."

"Gray—"

"We have bigger problems than Quinton right now. Martinez starts monitoring us Monday. We need to figure out how to row like a team instead of a pack, or we lose everything."

He's right. But as I follow him downstairs, I can't shake the feeling that Quinton was right too.

Sometimes protection and possession do look the same.

The question is: which one am I experiencing?

And which one do I want?

CHAPTER NINE