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“You going to help me in the shower too?” I try to joke. “Wash my hair and everything?”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “You say that like I won’t.” Kade lowers his face, pressing his lips against my hair. “Or are you thinking about the last time I took you in the shower?”
My face flushes, and I close my eyes. “Evidently,youare.”
He chuckles, then kisses my cheek. “Always. I’m never not thinking about the next time I’ll get to have you.” His grip on my waist tightens. “But I don’t think you’re ready for that yet.”
No. I suppose I’m not.
Kade helps me to my room and into the bathroom, where he pulls my pants down until I can step out of them as I hold onto his shoulders. I lift my arms over my head, wincing at the ache in them, and he quickly pulls my sweater off, dropping it on the floor. He lifts me onto the vanity without any effort, leaving me sitting there for a few seconds while he turns on the shower and pulls out fresh towels, setting them next to me. His hands find my thighs, warming my bare skin while steam fills the room around us, but his eyes don’t wander. He holds my gaze, those bright silver eyes flicking between mine.
“What?” I ask in a low voice, my cheeks filling with heat.
The corners of his mouth curve up. “I’m glad you’re back.”
I blink in surprise. I’m not sure what I was expecting him to say, but apparently not that. “I…” I can’t say it back. Because as much as I’m glad not to be locked up with Selene, I still have a lot to work through with the guys before I get to a place where I’m glad to be here.
“It’s okay.” He reaches up and tucks my hair behind my ear. “We have a lot to discuss—when you’re ready.”
My brows pinch closer. “We do?” I ask, hoping he’ll offer more than that.
Kade nods, then lifts me off the counter, keeping his hands on my waist even after my feet are planted on the floor. “When you were gone, the four of us agreed it’s time. No more secrets.”
I drop my gaze so he doesn’t see my eyes widen. “Oh.” I’m finally going to get some answers, to understand what’s truly going on here. It’s what I want, and yet, there’s a newly forming pit in my stomach telling me that I might not be ready for it.
“Do you want me to help you into the shower?” he asks.
I meet his gaze again. “You’re asking this time?”
He smirks. “Yeah. Don’t get used to it. I’m being nice because you’re all sad and hurt.”
I laugh—actually laugh. It’s the first time in… I can’t even remember how many days. The sound of my own laugh is foreign to my ears. “You’re such a gentleman,” I remark dryly.
He tweaks my chin. “We both know that’s not true.” He glances toward the shower before looking back at me. “You’re good then?”
“You’ll hear if I fall on my ass.”
Kade leans in and presses his lips against my cheek. “Take your time and holler if you need me.”
I nod silently and watch him leave the room, pulling the sliding door shut. With a deep breath, I step away from the support of the vanity and slowly make my way into the shower, where I proceed to spend the next hour washing every bit of me until I finally feel as if I might have cleaned the time I spent with Gabriel’s sire off my skin.
Showered and dressed in my own clothing, I feel significantly better. The hot water eased the aches and pains in my muscles, and the fog in my head seems to have mostly cleared. I think I’m even a little hungry.
I walk out of the closet and freeze when I step into the bedroom and find Atlas standing in the corner, looking out the window with his back to me. My eyes immediately go to the door to the hallway, finding it shut. “What are you doing?” I finally ask.
Atlas turns to face me, and even from across the room, his dark silver gaze does things to me I don’t want to think about. Because I am still very much pissed at him, and despite thinking of him while I was trapped at Selene’s, I find myself fighting the urge to scream at him.
“Waiting for you,” he says in a tone that suggests his answer is quite obvious.
My eyes narrow. “And you felt the need to do that in here?”
He crosses the room at an unhurried pace, closing the distance between us as he says, “Considering I own this house, I can do whatever I like,whereverI like.”
I fold my arms over my chest, refusing to back away even when he stops so close I can feel his breath against my forehead. I stare at his chest, the sharp, black V-neck shirt he’s wearing. “What do you want, Atlas?”
“Right at this very moment?” He snags my chin before I can turn away and forces my gaze up to his. “I’d like to wring your neck for taking off, for running away instead of facing what you found.”
My brows shoot up as anger flares to life in my chest. I smack his hand away and step back, glowering at him. “Excuse me?”
