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He nodded once, then turned to the other guys. “Any ideas for the new Elite’s initiation?”
My shoulder’s sagged in relief, eyes once more finding the stairs.
Four of the guys started throwing out ideas as they went into the living room, but Wes lingered at my side.
“Max’s room is at the top of the stairs. Win’s is the one beside it.”
My whole body reacted, turning toward his words. “What?”
He half smiled. “You want to check on him. Go.” Without another word, he left me alone in his kitchen.
I stood there silently fighting with myself. Trying to deny the urge to do what Wes said.
But in the end, there was no denying it. The tug in the center of my chest was just too powerful. The look on his face when he expected me to collapse was just too raw in my mind.
With every step, my stomach fluttered more and more, and when I reached the top of the stairs, I was fully nauseated. My hands felt clammy, and I wiped them across my jean-clad thighs. Just like Wes said, there was a room directly across from the top and then off to the right was another room, the door closed.
Just knowing he was right there, just that door separating us, tossed my knotted stomach up into my throat. I turned to flee, my hand grasping the round finial at the top of the railing. My foot paused in midair, hovering over the top step. The low hum of voices on the other side of the wall called to me, stopping me in my tracks.
I knew I shouldn’t. I absolutely should not.
We already established that I was shit at protecting myself.
And so I did.
Walking quickly across the hall, I grabbed the knob and twisted, the door swinging in with no resistance. The voices hushed, and I slid inside, closing the door and leaning against it.
Two sets of eyes stared, the air tinged with surprise.
I only looked at one man, though, the one my heart heard even in silence.
The second his hazel eyes locked on mine, everything else fell away, and it didn’t matter I was about to puke. It didn’t matter he told me to stay away. All that mattered in those first few seconds was how the tug in the center of my chest finally let me be. How even when we were nothing… somehow he was still everything.
Max cleared his throat, a sound that barely registered in the building tension in the room.
“You good?” I heard him ask, but I still only had eyes for Win.
Win nodded once, and then Max was nudging me aside so he could slip out. With a quiet click of the door, finally, we were alone.
13
Win
At the topof the stairs, I started back down. Max grabbed the back of my shirt and towed me toward my room. “Nope. Go on.”
Inside my room, I tugged off the sweaty shirt and threw it at the corner.
“You wanna tell me what that was all about?” Max asked, voice calm.
I was usually the calm one, not him. But right now, I was so far from calm I couldn’t understand how anyone else could be in this moment. Didn’t he feel all the raging currents in this house? I felt them so hard my bones were rattling. Going to my dresser, I yanked open drawers, slamming them when I got what I needed. “I’m taking a shower.”
“I’ll wait.”
He followed me out like he was a hall monitor and I was in third grade. He watched me go into the bathroom and shut the door between us. I tossed my clothes on the counter and turned on the water, then went back to the door and pulled it open.
He was still standing there, eyebrow gliding up his forehead the second I appeared. “Thought you were showering,” he drawled almost like he was bored.
I slammed the door in his face.
