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“Okay,” he shrugged as he tried to keep his eyes on my face. “So, what is the problem?”
“This,” I said as I pointed at my junk.
“Uh, you didn’t seem to have any problem using your equipment over the last few days.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not the way it works, Cary. It’s the way it looks.”
Cary finally edged his eyes down, and I tried to stay calm and not react to his gaze. It was hard, which was what I was trying to avoid. “I don’t see the problem.”
“I’ve been living rough for years, in hiding, since we went AWOL from the military. Then living on the road the last few weeks since the Crash. Keeping up appearances hasn’t exactly been a priority. You’re groomed to perfection. I look like a cave dweller who’s never seen a razor,” I said as I lifted my arm up and showed him my underarms. “I’m not just talking about my junk.”
“Yeah, well, the Palace required I stay groomed. It’s become a habit that’s hard to break,” Cary huffed.
“I get that, but Ava couldn’t keep her eyes off you. Nick either, and you’re both groomed.”
Cary’s eyes flared wide open. “Let me get this straight. You’re seriously feeling insecure about your body right now?”
I just nodded, and a solemn look passed over his face when he realized I was serious.
“Ryder, you have the body of a god. Ava won’t care about a little hair here and there.” He gestured to my junk and my arms.
“I know, but I want to make an effort to look nice for her.” My arms came up and crossed over my chest self-consciously. I hadn’t thought it would be such a big deal, but now I was feeling a little embarrassed.
“Okay, that’s fair. But why do you need me?” Cary asked, wariness creasing the corners of his eyes.
“I’m scared of cutting off my junk. I’ve never shaved anything but my face and my hair before. Guys in the military weren’t into this kind of stuff.”
Cary fought his smile, but I didn’t care, because his whole body finally softened as he released that tension that had been riding him for days.
“Okay. I’m not shaving your junk for you, but I can talk you through it. Deal,” he said as he hopped down from the counter.
“Deal,” I agreed. Fighting my own smile.
“Me too,” came a dark voice from the doorway. Cary stilled, half bent towards the bathroom cabinet with his hand outstretched. “I want to look nice for Ava, too. The Palace wouldn’t give me a razor or scissors.”
Wolf came and stood next to me in front of the mirror, looking over himself with a critical eye. He pulled some of his shaggy hair away from his face. Cary looked suddenly unsure, and I held my breath.
“Nice robe,” Nick said as he stepped out of the shower and walked over to a shelf to grab a towel. “It looks comfy.”
Wolf was wearing a pale pink silk robe. He was lucky it was a kimono style, with deep sleeves and designed to be wrapped around a woman’s body and tied in the back. It only just covered him. I figured he’d been trying not to spook Cary now that Ava’s heat was over, but wanted to join in whatever we were doing in here.
“Thanks,” Wolf said. “It was in the wardrobe, but I like it. It feels nice on my skin.”
I shrugged. He looked entirely comfortable in it and I had no problem with a guy wearing pink or silk. “Whatever works for you.”
“I was thinking we could look for more and get matching ones. Put our pack name on the back,” Wolf said. His expression hadn’t changed and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not until his lip twitched. I punched him on the arm, and his smile grew.
I shook out my hand. “How the hell did you get so jacked while living in a cell?”
“They had a home gym type thing in a sealed room next to my cage. The type that uses your body weight. A treadmill too. I had nothing else to do, so I spent a lot of time on them.” He shrugged as if it was no big deal, but it was. Nobody deserved to live in a cage.
“The cage was shitty, but I’m kinda jealous of the gym,” Cary said as he straightened suddenly and shook his head. He seemed to forget for a moment that he was avoiding looking at Wolf. “I begged them for any kind of gym, but they refused. I had to make an outdoor one out of old tyres and a pillow taped to a tree as a punching bag.”
“Whatever you did worked,” Wolf blurted. Then his eyes went wide as he realized what he’d just implied. That Cary was hot. Which he was, and I was man enough to admit it. His dark, chiseled good looks almost seemed too perfect to be real.
“Uh, thanks?” Cary mumbled and ducked his head. “Maybe we could steal some of the equipment out of your lab gym and put it somewhere more useful. The equipment we took from the guard’s gym was crap.”
“Yeah, sure,” Wolf replied. Their conversation was stilted, but it was a start. Wolf looked grateful Cary was talking to him at all, after Cary’s freakout the first night of Ava’s heat and the way he’d been avoiding him since. Wolf subtly tracked every one of Cary’s movements.
