Page 79 of Raze
My hands stroke her back, and I close my eyes. I don’t stop until her tears do, and she’s taking longer, calm breaths.
“I got you something,” I tell her once she releases me and tries to go back to groceries. She tilts her head, and I stretch my lips into a smile. I pull the movie from one of the bags on the floor and offer it to her. “The new Jumanji.”
“You…today?”
I nod. “Want to watch it together?”
She smiles at me, and my heart somersaults in my chest now that it’s directed at me. “I’d love that.”
Chapter twenty
Raegan
The shower squeals whenI crank the knob to turn it off. I close my eyes, my head falling back as I take a deep lungful of air.
Even after everything that happened today, Kellan didn’t let me off the hook for training. As soon as the movie ended, he’d dragged me to the training room to get back to it. This is my first time alone since everything that happened with Aiden, and then Dane, and I’m still reeling from it all.
Aiden locked me up.
He broke my trust. Again.
I may be able to understand that he’s always got the safety and best interest of the others in mind, but I’ve never had to be on the other side of that before.
I hate it.
And then Dane…
I never thought that there could be any sort of peace between us. That we could talk as friends. Share something between us. Watch a movie together again.
We didn’t sit right next to each other like we always did, but still. It was more than I ever thought I’d have again.
I grab my towel and wipe the water off, then wrap it around myself. I leave the stall and head for the bathroom door, ready to wind down in something comfortable—that willnotbe Aiden’s shirt—for the rest of the night while I try to sort through everything that’s happened.
I open the door and freeze when I come face-to-face with a broad chest in a dark shirt and leather jacket.
“Well, hello there, beautiful,” Kellan drawls above me. His arm rests against the door frame like he’d been waiting for me to come out. His other hand is hidden behind his back, his body filling the doorway so there’s no chance for me to slip around him if I wanted to.
His blue-green gaze starts at my bare feet, tracking up my damp and flushed skin to where a single turquoise towel covers me from armpit to barely past the curve of my ass. He slows and then holds his stare on the towel like he’s picturing exactly what’s beneath it from memory before his eyes keep moving to my collarbone and finally to my face.
There’s a heat in his look that causes my heart rate to accelerate and the air from my lungs to expel in a rush.
He looks every bit the big bad wolf here to gobble me up, and if that’s the case, I don’t think I could find the willpower to stop him.
“Kell…” I acknowledge slowly, wondering what he’s up to now. We’d just seen each other in training. At least this time, he didn’t barge in to interrupt and take over my shower. I’m a bit surprisedhe waited outside, though, which means he’s got something else in mind.
I try to peek around his back, but his body’s so large that he doesn’t even bother pretending to shift and keeps whatever he’s holding back there hidden. His teeth flash in a dangerous grin. “I know you’ve had a rough day, so you and I are going out to unwind.”
A sardonic laugh slips out. “Right. Because the best thing for me to do right now after Aiden locked me up and told me how much he doesn’t trust me is to go out.”
His grin widens. “Exactly.”
I huff and shake my head, though I can’t help smiling at him.
“When has anything Aiden said or done stopped you from having a good time, huh? Naw. This isexactlythe time that we stand our ground and show him that you and I? We’re not afraid of anyone or anything. And we’ll have some fun if we damn well please.”
“A night of rebellion?”
“Of freedom,” he amends, swinging a dress out from behind him. He holds it out to me, and I stroke my hand down the soft fabric. It’s a navy halter neck short dress that’s perfect for dancing.
