Page 55 of To The Final End
“Meanly.”
Gray tugs—just slightly, just enough to make Wes’s breath catch—and then resumes the gentle stroking. “Better?”
“…yes.”
Rhett has given up on explaining fantasy football. He’s watching Gray and Wes instead, and I recognize that look—heat banked behind careful observation. Rhett likes to see. Likes to understand exactly what’s happening before he decides whether to join.
“You’re staring,” I tell him.
“I’m appreciating.”
“Voyeur.”
“Absolutely.” He doesn’t even pretend to be ashamed anymore. “You’re one to talk. I saw you in the doorway.”
“I was taking in the room.”
“You were watching Stellan look at Jace.”
Shit. He clocked that?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Rhett’s grin is slow and knowing. “Sure you don’t.”
The energy shifts without anyone announcing it.
Theo sets his book aside. Stellan’s card game with Jace has devolved into Jace trying to build a tower out of the deck while Stellan watches with an expression that’s either fondness or exasperation. Thane has gone quiet, his attention sharpening the way it does when he’s thinking about something he wants.
Gray’s hand has migrated. Still in Wes’s hair, but lower now, fingers brushing the nape of his neck in a way that makes Wes shift restlessly.
“You’re squirming,” Gray observes.
“You’re teasing.”
“I’m barely touching you.”
“You’rebarely touching mein a very specific way.”
I feel Seth’s chest shake with silent laughter behind me. His hand has found its way under my shirt—when did that happen?—palm warm against my stomach.
“You cold?” he murmurs against my ear.
“No.”
“Then why are you shivering?”
Because his fingers are tracing patterns just above my waistband. Because Gray is telling Wes to hold still inthatvoice. Because Theo has stopped pretending to read and is watching all of us with eyes that see too much.
“Just feeling things,” I say.
“Good things?”
“The best things.”
Jace’s card tower collapses. He swears loudly, which makes Stellan laugh—actually laugh, not the polished chuckle he deploys at dinner parties—and Jace’s head whips around to stare at him.
“Did you just—”
