Page 25 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
He flipped the pages until he found the one of her class. Fuck she was stunning. She still was. It was like she’d barely aged while he felt like he’d been dragged through a meat grinder backward. He flipped again until he found some random photos that were meant to be humorous, but his face fell as he caught sight of Ashley’s in the background. She stood away from the others, her face sad as she held her books to her chest.
He remembered that look all too well—that look was his fault. At one point, all he wanted was to see her cry, to taste her tears. The school alienated her because he’d made it his mission to fuck with her every chance he got.
Kes closed his eyes and forced himself to remember what he’d done. He was such a fucking prick, but he couldn’t stand to see her happy when he was so miserable. He had it all, and yet, he was hard-pressed to remember one happy family memory. She was always smiling and talking about her parents, and without realizing it, she’d continued to pour salt in the open wound.
Snapping the yearbook closed, he held it to his chest, his heart a drum against the thick cover. He peeked inside the box again and smiled as he pulled out her soccer uniform. The soft, silky feel of her jersey sent a shiver racing down his spine.
He dug through the box until he found what he’d been looking for from the start. He held up the flower-shaped origami he’d spent days figuring out how to make and smiled wide. She kept it. She kept it even after all the crap he did, after all the pain he’d caused.
His heart pounded hard in his chest. There was hope. To appreciate this tiny glimmer of light, he had to spend years wading blindly through the dark.
Kes froze at the sound of the apartment door closing.
Shit.
Jumping up, he pulled the string on the light and stuffed the origami flower in his pocket. As quietly as he was able, he put the items back in the box and closed the lid.
Ashley turned on the radio and hummed along to the song that was playing as she moved around the kitchen, the sound of keys on a counter and an oven being turned on loud in the small apartment. Kes put the box back where he’d found it and closed the bi-fold doors so nothing was out of place. Looking around the shoebox-sized room, void of any furniture, he tried to find a place to hide—there just wasn’t any. The only thing he could hide under was her art easel, and that wasn’t going to do much good.
“God, I need to get changed,” she mumbled.
No other option available, he squeezed his substantial frame behind the door as she walked past. His pulse pounded in his ears as she stopped walking and came back. As if sensing something was off, she turned on the light. He didn’t dare breathe as the seconds ticked away. He slumped as the light was turned off and she made her way down the short hall to her bedroom.
Kes peeked around the door, and he was about to make his mad dash to the window when he heard her returning. Like a thief in the night, he resumed his position and groaned as he heard the water in the shower turn on.
Oh fuck, she was getting naked.
The shower door rattled and clicked, and he once more poked his head around his hiding place. He stepped into the hallway, and any determination he had to leave slipped away as he watched her shadow move behind the foggy glass.
He licked his lips as the scent of strawberry filled the air, her sweet voice picking a tune he didn’t recognize, but he’d listen to her sing the fucking phonebook if she wanted. He was frozen like a marble statue that had sprung up out of her floor. He couldn’t make his feet work. His eyes were glued to her delicate shape, his dick throbbing in time to her hand traveling up and down her legs.
His throat was so dry he couldn’t swallow as he envisioned licking that water off her body. The sound of the shower shut off, and his brain continued to float in the blissful fog of his fantasies. The glass door rattled as it opened enough for her arm to reach out and grab a towel.
Move, you fucking idiot.
Darting away from the door, he snuck off in the opposite direction of where he should be going and opted to hide in the large closet of the main bedroom. He peeked through the slats as she came in with a towel on her head and another one barely covering her body. Her body wash wafted in at him, and he had to adjust his cock as the sweet berry aroma filled his nose.
This was so wrong, and yet he wasn’t going to stop watching. Thankfully, she stepped out of view to finish getting changed because he was enough of a fucking douche to watch her take that towel off. He wasn’t entirely sure he would’ve remained in the closet as images of spreading her open and tasting her as she moaned and writhed in pleasure played like a fucking porno in his mind.
Kes’s back slid down the wall to hide in the corner of the closet as the light of her bedroom was switched off. That he was no longer able to see didn’t matter. The image of her in that fluffy purple towel was permanently seared in his brain.
If there was any lingering doubt about how much he wanted her, it was officially washed away like footprints on the beach when the tide came in.
He wasn’t letting her get away again.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Ringo smacked the gauges as the little arms spun uncontrollably on the helicopters readouts. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“This bird has always been a glitchy girl.” Kes rubbed the gauges with his hands like he was stroking a lover. “You just need to treat her with a little love.”
“Well, your fucking touch ain’t doing it. We don’t even know our altitude. We need to turn back.”
Kes shot Ringo a glare in the co-pilot’s seat. “I’m not turning back. If we don’t make it to the exfil site, then they are not getting out of there.” Kes turned his eyes back to the night sky with just enough moonlight to see the approaching mountains. He could barely make them out in the dusky skyline.
“Kes, this is fucking dangerous.”
“Living is dangerous. Being here at all is fucking dangerous. I’m not leaving them.” His hand tightened on the cyclic, determination flowing through his body to complete the mission.
“Hey, love birds. Do you feel that?” Jimmy came on over the headset. Kes turned to look over his shoulder at him. Jimmy looked as relaxed as ever with his foot resting on the frame of the open-door, M4 resting in his lap.
