Page 11 of Essa

"You don't want to lose me?" Adam asks, a mocking tone in his voice like he doesn't believe Seth.

"Don't be like that," Seth says, his voice soft. He leans his face closer to Adam's and presses their foreheads together. This moment is getting too intimate, but Sloane is just as invested as I am, so we continue to watch. "You know I love you."

"Then show me," Adam growls.

He moves his hand from the countertop to the back of Seth's head and tangles it in his red curls. Seth hisses in pain, and his eyes flash before he allows Adam to manhandle him out of his chair and onto his knees. I lean in closer, curious if they're about to do what I think they're about to do.

"Show me who you want," Adam says while Seth tugs at the button of his jeans, unzipping them and pulling them down so he can shove his hand inside. "Show me you want me more than—"

The comm screens go black. I'm shocked that Sloane would turn it off. Except when I turn to look at her, she's looking at me like I'm the one who turned it off. There's a harsh chuckle behind us before Jovi puts his hands on his mate and pulls her out of Alik's chair.

"Nosy little mate," Jovi teases her as he wraps her in his arms and pins her to his body.

Alik stands behind them, his personal comm in his hand, and the controls for his monitors are pulled up. He shows me the controls, proving he knows what we were watching and that we were both perfectly content with watching even more.

"I should get going." I clear my throat as I stand, my tail thrashing behind me in embarrassment. At least I wasn't caught watching alone. That would've been far more humiliating.

I'm almost out the door when I hear Sloane shriek and giggle. I wince, not needing to see anything about what's about to happen in the room. I let out a long breath in the hall, but the door opens again, and Alik stands there, frowning down at me.

"Give it some time," he says, not telling me what to give more time to.

I send him a short nod, knowing I don't need to know what he's going on about for him to think I understand. He's already going back into the room, so he wasn't going to explain it in more detail anyway. I shrug and turn back around to go to my room, promising myself I won't think about what's currently happening in the kitchen.

five

Adam

I'm on fucking edge. It doesn't help that the stupid pendant is resting on the nightstand, red glow lighting up the area around it. It's taunting me. Making me want things I don't deserve to want because I'm a selfish, possessive fuck who doesn't share what's mine.

Or, I do, but only when it's my idea, my treat for Seth. Yeah, a nice little gift of a woman to warm our bed with us for a night to show Seth how much I appreciate him. Not someone he's lusting over and might want for more than one night.

My brows tug together, and my lips frown harder as I think about it.

Seth snores softly, his face pressed against my chest, an arm over my abdomen. I'm surprised his legs aren't wrapped around mine. He's like an octopus in his sleep. A needy, clingy octopus. One of my arms is tight around him, my hand stroking lazily down his back as I stew in my anger. My other hand rubs at my temples, then flexes and curls because I want to hit something.

I look down at Seth and narrow my eyes at him. He doesn't want me hitting anything else, and for him, I won't. Even if it takes all my restraint.

He told me about his dumb plan earlier. Or more like he told me we got found out for being with one another because I'm not very good at acting like a man who doesn't care about someone. The fact that I was so easy to read makes me want to punish myself.

I could've gotten Seth hurt all because I can't act like I'm not about to murder anyone who gets too close to him. I growl, thinking about the next thing he told me. How the crew wanted to bring another stranger on board, a male, to help with the golden woman, Essa's, need for companionship. I almost cracked a tooth when he told me that.

I snarl, an angry sound erupting from my throat. Seth stirs just a little. He's used to my late-night tossing, turning, and growling at the ceiling with all my angry thoughts.

If something were wrong, I'd wake him. He knows I would. Not to mention, with his heightened senses, he'd probably know about it before me. He relaxes back against me before I can pull my lips back together. I look stupid, making faces at the ceiling, but I'm expressive. What can I say?

"Fuck this," I murmur before slowly extricating myself from Seth's hold.

He tried his hardest to wear me out so I could fall asleep tonight, but it wasn't enough. He would've told me to keep going if he had the energy. I'm surprised he didn't ask me to keep going while he was asleep. He likes that kind of thing. I could still do it. He'd have no issues with it. But he really was tired, and he had a rough day.

It's my fault why it was so rough, but there was also the fact that we got a message this morning telling us to get transport up to the space port and hope that whoever our contact iscould convince this crew to take us. We didn't even have fifteen minutes to get all our stuff and leave the hideout. Not that we have much. We've moved around so much in the last two years so no one could track us down. But getting our hopes up and our adrenaline working took out a lot of Seth's energy, and I only exasperated the problem by picking fights with him and the crew. He wants them to like us, so I can try not to make it harder for him.

The man I was cloned from was thirty-six when he was taken and forty when his DNA was secured for cloning. My body was aged to around twenty-five before they woke me from my slumber, and that was almost five years ago. You'd think with all of those years, I'd be better at controlling myself, but no, that's left up to Seth, who's around the same age even if his original was younger than my original when they were first introduced to one another.

I pull on a pair of sweats since I don't need to be roaming the ship naked. I'm about to leave when the red glow of the pendant grabs my attention again. It reminds me of what Seth told me earlier about the others wanting to bring on an actual pleasure crew to be with Essa. My lips pull back at the thought. I grab the pendant and shove it into my pocket.

My muscles are tense and tight, and I feel on edge. That doesn't stop me from leaning down, brushing the curls away from Seth's temple, and placing a kiss there. He stirs softly, and this time, he does wake. Not a lot, but enough that I say something.

"Shh, sleep, I'll be back in a minute."

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