Page 50 of His Fury

My back arched off the counter, my hands scrambling for purchase as the wave of pleasure tore through me. Zayn slammed into me relentlessly, and I met him with every thrust, my senses drowning in the ecstasy only he could give. My body clenched around him, dragging him over the edge. I heard his groan—deep, guttural—as he followed me, and somewhere in the haze, I hated that I wasn’t fully present to watch him come undone.

A soft kiss was pressed against my lips, tentative and gentle. Zayn started to pull back, but I opened my eyes and wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, pulling his mouth back to mine. I kissed him deeply, expressing everything I felt without saying a word.

“Shower?” he asked when I let him go, feeling him pull out of me as he lifted me and placed me on my feet, holding me to steady me.

I could feel him inside me, feel his release trickling down my thigh. “Yeah, I need one,” I agreed, slightly mortified that I just had wild sex with him on the kitchen counter withRye in the house, and now his cum was running down my leg.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” Zayn said with a kiss to my temple. “Then I need to come down here and deal with Rye and whatever the fuck happened at the club.”

“Is it bad?” I asked, feeling guilty because I knew his absence from Elixir was my fault.

“Don’t know yet,” Zayn said, pulling up his sweatpants. He caught my look and smiled. “Don’t fret, Is. This is the shit I was born to handle.” He leaned over and kissed me once more. “Come on, shower time.”

I followed him as he led me upstairs, reeling from the fact he was being so open. He didn’t try to hide it from me. And maybe that was the scariest part. Because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could pretend this didn’t feel like more.

Like forever.

CHAPTER 13

ZAYN

Rye didn’t saya word until the door to the study clicked shut behind me. I’d taken Isla to the shower, fully intent on leaving her to it, but when she took the hoodie off and I saw the evidence of us trailing down her thigh, all good intentions of giving her some peace had gone.

I’d left her in the shower, fully sated, breathless, and giving me a stern warning to leave her to actually get clean. I could still feel the warmth of her body pressed against mine and the imprint of her fingers on my chest.

Rye’s eyes were on me like a goddamn spotlight as I crossed the floor and took a seat. He waited until I was seated before he spoke.

“This is a mistake.”

I leaned back in my chair, my eyes on him as I considered his words. “You’ve said that already.”

“And I’ll keep saying it until you start to listen.”

I watched him carefully. Rye could be unpredictable at times. “You think I’m not listening?”

“I think you’re notthinking,” he snapped, crossing his arms, the muscles in his jaw twitching. “You’re makingdecisions with your dick, Zayn. Dragging her into shit she shouldn’t even know about. And for what? So you can get your cock sucked?”

I stared at him, my eyes hard. “Careful.”

He shook his head, rising from his seat and pacing a few steps away. “Never been careful. Not going to start now,” he grumbled. “This is risky. Delaney is pissed. You compromised a power position.” He held up his hand to cut me off before I even spoke. “I know why. Iunderstandwhy, but it’s still done. You’re showing your hand, and it’s not just Patrick who’s watching. They’ll use her against you. You know it. I know it.They’llknow it.”

“I showed my hand the second Patrick took her,” I said, my voice quiet but firm. “It wasn’t a bluff, Rye. I would have burned them all to get her back.”

He stopped pacing and stared at me. “I know, but I would prefer ifeveryone elsedidn’t know.”

The silence was long. The air between us, thick with years of loyalty, was now laced with something darker.

“You trust me?” I asked him, my voice still low. The look I got made my lips twitch. “You trust me with everything else, Rye. Why is this different?”

“Because she’snotbusiness,” he snapped. “She’s personal. We don’tdopersonal. Not like this andyouwere the one who fucking taughtmethat.”

I didn’t answer right away because I knew he was right. And I didn’t care. “I’m not asking you to like it,” I said finally. “But I’m telling you now—she stays.”

He gave a short bark of laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. “And what happens when she leaves?”

I met his skeptical gaze. “She won’t.”

Rye didn’t argue, but his silence was louder than anything he could’ve said.

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