Page 63 of Alphas Like Us
The warning dies out the second I take a sizableswig.
I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. “That’s cute that you thought this wasyours.”
His cheeks flush. That’s one way to return color to his face. With the thermometer under his tongue, he mumbles, “Fuckyou.”
I smile. “That was the most preciousfuck youI’ve everheard.”
He groans, fighting his upturning lips, and he says with more bite and growl, “Fuckyou.”
I suck in a breath. “Stillprecious.”
Maximoff shoots me a middle finger and then removes the beeping thermometer with the same left hand. He reads his temperature, purposefully holding the screen away fromme.
His browsknit.
“Give me.” I motion to him with twofingers.
“Just what I expected,” Maximoff says dryly, “I’m the Human Torch.” He passes me thethermometer.
98.5 degrees Fahrenheit. He’s a fucking dork. “You don’t have a fever,” I tellhim.
He takes another measured breath before looking right at me. “Probably because I never get hot when I’m aroundyou.”
I nod a few times. Unable to break his gaze. Ensnared. “Must be why you’re sweating right now,” I tellhim.
He grimaces, two seconds from a real smile, but his eyes snap shut abruptly. Pain slamming into him somewhere. I almost wince just watching him. I’m used to seeing people in discomfort at a hospital, but it’s definitely different when it’s someone close tome.
I massage the back of his neck, my fingers skating upward and threading his thick hair. I’m about to pull my leg off his, but he leans more of his weight into my side, like a physical plea for me tostay.
Maximoff.
I keep our legslaced.
His eyes slowly open with a sharp breath, and he’s looking at Luna. She’s looking at him, concern welled up in her ambergaze.
He tries to marbleize his features. Tries to be her strong unshakable big brother. These parts of him are so intrinsically Maximoff Hale that I wouldn’t want him to change. He loves people so overwhelmingly, and he cares. Shit, he cares more than anyone, and when people need him to be their everything, he is alwaysthere.
But it only makes me want to be there forhim.
Every time. Everyday.
Twice as hard. Ten times asmuch.
“Maximoff,” I breathe, capturing his focus. I lightly shake the sports drink at my boyfriend, what I planned to do from the moment I uncapped the plastic bottle. “I’ll share with you.”And onlyyou.
His eyes fall to my mouth, and then he quickly snatches the drink. I notice how he doesn’t attempt totalk.
“Moffy,” Charlie calls. Our headsturn.
And I reluctantly split my attention between Maximoff and eleven other people. A few pillows prop Charlie’s broken leg, and Donnelly leans over his cast, black Sharpie in hand. He’s sketching the Philly cityscape, and to be honest, I’m surprised that Charlie is letting him. His cast has beenblank.
“Yeah?” Maximoff asks, voicetight.
I survey the attic in one sweep, the room loud withchatter.
All eleven people lounge on sleeping bags, but since they’re elevated on the air mattresses, everyone is basically eye-level withus.
The three girls sit beneath the curtained window. Sulli braids Luna’s hair while Jane talks breezily and sips abeer.
