Page 65 of The Mountain
“Here. Step back,” I tell her, withdrawing my fingers from her scalp to gently guide her back into the shower spray.
We’re pressed close together now, the entire front of my body sliding against her side as we trade places. She doesn’t seem bothered by it though, so this time, I don’t step away. Instead, Ikeep my body close to hers until we’re standing face to face, her tilting her head back under the shower spray, me reaching up to rinse the suds from her hair. This time keeping my touches gentle so as not to tangle the long, wild waves dripping over her shoulders. I bet she needs to use a lot of conditioner to manage hair like this.
“I think I’m falling in love with you,” she murmurs, and my hands go still. This close, I can see every droplet of water catching on her eyelashes, can see the silvery rivulets dripping down the sides of her face, and the little beads of water highlighting the freckles on her nose. “I think I’m falling in love with all of them too.”
Her eyes fly open, and suddenly she’s staring right at me, hazel eyes glowing almost green under the steam-clouded lights. “I’m terrified to tell them,” she whispers. “They’re going to think I’m crazy.” She blinks rapidly, then swipes at her face with her fingertips. “I mean, who falls in love with five people after just a couple of weeks?”
Me, I almost say. Because I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen in love with her and Antoine already. And last night, when Eddie fell asleep against my knee, his usual scowl replaced by almost angelic serenity, I think I started to fall—just a little bit—in love with him too.
“And then today, I thought I’d lost you.” Her voice hitches, and she wraps her arms around my shoulders, hands locking behind my neck. Like even now she’s afraid I’ll sink beneath the snow, out of sight. “I thought I’d lost you and it almost shattered me.”
I pull her to me, chest squeezing at the look of vulnerability on her upturned face. “I’m here,” I whisper, my words scattered by the shower spray. “I’m right here.”
She nods, a little hiccupping sound against my chest. I close my eyes, that ache behind my ribs deepening. I could hold her like this forever, nothing between our naked bodies, steam rising up around us, our breaths and heartbeats in sync.
“I just wanted someone to know.” Her voice is muffled against my chest, barely audible. “Even if it’s too soon, even if it doesn’t make any sense. I… I’m not ready to tell the others but...”
I stop breathing then, the ache behind my ribs exploding, sending warmth spiraling through my limbs, making me almost dizzy.But she’s ready to tell me. Those words hang between us, thick as the steam from the shower, an unspoken admission.
She trusts me.
Sure, she trusts the other guys too, butI’vebeen there for her since the start, since that very first evening when she slumped on the couch between me and Antoine, her body aching and face battered from wiping out on her board. When she fell asleep draped across my lap halfway through Antoine reading about Captain Charles fighting his feelings for the alien Aehaeko.
“You can tell me anything.” My voice comes out raspy, catching in my throat. “Anything.” I peel back, shivering slightly at the air between our heated bodies so I can stare down at her. “And I don’t think it’s crazy. Love doesn’t have time frames or conditions. There aren’t any rules about how long it takes to fall in love, or how many people you can love.”
I wrinkle my nose. In one of our last fights, Claudia had told me that if I loved her—if Ireallyloved her—then I would be attracted to her. That the two go hand in hand. That I couldn’t really love someone the way I am.
But I can. Ido.
My throat bobs. “I’m falling in love with you, too,” I rasp, although I’m more than falling. I’m in deep, with Lily and these guys embedded in my soul. I’m pretty sure I started falling the moment Lily passed out on my lap, her lip split and face bruised. I give a wry chuckle, then add: “If that’s crazy, I’m fine with that. I’d rather be crazy and falling in love with you, anyway.”
Chapter 24
Eddie
I’m not sure what’s happening, exactly. Butsomethingis. I can feel the anticipation buzzing like the bad wiring through this piece-of-shit condo. It’s in the nervous glances Matty kept giving Lily. In the heated smiles Liam kept shooting Antoine when he thought no one was looking. In the look of hungry determination that had stolen over Lily’s features, just before she’d escaped to go have a shower with Seth.
I stand in the hallway, towel clutched to my chest, listening to the sound of Lily and Seth talking in the shower, their voices audible even if their words aren’t. I swallow, remembering the shower Lily and I shared a few days ago. When she showed me how to make her come.
“Get in the back of the queue, mate,” Liam snips, coming to stand in front of me, his arms crossed around his towel, Antoine at his side. “We had dibs.”
“Dibs?” I shoot him an irritated scowl. “Since when?”
“Since there are two of us and only one of you,” Liam quips, then gives me a challenging smirk. “Unless you want to come join us?”
“Fuck no,” I retort automatically, then want to kick myself for how well he’s just played me.
I should have called his bluff, should have made him sweat a little. Because he sure as shit doesn’t want his straight best friend going for a shower with him and his boyfriend.
At least, I thought I was one of his closest friends.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re a fucking dick, you know that?”
“So I hear.” Liam gives Antoine one of those looks again—one that’s all heat and amusement and affection. Like two people who are sharing an inside joke, and also want to fuck each other. I wrinkle my nose.
When Liam turns back to look at me, there’s none of that warmth there. Just that cold, flat stare he gives when you know he won’t be backing down.
I roll my eyes, give a dramatic huff. “Fine,” I call over my shoulder. “Just tell me when you’re done, okay?”
