Page 44 of Riot Reunion
Her breath catching beneath my palms.
Her pupils dilating.
Her tongue, darting out to wet her bottom lip.
Her nipples, peaked, straining against raw silk…
God, I need her.
The other diners in this (admittedly decent) restaurant do not know how lucky they are. I could surrender to my depravity. I could grab the leg of her chair and pull her to me, around this table. I’d have my fingers teasing her pussy beneath the snowy-white tablecloth in ten seconds flat if I thought that Little E wouldn’t balk at the impropriety of it.
Fuck, but she’s so goddamn breathtaking. Her hair, braided into a crown on the top of her head, is purposefully disheveled. Dark strands have slipped free, curling against her bare, outrageously distracting neck. Her eyes are bright and alert, turned a mournful silver-grey. The little black dress she brought with her to Fairbanks is a little too light for this cold weather. I bundled her up in my thick wool jacket for the ten-minute walk from the hotel, and the restaurant itself is pleasantly warm, but the alabaster skin of Elodie’s shoulders and down her bare arms is stippled with goosebumps.
I take a sip from the Old Fashioned I ordered with our appetizers, then set the thick-cut rocks glass down, clearing my throat. “We’re going home tomorrow, E.”
She blinks at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. “I’m sorry?”
“We have a life in Cambridge. A new home to move into. We both have class. I have three pieces I need to finish before the end of the month—”
“Wren—”
“And we have no business being here. This is Pres and Pax’s thing—”
“I’m not just gonna leave my friend—”
“Presley’s made her decision, no? It’s Pax’s job to be there for her now, not yours. This is a reallypersonalissue—”
“I know! But I can’t just disappear back home with everything so up in the air. It wouldn’t be right.”
“I know Pax’s track record is murky at best, but he’s not acompleteshit. He’s not just going to walk away from her. Pax has got Chase—”
“But who’s gotPax?” Elodie’s fork clatters down onto her plate, her features conveying her dismay. “I know they’ll figure their shit out. They love each other. Of course he’s going to support her. She’ll be okay no matter what they decide to do, because she’s got him. But who’ll be here for Pax? He’s got…” Elodie casts her eyes around the restaurant, suddenly aware that the tables next to us are glancing over. She lowers her voice a touch. “He hasn’t gotanybody, Wren. His mother is a vicious piece of work. His father’s dead. You and Dash are his family. Without you guys—”
“I promise you now, Pax doesnotwant me here. He’s the most closed-off, private person I’ve ever met. He never even told me that his dad had died. Not for months. Did you know that? He doesn’t want me looking over his shoulder, sticking my nose into things that don’t concern—”
“God, you’re such an idiot sometimes.”
A small smile itches at the corner of my mouth. It isn’t that I enjoy being told that I’m an idiot by the girl that I love, but she’s so damn adorable when she’s angry.
Elodie’s left eyebrow curves into a derisive jet-black arch. “You can forget looking at me like I’m so fucking adorable when I’m angry, Wren Jacobi.”
I stop smirking.
“Pax shut people out at the academy, sure, but I don’t think he felt like he could open up to you guys. Haven’t you noticed him changing since he started dating Pres?”
I set my jaw. “No. He’s his usual, stubborn, annoying ass self.”
“Well,I’venoticed. Have you forgotten that he attacked me in the forest when we started spending time together?”
I snort. “I’m surehehasn’t forgotten. You put him on his ass. Wouldn’t stop griping about it for weeks.”
“Did you ever imagine that he’d be coming to me forrelationshipadvice not so long after?”
“Hell no.” The idea of it sounds preposterous. Yet, I witnessed him do it with my own two eyes.
“Precisely. And hehasn’tsent us home yet.”
“He hasn’t stopped gripping about our presence since we left Cambridge, Elodie. He told me to fuck off back home at least three times this morning. And that wasbeforebreakfast.”
