Page 170 of Drown Like Heaven
Micah didn’t answer him, which didn’t matter because Mason already knew the answer to that. They both walked into the kitchen while I remained sitting on the carpet, papers spread out on the coffee table.
Once they were out of sight, I darted upstairs and down the hall into Micah’s bathroom, then hit the knob to turn the faucet on, sticking my wrists under the cold water and staring at myself in his clean mirror. My stomach was cramping with sickness and panic.What. The. Fuck.
Were they actually fucking related?
How could this be happening? How could—
The door swung open, my eyes flaring and rapidly meeting Micah’s in the mirror. I wiped my hands off on the towel and faced him directly, praying he couldn’t pick up on the fact thatI already knew his house guest. My fingers were trembling, so I clenched them into fists to mask it.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. You didn’t tell me someone else would be coming over.” I tucked my hair behind my ear, breathing through the panic binding my ribs. Mason wouldn’t do anything to me here, I didn’t think. He wouldn’t hurt me in front of Micah. He might tell him how we knew each other, though. “Is he your family?”
“No.” The word was short, sharp. I instinctively cowered back a bit, my shoulders rounding. “He’s going to be spending a lot of time here, though. So you will see him around.”
This situation just kept getting worse.
“Okay.” A frown pulled at my lips. “I wish you’d told me.”
Micah stepped fully into the bathroom, shutting the door behind himself. My pulse skipped a few beats, eagerness stirring warmth in my core, breaking through my nerves.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, cupping my jaw with his palm. “I should’ve told you. I didn’t know he’d get here so soon.”
“It’s okay,” I breathed, shaking my head, inhaling his scent. It instantly made me feel better, soothing me in a way. Deep forest shadows wove their way around my bones, filtering through my veins, protecting and steadying me.I want to be lost in him.
Micah ran his lips over mine. A soft sigh whispered out of me, my hands going to his biceps.
“You’ll be on good behavior? You’ll do what I say?”
I nodded, staring up at him. His shallow exhales were mixing with mine, making me dizzy with lust. Some amount of guilt was lingering in the back of my mind, guilt at the knowledge that I’d disappeared on Mason again and was now upstairs, ignoring him, about to kiss someone else. This weird guilt was becoming a constant fixture in my brain, a constant squeeze in my throat. But I needed Micah.
I needed someone to take care of me.
Leaning up, I pressed my lips to Micah’s warm mouth, my tongue seeking his.
His strong arms wrapped around me and he kissed me deeper, harder, molding my body against him. He would keep my body safe, even if he couldn’t keep my mind safe. I clung to that.
Chapter 45
Mason
Despite the fact that it’d been almost a week since I first saw Dakota in Micah’s home, it felt like every one of my ribs had been cracked open, and my vital organs ripped out of my chest as I sat here now. She wasn’t always around, but when she was, she was glued to him. I hadn’t actually spoken to her a single time outside of fucking polite dinner conversation between the three of us.Do you like going to the beach? What book is that? How were your classes?Like I cared about any of that.
I didn’t even know why Micah wanted me to stay for dinner in the first place. To torture me? To remind me that I owed him in some way? His sadistic streak couldn’t have been more evident.
Every ounce of my strength was being used to keep myself in control, just so Micah wouldn’t reach into my head and do it himself. If he suspected Dakota and I knew each other, he wasn’t showing it. I almostwishedhe would show it, so I could quit pretending.
Dakota curled up smaller on his lap, her eyes shifting over to meet mine for a fraction of a second as Micah massaged her hip. Something was playing on the TV but I didn’t know what it was, nor did I care. The volume was too low to really watch, anyway. Iwanted to leave, but I was concerned Micah would make a scene if I tried.
So I remained sitting on the couch, a knot in my stomach and hatred consuming my mind.
For both of them.
Micah, for taking Dakota from me. Dakota, for letting him. How could she? At least Micah presumably didn’t know that Dakota was mine…butshe knew.
I felt the same way I had picking her up from campus that one night, when she smelled like Micah but wouldn’t tell me what she’d been doing. It was like that but worse now, because I had to actually watch them together in front of my fucking face. At least there had been some amount of uncertainty on that night—but not anymore.Do you let him fuck you the way I fuck you? Does he know about your sick little fantasy? I’ll bet he doesn’t.
I crossed my arms to hide the electricity threatening to spark around my fingers.
