Page 63 of Tethered to the World
Her fingers automatically flexed on the heated flesh, and he inhaled deeply, his chest expanding under her touch as if eager for more. He turned slowly, which forced her hand to drag across his abs and over his hips, where it settled low on his back. The muscles along his spine flexed, and she watched him without shame, hypnotized by the rippling movements.
Camden muttered an exasperated curse under his breath as he followed them outside.
Once on the deck, Xander turned and tucked her up against his side, and she watched Camden close the glass doors. He kept his attention fixed on the simple task, not looking at her or Xander. Then he walked toward them, hands on his hips, his attention on the ground.
He came to an abrupt stop in front of her, the set of his shoulders clearly defeated as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Do you know why we’re the best at our jobs?”
“Hard work.” She didn’t have to ask. “You’ve trained your whole life for it.”
He shook his head, giving her a bitter smile. “It’s because we don’t have a life. None of us can function in the real world.” He tipped his head toward the living room. “Logan is an addict. Even now he can’t control his shakes. He moves from women to drugs to alcohol, or any combination thereof. Now he’s latched onto you.”
Annora shook her head, her stomach lurching at the thought, her eyes drawn to Logan against her will. She had noticed his frantic moments, his hyperactivity, then the way he crashed hard. “It’s his coping mechanism.”
But she didn’t want to be that to him.
She wanted to be more than his next fix.
Camden grunted, then glanced over at Mason as he and Logan laughed while they untangled the gaming system cords. “Mason is perfect…until he turns. He has no control over his beast. He’s all sweet protectiveness until his troll side takes control, and then he destroys everything he touches. You barely scratch a hundred pounds. Do you honestly think you would be able to handle more than four hundred pounds of unstoppable beast? He does his best to keep himself contained, but you push his buttons. He’s going to hurt you, and he’s never going to forgive himself for it.”
She bit her lip, unable to refute anything he said. “You don’t know that.”
But didn’t he know them better than any of the others? Better than she knew them after such a short time?
“Then you have Xander.” Camden turned to stare at the man who held her so close. “He was trained from birth to be a killer—that’s his position on the team. He loves the thrill of the hunt, the chase, and the ultimate rush of killing his prey. It’s been bred into him. When the mood hits and he has to blow off steam, he hooks up with any women he can find for an hour or two, someone he can just fuck any way he wants, then leave.”
Annora waited for Xander to protest, but he didn’t even move, didn’t tighten his arms around her, and she knew Camden spoke the truth. She wanted to turn away from Camden’s harsh condemnations, protest that the guys were different with her, but she knew absolutely nothing about how men worked. “Why are you telling me this?”
“And I’m worse than all of them.” His face twisted in disgust. “I hide behind these walls, hide behind my team because I literally cannot function in the real world.” He looked at his hands, self-loathing eating him alive, then looked down at where she was touching Xander. “You wanted to run when you discovered your touch hurts people, but I don’t even have that option. After the drugs wear off, you’ll be back to normal. We won’t. None of us will ever be normal.”
Laughter burst out of her, and he flinched as if she’d slapped him. “Normal? I’ve spent most of my life buried hundreds of feet underground, locked away from the outside world. I’m terrified of being out in the open, terrified of basements, terrified of my own fucking shadow. And you think that’s normal? I willneverbe normal, no matter how hard I try.”
She tried to stem the resentment as she tore away from Xander and advanced on Camden. “I would give anything to have what you have with these guys, anything to have your family, something you seem happy to throw away so casually.” She swallowed hard, suddenly exhausted. She went to sit, but fell through the chair instead, smacking the deck hard enough to drag a sob out of her, and she leaned back with a bitter laugh.
“Fuck you and your normal.”
Xander leaned over the bench until his face hovered over hers. “I think you broke her.”
Instead of answering, Camden slowly lowered himself next to her, leaning his back against the bench to stare off into the trees. “You deserve more than a bunch of broken assholes.”
“I’ve been chasing normal my whole life. Maybe normal is overrated. My uncle has tried to break me my whole life. I’ve put myself back together too many times to count.” She turned her head to stare at his profile. “I can work with broken.”
Camden slowly turned toward her, a spark of hope igniting his bright green eyes.
Annora met his look, holding nothing back. “Teach me to survive in your world.” She turned to Xander. “Teach me to kill.” She looked through the windows at the others. “And maybe together we can escape our pasts and create a future where we make each other whole.”
And maybe even happy.
Camden rose to his feet, towering over her where she still lay stretched out on the deck, then reached down and held out a hand toward her. She hesitated for a second, then slipped her hand into his. He gritted his teeth, a muscle jumping in his jaw as pain slammed into him.
Matching pain stole along her spine, dug its claws deep until her bones ached, the darkness licking along her skin, rough like a cat’s tongue along her nerve endings.
Then Camden yanked her out from underneath the bench, twisting and sliding her until she was trapped beneath his splayed legs. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Whatever happens from here on out, we’re a team. You’re mine…ours. There will be no going back after tonight.”
She reached up, curling her other hand over his, the toxins in his skin muting the pain, leaving a delicious ache, the kind of release her body craved. “Mine.”
Without straining, he lifted her clear off the ground, startling a yelp out of her, until she was standing next to him. Xander rose, pausing at her other side, then held out his hand. She reached over and clasped his hand then lifted her chin.
Come hell or high water, they were in this together.
