Page 25 of Knot Forgotten

CHAPTER 12

Riley

The door slides shut behind Erin. It is hard not to pick up on her tense shoulders or the way her face froze at something one of them said. I’m not sure what was said. It is hard to read lips if you can’t see someone's whole face, and it isn’t like I’m going to stand up and demand everyone look at me while they talk.

Even if I hadn't turned down the volume on my implants to block out the vibration of the game, I'm not sure I'd want to hear what they said.

It is annoying sometimes. When people talk and my implant isn’t on or the battery is dead. I couldn’t even hear it if a million fire alarms went off at the same time. Sometimes when they are on, it is worse. But I’ve adapted, the extra therapy I needed after the surgery taught me how to use them, although words aren’t the only way that people communicate. They talk with their body language and actions more than the words they say out loud. That is something I learned a long time ago.

Reading people is my specialty. And Erin is uncomfortable and sad, possibly ready to run again. It makes my heart ache. Every single part of me wants to cave and not make her pay for what she did to us. The way she broke us. My whole being wants to gather her into my arms and have her piece my broken pieces back together in a way I know only she can.

I run my fingers over the days-old growth on my chin. Coach will be pissed if I don’t shave before morning practice, but I can’t find it in myself to care. The only thing I’ve cared about since last night just shut herself into my bedroom.

Catching Cam’s attention, I sign that I’m going to bed, and he rolls his eyes.

Pursing his lips, he signs, ‘Sure you are.’

Maybe I’m not the only one that can read people. I guess when you grow up with someone, you just know them.

The guys joke that we will never have a bonded mate because I’m too picky. But really, it’s because I don’t want to end up broken hearted again. Erin did a number on me when she disappeared. Everyone leaves me. My dad by choice, when he found out I was different and didn’t fit the mold that he thought I should. My mom by cancer. The foster system tossed me from house to house because they couldn’t communicate with me. The only steady people I had in my life growing up were the guys and Erin. Until she left me, too.

Our forever turned into a never, and it still burned.

Her eyes land on me as soon as I push into the room. Her whole body tenses some more, and she pulls her knees up to her chest, hugging them as I move to my dresser. I can feel her eyes on me as I pull out my sleep pants. But I want to get a reaction out of her, I want to see the blush on her cheeks, her embarrassment mixed with the desire I can read from here painted on her face.

So, I tug off my shirt and toss it in the general direction of the hamper. Without glancing at her, I undo the button on my jeans and drop them to the floor. I’m left in a pair of black briefs, and blood rushes to my cock as her gaze heats my skin. I turn toward her, letting her see my full length before I look up at her from beneath my bangs.

She’s captured her lower lip between her teeth, and her eyes are locked on the vicinity of my waist. Her gaze is like a physical touch. It only encourages the blood to rush between my legs and my cock to strain inside my briefs.

Fuck.

In slow motion, I put one foot at a time into my sleep pants and tug them up to my waist. It doesn’t hide my erection. I curl two fingers, palm up near my waistband, drawing her attention up to my face. Her face is flush, and I know it is because of me. The proof is heavy in the air.

I take a step in her direction, and one knee slides out from her grasp and over her rainbow comforter. My eyes travel up and over her bare leg, the smooth skin making my fingers curl in on themselves with an urge to touch her.

It transports me back in time, to the first night I finally kissed her.

Cam paces his room as Blake looks ready to explode in front of the door, and Matt and I take up position on his bed. The air is tense.

How could it not be?

We all want the same girl, and two of us kissed her and hid it. When Cam pulls out his phone and lights up the screen, we all freeze. I hold my breath as the blood rushes through my ears, drowning out anything I may have been able to pick up.

If it is silent in a room, I can hear small things, but it is when the background noise starts that I strain to hear anything but the buzzing it creates. The pulsing of my heart in my fucking ears is doing the same thing.

He faces me, unconsciously making sure I can see his whole face as he says, “She wants to meet at the treehouse in ten minutes.”

“No fucking way,” Blake says. “We all go.”

“Or one of us goes,” Matt replies.

All of it is muffled, but I read their lips fine. I sign, ‘Me, I’ll go.’

Blake nods, and I look at Matt to see his reply. He shrugs, so I face Cameron again. I can see it on his face that he wants to go; he wants to keep her to himself. I tap my chest again, more firmly this time, and he rubs the bridge of his nose. He spreads his fingers wide and touches his thumb to his chest before motioning out. “Fine.”

I smile. He isn’t happy about it, but he caved. I hop off the bed and head for the door. Pausing, I look back at them. I sign, ‘I will kiss her.’

Matt laughs, a wide smile on his face. He gives me a thumbs up as the other two nod.

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