Page 35 of Knot Forgotten

Ducking my head, I mumble a quick goodnight to Matt and attempt to slip away into my room. But Blake is faster, blocking my way to safety. He studies my face, his eyes dipping to the fading bruises on my neck, but he presses his lips into a tight line and says nothing.

“Where have you been?” Cameron barks behind me, and I can feel myself wanting to tell him, as if he has a right to that information.

“Hey,” Matt starts, ready to defend me.

He's placing himself between me and Cameron as I turn around. His massive shoulders block my view and make me feel small, but I push past him, getting in Cam's face. I poke him in the chest, and he stumbles back like a game of Jenga crumbling down with one wrong move.

“You don't get to demand that kind of answer from me. You don't own or control what I do.”

He puffs back up and closes the space between us. “I do actually, or don't you remember your promises?”

My whole body feels funny as I'm thrust back to the night he's referring to. The night we all almost took things too far. The night I made promises I didn't get a chance to keep.

“You can't think that means anything still,” I whisper. But I'm not here now. I'm firmly in the past, staring into bright blue eyes as I vow to only ever be with them. Not that night, of course, but eventually when we take that step.

“My body, my heart, and my soul, Cam. They are all yours for as long as you and the guys want them.”

He cups my face, a soft smile pulling at his lips. “Forever, Rinny. From now into our next life and every life after that, that's how long we want you.”

“You said for as long as we wanted you. Well guess what, cupcake, forever isn't up yet.” Blake’s breath fans the side of my face as he leans over my shoulder, and a shiver works its way up my spine.

When had Matt moved to allow Blake closer?

I am way out of my depth, I can feel it in my bones, but I can't stop myself from raising my balled fists and smacking Cameron in his chest. He grunts at the force but doesn't fall back.

“You can't be serious.”

Riley catches my attention as he unfolds from the chair, and he steps around the coffee table to help the other two box me in. I stare at him, challenging him, my blood warming of its own accord when his eyes caress the marks he left on my skin a week ago.

My perfume ignores the weak scent blockers I have on, blooming strongly between us, until it smells like we're standing in the middle of a bakery instead of our dorm room. I swallow. Still, I can’t back down, I can't let them win.

Riley makes sure to hold my gaze as he signs, ‘As serious as a heart attack. No running this time.’

The impact is more without words. A fucking turn on actually. I suck in a breath and hold it, then swing my gaze over Riley and Cam. God, do I want to climb them both. The memory of each one of them pressed against me taunts me the longer the silence hangs thickly in the air.

Exhaling, I step back and directly into Blake's arms. His hands land on my hips, molding his front to my ass. It's like being electrocuted. Red hot fire blazes through my blood. A whimper of submission falls from my lips, bringing a smile to Cameron’s face. He thinks they've won.

I jerk away from Blake, and he lets his hands fall. The imprint of his fingers still feel as if he’s touching me. As if he has branded me.

“I was a kid. It didn’t mean anything.” It meant everything. My heart pounds in my chest. The lie rings in my ears.

Cameron scoffs, shaking his head in disappointment as he steps forward.

“Cam–” Matt says, from my side. “You don’t know the whole story.”

He glances at Matt, then purposefully turns back to me, his hand coming up to ghost over my cheek. “I don’t need to know the whole story to know she ran and never looked back, never even tried to contact us. That we were too much for her back then. But now–now we are older…more experienced. And she can’t just run.”

I smack his hand away, glaring daggers at him. Attempting to calm myself down, I remind myself they don’t actually know the whole story. But they should at least have known me well enough to know that I wouldn’t have just disappeared after promising them forever. It is a war of emotion inside of me, swirling like a tornado, ready to destroy everything in its path.

Closing the small space between us, my breasts brush against his chest with every breath that leaves my lungs. “You’re right, Cameron. I ran. My father wanted to sell me to the highest bidder. So my mom took me and ran. But let’s talk more about your hurt feelings and the abandonment issues it created in you.” The sarcasm drips from my words as he goes pale. It finally sinks in that I disappeared to protect myself not hurt him.

He falls back as if my words were a sucker punch to his gut. Riley drops his gaze from my face, shame pulling at his brow and the corners of his lips tilting down. And the absence of Blake at my back is a physical ache. My stomach bottoms out, and I do the only thing I can. I spin around on my heel and rush into my room, slamming the door behind me.

Their voices explode through the door as soon as it is firmly between us, and I slump against the wood as I listen to them. This wasn’t what I wanted. When I decided to come to this university, I never imagined I’d be living in the same dorm room as them. Or that they would be fighting over me.

A soft knock startles me, and I hold my breath as if whoever it is doesn’t know I’m already in here. “Rin, open up.”

Blake.

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