Page 12 of Room One Hundred and Eighteen

“Thank you,” I mutter and my eyes fly up when he steps up to me and tugs me into his chest, kissing my forehead. I don’t like to be touched and normally he doesn’t do anything like this.

My eyebrows lift and I struggle not to shove at his chest, an overwhelming feeling of suffocation coming over me. And not the kind that lets me fly.

“I’m fine, Evan. Just worried about this new testing. Mom and Dad would never have wanted me to fall apart over their deaths.”

He nods his head but doesn’t move away and a raw, intense need for space sinks into me, biting into my skin like a rabid dog.

Until the door flies open and I jump in his arms. “What the hell?”

“Get the fuck off of her before I tear your arms off and beat you to death with them!”

I know that voice. My eyes widen and my temper notches higher. Because I know more than that voice. I know those dark chocolate eyes, flecked with golden sparks that glitter with fury right now.

“Hello?” Evan nods at them and steps back slightly but makes the dumbest move of his life and steps between me and the vibrating temper of the three men in front of me.

“Get. Away.” Max’s emerald eyes are so dark and tormented that he looks like he’s gonna throw Evan out a window.

I step in front of him, my lips tightening. “Oh my god!” I whisper, my temper flaring into a whirlwind of boiling anger. “I can’t believe you three used me like that.”

Max, ever the peacemaker smirks. “Not true at all. We just took what’s been rightfully ours for years.”

“And at that point in time? You think that was fair to me? I was a fucking mess and you three made a hash out of my life and took away my choices.”

Reid snorts. His blue eyes snap. “You had choices. Options, princess. You made your choice.”

“Well, now I’d like to change all that. I didn’t have all the damn facts.” My finger stabs into his rock-hard chest and I glare up at him, trying to avoid inhaling the delicious, wild smell of him. He smells warm, like the sea and sky on a hot summer day at the beach. It’s intoxicating as hell and I shove that feeling of melting lust pooling in my belly all the fucking way down.

Reid grabs my finger and tugs me closer to him until I’m leaning into his hard body and it’s like I’m being branded by the sheer, overwhelming masculinity of him.

His dark brow lifts over his bright blue eyes. “You knew what you were doing. You weren’t drunk.”

My own brow lifts and I swear I can feel the heat crackling between us. “Once again, there were some missing pieces of that permission since we were all masked. And you never introduced yourselves.”

“Masked? Who the hell are these guys, Courtney?” Evan huffs from behind me. “What the hell is going on?”

That’s when I realize that the door is open and my assistant is staring in here with her wide eyes watching the scene like it’s a freaking television show.

I groan internally and close my eyes. I’m a fucking telenovela. Jesus!

“Uh, Evan. I think maybe we should table the discussion on the Sabre until later. I need to talk to these…gentlemen.” My eyes glare at all three of them but they are magnificently uncaring that I’m embarrassed and want them to get the hell out of here so I can shut my door and have a huge meltdown.

He nods his head but I can see the questions in his eyes and I know he’s gonna corner me sooner or later.

But he steps around all three of my men and closes the door after himself.

I shudder when I feel trapped with the three of them, especially when they move closer and surround me. Electric tingles wind through my body and slam into my core with the ferocity of a summer thunderstorm and I have to wonder what the hell is going on here and when did I start thinking of them as my men.

I can’t do this. I just need some space and time. And I need to forget.

Forget these men and all the feelings they stirred about. Because feelings are something I need to shove into a bottle and slam a lid on them so that they can’s escape and drag me down into a morass of depression that’s been pushing at my mind and body.

CHAPTER 9

Max

Even with the lingering blue shadows under her eyes, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her light golden skin glows with health even with the slight pallor of a late night and the stress of her parent’s death.

That actually gave us the opportunity we’ve been waiting for, which I suppose makes us ghouls of a sort. But she’s been closely guarded by her parents and their lackeys since they broke us up in high school.

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