Page 9 of Antidote

The sound of the doorknob rattling wakes me, and I narrow my eyes at the bathroom door. “Ollie!” Hunter calls out from the other side. “Open up, please.”

“Go away,” I groan. “I’m taking a nap.”

“The fuck you are,” he growls, and the next thing I know, he’s opening the door.

How the fuck?

He closes the door behind himself and closes the distance between us, crawling himself up my body and straddling my hips. I breathe through it. Please don’t get hard. Please, body, don’t fail me now. What the hell is he doing?

“Hunt.” I groan when he bends over me and puts us nose to nose, his hair dripping water onto my face. I close my eyes as a drop lands in it, making it burn. “What the hell?—”

“Come downstairs,” he demands.

“No.”

“No?”

“You heard me,” I reply softly, as if he’s not the boss of me. In reality, I usually do whatever he wants me to do. “I’m not going.”

“Why?”

His lips brush against mine, and tingles erupt all over my body. I suck in a sharp breath. “I don’t like your friends.”

“They don’t like you either, Ollie.”

“Exactly,” I huff, trying to push him off me to no avail. He’s bigger and stronger, a brick wall. I open my eyes to find him smirking, and then I get lost in his green orbs. “Why do you want me to hang out?”

“Because I miss you when you’re gone.”

My stomach flutters at those words, and he turns his head and kisses my cheek softly. His lips are full and soft, and I suddenly wonder how they would feel against mine.

“You’re just saying that to manipulate me.” I smirk.

“Is it working?”

A chuckle bursts out of me, and he gets up, still straddling me. He gazes down at me with adoration on his face and brushes his knuckles down my jaw. If only he knew how I felt about him, he wouldn’t be touching me this way.

Is this normal, anyway? Do brothers usually do this? I wouldn’t know since he’s the only brother I’ve ever had. Although I would bet my allowance that this isn’t normal. Maybe he feels something for me, too. Maybe?—

No.

That’s impossible.

I sigh. “Fine. But I’m not getting in the pool.”

“Bring your sketchbook.” I nod, and he gets off my lap and turns around quickly. I watch him adjust himself, and when he turns toward me, I raise a brow at him. “What? It’s normal.”

“Sure.” I grin and get off the bed, grabbing my sketchbook from my desk. “Lead the way before I change my mind.”

Hunter grabs my hand as if he’s afraid I’ll change my mind in earnest, and he all but drags me down the stairs. Lucy watches us for a moment but decides to ignore it and turns around. He lets go of my hand right before we make it out to the backyard, and I feel the absence of his skin against mine. But instead of sulking, I paste a smile on my face for him and sit on one of the lounge chairs.

Pretending I’m not dying inside.

It’s been a few days since the pool incident, and my teammates are still talking shit about Ollie. How weird he is. How he was definitely looking at them.

I’ve explained a million times he’s not like that, and he’s not trying to make anyone uncomfortable. But they’re undoubtedly homophobes with nothing better to do with their time except talk shit. The more they say though, the more I want to punch something. Ollie is mine, and I’ll be damned if anyone disrespects him.

“Shut the fuck up,” I growl, putting my burger down. “I won’t hear any more of your bullshit about my brother.”

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