Page 22 of Forging Darkness

“What do you mean, bro?”

“Just look at you two, getting along.”

“Yeah,” Sterling adds as he takes the remaining seat at the small bistro table. “We were expecting a lot of sucking face and yelling. Who knew you two could actually converse like mature young adults? I didn’t think that was part of your mating ritual.”

My blush comes on fast and intense. My cheeks must be cherry red. I reach up and brush my fingertips over my skin. I’m hot to the touch.

There’s a sputtering sound behind me, and I assume Ash is choking on her drink.

This is so embarrassing.

Steel leans forward and punches Sterling on the arm . . . hard.

“Dude. That hurt.” Sterling scooches his chair back and rubs his bicep. “Uncalled for.”

“You need to develop a better filter.”

“A better filter?Anyfilter.” Greyson laughs, and I give him the stink eye. He’s the one who started this.

Sterling scoffs. “Yes, because tiptoeing around a situation is so productive. You all would be lost without me.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Sterling.”

“All I’m saying is that these two—” Sterling uses his fingers to indicate Steel and me. Like that’s necessary. “Have been—”

“Do not complete that thought.” Pushing out of his chair, Steel stands. The levity between us is utterly shattered, and a fist forms in my chest.

For all of his bumbling, Sterling isn’t wrong. There haven’t been many moments of peace between me and Steel. We seem to operate on hot or cold. Having the opportunity to be with him, without tension hanging in the air between us, is . . . nice.

“I’m grabbing a shower. It’s late, we should turn in soon.” Turning on his heel, Steel stalks to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

I shoot Sterling a dirty look before stomping off to my room, intending to do the same.

* * *

My airway is blocked off. I can’t breathe and instantly go into freak-out mode, swinging an arm out before my eyes even open. My flailing limb is caught mid-air, but I’m already geared up to kick a leg—never mind that I’m still horizontal—when a body lands on top of mine.

“Shh, it’s just me.”

Steel?

The fight leaks out of me as my eyes adjust to the darkened room. I blink to see that Steel is, in fact, flattening me with his body.

When he sees recognition flare in my eyes, he pulls his hand away.

“What the heck, Steel?” I whisper-hiss at him. “Get off.”

Tilting his head, he looks down the length of both our bodies. We’re meshed together from chest to toes.

“Shit. Sorry,” he says and rolls off me.

Sitting up, I check the room to find Ash still fast asleep on the bed next to me, ear plugs and face mask in place. If a zombie apocalypse happens in the middle of the night, she’ll be the first to get eaten.

On the other bed, Nova is turned on her side facing the other way. Her steady breathing says she’s dead to the world as well.

“What’s wrong?”

Steel bends over Ash’s bag, riffling through the contents. He straightens, a piece of material balled in his fist.

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