Page 51 of Surge of Heat

Looking at his tattooer, I ask, “Can you do the same tattoo on me next?”

So, she does. She puts the same tattoo on my wrist, delicate but powerful. And when we’re done, all of us have a tattoo. Something that connects us. Which just feels right.

Evander calls the driver. He comes and picks us up, and the ride home is silent. Several times, I touch around the outside of my tattoo, my heart feeling full.

We are the Dragon Pack, even if two of our members haven’t accepted it yet. We’re bonded for life.

NINETEEN

Aydan

We’re allin Sam’s room, and I love being in here. It smells like her. And us. And sex. But also a little like that dickhole. A dickhole who followed us in here. He doesn’t seem to get it. He’s not wanted, or needed, any more. I’m the one Sam loves. I’m a dragon too. It’s only a matter of time before he’s pushed out, and I can’t wait for that fucking moment.

Yet another bottle of tequila is being passed between us as we sit around her bed. “Worst dates!” Granger says, followed by laughter.

All eyes turn toward me, and I touch the spot over my heart. The place where I tattooed Sam’s name. I don’t want to talk about someone I dated. Sam is here. No one else matters. But they’re waiting for me, so I give it a shot. “I agreed to go out to a movie and dinner with this one girl. But when I showed up to pick her up, she’d arranged dinner with her whole family. She introduced me as her boyfriend. Everyone was asking when we were getting married, and trying to arrange Christmas vacation plans. I just told her I had to go to the bathroom… and ran for it.”

They’re roaring with laughter. Apparently, my misery is their good time, which is fine by me, if it means Sam is laughing. I love when she laughs.

Man, I want to fuck her. I want to be inside her while she says my name.

I touch the tattoo of her name over my heart. I love it. It’s perfect. She’s always in my heart, the only difference is now she can see it.

“Your turn!” Sam says to Evander.

He smirks, the drunk asshole. “I took a girl out to a nice restaurant, where she proceeded to get wasted. She tried to pee in a plant in the restaurant, so we were asked to leave. She kept trying to convince me to have sex with her, then she vomited all over me and my car.”

Granger and Sam are laughing again, and I even manage a smile. Okay, that’d be a sucky date, but I imagine the girl had to drink that much to deal with his miserable personality. If I had to go out with him, I’d get drunk too.

“What about you?” Sam asks Granger.

He’s normally on guard when it comes to his dating life, but I think he’s too drunk for that tonight. “I had this girl from biology class that I asked out. She suggested this fancy restaurant, so I set it up. She arrived with a guy with her. She said it was her friend. They ordered all the most expensive stuff, spent the night talking to each other, and then when I went to the bathroom, they left me with the check.”

Sam’s eyes go wide. “That bitch!”

He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck. “It got worse. When I saw her in class, she wanted my notes and to study with me. She said she’d fail the class if she didn’t.”

“But you told her to go screw herself, right?” I ask.

He shrugs.

Sam grabs his shirt and shakes him. “You are too god damn nice! Stop letting people walk all over you!”

He just grins at her like an idiot, then says, “Your turn. Worst date.”

From the look on her face, I can tell she wasn’t expecting the question, for whatever reason, but she’s had enough to drink that she just starts talking. “It wasn’t just one date, technically, it was a datingexperience. I went out with this one guy, and it was awful. He actually yelled at me on our date when I got a text from another guy. It was Aydan, of course, but he didn’t care. I wasn’t going to call him back after that, but he started calling, ten, twenty times a day, and sending me hundreds of texts. When I blocked him, he started showing up outside my apartment and classes.”

The air in the room has changed. She doesn’t realize it. I know she doesn’t. But the three men in this room would do anything for her, and we don’t like what we’re hearing.

“How did you get him to stop?” Granger asks, and there’s pure rage in his eyes.

She waves a hand, like it’s no big deal. “One night he tried to follow me into my apartment after I’d been out drinking. We fought. I got a black eye, but I’m pretty sure I broke his dick.” She’s laughing, cracking herself up.

We’re… silent. Fuming. Enraged.

She seems to notice and her laughing eases. “It was fine. I told him if he bothered me again, I’d go to the police, and he left me alone.”

“That’s not a funny story,” Granger says. “Some guy stalked, harassed, and attacked you.”

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