Page 54 of The Omega Trials: Part Two

She sucks in a breath.

My own lungs seize.

My fingers itch to wrap the silky strands in my fist, to pull her neck back and lick a path up the column of her neck. My bodyburnsfor so much more than this featherlight touch.

She could bring me to ashes.

Giving in, I twist a lock around two of my fingers and—

The vibrations of the phone in my pocket shatter the spell. I clear my throat and step back as if just realizing where I am and pick up the call.

“Hey.” My voice is gruff and thick.

Bishop’s on the other line. His direct tone immediately puts me on guard. “Yo, I don’t know what’s going on, but security personnel are swarming this place.”

“What do you mean?” At the stress in my voice, Sinclair gives me a worried look.

“I don’t know,”Bishop says, agitated, and I know it’s not at me, but the situation. “They won’t tell us anything, just—just stay there, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” I say without hesitation.

“I’ll let you know as soon as we know anything,” he promises, then hangs up.

Immediately, Sinclair asks, “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know, but we’re not going home.”

“There’s only one bed,” Sinclair says when we walk into the staff room.

“Yep,” I say flatly, feeling all sorts of off-balance after Bishop’s call interrupted us right before . . . Right beforewhat?

What would have happened? What evencouldhappen? Nothing. I still don’t have permission to touch her, and that wasn’t going to magically change.

Sinclair seems equally thrown off. She can’t look me in the eye, and now this comment about the bed.

“Is there not a room with two beds?” She almost sounds a little panicked.

“It’s a brothel, not a hotel. I doubt they have much use for separate beds,” I snip.

“Yeah. Right.” She sighs and sits on the corner of the mattress.

I flop down in a chair opposite her. “If it wasn’t the weekend, there would probably be another staff room open.”

“Hmm,” she hums in acknowledgment, followed by awkward silence.

I’m not one to have a problem with silence, never the first one to break it, but for some reason, right now, it’s making me want to crawl out of my skin. So, I say the first idiotic that pops into my head.

“You know, I was in this very room when you video called me from Ecker’s phone.”

“Oh?” She looks at me from the corner of her eyes, like she feels guilty but is trying to play it cool.

“Yeah, I was sitting right where you are.”

Her cheeks pinken, and I know I’m either going to love or hate whatever she says next.

1. “One Of The Girls” (with JENNIE, Lily-Rose Depp) by The Weeknd, JENNIE, Lily-Rose Depp

Chapter 20

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