Page 80 of Forging Bonds: Part One

As we walk back down the stairs to the foyer where the common area is, I hope that guys know where we’re going to get food because I have absolutely no idea where we are, and I’m hungry.

“I was thinking that it may be a good idea if we sleep in what we’re wearing or at least sleep in clothes that mean we’re ready to go at a moment’s notice. We have no idea how these trials work, but if we get pulled in like we did when the Choosing brought us here, then I would rather ensure that we’re ready and not half-naked if we get pulled into a task in the middle of the night or something,” Reed suggests.

Evander nods, “Yeah, I think that’s a really good idea. At least until we can find out how likely it is to happen or not.”

“Agreed,” we all say together.

River frowns, “I can’t sleep naked? That really sucks.”

My eyebrow rises in interest, “You normally sleep naked?”

He smirks and winks, “Yep.”

“I feel hard done by. Why the hell have you been wearing clothes when you slept in my bed?” I tease.

River stops, causing everyone else to stop too, as he pulls me into his arms, and his lips stop millimeters away from mine.

“Because I want to slide into your wet heat and feel you clench around me as you shatter, but I can’t do that and clothing reminds me of that,” River mutters.

“Fucking hell, man,” Raiden curses heat in his voice.

The others all groan or mutter something similar, but I don’t hear it. River finally closes the gap between us, and I get lost in his kiss.

When he finally pulls back, he smirks at my dazed expression and tucks me under his arm.

“You’re a fucker,” Reed rumbles.

River’s smile widens as we carry on walking, “What?”

“You know exactly what,” Evander replies.

River laughs, causing everyone else to do the same. Eventually he adds, “I guess it does make sense to be dressed and ready to go just in case.”

“It will be annoying for a while, but it’s only a week that we have to do it, and it would be a lot better for us to be prepared,” Ransom agrees.

We all fall silent, stopping our conversation as we walk into the room next to the common room that I found the guys in earlier. There is one long table laid out with food and enough chairs for both of the teams, which means that we’re going to be having a fairly intimate meal with them. I’m not sure that’s a particularly good thing, but there’s nothing that we can do about it, and they’re already here.

Standing around the edge of the room are a handful of supes that I’m assuming are only there to ensure that if a fight breaks out, they can control it. It’s smart.

At least it means that I get to see Coen, and I make sure that I’m sitting next to him, even if I have to pretend that I don’t know him.

I really fucking miss him.

He doesn’t look at us when we enter and take our seats, avoiding our gazes completely and staring down at his food instead and looking murderously pissed. All of the other team members however, do glance up at us. Glaring at us like it’s our fault that we’re here and not theirs.

We all choose to ignore them and just get on with dinner as we usually would, so while they all sit there silently and glare, we load up our plates and talk like we normally would.

Well, sort of.

We obviously don’t talk as freely as we usually would. That wouldn’t be very smart at all.

Halfway through the meal, Coen reaches for my leg under the table, and trying to be as subtle as I can, my hand dips under the table too. As soon as my hand touches his, he flips his hand over, threading his fingers with mine like it’s the only lifeline that he has, and quite honestly, I have to fight not to say anything.

Unfortunately, I don’t get to be close to him for very long, and soon Kylen is getting up, and for some reason, that means that the rest of them have to get up too, even if they haven’t finished their food. I’m not the only one frowning as we watch them leave.

“That was really weird,” River mutters.

“Their whole team is weird,” Ransom mutters.

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