Page 9 of Runaways

"Come with me," he says. "Let me hold you; I hate that you're hurting like this."

I want to, but Mia's words still echo through my brain. He's saying these things because I'm leaving, and that's convenient. I wouldn't be the first person he's lied to like this, but given our history and the out I'd offered him, it would be particularly cruel.

But I know he's more than capable of being particularly cruel, too.

I pull my knees into my chest. "I can't," I say, looking somewhere over his shoulder.

"Fine," Tate says, pulling himself to his feet. He leans over me, planting one hand on the edge of the bed and pushing my hair away from my face with the other. "Doesn't change anything, though. And you're really fucking beautiful, Noah. I'm sorry the world has been so ugly to you that it's made it impossible for you to believe it."

He presses his lips to mine and then turns, leaving the room.

"I'm sorry, too," I whisper once he's gone. I squeeze my eyes closed, sending weighty tears rolling down each of my cheeks. I don't know how long I lie there staring at the ceiling before I give up and slip out of bed, glancing back at Mia once before leaving the room.

I walk across the hall, pushing open the door and slowly closing it behind me before crawling up the bed on all fours.

"Noah," Tate says, pulling the covers back and gesturing for me to lie down next to him. I don't know if he's been lying here awake, too, or if I woke him. "Come here, baby."

I crawl under the covers and into his arms, resting my head against his bare chest. "I just want to sleep with you for a little while. Wake me up in two hours, okay?"

"Okay," he says, reaching for his phone on the side table and setting the alarm.

"Are you mad at me, Tate?"

"Of course not."

"I missed you today," I whisper, because I still can't bring myself to say the other thing.

Tate rolls onto his side and kisses me slowly, slipping his tongue into my mouth. "Mmm," he moans against my lips before pulling away. "It's beenthreedays. And I missed you, too. The only good thing about Mia dating that piece of shit Levi was that she wasn't here breathing down our fucking necks all the time."

Yeah. I guess that's kind of how all of this started.

"I hate lying to her."

"Is that Noah?" Silas asks from the other side of the bed, moving until his body is at my back. I feel the hard ridge of his cock against my backside when he hooks a leg around both of us. "What's wrong, baby?"

He presses his lips to my neck while slipping his hand inside in the front of my shirt.

"Nothing," I lie. "Mia just…hurt my feelings. I don't want to talk about it; I just want to sleep."

"You're so fucking pretty, Noah," Silas says. I guess Tate already told him. He buries his face in my hair and inhales. "Don't listen to Mia. She's just jealous because her boyfriend is a piece of shit, and you smell like rain and taste like peaches."

This.Thisis why I get confused.

"You just think you have to say that."

"Cut the shit, Noah," Tate says. "You think you'd be dripping with our cum every day if we didn't think you were pretty?" He presses his erection between my legs. "I'm happy to show you how pretty I think you are, but Mia's going to hear you scream. And I don't think you want that, so go to sleep."

"I can keep you quiet for him if you do want that," Silas says. "Just say the word."

What the fuck is wrong with me? I want to know how he plans to keep me quiet—with his hand or with his dick? I'd like either one.

How did it get this far? Nothing about this is normal.

"If you're going to say no, you better do it now," Tate says. "Because your eyes and the way you're biting your lip right now say yes."

"No," I tell them.

Tate shrugs. "Okay," he says, kissing my forehead. "Good night, baby."

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