Page 23 of Cyclone

And for the first time, I meant it.

12

Cyclone

The storm outside battered the jungle, but in here, it was a different kind of storm—one that had been building between us for days, maybe longer. Maybe since the last time.

Jude looked at me like she was trying to hold herself together and failing. And I was tired of pretending.

I reached out and touched her cheek, just a brush of my fingers against damp, heated skin.

“This doesn’t change anything,” she said, her voice low and trembling.

“No strings,” I promised.

“Just for tonight,” she said.

Her hands curled into my shirt, and I leaned in, pressing my forehead to hers for one long, shuddering breath. Then her mouth found mine, and it was like falling off the edge of a cliff—no control, no second-guessing.

We tore at each other, desperate, frantic. Rain and sweat slicked our skin. Clothes hit the cave floor one piece at a time, forgotten.

I pushed her back onto the makeshift bedding we’d thrown down, and she pulled me with her, legs wrapping around my waist, dragging me closer, deeper.

There was nothing slow or soft about it. It was hunger, fury, survival.

When I slid inside her, she arched against me with a broken sound that ripped right through my chest.

For a while, there was no past, no Blackdawn, no death chasing us.

There was only this.

Only her.

Only now.

After,we lay tangled together, breathless, the storm still raging beyond the thin shelter of the cave.

I stared up at the jagged rock ceiling, trying to slow my heart.

Cyclone’s hand traced lazy patterns along my hip. He didn’t speak, and neither did I.

We’d said everything that needed saying with our bodies.

I rolled to my side, resting my head against his chest, listening to the steady thud of his heartbeat.

“This is just for tonight,” I said, my voice rough.

He tightened his arm around me slightly. “I know.”

Liar.

I closed my eyes, pretending that tomorrow wouldn’t come.

Pretending that for one stolen night, I wasn’t a broken person running from a world that wanted me dead.

We were just... together.

And it was enough.

---