Page 35 of Covenant

Fuck.

Well, that didn’t go as planned at all. The muddy footprint, my half-naked body…none of it.

I flop back against the bed with a pout. Looks like I’m going to have to up the stakes if I want to get under his skin. Or maybe I’m fucking crazy and he isn’t even slightly affected by any of the shit I’m throwing his way.

I run a hand through my damp hair and wiggle around on the bed as the shower turns on. I can almost imagine him stripping off his clothes and stepping under the spray—the same place I was just moments ago. Naked. Wet.

I grunt and turn my face into the pillow.

Fuck, I hate this. I hate myself for getting into this mess. I should have found a better way, but at the same time, I have no regrets. Jackson is cared for. Things will turn out all right for him. Me, on the other hand… I have to find a way to best this prick.

Once upon a time, I thought I’d have Matthias in my life forever. But that all changed the night he proved I didn’t truly know him, when he ruined everything in the space of a few hours.

I vowed never to let him back into my world, outside of the odd social function. And now, I’m in his house. In his bed.

His ring on my finger.

I stare at the bathroom door long and hard, so long, in fact, that my eyes start to ache. The water stops and I hear the door to the shower open. Without another thought, I pull my boxers off, looking down at my soft cock and covering it with a sheet, just enough so that Matthias can see I’m naked underneath.

I can’t help myself. He’s so fucking buttoned up, so unreadable. I need a reaction from him. Something to show I’m not the only one struggling with this messed up situation.

The door to the bathroom opens and he steps out, steam billowing around him. Does he not have an exhaust fan in there? Does he like to cook while he bathes?

I don’t have a chance to think about it too hard because he steps forward, a towel around his waist, his hair slicked back, his muscles rippling as he moves. He has that six-pack I don’t. But of course he does. My eyes rove across his chest and I see a tattoo there, right above his right pec. A bird of some sort, black and foreboding.

“You didn’t have that when we were younger,” I blurt out before I can stop myself.

Matthias follows my gaze to his tattoo, his darkening as he sees what’s drawn my attention. “A lot about me has changed since then.”

“Not everything.” I swallow as my attention is drawn to his wrist, to the leather bracelet he’s wearing.

The one I gave him for his sixteenth birthday.

Does he always wear it? Or did he find it and put it on just to fuck with me?

His eyes flick down to see what I’m staring at. “No. Not everything.”

There’s a beat where I think he’s waiting for me to ask. But fuck him. I’m not playing his games.

Not when we could be playing my own.

I spread my legs wider, pulling the sheet tighter over my groin. Matthias’s gaze snaps to it like a magnet, his nostrils flaring slightly as he takes me in. I stretch out again, meeting his gaze.

“You always did love playing games,” he comments casually, pulling the towel from around his waist and letting it fall to the floor.

I school my face into something impassive, keeping my eyes fixed on his chest. No lower. “So you do remember…before.”

Matthias pauses, his head tilts to the side. “Of course I do. You’re the one who insists on denying what we were, not me.”

“I don’t deny it,” I lie, remembering that I did that very thing at my engagement party. I’m going to keep arguing with him, but I’m distracted by the fact that he’s walking toward me.

Naked.

Don’t look. Don’t look.

Of course I look. I can’t not. It’s his fault he’s got his huge dick hanging out, like it’s perfectly normal.

To be fair, you’re also naked.

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