Page 79 of Taken By the Convicts
With a simple glance at the position of the sun, Zev realized he was going to be late. After a week and a half in the med-center, Melina had finally returned, escorted by Ivan yesterday. After Ivan and Reece’s fight three days ago, Reece had left on another hunt. Zev wasn’t sure if he knew Ivan had baited him, to ensure Ivan had enough damage to get admitted to the med-center. He hadn’t talked to Reece before he’d stormed off.
Ivan had stayed in the med-center three days, recovering. Zev knew the soldier well enough by now to assume Ivan strung out his stay to ensure Melina’s safety, and so he could talk her into returning. Whatever he’d said worked. Melina had returned and Reece was expected back sometime tonight. Given the fight between Reece and Ivan, Zev wanted to be in the bunker to smooth things over if necessary. Eventually, Zev wouldn’t be there to mediate.
An hour later, after taking a circuitous route to ensure none of Hawke’s men had followed him, Zev entered the bunker. He stopped at the top of the steps. A beautiful voice traveled up the stairwell. And then it stopped. Melina stood at the bottom, wearing one of Ivan’s shirts that reached to her mid-thigh. Her mouth formed the shape of an ‘O’ which brought a very vivid memory to mind.
Without warning, all of Zev’s feelings crashed down on him. How he’d missed her, how frustrated he’d been when she’d refused to leave the med-center, and how he’d never had a chance to talk to her after that night when he and Jayce had taken her at the same time. He’d left them together since Jayce had seemed to need it. Zev had never imagined she’d leave in the morning and stay away so long. Thank the heavens Ivan had convinced her to return.
“We need to talk,” Zev said as he descended the steps. She reached to take his coat. “I’ll take care of it,” he said as he brushed by her. Without touching her. Without laying a kiss on her forehead. Without looking at her. He didn’t need to be taken care of, never had.
“Then talk,” she said, confronting him. No, not him. His tone, his rudeness. He deserved that, but letting her get close to him, touching him. . . He wasn’t sure he could resist her right now, and he needed to. He couldn’t afford an attachment, especially on Veenith.
She had a smudge of what looked like flour on her nose. The urge to wipe it off, to lick it off of her, nearly overwhelmed him. Fuck, she was hard to resist.
All of his anger drained away as he wiped the substance off with his thumb. That touch sent a chain reaction through him, escalating the need to feel more of her skin beneath him, to draw her closer and never let her go. For a simple touch to affect him so. . . Damn, he was in too deep. A sense of clarity pushed through the confusion.
He had no real reason to be mad at her. Melina was doing what she needed to do to survive. Staying at the med-center hadn’t been personal. Furthermore, it had been Zev’s chance to distance himself from her emotionally, but the opposite had occurred. He’d been worried as fuck about her.
“We haven’t talked since you returned,” he added, slightly nervous as he followed her down the hall. He tossed his coat into his room, not caring when it landed on the floor. From the sound of it, the bunker was empty. He wouldn’t miss this chance to speak with her in private.
“So talk,” she said, rounding the corner into the exercise area, barely looking at him. She sounded distant, mad even. That had been his fault, for how he’d greeted her. She’d been singing, sounded happy for the first time since Ivan had brought her here, and Zev had destroyed it.
“Can’t you stop moving for a minute?” he lashed out as she climbed the ladder to one of the shelving units in the back of the storage room.
She stopped half-way up the ladder.
“What are you doing up there?” he asked.
“Searching the contents. I found a sack of flour earlier, though no other baking products.”
“You mix chemicals in a lab to make drugs. It’s basically the same thing. Why this sudden urge to cook?”
“Bake, not cook. I haven’t baked anything in years. This is the first kitchen I’ve been allowed near. I thought it would be nice to make something. Like cakes and cookies, food that puts a smile on everyone’s face.”
She was worried. That’s what this was about. The singing, the baking. She was trying to distract herself. Reece was due back tonight, and yesterday when she’d returned with Ivan, Jayce had been asleep. Ivan had kept Melina in his room and Jayce had left before she woke this morning. That meant she still had two men to confront after him.
“You don’t have to sleep with them,” Zev said suddenly. “It’s not expected of you. Even from Jayce, despite what he says. The man has issues.”
She backed down the ladder until he blocked the bottom. He placed his hand on her calf and she stilled. Always, she tensed when he initiated.
“Do I scare you, Mel?” he asked as he ran his hand up her thigh to her hip. She wore no panties, which excited him and made him curse. It would be too easy to take her.
“I worry about you.”
“Worry?” he asked as he let his hand glide to her inner thigh, memorizing the silky feel of her.
She turned on the ladder and stepped down two rungs to be level with him. “You’re not like the others, Zev. You try to stay as far from me as possible.”
“You’ve had me in your mouth, and I’ve been inside you, Mel.”
Large eyes searched his face. For what, he couldn’t say. “But you weren’t fully present, Zev. Either time.” She cupped his face. “You’re like Jayce in some ways, hiding from me, from all of us. But I don’t think you fear showing me—and the others—who you are. Not really. Something else is preventing that.”
He wished he could tell her everything. He hated the lies, the secrets, knowing that being with her wouldn’t last. For her safety, and that of the others, he had to lie to her.
“You’re not seeing things clearly. I’ve been friends with Reece for nearly six months. I don’t hide away like Jayce at all. He’s a loner, a solitary at heart. He’s the one who can’t bond with another.” What the fuck was he doing making her case for her? He should be agreeing with her, making her want to push away, yet here he was trying to hold on to her.
“Jayce is a loner, but not because he wants to be. Just look at him with Ivan. They’re like brothers. They have implicit trust, but Jayce keeps his distance from getting to know the rest of us because at some point he lost the ability to trust new people. You know how to, Zev, but you choose not to.”
“Perhaps that night was simply too much for you, and you don’t like being shared. Because you’re remembering that night wrong. I showed you exactly who I was,” he said pressing his length against her.
