Page 30 of Bear
Mortified, I shake my head, color rising fast on my cheeks. “I don’t know.” I cough again, hating the feeling of being on display and how unstable this makes me appear.
A good ten seconds later, Warren arrives, followed by Arik and Quincy.
The two butthead brothers roll their eyes and stand there, but Warren hovers at the pool’s edge, brow furrowed. “Do you need help getting out?”
I drag in a rough breath, trying to smile at him and mostly failing. “I need a minute.” I’m hyperaware that I’m shaking. The entire thing embarrasses and frustrates me because I don’t like that this has happened again, putting me in the spotlight, when my original plan was always to keep my head down. Not that these guys have let me fly under the radar at all, constantly in my face and poking at me.
Mason’s hand continues to move over my back in a calming manner as he whispers in my ear. “You take your time. I’ve got you, Kintsukuroi.” He eases back, searching my eyes carefully, then slides his thumb over my jaw. “You trust me, right?”
I nod, blinking hard and fighting back the stinging sensation that assaults the back of my eyes. I wasn’t upset a moment ago, but those words.I’ve got you.They mean something to me, because when I’ve needed someone, hehasbeen there. Maybe that’s partly why I’m able to look past his other idiosyncrasies and faults and allow trust to grow again between us—he gets me, and he’s been there. “Thank you. I don’t—”
What would have been a feeble explanation at best is cut off by Kai, Brendan, and Pierre stumbling outside. “This is what we stopped gaming for?” Kai pushes his hair off his forehead and bellows, “Somebody cut off the fucking alarm!” They look—and sound—drunk. On a Sunday night, too. Living their best lives here at Bainbridge Hall. Inwardly, I laugh, despite the fact it brings on another coughing fit.
Someone must have punched in the code because the alarm stops sounding just as Pierre throws out a hand, connecting his gaze with mine and laughing. “Sure,nowshe wants to go for a swim.”
“Little late for that, don’t you think, princess?” Brendan shakes his head, lips pressed together. He seems perturbed, one of those angry drunks, and heaven forbid I’ve interrupted whatever late-night gaming session they were involved in.
Jackasses, all of them.Paying them no attention, I attempt to catch my breath and close my eyes for a moment.
Sensing his presence before I see him, my eyes flick open to find Bear—Gideon—folding his large body until he’s seated at the edge of the pool next to me. “What are you doing in the pool, Little Gazelle?” He helps me smooth my sopping-wet hair away from my face.
I blink up at him, tingles washing through my body before my gaze shifts for a split second to the in-ground spa. My face burns at the memory of what we did in there not all that long ago. “I-I don’t know what happened. I should have listened to you.” Because the last thing Bear had said to me before we parted ways in the upstairs hallway was that maybe, with all the bullshit that’d happened, I would be better off if he stayed with me. I don’t know why I’d refused the idea, except my head had been spinning a little. Mason. Bear. Duke. All three are fighting to get to the forefront of my thoughts, and the hell of it is there’s no clear winner. They’re all on my mind for different reasons.
“It’s not your fault, don’t worry about it,” he rumbles, his voice gruff and low.
I glance past Bear toward the house as Duke exits. Before he can get to us, Quincy drops into a lounge chair poolside and huffs out a laugh, chitchatting with Arik as if the rest of us aren’t right here. “I wonder if once she has the code to the alarm system, she’ll punch it on the way out so the rest of us don’t get awakened every time she wants to take a midnight swim.”
“You aren’t kidding. Fuck, man. All this interrupted sleep,” Arik groans obnoxiously, but it’s clear he thinks Quincy’s thoughts are hilarious from the chuckle that directly follows his faked discomfort.
Fucking assholes.My face flashes hot and my jaw trembles, but I don’t have to say a word in my own defense because Duke aims a steely-eyed glare at the grunts. “Looks like you dickwads will be spending another week eating at the kiddie table in the kitchen. Maybe try not to be fucking douchebags. And as for the alarm code, forget that for now. You definitely haven’t earned jack shit.”
Quincy’s eyes widen. “But—”
“No fucking way,” Arik groans. “Come on!”
“Shut the fuck up, both of you. You’re just digging yourselves into a hole you’ll never get out of if you keep going,” Duke grits, tossing the command over his shoulder as he comes down on his haunches directly in front of me.
His face tells the tale of how his night has gone since he took off. He looks absolutely haggard. Worse than I do, I bet—even though I almost drowned myself.What a shit show we are tonight.I check from the corner of my eye to see how Mason is reacting to Duke’s arrival, because I’m highly curious how the two of them got on earlier. Mason had eventually made it into Duke’s room after he watched us from the balcony, that much I know because there’d been heated voices coming from inside when Bear and I walked past. But after that, I don’t know. I’d taken a quick shower and climbed into bed.
“Stella Bella.” His blue eyes catch mine and hold steady. The nickname, when he says it softly like that, makes my heart stutter. Why does it feel different now? Does he realize he’s acting differently toward me? It could be a show, so he can slap me down at his convenience. He might be waiting until I’m comfortable and not expecting the attack before he swoops in. That’s what Duke would have done a week ago.
I expel a hard breath, and when he doesn’t say another word, I simply respond “Duke,” then look away, my eyes traveling uncomfortably over the rest of the brothers who still hang around the pool area.
My chest jerks in surprise when he reaches forward and grips my chin, steering my face back to his. “Do you want to get out of the pool?”
“I—” I glance at myself, for the first time realizing I must have walked right out of the house in the underwear and sports bra I’d climbed into bed wearing. I suppose I’m lucky it was this because I’ve been known to just wear a T-shirt and nothing else. I stare down at the white bra that’s practically translucent when wet. “Fuck it. Looks like I’m giving everyone a show. Sorry.” I wince, putting my forearm over my breasts where my nipples have pebbled behind the thin cotton.
Duke exhales hard. I can totally tell he’s trying not to look at me at all, and whether that has more to do with the fact that I’m not wearing much or—and this is actually more likely—he’s still having a really bad fucking night despite whatever efforts Mason made to make sure he was okay.
Duke pats Bear on the shoulder, urging him to his feet, then once their eyes meet, Duke gestures with his chin toward me. It’s almost as if they have an entire conversation with that one movement and a certain look passed between them. A moment later, they each put a hand under one of my arms and lift me out of the pool.
“Thank fuck for the lights around the pool, huh?”
“Wish we could see better. What the fuck time is it, anyway?”
I don’t even know which jackasses opened their mouths, but much to my dismay, the initial question sets off a series of catcalls—not that I wasn’t expecting them when they pulled me from the water. Duke’s annoyed yet concerned gaze flicks to mine, and he’s quick to reach over his shoulder and pull his shirt off, flips it around, and has it over my head only a second later. I give him a grateful smile as I poke my arms through the holes while Bear pulls the hem down over my ass. As soon as I’m mostly covered, the hooting and hollering dies down, especially after the withering look Bear shoots everyone behind him.
Duke extends a hand to Mason, helping him out of the pool. There’s an odd tension between them that is thick in the early morning air. I’m unsure what to make of it, but maybe it has to do with how their conversation went earlier. I can ask Mason later, when it’s not dark o’clock and only a couple hours before we have to be up to get to classes.
