Page 36 of The War Revision
I slowly and reluctantly remove my hand. My alarm sounds and he wakes like he’s rising from the dead. He grunts and growls like a zombie digging out of his grave.
I grab his shoulder gently. He slowly turns his head toward me, blinking as if he’s trying to wipe away the sleep from his eyes. I stare at him and lose myself for a second. He smiles. An open, content smile that fills my chest with warmth. He’s still going through that waking stage when the brain is about to turn on and all his defenses are still down. The evident pleasure he’s showing at the sight of me is disarming.
Then a yawn spreads his mouth and he doesn’t attempt to cover it. He rubs his eyes, looking disheveled and adorably cute, stretching and purring like a cat. A barely awake Kaiden is a hot sight. Extremely sexy. My dick agrees, twitching uncontrollably.
I push myself up and walk to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. The shower I take is cold. It works. After a minute—and thoughts of rats and eating seafood—my dick goes down, and I sigh in relief. Yesterday showed me once again why Kaiden and I are bad news. Ending it is for the best, even though I want him still.
When I go back to my room with a towel wrapped around my waist, he’s sitting bare-chested on my bed. He’s looking around, a small line between his brows.
“Good morning,” I say, heading to the closet. I pull out my favorite dark red three-piece suit and a light pink shirt.
“Good morning, blurry Cole-shaped blob,” he grumbles, massaging his temples. I hide my smile, turning toward the dresser to grab a pair of briefs. “There’s aspirin and a bottle of water on the nightstand,” I let him know. The pop of the lid tells me he’s following my suggestion.
He stands up, still looking half-asleep and without saying a word, disappears inside the bathroom—leaving the door open. When I’m clothed, I join him to get my hairbrush from the cabinet. He’s standing in front of the sink, a face towel in one hand. I try not to look at how the pink fabric of his briefs hugs his ass cheeks like a second skin. But I fail miserably.
When I finally look up, his eyes are studying the angry, large mark I left yesterday on his neck. Part of me enjoys the sight. The rest makes me grimace at the big, dark evidence of my neanderthal-possessive action. But the thought of Kaiden with someone else…makes my skin crawl.
I expect a snarky comment. But he just finds my gaze in the mirror and then strokes the sore skin lightly with the tip of his fingers. A hint of a smile on his lips.
Does he like it?
I turn around and go to the kitchen—messy hair it is—pushing away the scary thoughts that are trying to invade my brain. It took me two hours to clean the mess Kaiden left in the living room. Some of the cookies are in a container on the kitchen counter, and I’m still wondering how he managed to turn my living room into a pigsty. I like this apartment. I chose it for the high ceilings and the nice location. Not to mention the fact that my office is three floors down. Being able to stick it to Kaiden was just an extra bonus.
I sigh at the absence of tea in the cabinets—I drank the last of it on Friday. And the fridge is practicing its own empty echo. Shit! I haven’t gone grocery shopping since I went to see my family for the weekend. Thinking about them and the fucking nightmare they are trying to suck me into makes me want to punch something.
I walk to the record player Kaiden brought. Instead of unplugging it to give it back to him, like I wanted, I lift the stylus and let it touch the record. It starts riding around the disk and Pink’s “The Truth About Love” plays in the room.
I smile, thinking about Kaiden’s damn eclectic taste in music. It comes so easily when I think about him lately.
I hear footsteps coming my way. Kaiden has taken a shower. His long hair is damp, wet spots are forming on the white fabric… is that one of my shirts? He left the first three buttons open, showing more of a hint of his tattoos. It looks very tight on his biceps and pecs, like it’s going to bust at the seams. It makes sense since he’s bigger than me. Just another thing I like about him. My cock takes note.
He smooths a hand down his chest. “Nice. Now I know why you’re always wearing these shirts.”
“Do you always take other people’s stuff without asking?” At least he’s wearing his jeans.
He shrugs. “My t-shirt has blood on it.”
I grit my teeth, not liking the thought of a drunk Kaiden fighting alone. Where is all this protectiveness coming from? “Do you remember what happened?”
He scrunches his forehead in concentration. “Not really. I had more alcohol than blood in my body when it happened.” He sits at the kitchen island, and I take a few steps toward him. He’s said it so casually, like getting hit is a usual occurrence in his life. But from what he mentioned about his mother, he must have gone through hell because of her. Maybe that’s why he’s very close to his brother. Facing hard times together strengthened their bond.
There’s so much more of Kaiden than meets the eye.
“Never done this, the morning after.” He sounds bewildered. He lifts the lid of the plastic container and grabs a cookie.
“After? Nothing happened before,” I remind him. “And it’s hard to believe you never did. Mel said on more than one occasion that your bedroom has a revolving door.”
He scratches his head. “Yeah, well it’s more of a hello-dude-and-goodbye-dude kind of door.”
“Stop dropping cookies crumbs on the floor. It took me forever to clean!” I scold him.
“Meghan and Kate need to eat,” he snaps. That mouth—I still want to silence it in a very filthy way.
I counter instead, “They are surely in a food coma after all the cookies you gave them yesterday.”
“Don’t make that disgusted face,” his voice is petulant. Maybe another spank will turn those whines into loud moans.
Damn it. I need to stop thinking about him that way. It’s finished between us. Caput!
