There’s a heavy strain between her eyes, one that only gets worse when Mallory’s hands slide between us, and we allow her to unclip my belt, pop the button on my jeans and unzip them. They fall open.

Mallory’s hand glides across me, and the muscles in my back clench.

I’m about to snap, tell her to get her fucking hands off me when she pulls away on her own.

“Let her feel,” she whispers, lying back again.

She watches Victoria watch me.

I lower my body, applying the slightest pressure to Victoria’s center with mine and she gasps, but she doesn’t touch me, and fuck, I wish she would.

I want to feel her hands on my skin, I need to feel her hands on my skin.

Her warmth.

Her forgiveness.

Her heart.

But right now, I’ll settle for her heat if it’s what she wants.

Anything for you, Beauty.

I take my knuckle, feathering it along her panty line, and straight down until I meet her clit. I barely touch her, the smallest shortest of grazes, but still she gasps, those thick red lips parting.

Mallory hums beside her, her own hand disappearing between her legs. “She likes that.”

“I know what she likes.”

“So show her. Give her what she needs, Captain.”

My body shakes.

Victoria’s hands on me shake.

Do we shake in rage or fear or more?

Am I really about to fuck the girl I’m in love with for the first fucking time with the girl I thought I loved right beside us?

“She’s ready for you,” Mallory whispers, her shuddered breath fanning over us both.

Anger builds in my chest.

Who is she to tell me?

Victoria is mine, not hers as her twisted mind is trying to convince her.

A shadow falls over me, one that seems to blanket Victoria the same.

“Go get us drinks,” the command flies from my mouth before I can stop it, and everyone freezes.

My eyes meet Mallory’s.

Ever so slowly her frown slips in place, her body pulling away from us both as a gauged gleam slowly fills her eyes.

“Please,” I force the word out, doing my best to keep my tone calm when I’m about to lose my shit.

I can’t do this. I fucking can’t.

At my side, Victoria squeezes, and then lets go of my hand and my attention snaps to her.

A dark, tortured demand of acceptance she’s granted herself burns in her eyes, one that has me holding my breath.

Victoria’s left hand slides into Mallory’s hair, tugging her close.

White, hot jealousy threatens to blur my vision as Victoria’s tongue, a tongue I haven’t thoroughly tasted, disappears into Mallory’s mouth. With each passing second, a heavy tension carves deeper and deeper into her forehead until she finally pulls back to meet Mallory’s eyes, a dead look in her own.

“Make us a drink?” she whispers.

Her approach is much different than mine, and more effective.

“You want a triple, Vee?” she asks her.

Victoria nods and just like that, Mallory stands from the bed and walks out.

It’s us now.

Me and her.

My eyes fly to hers, and I open my mouth to speak, but her hand quickly comes up to cover it.

“Not a sound,” she rasps my own stupid, fucked up rule, sadness lining every inch of her.

Instantly, I feel like even more of a piece of shit.

As far as she’s concerned, I gave her so little of me and took even less of her. I touched her, but only if she was quiet.

She touched me, but my lips were off-limits

I took away as much emotion as I could.

She must think I did all that to show her how little she meant when that’s so far from the truth.

I did it to keep as much of myself as I could, as long as I could, because I knew if I wasn’t careful, everything inside me would quickly be hers, and I wasn’t ready for it.

I was fucking terrified of it.

Of her.

Of us.

Not anymore.

Never again.

I have to show her.

I lower until our bodies are flush against each other, pelvis to pelvis, heart to fucking heart, and her bottom lip starts to tremble, but she pulls it between her teeth to try and hide it.

She thinks this is goodbye.

She’s so wrong.

Any barrier I may have used against her falls from my eyes, leaving them as open and honest as ever before and locked with hers.

I gently press my forehead to hers.

Slowly, with sweaty palms and a shaky grip, I place my nose beside hers, gently gliding it back and forth.

Every single muscle in her body locks as her eyes flutter, flying between mine.

Instant, hot tears build and she lets out a broken breath.

“Yes, baby,” I rasp, swallowing.

It’s you.

“But you… you’re here.” Her tears spill over, soaking the hair above her ear as she shakes her head. “You were about to…”

“It’s not what you think, I promise,” I whisper, pushing her hair back. “I saw you and all I wanted was to be, to do, whatever it was you needed or wanted, but I can’t. I’m sorry, but I can’t. Not like this, baby. You deserve so fucking much more.”

Her tears roll onto the pillow behind her and she shakes her head. “I don’t want this.” She both soothes and shocks me. “I just wanted you, no matter how it had to happen.”

My heart breaks looking at her.

“Why are you here if you didn’t know I would be?” she whispers.

“We know about Mike, about everything.” I slide my hand along her cheek. “I came to set him up, catch him trying to catch me acting shitty to make you think I didn’t care, make you want to leave, give up on me, and then suddenly you were here and...” My brows lift and I shake my head, lowering my voice when something clinks in the other room. “My brothers are outside waiting for him to show—”

She flies into a sitting position, shoving me back in the process, her stare bouncing around the room frantically. “Everything I could want to be happy...” Sheer panic-stricken eyes fly to mine. “Zoey.”

“What—”

“Oh my god! Go!” She scrambles from the bed, grabbing her pants off the ground as she runs for the door, but I grip her elbow.

“What?!”

“Go! He knew!” she cries. “He knew what you’d do, knew they’d follow!”

It takes a half a second and then it clicks. “No...”

My phone is in my hand in the next second and right as Mallory comes around the corner.

Her eyes widen. “What’s going—”

In one quick motion, Victoria, still naked from the waist down, grips her by the neck, kicking her feet from under her, and slams her to the floor with a hard thud.

The glasses in her hands shatter on the floor as she cries out as I rush right past, fastening my jeans. I yank my shirt from the floor, throwing it on as I run for the door.

“You psychotic bitch! Did you know?!” Victoria screams at Mallory behind me.

I’ve already dialed Royce, and I’m throwing the door open right as he answers.

I don’t let him get a word in, shouting, “Get home! He’s coming for Zoey.”

I dash outside, briefly glancing behind right as Victoria screams, a vase full of white roses in her hand. She slams it down, shattering it into a million pieces directly beside Mallory’s head.