Page 71 of Equilibrium
“Mhm.” He leaned closer. “But I can pull yours.”
He was only joking, but I almost instantly pulled back, my mind flooded with memories of Storm, his hands on me, and the way he held me like I was precious. Well, I would’ve pulled back if that familiar, thunderous voice didn’t make Atlas jump three feet away from me.
“You really don’t want to live, do you Atlas?” I turned around to see a scowling Storm heading our way. “Step away from her and stay away.”
His legs ate the distance between him and us, and before I could come up with the retort of him not owning me and me being able to do whatever I wanted to do, he was already in front of me, taking the bags from my hands, rendering me speechless with one look. I wondered if his parents named him Storm because they knew he would be a force to be reckoned with, because the way he looked at me right now, possessive, demanding, even loving, it was almost too much to bear.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, even when Atlas started chuckling, still standing a few feet away from us. I couldn’t stop staring even as Atlas’s form retreated down the hallway and we were left all alone. We were going to one of their clubs tonight, but it was as far away from my mind as it possibly could be. My body buzzed with a different kind of energy, one that could now connect me with Storm.
It was such a silly little thing, but it felt as if he finally woke me up from the slumber I’d placed myself into. I felt alive, and even though all these memories were flooding my mind, even though I didn’t know what to do next, I felt alive.
“I don’t like him touching you,” he gritted when what felt like another stampede turned my stomach upside down.
“So, if I ask Indigo to touch me, it’s gonna be—”
“No.” His nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, and I grinned at the jealousy shining through his eyes. “Nobody touches you but me.” He dropped the bags and pressed me against the wall, gripping my throat in his hand. “No one,” he whispered as his thumb pressed against the pulse point on my neck and his nose descended into my hair. “You’re mine.”
“But are you mine?” I had to ask. I hated thinking about other women’s hands on him, but I had to know. Men had the ability to render us speechless, to demand from us to be faithful and only theirs, when they wouldn’t do the same. I had to know that all of this, these crazy feelings, that I wasn’t just some kind of an object for him.
“Do you even have to ask, Sunshine?” His other hand lifted my shirt, sneaking inside and landing right on my waist. “I was yours for as long as I can remember.”
Something inside my chest fluttered, my heart started beating faster, my breaths coming out shorter, but the need to run away was nowhere to be found. It was as if my heart and my mind finally started working in sync, both knowing where they were supposed to be.
Here, with him, in his arms.
I guess that this was me trying to be better, to accept things. I settled my hands on his shoulders and started kneading the muscles there, drawing out a groan from him.
“Then I guess I can be yours as well. Might have to go over that whole ownership contract to see what it entails, but you know.” I chuckled as his eyes shut closed while I continued massaging his shoulders, the back of his neck and his upper arms. “Are there any benefits in this arrangement?”
I slowed my movements when his eyes snapped open, burning with desire. “Don’t stop,” he pleaded in a husky voice. “That feels so good.”
“Don’t we need to go?” I licked over his bottom lip and squeezed the back of his neck.
“Continue doing that and you won’t be going anywhere but directly to my bed.”
That wasn’t the worst idea, but I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to stab somebody in the eye tonight.
“Come on.” I tapped his shoulder. “Stop being a Neanderthal and move your ass. I have an itch to scratch, and no, get that look off your face and those ideas out of your head.”
“I didn’t say anything.” He chuckled.
“You didn’t have to. I can see it all over your face.”
I bent down to retrieve the bags but he again snatched them from my hands, giving me a pointed look before he turned around and started walking toward his room. Well, our room, I guess. Was now an appropriate time to freak the fuck out because I was about to?
Maybe.
Possibly.
Okay, no, I wasn’t going to hyperventilate because he was again moving me into his room. It wasn’t like we bought an apartment together. Right? It was just a room.
“Do you always live in the clubhouse or is this just a temporary arrangement?” I called out as I ran after him, trying to calm my racing heart. See, maybe we weren’t really living together.
He glanced at me over his shoulder as he rounded the corner toward the part of the hallway where our room was located, answering me with a grunt.
“Is that a yes or a no?”
“Yes.”
