Page 99 of Stay Scared

His fingers flex against the table.

“You’re standing between my knees. You smell like dust and my blood, and I keep thinking about the bar.”

“You mean the part where I bit you?”

“I mean the part where you picked me. And the part where I had to keep my hands the hell off you while you did it.”

The room feels smaller. Not because the walls are moving. Because neither of us is pretending the space between us means nothing.

I step back. Cade lets me.

The timer reads 01:19.

“We move when the lock clears,” he says.

“Get up and make sure your legs agree.”

He slides from the table, but pain catches him when he straightens. I reach automatically and catch his good arm.

Cade looks at my hand around him, then at me.

We cross the maintenance room together as the timer drops below a minute.

Near the door, Cade stops. His eyes drop to my mouth, but he keeps his distance. The restraint looks worse on him now that I know how badly he wants not to use it.

I remember blood on his lower lip in the memory house. His body against mine during the chase. The compression wall striking him instead of me. I also remember my wrist in his hand.

Both things are true.

I fist the front of his shirt and drag him down.

Cade makes a low sound against my mouth. His good hand comes up fast and catches my jaw, then stops there as though he hit the end of a leash.

I kiss him harder.

His thumb presses beneath my cheekbone as I bite his lower lip, opening the old split enough for the faint taste of copper to reach my tongue. His injured arm tries to come around my waist. Pain stops it.

Cade swears into my mouth.

I ease away from his ribs.

“Your body has filed an objection.”

“It can wait.”

“I care whether you tear the bandage open.”

His eyes stay on mine.

“Yeah. I get it.”

Something raw crosses his face.

I grab his shirt again before he can turn it into words.

The second kiss is rougher. Cade’s hand slides from my jaw into my hair, fingers closing carefully at the base of my skull. Carefully, for Cade still has teeth.

His body crowds mine until my back nearly reaches the steel door. He feels it happen. His hand leaves my hair immediately, and his weight shifts back before I have to say anything.