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Surprisingly enough, the band posters are all Human pop music and rock from the 80s. They’re filled with men wearing makeup and hair teased up a foot above their heads, not a punk or death metal poster in sight. No matter how much he plays at being a hardass outside the house, he's a total sap.

Despite all the decorations and random objects, I’m frozen in the doorway with my mouth open, not uttering a sound.

Ben has shifted back into a man. A very naked man, with his back to me as he bends down and picks up a pair of pants to pull on.

His skin is pale, but he’s caught up with eating, so he isn’t skin and bones anymore. I hadn’t noticed the change until now.

He’s muscular, not overly so, but with a strength that balances out his natural grace. He has no body hair, even on his legs, which throws me a little. It shouldn’t because his hair in his standard form is sparse.

As he pushes one leg and then the other into the pants, my breath catches in my throat, and I shove back from the frame in an awkward push. My left thigh chooses that moment to cramp up, and I fall directly on my ass with a loud, undignified thump.

“Ouch,” I mumble as thoughts race through my head. I can’t just stare at and lust over him. He’s myonlyfriend, and I don’t want to mess that up, do I? No, I don’t. Keep cramping leg. Distract me.

“You ok?” He asks from the doorway, and fuck me, he’s pulling a shirt on, so I get a mouthwatering view of his abs before they disappear under black fabric. I force my eyes shut and bite my lower lip, but that image will stay with me for a while, and I know it.

Speaking of people who stare too hard at unwilling participants, where is Mitri?

“Bees?” Ben asks, and my eyes pop open as he crouches in front of me. Part of me wants to scoot away from him and avoid temptation. The other half is all for throwing him down and seeing if I can seduce him out of the friend zone stance that he’s taken.

Lucky for him, the thigh cramp has spread to both thighs now, and I’m forced to sit there with gritted teeth as my legs jump around aimlessly.

“Sorry, cramp,” I grit out and try to focus on anything but him. “Did everyone else make it out?”

When he doesn’t immediately reply, my eyes meet his. He’s frowning slightly, and his face turns away. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” My brows furrow as I watch him. He cringes before he looks back at me with a determined expression.

“I don’t know because I left them there. They aren’t my priority, Bees. You are.”

My mouth drops open in surprise, and I have no words.

A tiny flutter in my chest makes me check in with the spark, but the sensation isn’t coming from it because it’s sleeping. The feeling is all me.

When have I ever been someone’s priority before? And to be told that point blank, even when heknew I would be mad that he took me and bailed on everyone else, that takes balls.

Despite all of this,I can’t believe he just left! What was he thinking?

“Before you get mad,” he holds up a hand as if trying to stem the onslaught of verbal berating I’m storing inside. “Those guys are TGT agents. They’ve been through worse. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be in that job. You went there to help them, and you helped. The end. You weredead, baby. Was I supposed to act like everything was fine and sit there until you woke up? Not knowing which one of them was a traitor?”

“No,” I whisper back, properly chastised. I’m also pissed off at the fluttery feeling that cropped up when he called me baby. “I think GV was the traitor. I’m still not sure about King, but he didn’t seem… all there, I guess? Like a puppet instead of a person.”

“You think he was manipulated,” he replies, sitting across from me on the floor. His legs frame mine as he relaxes back on his elbows. Who gets that cozy on a bathroom floor?

“Yeah, I do.”

“Who killed the bitch?” He says it so casually like he’s asking about the chances of getting some rain.

“I did,” I whisper and feel useless tears well up.I look down at my lap to hide it.

She isn’t worth all the angst, but I feel like I’ve lost something vital inside myself.

I’ve never shot anyone, no matter how tempting it was. I’ve assisted people who wanted to die, but that was theirchoice.

This was definitelynotthe other person’s choice. I always considered myself a monster for the things I did in the lab, but this feels so much worse.

“Shecould have been manipulated too, Ben. What if I could have helped her? I didn’t even give killing her a second thought. Just, bam, bye, GV.”

Ben’s bare feet slide in to gently frame my thighs. “What would she have done if you hadn’t killed her?”