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Slowly, he whispered kisses down the inside of my thigh as I gasped for air and drifted down from the high and release of his doing. I smiled to myself as he gently backed away and let my legs dangle off the edge of the bed.

“Breakfast is getting cold,” he said quietly, breaking the buzzing of the fan.

I cracked an eyelid open and squinted through the still-spinning room. “You better hustle then, I know how much you hate cold food,” I lazily mumbled.

“I just finished eating, Cher,” he replied with a wink, and my eyes widened. “And I’ve never been more satisfied.”

Once again, my gaze darted down between his legs involuntarily, and I could’ve sworn his arousal was bigger than before. A smirk lifted on his face as I locked onto his steady stare, and I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth. He knew what I’d just looked at.

Bracing against the bed, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss against my forehead. “Really, though. Azelie will eat everything if you don’t get out there soon.” And he disappeared out of the room without another sound.

I stared at the ghost of his figure, reveling in the high that he created. That was… With a smile, I pushed myself off the bed and grabbed my shorts and underwear from the floor. Quickly shuffling over to my duffel, I dug through the hastily packed bag and grabbed a clean, casual T-shirt and a pair of joggers.

Once I’d changed out of my pajamas, I opened the door and left the room with my toiletries in hand. I knew I was in desperate need of some hair control, no matter how needy I was for a hot breakfast.

But I paused outside the closed bathroom door as the sound of running water reached my ears. I quickly scanned down the hallway and into the kitchen, where everyone except for Ford was seated around the dining room table. The kitchen was a jumbled mess of dirty dishes in the sink and a few trays with some straggling food waiting for me.

Azelie smiled at whatever was on her phone as somehow, despite the generations of fighting, my parents chatted with Ford’s family. Though I wondered if they were arguing about something. Honestly, that was probably the more likely scenario.

Which meant that the only person who could be in the bathroom was Ford. Curiosity and something hot slithered low in my stomach as I stared at the dark wooden door. I should’ve just walked down that hallway, but instead, something compelled me to inch closer, and I pressed my ear up against the door.

I strained to hear past the rushing water of the shower.

But nothing. Despite lingering for far longer than I should’ve, I heard nothing. I sighed, expelling the unexpected and very inappropriate disappointment, and quickly jogged back into the bedroom. I could fix my hair later.

Tossing the toiletry bag back into the duffel, I spun around and wandered back down the hallway. Without a word, I grabbed the final clean dish waiting beside the platters of food and scraped the last pieces of sausage, bacon, eggs, and the final pancake from the trays.

Nobody looked up as I simply leaned my ass back against the counter and began eating. I barely registered the taste of the food as my mind played back the past moment with Ford. Shit. I probably should’ve…helped him out. I wanted to, but I’d been too wrapped up in my own high and feelings that my mind had been unable to process a response fast enough. Now, he was subjected to his own—

“NO WAY!” Azelie suddenly shouted and sprang from her chair.

I nearly threw my fork at her.

“What?” my mom asked, sharing a quick glance with Ford’s mom, who pursed her lips. Yep, there it was, confirmation that they had definitely been arguing.

“What’s up, Azelie?” I asked as she lifted her gaze from her screen, and my stomach dropped.

Fuck. No. Her contacts. When we’d been attacked, she’d already taken out her contacts, and I couldn’t remember packing them before coming here or if she’d put them in before coming over here or getting out of bed, and if she hadn’t, they’d know.

Her eyes connected with mine, and relief flooded my system. Two green eyes. For the first time in her entire life, I was actually grateful that my parents forced her to wear it. I was grateful they must have remembered to grab it and gotten her to wear it. But through the consolation was a crack of uneasiness. Something rubbed me the wrong way about how obsessed my parents behaved concerning her around the Thibodeauxs. The fight after I called Ford. The fight while packing. The fight while he drove us here all lingered in my mind.

“When’d you get out here?” my mom asked, spinning in her chair and narrowing her eyes.

I looked down at my luckily empty plate and back up at her. “I mean, there aren’t any more chairs at the table, so I ate over here,” I replied without directly answering her question.

“Oh, true,” my mom muttered and spun back around.

“Anyway, what’s got you so excited?” I directed the attention back to Azelie.

She smiled again. “I just got a text from our cross-country coaches that the theme idea for the fundraiser run this year is ours!”

“No way. That’s awesome, baby,” I replied with a massive grin. “You didn’t tell me that you guys entered an idea.”

“Well, it was Cory’s idea, technically. He wanted to do something to honor his brother, so he asked if we could make it about honoring military members. The coaches usually pick the senior submissions, which makes sense, but I guess we won it this year! The cross-country coaches got the track coaches involved, who got the Junior Reserves Officers Training Corp from school involved, too, and apparently, it’s going to be thismassive two-day event now! The 5k run will still be held Saturday morning in two weeks with a whole bunch of other events too.” She placed her phone against her chest as her eyes sparkled.

Even Ford’s parents grinned.

Azelie briefly glanced over my shoulder, then looked back at me. “Which means lots of planning for us. Captains of each grade and event are supposed to meet in an hour. Can Ford drive me to the school?”