Page 135 of Shadowman

I would kiss him and whimper because I wanted itback.

And he would cry,“Lex…”

My heart is splitting down the middle all over again, just like every time I heard a name that wasn’t mine.

“Fuck,” I gasp, without thinking, because it hurts too damn bad to keep it in.

To stay silent iskillingme right now.

A warm hand appears on my back, and I peek left. Trevel is staring at me,hard, his brows knitted in clear concern. I bite my lip, because it’s trembling, and I don’t want him to see. But he does. I guess he noticed it…

He notices everything.

Reaching out, he plucks my lip from between my teeth, his thumb brushing it gently. Our eyes are locked, an unwavering gaze that’s almost too intense.

But I can’t break it. I can’t look away.Hell, I’m not sure I even want to.

Trevel’s fingers slip along my jaw, our bodies so close now, we’re all but zipped. He lets out a breath, wide chest pulsing up and down as I swallow and lean into it—his touch and his proximity. His eyes and the fact that he sees me. He’sseeingme…

He mouths something, and I’m not positive, but I think it’s my name.

Byron.

Myname, not anyone else’s.

He blinks slowly, slipping his fingers under my chin. And I have no clue how, but I can hear him. Ihearwhat he’s not saying.

I could give you what you need… If you’d only stop fighting.

My heart is racing too fast, flesh so hot I feel like steam is coming off of me. This is too much… I don’t know what this is, but it’s crazy.

How is he doing this? Why does it feel like he’s breathing me back to life right now?

“Two minutes!” The spell is broken with that barked warning.

“Shit.” I close my eyes tight and exhale the pressure.

A growl comes from Trevel. Aiming my foggy gaze up at him, I watch as he brushes his wet hair back, visibly flustered himself. My lips want to twitch in amusement, but I push it away, biting the inside of my cheek.

It’sinsanehow badly I want to speak right now. It feels like torture not saying words to him, which is also insane because I neverwantto talk to people. I don’t tell them things…

Where has this gnawing need to open up come from??

My head is spinning as we get dried off and redressed, doing the silent shuffle back to our cage. But as soon as we’re tucked securely inside, the awkwardness has swallowed up the lust, and we’re kind of just fluttering around one another.

Now that we can speak, we have no words.

I’d really like to write in my journal, but I don’t want to take it out in front of him. Instead, I crawl into my bed, and he goes up to his bunk. Neither of us saying a damn thing, just existing in the same shared space.

Lying on my back, I’m staring up at the bottom of his mattress while he shuffles around up there. Eventually, my eyelids begin to close. But they creep back open when I hear a grunt.

Then a breath. Then ahum.

My lips part, to ask him what the hell he’s doing. But I don’t. I stay quiet and wait, my pulse pumping quicker and quicker while my mind races in parallel. The buzz in my loins is still there from the showers—it never really went away. I’m still wound up, and in need, and I think he knows that.

I think he can still hear me…

Push it through the hole.