Page 92 of Taming the Beasts

Bennett nodded.

What did that mean? That he was agreeing with me?Fuck.

“I can see why you’d be worried about that,” Bennett said. “Especially with how Titan’s been behaving.”

“Yeah.” My heart started pounding. “So...are my fears valid? Because I really don’t want to lose you, Bennett. I feel like this is just the start of something amazing.” I wanted it to be all of us one day under that gazebo. Maybe that was wishful thinking. But it was easy for me to picture.

He reached out and lightly touched the side of my face. His fingers trailed down to where he’d bruised my neck. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I like this arrangement exactly the way it is.”

“You do?” I couldn’t hide the excitement from my voice.

He nodded.

“But I know you only share because you’re worried one of you might shift.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

“It’s not?”

“Not for me. This relationship is what I want. I know that now. We’d done it once before actually. Not a relationship. It was a one night thing. Before we were cursed.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, during spring break one year.”

“The same spring break when you got cursed?”

Bennett shook his head. “No, this was actually the year before that.”

“And you liked it then? When you didn’t have to do it?”

“Yes.” He gently ran his thumb along my bruise. “It was one of the best nights of my life. Until we all had you right on that table, that is.” He gestured to the patio table behind me.

That had been one of the best nights of my life too.

I’d been ashamed of how good it felt with those guys back in college. The ones that leaked the video. I’d tried to bury that side of me because I’d been so hurt. “Why did you only do it that once before?”

He shrugged. “We never really talked about it after it happened. We were all pretty drunk. I figured none of them remembered. But after we got cursed, we were all having a hard time controlling ourselves. It just made sense to bring it up after all this time. And I wasn’t the only one that had enjoyed it. There is something very sexy about one of my friends filling you as you scream my name.”

I swallowed hard. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“Then I think you have your answer. At least you have it from me.”

“You might think differently after you take the cure though.” It was easy to say things wouldn’t change. Who knew how he’d really feel? And like he said, I had my answer from him. I still needed a straight answer from Otto. And Titan.

Bennett sighed and his hand fell from my neck. “You have nothing to worry about. I don’t think we’ll be taking that cure any time soon.”

“What do you mean? Did you hear from your contact?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well maybe he went to bed early or something and missed the time to call you?”

“He didn’t miss the time. He’s missing.”

“I’m sorry, what? What do you mean he’s missing?”

“When he was a couple hours late calling, I tried him. And one of his friends answered the call. Apparently he’s been missing since last night. Sometime after he sent me that text. I was the last person who heard from him.”