The Revenge (The Insiders Trilogy #3)(12)

“I honestly don’t think he’s human.”

Josh’s mouth twitched. “You might be on to something, Bailey.”

We came to the door and he stepped forward, checking the room before nodding for me to go ahead. I stepped inside, feeling the humidity and breathing in the chlorine before I noticed Josh shutting the door. A second later, I met his gaze through the door’s window, and he gave me another polite smile before pressing a button. The window frosted over.

Looking to the corner, I saw the camera’s light switch from green to red. Josh was giving us complete privacy, and only when that was all done did I seek out where Kash was.

He was at the far end, turning, flipping, and coming up a few paces away, heading my way.

I went to the edge and sat down, putting my feet in the water. I didn’t have long to wait, enjoying the view as Kash’s arms were cutting through the water, his shoulders and biceps bulging from the motion.

I forgot how he was a fish in water.

His head was perfectly in alignment with his shoulders, and every fourth arm swing he raised his mouth up for air and went back down. He went past me. I thought he was going to keep going, but at the last second, his hand snaked out. He latched on to my ankle and tugged me into the water.

I shrieked before I was eating chlorine. “Agh!”

He grinned, the water pulsating between us, and he maneuvered me back until I was against the pool wall. “What are you doing down here?” His eyes were alert, taking me in as he placed a hand on either side of me, trapping me.

The buoyancy kept me floating, but then Kash was moving his legs under me and I was completely resting over him. My legs straddled his, and he hooked one ankle around the other, tugging me to open even wider for him.

Heat flared in me, boiling my blood, but when I thought Kash would bend his head, finding my throat, he didn’t. He moved his head back, sinking so he was on the same eye level as me, and he tugged at his sweatshirt. “Nice shirt.”

I grinned, feeling a laziness intertwining with the warmth in me. “It was this or a robe. This was closer.”

“Really?”

I nodded, enjoying the teasing look in his eyes. It was dark, but it was there. “Really.” My voice hitched on a soft sigh with that one.

He grew sober, his head moving back so he could take me in more fully. “You look good.” His eyebrows dipped down. “You look like you again.” His hand moved, and he touched a wet finger beside my eye. “I see you again.”

My throat swelled up, my chest filled with an ache that was bittersweet.

“Woke up.”

“I can see that.” His head cocked to the side, but he didn’t say anything further. He was still holding me in place, and as he settled back, I knew he was waiting for me. He was waiting for whatever I was going to say or do, for whatever path I was going to put us on because that’s what I felt in that moment.

I was awake .

I was angry.

I was remorseful.

And I was thinking more clearly.

I said, “I know you’ve been waiting for me.”

That somber expression settled back on him, and his hand went back to the pool wall, trapping me in again.

“You let me mourn her, and I know that I’ll always grieve my mother. I’ll never forget what they did to her, what he did to her, but I wasn’t myself. You gave me that time. You knew I would come back to me and I did. I’m here. Me. I’m ready for the next chapter.”

Hunger licked my insides, lighting that fire again.

It grew, jumping up, and it was engulfing me.

I sunk down on Kash’s legs, and the higher that blaze built in me, the more I wanted him. But I wanted more. I wanted blood.

“I know you’ve been making moves against your grandfather, but I want in. I deserve to be in now. He took her from me. I want to rip his heart out.”

Kash’s head lowered, his eyes still holding mine. They were growing more intense as I spoke. “I can’t risk him getting his hands on you.”

“He won’t—”

“Yes!” His hand jerked from the pool wall but shook as he caught himself. Softening his touch, he traced a finger through my hair, following a strand and retucking it behind my ear. His eyes followed it, lingering on where he paused, his hand holding that piece of hair before he looked up to meet my gaze again. A hardness flashed there, one that I knew was in Kash, had seen in Kash, but he didn’t vanquish it like he had the other times.

I saw him.

I saw behind the walls he showed to everyone else, to me, to even himself.

I was seeing the real him, and he was as hungry as I was—more, even .

My lips parted at that realization.

He couldn’t have been, but no—I was thinking. I was remembering. Calhoun took both his parents from him. He had to remain hidden most of his life because of his grandfather, so in essence Calhoun had taken Kash’s normalcy, his childhood, too.

Yeah. Kash wanted to kill his grandfather just as much as I did, but I didn’t care. I wanted it for Chrissy. I needed it for Chrissy.

He dropped his hand to my shoulder, pushing the sweatshirt out of the way and then smoothing his hand down my arm. The sweatshirt was big enough that it trailed to my elbow, before a growl left Kash and he shifted. His other hand took hold of it from the other side and he whisked it up and off of me. It was tossed behind us and I was bare to him except for my sleeping shorts and tank top.