Darksoul by Eveline Hunt Page A

I took a step back and buttoned my crop top again.
    “Are you going to explain what that was,” I ground out, “or do I have to choke it out of you?”
    He reached up and touched the side of his face, and then—impossibly, unbelievably—held back a barely-there smile. “For someone who didn’t know what was going on,” he said, tipping his head at me, “you played along quite well.”
    I stopped. “Played along?”
    He waited for me to connect the dots. It took me a second. Only a second.
    “Are you—” You’ve got to be kidding me. “Are you serious?”
    He said nothing.
    “What the hell were you thinking? ” I demanded. “Why the hell would you—”
    “I was just giving you a hand.”
    “Giving me a—”
    And then I realized. Giving me a hand. When it came to Ash. To—holy shit, to make him jealous — Somebody stop me before I flip a table. “You thought that would work? You honestly thought that would work?” I took an incensed step back. “No. The worst part is that, barely knowing me, you felt the need to do such a thing. Do I look that damn desperate? Do I look like the type of girl who would go to such lengths to get a guy? Damn it, Slade, we were doing so well! We even got to a first-name basis, and you—”
    “So what you’re saying is that you’re going to sit there and act like an ungrateful brat.”
    “I have nothing to thank you for! God, I don’t know if I want to punch you, slap you, or kick you in your damned pansy balls—”
    He took out a cigarette from his back pocket and put it between his lips. “Three.”
    “That wasn’t funny! I thought you were going to do something!”
    He ducked his head to light up. “Two.”
    “Like, seriously, you scared me! I’m going to fucking sue you—”
    The next word came out in a wispy trail of smoke. “One.”
    Down the hall, a door slammed open.
    A shirtless Ash slipped out and shut the door behind him, taking out his phone and looking at the time. He closed his eyes. Massaged the bridge of his nose. Then he tucked his cell back into his pocket, letting out a sigh. Just as he turned to make his way down the hall, he caught sight of us, giving an imperceptible pause before coming this way.
    An easy half-smile tilted up the side of his mouth. “I thought you guys were getting it on? Hunter? Zel?”
    I wanted to beat my head against the wall. Before I could turn and get the hell out of here, Hunter flung a lazy arm around my neck, bringing me close to his chiseled chest. I tried to push him away, but he tightened his hold, keeping me in place.
    “No,” said Hunter, letting out another stream of smoke and nodding at the bedroom door. “You left the girl alone, Asher? Why”—and he blinked once, all innocence—“would you ever do such a thing?”
    “Ah, see—” Ash laughed and scratched the back o f his head. “I was worried that you guys didn’t have a condom, and—um—”
    “This is ridiculous,” I said, shoving Hunter’s arm off me. “Ash, I’ve known the fucker for three days. You really think I would’ve done anything with him? We’d been—” I looked at Hunter, who met my eyes with amused gray orbs, before sucking in a breath. Pretending. We’d been pretending. “He’d been—joking around. Training me,” I said in a sudden burst of inspiration.
    “Training you,” Hunter and Ash echoed. As though he’d done it a thousand times before, Hunter took a drag of his cigarette before holding it out to Ash, who grabbed it and brought it to his lips. He took a drag, handed it back. They both blew out the smoke at the same time.
    “That’s right,” I said. “He was nice enough to pretend that he wanted to, um, take advantage of me, so I could learn how to fend off guys when they try to—to do stuff to me.” What the hell was I saying? “Because—you know—there are tons of guys. Trying to do stuff to me.”
    “Ah,” they murmured. At the same time.
    “So—Ash?” I waved him away. “Don’t