The Brotherhood

08

Kane padded toward the bathing chamber. His bare feet were cold from the stone floor of the compound. He'd stripped down as soon as he'd made it into his pack's sleeping chamber, taking off his pants and leaving them in the sleeping chambers. He'd found a towel in the sleeping chambers and wrapped it tightly around his waist. He hadn't thought that it would be necessary for him to put on clothes just to take them off once he reached the bathing chamber. 

Kane opened the bathing chamber door and stepped inside gingerly. The stones made him wish that he had already settled himself in the warm water of the bath. Training in the sunlight had been nice for a change, but his muscles ached from the training he'd done after he'd dismissed Finley. He'd needed to blow off some steam. Something about what Sloan had said earlier had left him seeing red for far longer than he cared to admit. 

Kane walked over to the nearest steaming pool and dropped his towel away from his waist. It was then that he heard a small squeak coming from one of the other pools. He looked up and around at the other pools, finding Finley looking back at him. She'd sunk down deeply into the waters of her own pool so that only her eyes and the top of her head were visible. Those green eyes peered right into his soul and he didn't know why it made his heart stutter in his chest. 

Finley looked at him, taking in every part of his body except for one area that she very clearly ignored. Kane didn't know why he did it, but he felt himself flex. He felt his pectorals pop up from his chest. The action made his muscles ache even more and he relaxed. 

He figured that the smartest idea to avoid any more awkwardness in this particular interaction would be to sink into the pool before him. He stepped into the warm water, letting himself sink down onto the bench within the pool. The water came up just above his nipples, leaving his shoulders and arms exposed. Kane looked over to the pool that Finley sat in. 

She rose up from the waters until her shoulders and arms were exposed to the cool air of the compound as well. Her green eyes were still fastened on him, like she couldn't drag her gaze away from him even if she wanted to. He shifted where he sat in the waters. His blood was roaring from the way that her gaze held his. It was making certain areas feel... uncomfortable. 

Neither one of them spoke for a moment. Then Kane watched as Finley opened her mouth, once, twice, but no words came out of her mouth. He knew that she couldn't sit here in silence for much longer, it just wasn't in her nature. 

"I'm sorry to come in here while you're bathing," Kane apologized meaningfully, "I thought you would've been done by the time I came in here." 

Finley shook her head quickly. "It's okay. I understand. I mean, at least you came in here when I was under the water so that you wouldn't see, ya know." 

She gestured down at herself with an awkward laugh. Kane chose to laugh with her, hoping that it would ease some of her anxiety if he did. She smiled at him and it felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He looked away from her, which was unlike him. He never looked away from anything that intimidated him yet when it came to those gorgeous green eyes he couldn't help himself. 

"Why does it look like you've been hit by a bus?" Fin asked him, her eyes shading over with concern. 

Kane cleared his throat and shifted in the water once again, sending ripples through the pool. He moved his fingers through the water, letting the cool air of the compound calm him. Kane didn't look at her as he answered her, "I was getting some more training in. Sometimes helping everyone else become stronger means that I have to push my own training back quite a bit." 

She nodded, but there was something about the way that she was looking at him that made him think that she didn't quite believe him. She swam across the pool from where she'd been sitting until she was only a few feet away from him. His chest tightened impossibly as she came closer. He could see the barely imperceptible golden flecks in her green eyes from here. He studied each of them, tried to count them.