As Gale Hawthorne walked down Katniss' street towards her house, he kept thinking about the fight they'd had this morning. He knew he had really pissed her off, and that he had better go apologize for shooting off his mouth.
He shouldn't have accused her of fucking Peeta, although he was very curious to know. The truth was that he was just insanely jealous of Peeta. He and Katniss had this special connection now since they won the games, and Gale sorely missed the days when he used to have her all to himself... when he was the one that she leaned on, confided everything in. Now that role had been given to another man, and Gale didn't deal with that very well. Part of him wanted to hate Peeta for taking Katniss from him, but deep down, he knew that it wasn't really his fault. And what made it even more bitter for Gale was that Peeta actually seemed like a decent guy, and that if they had met under different circumstances, he might even actually like him.
In any case, he needed to talk to Katniss and say some things that he had been meaning to say for a long time, but just never had.
As he approached her house, he saw that there were still a few lights on and all the windows were open, so she must be home. He walked around the back side of the house, heading for her back door. As he approached her bedroom window, he thought he heard her breathing, but it was in short, quick breaths.
Is she crying? Gale wondered to himself. I hope she isn't crying because I was such an asshole to her this morning... He felt terrible at the mere possibility that he could have hurt his best friend so much.
He walked up to her window, which was still wide open, and the curtains were fluttering with the soft evening breeze. The windowsill came up to Gale's chin, and he quietly peeked in the corner of the window to see if she was okay.
What he saw was definitely not what he expected.
From where he was standing, he could see Katniss from her waist up. She was lying on her back on her bed, naked. He couldn't see her hands from his vantage point, but they appeared to be down between her legs. There were a few candles lit around the room, and in the candlelight, her skin appeared to glow. She looked positively radiant.
What the fuck? Gale wondered. She was certainly not crying, as he had thought.
She was writhing around a little bit, sometimes bringing one hand up to skim lightly over her breast, and then raking it through her long hair, before bringing it back down between her legs.
Was she... pleasuring herself?
Gale got incredibly turned on by that thought. He knew he shouldn't be watching her in such a private moment, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. She looked so stunningly beautiful, and was clearly enjoying herself.
Gale had never seen Katniss naked before, and the sight of her body and the soft moans and sighs that were coming from her mouth had caused him to get a huge hard-on.
I wonder, Gale hoped, if maybe she is thinking about me?
Gale couldn't help himself. He shoved his right hand down into his pants, wrapped it around his very hard member and started stroking himself. Fortunately, her house was pretty isolated, so no one was around to see what he was doing.
He had been attracted to Katniss for years, but the time never seemed right to tell her. Then she ended up having to go and compete in the Hunger Games, and he thought he was going to lose her. He decided that he was running out of time to tell her how he really felt about her, especially if he was going to have to compete with Peeta for her attention.
Maybe he should go in and offer his services... he was so turned on by watching her. He stroked himself faster. He wanted desperately to be in that room, fucking her so hard, plowing into her with wild abandon, making her moan his name while he made her come again and again. But, he reminded himself, he would have to be gentle with her, she was probably still a virgin. He had already hurt her once today with his words, and the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her with his body. He really needed to go talk to her. Then, maybe, show her how much he wanted her.
He reluctantly took his hand out of his pants and tucked his shirt back in, tried to calm down a little and gather his composure. Nothing left to do now but go knock on her door, Gale thought.
But then he heard her voice, breathy and urgent.
"Oh, Peeta...that's so good...please don't stop, don't stop..."
Oh, God, no! thought Gale, as a sickening wave of understanding flooded over him. He felt nauseous. Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think...
He didn't want to look, but he had to know. Gale silently crept to the other side of the windowsill, where he could see the rest of Katniss' body, lying across the bed. And there, with his face buried between Katniss' legs, pleasuring her with his mouth, was Peeta Mellark.