Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
I laughed. “That’s stupid? Trying to do the right thing?”
“Yeah.” Her hands came to my waist and her fingers tucked into my jeans. “We’re together, right?”
“Fuck yeah.” This girl had such power over me. I cupped the back of her neck, unable to hold back the surge of possession I felt. She was mine. Mine to protect. Mine to care for. All mine.
A smug-but-happy look pulled at her mouth, and her eyes twinkled. “Then stop with this bullshit of holding back from me. I don’t like it. I actually detest it.”
I lifted my head. “You detest it?”
“I like your honesty. The problem is you think being honest is being mean. You don’t get that being honest is actually being kind. If someone else doesn’t want that truth, that’s on them. That’s not me. I respect honesty, whether it hurts or not. Be honest with me. Don’t change because you assume I can’t handle it.”
Crap. She was right.
“Okay.” But fuuuck. “Are you sure?”
“Stop.” Her fingers moved deeper in my jeans. “Got it?”
“Got it.”
She yanked me back to her, her mouth already angling up to meet mine.
It was a little longer before we went up to breakfast.
42
Aspen
Later that day, I sat in Blaise’s Wagon, waiting.
That seemed to be the theme for the day.
We went to Zeke’s, and waited.
We drove to the parking lot, and waited.
We waited even longer.
Then we went to a camping place, and waited. Or I waited. Blaise got out, going inside with Zeke and a couple of the other guys. So far eight other vehicles had joined us.
Then Blaise came over with Zeke, and both stared at me long and hard.
“Yeah?” Was the world ending, and they didn’t know how to tell me?
Blaise closed his eyes, tipping his head back.
Zeke’s grin was wide, and he clapped Blaise on the back. “So, your boy and I had a discussion inside. Guess what we decided?”
Blaise’s eyes opened and they were bleak, seriously bleak.
Zeke was loving this. “We rented another camper, for guests.”
“Guests?”
Blaise shook his head, cursing.
“The girls coming with us are bitchy,” Zeke explained. “That’s just how they are, and you’re coming with us, so I talked Blaise into getting some allies. Guess who we invited?”
I waited again. “Who?”
He nudged Blaise, who answered, “My siblings are coming, with their entourages.”
Entourages? “Who are they?”
Zeke pounded Blaise once more on the back before turning to walk away. “This should be fun,” he called over his shoulder. He whistled all the way back to his truck.
Blaise got in, and we waited once again.
“What’s happening?” I asked.
“There’s a spot we can go dune buggying not far from here, but Zeke and the guys want to camp. We rented campers for everyone, and now we’re waiting for my brother to show up with his group.”
“You don’t want them to come?”
He shrugged, sighing. “I don’t know. It’s...it’ll make Taz happy, I know that much.”
What was I missing here? “Why would you need allies if these are your friends?”
“For you.”
“What?”
“You mentioned meeting my brother and his friends, remember?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, Bren still has a hard-on for you. Figured you could do to have some backup.”
“Oh.” Warmth spread through me. “You did that for me?”
“Taz and Bren are not actually bad people to hang with. I’m more worried about Cross’ two other friends starting fights. They can be dicks.”
I snorted. “Then they’ll fit right in.”
Blaise grinned at that, and that made me grin back.
We ended up waiting an hour before a large truck pulled in, with another truck beside it. Cross hopped out, heading over to Blaise’s window, and Blaise rolled it down.
Cross stopped, looking past Blaise to me and giving me a nod. “We’re here,” he said. “Bren wants to do this.”
Then four large campers and one smaller one pulled out from behind the main building. Each had its own driver.
Blaise nodded toward them. “We rented one of those for your group. The rest are for us.”
“Okay, but what’s the setup?” Cross watched the campers roll by.
Zeke’s truck started off, picking up the trail behind the last camper. He slowed, saluted us with two fingers, and proceeded forward.
“None of us has the license to drive those things, so their drivers are taking them out. They’ll get them set up. We’ll use ’em for the night or two nights, and they’ll come back to get them. You guys are here for—” Blaise motioned to me. “Thought maybe Taz and your girl wouldn’t mind a camping night with their men?”
Cross’ eyes skimmed over me, narrowing slightly.
It was eerie how similar these two were. Besides their looks, I could see both were smart, both were alphas, and I was pretty sure both were not to be messed with.
“Food? Water? Booze? That shit?”
Blaise shrugged. “We’ll stop at a store somewhere.”
Cross nodded and let out a silent sigh. “You remember us?” he asked me.
“Hi! Yeah.” I waved.