Page 95 of Her Devils

She beams at me. “Nah, the stars really never aligned. Every time you guys were going to Paris, I either had to go to Montana to visit my grandparents or there was that summer I flunked calculus and had to go to summer school. It isn’t your fault, and JeanLuc promised to give me a personal tour once he’s done with work stuff.”

She sounds excited, and I’m so happy for her. JeanLuc has never been the relationship type, but he seems to have changed in the months since I left Paris. He knows there’s going to be hell to pay if he hurts Sarah, so I’m confident his interest is genuine.

I barely even finish the thought when I realize that our conversation wasn’t as private as I thought, and we had an audience.

“Yeah, I’d be careful with Marceau, Sarah.” Darrius glares, closing his own bedroom door behind him at the end of the hallway. “Demand that he wraps it up, because I guarantee the guy’s been around.”

I’m about to scold him for being rude to our guest, but Peyton is faster than me as he leaves his own bedroom opposite Darrius’s door.

“Pot, meet the motherfucking kettle,” he sneers.

“Shut up, Cox!” Darrius snaps. “Your cock has nailed more pussy than you have landings.”

Peyton’s smirk is full of distaste toward his new teammate. “At least I’ve never had any complaints. There’s a persistent rumor about you hitting that target faster than your partner, and I’m not talking about speed skydiving, ladies.”

Darrius crosses the hallway in two short strides and shoves Peyton, itching to start a fight. “Shut the fuck up, or I swear to God—”

“Guys!” I scold them. “Stop this bullshit right now. How are you supposed to be teammates at worlds, in the new Angels, and if you get selected for the Seven Summits Team if you can’t be around each other for ten seconds without fighting?”

Darrius sneers, “This loser has no chance in hell of getting selected, so I’m just going to wait until he fucks up with his own lack of talent, and then he’ll be out of my fucking way. Marceau might be an asshole, but tomorrow he’ll see that Cox doesn’t have what it takes.”

Peyton is immediately on the offensive. “How do you know? Are you going to cut up my wingsuit again like you did when I tried out for the Angels the first time? We both know I’d be your fucking team captain if you hadn’t played dirty! And I might still be if I do better than you at worlds.”

Sarah and I walk towards them. The two men are facing off aggressively, their shoulders tense and fists clenched. We need to stop them from coming to physical blows.

“The only way you’re going to be the Angels’ captain is the same way you made it into the team to begin with. It took your old man to fuck Gina into giving you a leg up. Talk about fucking your way to the top.”

That’s enough.

“Darrius!” I snap, pushing him away from Peyton. “That’s unfair and you know it. Peyton is an amazing skydiver, and the Angels are lucky to have him. Mom never would have moved forward with the merger if the Cove Devils weren’t world-class athletes.”

The bad blood between Darrius and the former Cove Devils runs deeper than I thought. I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to work together.

“Tell yourself that, Len. You’re obviously part of the problem, since you’re fucking all three of them. I know we’ve had our differences lately, but I always thought you were a smart girl. How can’t you see that these hustlers are using you and your mom to get what they couldn’t get with their lack of talent and their sketchy reputations?”

Peyton doesn’t back down. “You’re fucking rotten to the core, Penn. You can say whatever you want about me and the guys, but leave Gina out of it. You should have enough respect for her to know that Lenley is right, and your CEO would never put a multibillion-dollar business at risk if she hadn’t seen talent in the Cove Devils—the same talent Marceau saw in us, or he wouldn’t have invited us here, but I get it. You’re so used to getting ahead because of who your father is that you think that’s how the world always works.”

“Take that back, asshole!” Darrius roars, and I step out of the way, grabbing Sarah’s hand.

“I’ve had enough of you two.” I glare, dragging Sarah down the hallway and toward the imposing staircase that leads to the ground floor of JeanLuc’s mansion. “If you aren’t careful, neither of you will get selected. You might be talented, but you don’t want JeanLuc to think you’re too much work.”

I don’t stop until we get to the bottom of the stairs in the huge foyer. “God, I just can’t with those two!” I sigh. “They are getting worse every day since they have been told that they are going to be teammates. This merger won’t work if they can’t be in the same room without being at each other’s throats in seconds.”

I guess Peyton and Darrius aren’t the only ones who have that problem. I have my own challenges cut out for myself too.

The painful reminder hits me when the first people I see outside are Anna and Kiara.

“You know what I don’t understand?” Darrius’s sister says to my ex-friend with her eyes fixed on Sarah and me. “Why this work trip has turned into a fucking school field trip. Had I known we were allowed to bring a friend, I’d have invited some of my Zeta Theta Beta sisters from Harvard.”

Kiara nods, her glare in our direction full of venom. “Yeah, you’re right, but I have to give it to you, Sarah. I’ve been having fun watching you beg Trent to let you suck his dick and get nowhere all summer. I’m impressed you managed to catch JeanLuc’s attention. I don’t blame you for trying, because the guy is hot and obviously loaded, but if you want a chance at all this luxury, I’d up my game,babe.”

Her sugary sweet tone is a sure sign of a barb coming Sarah’s way.

Right on cue, Kiara’s next words are so mean that I grab Sarah’s arm to keep her from bitch slapping our former friend.

“I mean, hopefully JeanLuc won’t ask any of the guys if they know you. Trent lost interest after Niko told him what a boring lay you were.”

Sarah and I have done nothing but be loyal friends to her since we were kids, so I don’t understand where all this resentment is coming from, especially when Sarah forgave her for going after Niko when she knew full well Sarah liked him.

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