Page 180 of Wreck Me

“That’s really invasive.”

“Well, that’s Cas when it comes to those few he actually cares about.”

She smiled. “It’s another form of showing affection to him.”

“Yeah, I guess it is. Although, times like this, frustrating and a real bitch of a thing too.”

It looked like she was only partly buying my explanation. Partly because there was an element of truth to it, like all the best lies.

Fortunately, we reached the turnoff down the first side street and I was able to refocus things, telling her, “We’ll be there any minute.”

I made the turn, then navigated through the maze of little streets.

As the side entrance of the building came into view a couple of blocks from us, I saw Sky brightening, getting so excited.

Damn, that from her really did something to me.

I pulled over to let her out, before I parked down by the little pastry shop. As she unbuckled her seatbelt, I told her, “The side street entrance is open for you. I’ll meet you there in five.”

“Perfect,” she said, leaning over and kissing my cheek. As she opened her door and moved to get out, she looked back and said, “Thank you, Bastian. Doing this… it’s… it means a lot to me.”

She was still having some trouble when it came to putting her feelings out there. It made it hard to gauge where she was at. There was still a barrier there with her, something she was still unwilling to bring down. The closest she’d come was her confession about feeling like she belonged with us, when we’d been about to reveal the whole Jackals thing to her. But since then, nothing more had come from her. At least not verbally. The last few weeks there’d been a lot conveyed through action—our nightly operations and a whole lot of dirty fucking.

I smiled. “I’m glad. It’s gonna be fun.”

She smiled back, then shut the door and off she went.

I watched her for a few moments, the sexy way she walked with a swing of her hips, one that wasn’t even intentional, just all her. Then there was the confidence she exuded too. And the whole fearless thing she had going on. She was a real warrior in so many ways.

I was just about to pull away from the curb and get going when something caught my eye, stilling me.

I squinted, not believing my eyes for a moment.

But it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t some sort of mirage, or some trick of my demented subconscious.

A horde of photographers were rushing around the corner, coming from the exact direction I’d been about to drive in—where the secluded pastry shop was located.

My phone buzzed and a text flashed across the screen.

Damien: Didn’t know you had it in you, little bro. Props for the dirty talk too… hot as fuck.

What the—

I snatched the phone off the dash, then opened the message quickly. Along with his text was a link to a bunch of celebrity news outlets. I clicked on the first one and my breath caught in my throat.

There was a story all about me and Skylar and tons of stills of me fucking her down that backroad against her bike.

I clicked on another.

More of the same.

Another.

Us again as the top story.

No. No. No.

Damien: Oh, my bad. You need this for context.