Page 49 of Beautiful Dark Temptation

I caught sight of Wren over Kieran’sshoulder laughing to himself.

“Are you inviting me out with yourcrew?”

He grinded his teeth. “Yeah, I am.”

I shrugged as if it were nothing while mystomach twisted into knots.

“Wren will keep an eye on you.”

As if I were something he could just passover to someone else. I bit back my retort. I needed him to trustme. I needed to see how he got out and came back. I spun throughall my reasoning why I needed to swallow the lump in my throat.

Fuck him.

I let out a deep breath, my heart speeding amillion miles an hour. Fox shook his head when he saw me joiningthem. “You’re going to have to take your car,” Fox said. “I’m nottaking him in mine.”

Wren smirked. “Looks like you’ll be ridingwith me.”

We all walked to the garage. Fox and Kierana little ahead of the rest of us. Henry decided to stay. “Fox stillhung up on the flag shit?” I asked.

“He still resents Dasher for what hedid.”

“What did Dasher do?”

“Betrayed him,” Wren answered.

I opened my mouth to tell him that wasridiculous. It was a game. I never in a million years thoughtDasher would ever betray anyone like that in the real world.Especially not Fox. But I didn’t say anything. These people livedby a different set of rules that I had no clue how to interpret.River walked on my other side, like two book ends, these two.

It was cold as shit and looked like it wasgoing to snow. I shoved my hands inside the coat I was wearing.Jack had borrowed it to me. I wasn’t sure what he’d lined it with,money or drugs. I felt like a mule.

We made it to the garage and Wren smiled athis Mustang GT. A nice ride. An SUV with cute pink stickers wasparked beside it, and beside the SUV stood Kieran’s 2023 ChevyCorvette Z06. Fox’s Jeep was parked beside Kieran’s.

Kieran walked toward us and for a second, Ithought he knew my plan. “Go with Fox,” he told Wren. “I’ll takeour guest.” Kieran extended his hand, palm up.

Wren narrowed his eyes. “You better takegood care of her.” He dropped his keys into Kieran’s palm.

“Always.”

Wren turned to me. “Good luck, bro. Don’tkill each other on the drive.”

River simply shrugged and they both jumpedinto Fox’s Jeep.

“Why don’t you take your car?”

Kieran gave me an eyebrow lift as in, areyou crazy. “It’s going to snow.”

“Yeah. Bad decision to own a sports car ontop of a mountain, don’t you think?”

“Just get in,” he said with a smirk.

I climbed into the passenger seat.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Kieran

The moment I saw Tomás dressed in theclothes I bought for him I knew something was up. He had ignoredthe new wardrobe since day one, opting for jeans and t-shirts thatdid nothing to reveal what hid underneath. The dark slacks he worehugged his hips and accentuated his ass perfectly. The slim whitebutton-down hinted at a lean, sinuous body underneath. My dick tooknotice.

I’d been trying to ignore him since thenight I fucking blew it. I had left the guys at the club and rushedto Tomás because I needed him. On the drive back I had decided totake whatever I could from what he’d give me. And he gave inbeautifully. Until I had fucked it up.

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