Page 51 of Beneath the Surface

The look on both of their faces killed me. I’d kissed Micah. There was something about him I liked, same as Ava. It would make sense that I would want them together instead of feeling jealous or hurt.

Fuck.

An image of Ava riding Micah popped into my head, followed by the things I wanted to do with both of them.

Our gazes met, and I could see the panic in her blue eyes.

Our phones pinged once more before we could grasp what we had been sent.

Grayson wanted to meet with us ASAP. We had all been targeted and sent the same message.

“They’re watching,” Ava whispered.

All I could do was nod.

“What they did to you guys is fucked up,” I told her, and I could see the confusion on her face.

She turned her phone around to show me what she had been sent.

1…2…3…4…

Look what happens in the great outdoors.

Okay, we hadn’t gotten the same thing. She had gotten a picture of Micah and me. How the hell did they get that? Andhow the fuck did we not notice? I could bet my right nut that they had seen us kissing, but couldn’t capture an image.

“Princess,” I whispered her nickname, and slowly got up.

I mirrored her movement and showed her the video I got sent.

Ava’s breath hitched as she saw herself on top of Micah.

“Omigod.” She put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes began to brim with tears. “That’s so fucked up.”

Without thinking twice, I pulled Ava into my chest and wrapped an arm around her. I realized how small and breakable she was when I held her in my arms. I needed to handle my shit with Big Dog because I didn’t want her to get hurt on my behalf—it would kill me. I had already lost pieces of my soul, and I refused to lose another piece because I failed to protect her and Micah.

“They’re watching,” Ava whispered into my chest.

“It’s going to be okay, princess,” I whispered against her forehead, then I kissed her temple. “Come on. I’ll follow you home in my car. You won’t be alone.”

She nodded, but didn’t make a move to get away from me.

“Cruz,” she said my name hesitantly. I pulled back and looked down at her, curious to see her cheeks begin to get rosy. “About Micah…I didn’t…you two.”

She sounded adorable trying to find words to describe the fucked-up dynamic that we currently found ourselves in.

“Guess we need to make it even.” I winked at her, then led her to the car.

Now, here we were, the four of us, back to the place where it all started. Grayson was becoming undone, and I could feel it in mygut. Unlike me, he wasn’t used to having everything in his life go to shit on a daily basis. I imagined that for someone like him to lose control the way we were losing it was fucking with his mind. If his last game was anything to go on, he was one mistake from fucking shit up.

My mind briefly wandered to the kisses I’d just shared with Ava and Micah. Micah was still fighting his attraction to me, but at least he didn’t seem repulsed by the idea of kissing me. My cock twitched as I roamed the lake, trying to appease Grayson and see if we could find a needle in a fucking haystack.

I sighed and decided to do this and hash it out with Grayson later. What the fucker needed was to blow off some steam. He definitely needed to get laid. Shit, so did I—I had months’ worth of pent-up tension thanks to the fucking maybe dead body.

“Grayson!”

I yelled as soon as I saw the gleam on the shore’s edge. I turned around, letting the Jet Ski take me faster back to the boat.

I noticed Micah was standing too close to Gray, and he didn’t seem to mind. My jaw clenched, and something stirred in my stomach. It wasn’t jealousy, but I couldn’t name the emotion that overcame me.

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