Page 68 of Beneath the Surface

“Grayson.” She swayed into me, and my arm naturally curved around her slim waist. “You’re… I don’t think you need me to stroke your ego, but you know how you look.” Rising up on her toes, she wrapped her arms loosely around my shoulders, leaning into me even farther. “But you know my favorite thing about you? It’s not the way you look. It’s the way you look out for us. That…that’s something I really admire. Something I want more of.” Drawing back a little, her eyes met mine. “You make me feel safe.”

I inhaled a deep, shuddering breath, her words hitting me straight in my chest.

“Yeah?” I croaked out.

She nodded, her pupils dilating as we stared into one another’s eyes. I couldn’t resist, leaning down to kiss her softly, my fingers stroking through the length of her hair that was tied up and falling over her left breast. My knuckles skimmed over the upper swell of her breast, and she breathed out sharply, pressing into me. My cock was lengthening, already half hard from the moment I’d realized what exactly she and Micah had been doing in my pantry, and I shifted, angling my hips away. As much as my dick wanted to rub up against her curves—or even better, sink inside her tight heat—I had to keep my focus, to remember that we weren’t safe, and I’d do my utmost to keep the three of them away from any danger.

It was an easy decision. I’d received the message, and if I was the target, I needed to keep the other three far away from me.Safe. I hadn’t been exactly sure how I was going to accomplish that until now, but it suddenly became clear to me.

“Micah,” I said. “Show them the back of your jersey.”

His brows rose, but he turned around, and the second Ava’s and Cruz’s attention was on him, I ran for the door, closing it behind me as quietly as I could and twisting the lock. I doubted it would hold them for long, not with Cruz Martinez there, but any amount of time I could keep them away from potential danger was good. For now, I was going to look around to see if anything or anyone seemed out of place.

Slipping my mask back down over my face, I began my search.

A strong grip twisted my arm behind my back, a body shoving my chest forcibly into the wall. “You fucking asshole. What were you trying to achieve, locking us in there?”

I bucked against Cruz’s grip, but he just placed even more of his weight on me, pinning me down. If I tried harder, I could throw him off…probably, but something stopped me from moving again.

“I was trying to keep you safe. That message was aimed at me.”

“That message was for all of us, you fucking dick. What makes you think I can’t handle myself? You have no fucking idea what my life is like, you over-privileged piece of shit.”

“That message was for me,” I hissed, fucking hating the way my agitation was bleeding through my tone when I wanted to seem like I was unaffected, especially in front ofhim.

“Cross.Grayson.” His voice was suddenly right by my ear, and I stiffened. The fingers that were digging into my wrist loosened slightly. “Be reasonable. This?—”

“Gray! Cruz!”

The sheer panic in Micah’s voice, coupled with his sudden appearance right next to us, had my heart beating right out of my chest.

“What? What is it?” Shrugging Cruz off, I moved to grip Micah’s shoulders, fear rising as I took him in. With his mask pushed up on top of his head, there was nothing to hide his wild eyes and the fear in his expression.

“I can’t find Ava. She—she was heading toward you. But you’re here. Not there.”

“What are you saying? I don’t understand.”

Cruz came up next to me, curving his fingers around Micah’s bicep. His breaths were coming faster than they had done when he was up against me, giving away how worried he was. “Where’s Ava?”

“I—we were in the kitchen. She saw you by the door leading out to the yard, Gray. I saw you, too, so I let her go. Last I saw, Cruz was heading upstairs to look for you, so I left her and came after him. How are you here?”

My heart was in my fucking throat, and I could barely breathe, a heavy, nauseating pressure bearing down on my lungs, suffocating me.

“Micah,” I said slowly, forcing the words out in between shaky breaths. “I haven’t been in the kitchen since I left the three of you locked in the pantry. I’ve been circling the house, looking for anything suspicious, but I haven’t made it back there yet, and I haven’t been anywhere near the door to the yard.”

“Fuck,” Cruz whispered.

Micah’s panicked gaze connected with mine. “If it wasn’t you I saw in the kitchen, then who was it? And where’s Ava?”

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Ismiled to myself. The plan was a success. The four of them were paranoid and suspicious, as I’d hoped.

With my mask secured on my face, I waited until the hockey captain made his way to the other side of the house before I began weaving my way through the crowds toward the kitchen. Four guilty souls entered this house, and tonight, only three would leave. One would be purified, and the first payment would be made.

Ah. There she was. So beautiful.

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