Page 108 of Overexposed

I rolled my eyes. Technically, I should have already moved out. While I had been looking and even gone to see a few places, Gem or Ollie, and once Seven, all kept finding something wrong with the prospective place: It was too far away. It was too small. It didn’t have the best security. It was too close to Hollywood. Too close to Burbank. It didn’t have a doorman. It had security, but it was half-assed.

A week earlier, I’d dared the boys to come up with a place they would accept, so Ollie had a few places sent over for us to go look at. Seven and Gem both decided those weren’t good enough either, for one reason or another. Thank fuck ’cause the last place was a co-op and it had required a six-figure down payment.

“Rub it in,” Seven muttered as he got the balls racked up. “Speaking of which, Stray, you and me tonight. My bed. No excuses.”

“Win the game first, Demon Spawn, and we can talk terms. Until then…this is anyone’s game.” At his smirk, I couldn’t resist tweaking him. “That’s polite forit’s my game.”

His nostrils flared and he gave me a sidelong look. “You keep thinking that, Stray.”

Ollie sighed and tilted his head back. “Maybe you should’ve used Gem as your Shadow Seven, so he could win this game for you.”

“Damn,” Gem said before he nuzzled a kiss to my temple. “You’re right, he should have.”

I laughed, tilting my head back to look up at him. His whole new look was really working for him. He’d shaved his head, and over the past few weeks, while Seven was gone, he’d begun to grow in a short beard. I could definitely get used to it, especially with how soft his facial hair was becoming.

“I’m not taking that bet,” I said. “You two were the ones who insisted Seven had to win it.”

“Our mistake,” Ollie said, then grunted when Seven elbowed him out of the way. “All future bets will be handled by Gem or me.”

Gem and I snorted at the same time. Seven shifted his dirty look to Ollie.

“You do know that you’renothelpful right?”

“Wasn’t even trying to be, mate,” Ollie told him, affecting the Australian accent he’d been working on for an upcoming role. I wrinkled my nose when he glanced to me. He winked as he shrugged. “Still a work in progress.”

“Demon Spawn,” I said before he could do the break and suddenly found myself the focus of all that intensity in his eyes. He ran so damn hot, the man was a volcano of simmering emotions and wild passion.

It was seriously wild how attractive I found that side of his nature.

“This is our final game,” I told him. “Win or lose, we’re not extending it past today.” As entertaining as it had been, I really wantedmyprize.

Lips pursed, Seven finally blew out a breath and nodded. “Fine. Win or lose. Last game.” He settled into position at the end of the table and readied for the break.

“Don’t fuck this up,” Ollie muttered.

“Really feeling the support there,” Seven deadpanned. “Mate.”

Gem huffed out a laugh and I leaned into him as Seven made the shot and the break. He was stripes and I was solids. Seven really hated stripes—he called them bad luck. To be fair, he’d lost every single game to me when he wasn’t shooting solids.

It was a tight, tense game. He sank one of my balls by mistake, and it left me with just the eight to sink. Yeah. I could make that shot.

The question was, did I really want to win?

“Eight in the corner pocket.” I sank it in one smooth strike.Hell yes!

“Dammit,” Seven swore and the tension in the room skyrocketed. It was almost electric how their tempestuous emotions raked over me.

“Fuck,” Ollie swore, and Gem actively glared down into his drink.

“I’m sure you all meant to say congratulations,” I said, not remotely repentant for having kicked Seven’s ass. “So…are you boys ready to pay up?”

Three gazes fixed on me.

“Excuse me?” Seven asked.

“If I win, I get whatever I want…right?” I raised my brows, daring any of them to dispute it. Seven white-knuckled the cue stick in his hand, and I was really proud of him for not throwing it. My Demon Spawn had temper control issues.

“Thatwasthe bet,” he said slowly. “So…I take it you’re planning to collect right now?”

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