Page 14 of His Greatest Treasure

“You don’t know a damn thing about my ego, princess.”

I glare harshly at him and grip my waist. “I wish that were true. The last thing I want is for you to take up an inch of my brain space.”

His brown eyes narrow right back as he stays rooted to his spot in the grass. It aggravates me even more than his presencedoes when he doesn’t drop his gaze for even one second to take in the skimpy bikini I’m wearing. Yeah, it’s probably stupid to want a man to ogle me, but considering I’ve just done it to him, it’s only fair.

I’m too curious to learn if he’s as impressed with what he sees as I am to be modest. For God’s sake, it’s not like he can’t tell that I’m in a bathing suit that does little to cover my tits, considering it’s neon yellow. Still, he doesn’t budge.

“Are you sure I’m not already?” he asks, a smirk twisting his mouth.

I’d love to punch it off.

“I hope you drop one of those weights on your foot,butternalle,”I toss back before heading inside, my steps more stomped than they should be.

His voice carries on the breeze, reaching me just before I get to the door. “What was that?”

“Nothing.”

The corner of my mouth tips up as I go inside, leaving him wondering. Only once I’ve closed every set of blinds in this place and stepped into a cold shower do I forget about Oliver Bateman again.

6

OLIVER

I dunkmy head into the sink full of cold water and open my eyes, hoping that the water will wash the image of Ary out of them.

My exhale makes the water bubble before I pull my head back and inhale. A neon yellow bikini still stains my vision, even as I stare at myself in the mirror of the medicine cabinet. Fuck my life, she shouldn’t look as good as she does.

It’s a cruel joke.

I’ve managed to avoid her well over the past week, but this? This is my winning streak coming to a whopping end. If she’s going to lounge around every day in a bikini with pink skin glistening with water and suntan lotion, I’m going to go out of my goddamn mind. I can’t spend every day for the rest of the summer with a hard dick and anger-flushed skin. I’ll have to avoid my backyard like the plague or maybe build a new fence. One high enough to block her out . . .

The worst part about what just happened isn’t even that we were bickering like two immature teenagers but that Ilikedit. The back and forth filled me with excitement. I wanted to keep going, so I’m glad she put a stop to it when she did.

The muscles along the underside of my arm ache when I reachup and run wet fingers through my hair. Lifting weights wasn’t my plan at all for today. I had only just got home from a two-hour run when I stepped into the backyard, not expecting to find my neighbour tanning almost naked in a kiddy pool.

The choice to add weights to my workout surged into my subconscious when I noticed the way she was watching me. Like she wasimpressed. It was a brute decision that I’m paying for with my sore and overworked muscles.

Leaving the bathroom, I rub my shoulder to try and soothe some of the pain there. The house is quiet like usual, maybe too quiet, if I’m being honest. I forced myself to be okay with the quiet once I moved out of my parents’ house and got my own place, but I grew up around noise. A lot of it.

My family is massive, made up of both blood relatives and friends that I’m just as close with. There was never a single weekend spent in silence or a holiday that wasn’t cluttered and so loud my ears would feel bloody by the end of the night.

I used to tell myself that once I got older, I’d spend my weekends in silence as much as possible, but those were wants of a kid who took what he had for granted because he was a stubborn shit. I don’t want that anymore. Maybe that’s why I’m always at my parents’ house or bothering my cousins whenever possible.

A heavy feeling grows in my chest as the silence really sinks in. It’s an overload of emotions that I try to push down but can’t seem to. I’m lonely, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s half the reason why I enjoy bickering with Ary so much.

The kitchen is bright without the lights on as I step inside and head right for the fridge. The clink of beer bottles fills the kitchen when I pull one out and twist off the cap. It’s cool on my throat, the first swallow soothing some of my tension.

I could call one of twenty numbers of people who would come keep me company if I asked, but it feels desperate. My family has grown in size over the past few years with babies and marriages. I’m the third oldest of all the kids, only behind my non-blood-related cousin, Cooper, and my blood cousin from mymom’s side Maddox. Both of whom have families of their own. I should be next in line, but everyone knows that in reality, I won’t be.

“Fuck, you’re one depressing bastard,” I grunt.

The BC Pythons game is still playing on the TV in the living room from when I turned it on right after getting back from my run, so I flop down on the couch in front of it to watch. My brother’s team is playing today, and now I’m wishing I had taken the tickets he offered me.

Last weekend’s game was good. His team won, and he was phenomenal, the way he always is. The experience should have convinced me to go again today, but I couldn’t bring myself to join my parents.

The silence is hard, but sometimes, the noise is harder.

Crowds and tens of thousands of watching people keep me from going as often as I should. It’s selfish, but it’s the way I’ve always been. With my family and my team of firefighters, it’s different. Strangers make my skin crawl.

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