Page 100 of Even if You Fall

“And you’ll miss his funeral,” Asher said pointedly as if wanting to make sure Beau thought that part through.

Beau swallowed thickly, his head moving ever so subtly. “If he’d been the man I thought he was, you wouldn’t be able to pull me away from that house or keep me from that funeral for anything, but he wasn’t.” His hands curled into fists on top of the table. “He and my mom made their choices. I’m making mine. But I need...I need to get away from here. I don’t care where I go, just let me go so I can forget. At least for a little while.”

Silence once again engulfed the bubble we were in as Asher thought before tipping his head toward where Lainey was snuggling Kaia close. “What do you think of Aruba?” he asked her.

The corners of Lainey’s mouth tipped up, but she still narrowed her eyes at him. “I’ve heard this before.”

“I already paid for it,” he said in lighthearted defense.

Her smile widened. “In that case . . . when do we leave?”

“Everyone pack,” he said without looking away from Lainey. “We’re leaving first thing in the morning.”

Shock stole through me, making my mouth pop open before I could snap it shut because I had also heard this before. Twice.

Twisting to face Adam, I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Arubafor real, for real this time?”

His handsome face lit with amusement that almost managed to mask his worry for Beau. “How many books are you bringing?”

“All my favorites,” I said without hesitation, forcing a hushed laugh from him that was still dancing on his lips when he captured my own. Stealing a kiss that was soft and slow and had wings unfurling in my stomach as the world around us faded away.

I inhaled softly when he nipped at my bottom lip, then looked up to find golden eyes on me. His voice was a low, rumbling promise when he said, “Looking forward to it.”

“You still haven’t found anything?” Briggs asked the next night.

Gray lifted his hands before folding his arms across his chest. “To be honest, I didn’t spend that much time on it,” he admitted. “But everything I looked into showed these are our rooms—that they’vebeenour rooms.”

“They weren’t,” Briggs maintained, a sliver of worry slipping into his aggravated tone.

I knew his worry was for the girls hidden away in the suite we were standing in, just as I knew if he’d beenthatworried, he would’ve demanded we be moved to different rooms when we’d arrived this afternoon.

But he hadn’t, and we were still here—the six of us gathered close in the suite’s entryway and having the same discussion we’d had this afternoon.How’d we get these rooms?

I wasn’t worried so much about thehowas I was about the sleeping arrangements.

Glancing over my shoulder, I felt my chest tighten uncomfortably as I looked in the direction of the living room, even though it couldn’t be seen from where we stood. Didn’tchange the fact that I knew it was there, along with the couch that had already been converted into a fold-out bed for me.

Which meant I was expected to sleep in a suite with other people.

I forced myself to release a strained breath and focused on my team again, but my thoughts weren’t on their back-and-forth theories.

I hadn’t once considered how much of a nightmare this trip would be until we arrived.

Not that Aruba was a nightmare—far from it. And not that being on another trip with Chloe was anything close to one. Honestly, watching her light up as she took in new sights and made every single person fall for the girl who rivaled the sun was quickly becoming one of my favorite things. Then again, her hourglass figure in a bikini might be the thing to finally kill me—not that she’d had any idea what she was doing to me or every other man around her as she’d lounged on a poolside chair, lost in one of her books. Butthis...

There were nine of us sharing two rooms. Granted, they were both two-bedroom, presidential suites that Briggs swore he hadn’t booked. Yet, that’s where the lady at the front desk had directed us to go when we’d arrived hours ago, and according to her computer and Briggs’ memory, I would’ve been in an enclosed space with people either way.

I’d thought about asking for a different room, far from people. But as if sensing my worries, Rush had slipped up beside me and said,“It’ll probably be best if you’re near us. You know...in case anything happens.”

Right, like me kicking another locked door off its hinges, damaging the frame in the process. Only this time, it wouldn’t be at Briggs’ house, where I could easily apologize and pay for the repairs. It would be at a resort.

A really nice resort, where I’d be trapped in a suite with Chloe, Lainey, Briggs, and Kaia.

“Everyone just keep their guard up,” Briggs said on a sigh, drawing my attention back to him, the words a clear dismissal.

“I’ll see what I can find when I get back to the other suite,” Gray assured him, only for caution to creep into his words when he continued. “Should I be looking for Wrecker involvement on this?”

I glanced at Evans, noting the way his entire body seemed to lock up at the question. Eyes dark with anger and pain, mouth set in a grim line. But he didn’t say anything. He hadn’t said anything all day.

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