Page 104 of Slay Ride

“What if I told you I’ve done something . . . really weird? Something that might change how you think of me.”

“What are we talking about here? Like, you’re addicted to coffee enemas weird? Or you want to be the next Mary Kay Letourneau kind of weird? Because one of those things I can look past, and the other, not so much.”

“What? No. It’s nothing like either of those things.” I blow out a breath. “What if I had some . . . sexual preferences that you considered harmful?”

“I used to enjoy putting lightbulbs in my pussy and squeezing until they broke. Is it worse than that?”

I open and close my mouth. “I have so many questions.”

She shrugs. “You put the bulb into a baggie so that it?—”

“Actually, I’m good.” I shake my head. Beating around the bush is getting me nowhere, so I just need to come out with it. But as I open my mouth to tell her everything, Kindra rounds the corner and comes toward us.

“Cat, I’m really sorry,” she says. “You aren’t leaving again, are you? I’ll keep my mouth shut if you’ll stay.”

“Oh, fuck.” I flop down on my ass and immediately regret it when pain makes me wince. “Kindra, I’m not going anywhere. Eve, I stuck something in my butt.”

“Maverick’s intoass play?” Eve whispers. “He seems so . . . vanilla.”

“Or turmeric,” Kindra says with a smirk. “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

I finally crack a smile. “It’s okay. I actually shared a sandwich with Bennett when we talked, and I was too afraid to say so. That’s how the mustard got on my shirt.”

A question springs onto Kindra’s tongue, but she closes her mouth and swallows it. I already know what she wanted to ask. When we were in the armory, I said the mustard on my shirt was there before talking to Bennett. That was the entire reason I went into the kitchen in the first place, per my lie. She wants to make sense of that, but now she’s too scared to ask. Which works in my favor, even if it makes me feel like shit.

But I deserve to feel like shit, so again, it’s fine.

Eve drops down beside me. She looks up at Kindra and motions for her to sit as well. “We might as well get comfortable. Jim isn’t here yet, and if I’ve learned anything about these retreats, it’s that we can’t start without him.”

“No, we certainly can’t,” Kindra says as she sits at my other side. “So . . . you really plan to hunt with Maverick and Bennett?”

“Bennett?” Eve’s spine straightens. “Why is he part of the equation? Doesn’t he have other friends he can follow around?”She places her hand to her chest and laughs. “Oh, wait. It’s Bennett. Of course he doesn’t.”

Kindra and Eve burst into a rush of giggles, and I’m ashamed that I would have willingly joined them only a few days ago. But now their laughter stings. Eve is right. Bennett doesn’t have a lot of friends, and he’s partially to blame for that.

But only partially.

I pretend to laugh along with them to keep up the farce, but my smile drops when I look up and see Bennett standing near the edge of the shed. He’s looking right at us.

And he heard everything.

Chapter Forty-Two

Bennett

Ezra looks up from the weapon table and lowers a tire iron as I reenter the armory. I drop the bag of crossbow bolts by the door and lean against the metal wall. Even though Cat was only playing along to keep her story intact, her laughter at their cruel jokes still got under my skin.

“Is something the matter?” Ezra asks. “You look a bit miffed.”

I shake my head and fix my face into a more neutral expression. “Nope, all good.”

“It’ll get easier once you two tell everyone, you know.”

The vertebrae in my neck crack as my head whips around to face him. “The fuck are you talking about?”

“Oh, Bennett, Bennett, Bennett.” He clucks his tongue and steps closer. “When will you realize that you can’t hide anything from me? We may have grown up oceans apart, but the same blood runs through our veins. Sometimes I think I know you better than you know yourself.”

My jaw clenches and unclenches as my brain misfires. “How long have you known?”

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