Page 66 of Slay Ride

Or that it will be hidden forever.

The fact that I’m thinking in timelines doesn’t exactly bode well for me, either. Relationships and commitment and feelings have never been a consideration. If I fucked a girl one day and my buddy fucked her the next, it was never a problem. Hell, sometimes we’d both fuck the same girl at the same time. I didn’t care.

Until now.

I knew this was more than I initially bargained for when I looked up and saw Maverick wrapping a warm towel around Cat’s shoulders at the event. Because that’s when the white-hot needles of jealousy plunged into my chest.

He sees her as a sister, and I’ve heard Ezra say he’s told him as much too, but the way he looked down at her as he draped the warm material over her exposed skin...Let’s just say it was a very incestuous glare if he considers her his sister. If I ever have the chance to meet my illusive sister, my gaze won’t form a fucking airlock on her nipples.

The door to the humid room swishes open. Cat enters and hurries over to the pool as if someone’s right behind her. Before I can call her name, she jumps into the water and disappears below the surface. Clothes and all.

“What the fuck?” I whisper as I continue watching.

She silently dog paddles to the side of the pool facing the door, then grips the edge so that she can peer over. And there she waits, watching the wall of frosted windows until a dark figure happens past.

Ice Pick toddles to the door, which isn’t frosted, and peers inside. Cat lowers her head beneath the water as Ice Pick continues searching for her in the shadowy room. Satisfied that his quarry isn’t here, he continues on.

“The coast is clear, Ariel,” I say when she resurfaces.

She squeals and nearly drowns herself as she spins to see where the voice came from.

I give her a wave and raise the champagne bottle. “Figured a little alcohol might help.”

“I need something stronger than champagne,” she says as she hauls her dripping body out of the pool. The pink sweatshirt clinging to her curves threatens to send her back into the water, so I hurry to help her.

Once she’s secure on dry land, I help her out of her clothes and lead her to the hot tub. She studies the romantic setup with wary eyes.

“What’s all this?”

“Me first,” I say. “Why were you running from Ice Pick?”

She steps into the roiling water, then lowers herself with a sigh until only her head pokes above the surface. “He saw me come down the stairs and started heading toward me. Figuring he wanted to try out flirting again, I nearly broke my neck trying to get away from him before he could catch up.”

“Aw, does my kitten have an admirer?” I say with a smirk. I slide into the water and nearly send it into a full boil with what she says next.

“Apparently, he isn’t the only one. Eve mentioned that Maverick might not be so against something between us after all.”

I swallow the possessive words creeping up my throat and do my best to seem indifferent. “That so? What do you plan to do with this information?”

Her slender shoulders lift in a shrug that barely clears the waterline. “I don’t know. But that isn’t why we’re here. You said you wanted to talk, so talk.”

What I planned to say—that I’m falling for her and I think we should consider what that means—doesn’t seem so wise now. If I’m sick of being the butt of everyone’s jokes, I have to stop setting myself up so easily. She’ll just laugh if I tell her how I truly feel. Especially now that her obsession is within reach.

So I stare into the water and say nothing.

“Wow, something really is bugging you,” she says, and there’s no condescension in her voice.

“It’s nothing. Just a me problem.”

She slides a little closer and places a hand on my thigh, then almost immediately pulls her arm away, instead choosing to pat my back. The second action isn’t any less awkward than the first.

“We aren’t very good at this,” she says with a small smile.

“What? Comforting each other? We could be.”

“How so?”

I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her onto my lap. An action I almost regret, because the feel of her slippery skin against my thighs is enough to stiffen my dick. If she notices, she’s too polite to say anything.

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