Page 34 of The Heart

This is the first time since we moved out of my father’s city that someone from the Deck has come after us. And honestly, I’m surprised it took them this long.

Sebastian quickly pulls behind a building, the van following after us, and both vehicles turn off our lights, shrouding us in darkness.

The sound of my heartbeat pulses in my ears in the sudden silence.

Several minutes tick by, and I start to breathe normally again. If the car tailing us saw us come back here, they would have approached us by now.

I hear the radio crackle and Colton’s voice comes through, “Are we set on Mexican? Because there was a Thai food place back there.”

—

Several minutes of arguing over food choices later, we’re traveling along a frontage road, heading back to a group of hotels we passed earlier. It’s already late, and we don’t want to risk running into anyone else who might be waiting for us on the dark roadway.

After a couple of phone calls, Luke finds they are all completely booked, save for one shady motel that has two rooms left. There’s a lot of us, and the math doesn’t quite work, but the next nearest hotel with any vacancies is nearly an hour back. So after explaining the shit situation we’re in to the other car, everyone decides that we’re just going to have to make do for the night.

When we get to the motel, everyone piles out into the parking lot while Luke heads over to the office to pick up our keys.

“Okay, let’s work out the bed situation. The three of us can share,” Sebastian says, wrapping an arm around me and gesturing toward where Luke disappeared inside. “Ava, you get your own bed, but are you alright sharing a room with some of these idiots?” he asks, eyeballing the guys around her.

“I’ve been stuck in a crowded van with them for hours already, I think I can handle it.” She chuckles.

“I’ll bunk with Jace. I’m used to it,” Ryan says.

“Aw, Ry, that’s so sweet of you, roomie!” Jace bumps Ryan’s shoulder with his fist and Sebastian rolls his eyes at them. They’re always stuck in a room together, it cuts costs, and they have developed some weird-ass friendship that I don’t particularly understand. Ryan’s nearly a decade older than the cocky bodyguard, but somehow, it works.

“That means Colt, you’re with us,” Sebastian mumbles when Luke returns, passing out our keycards as we make our way across the lot to our rooms.

“Oh-ho! I’m with the lovebirds! So who’s sleeping with me? Unless the three of you are planning to somehow squeeze into a queen size bed when Sebastian is involved.” Colton laughs and I chuckle, watching Sebastian stop, turning to glare as Colton continues walking.

“Oh, we’ve done it before. Lots of times.” I smile, biting at my lip as I stroll past Colton who’s now stopped dead in his tracks.

“Yeah, we fucking have!” Luke exclaims from behind me. The second I turn to face him, he leans over and tosses me over his shoulder before continuing on across the parking lot. I let out a squeal when he does, laughing and enjoying the view I suddenly have of his ass in those worn gray jeans.

“Hey Colton, wanna borrow my ear plugs?” Ryan shouts toward us.

“Sounds like you’re going to need ‘em!” Jace adds in. Colton flips them off and they all laugh, the three of them heading in the opposite direction toward their room.

“Hey Colt! Ten bucks says Seb sleeps in the nude! You’ll let us know, yeah?” Jace jokes, and that one gets a bellow laugh out of Sebastian, surprising all of us. Colton stops to stare at him, and he gives him a good pat on the shoulder as he passes.

“Don’t worry, Fisher. I’ll keep it in my pants tonight, just for you.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

COLTON

Iam so fucking confused right now. About all of it. First, Leena admits they’ve slept in a queen size bed, and considering how much Sebastian likes his space, it doesn’t make any sense. He can’t even be in a car with us for more than a few minutes without twitching.

And did he just make a fuckingjoke?Sebastian, Professor Hardass, making a joke about sleeping in the nude? Now, I have to share a room with the man wondering if he actually does.

I can’t exactly picture him in flannel pajamas, so I guess the nudity makes more sense.

And don’t get me started on Luke. Since the day they moved back here, he’s been prancing around like Leena is the love of his fucking life.

Is she?I suddenly wonder. That would explain why they don’t want to fool around with me. But if he’s so in love with her, and she’s the one he’s finally going to bring home to his family, then why is he sharing her with Sebastian?

In fact, I was starting to wonder if she was actually sleeping with both of them until I caught them in the van last night.

I assumed that what my friends have with Leena is just another kinky relationship, another contract, because that’s all I’ve ever seen them have. But they’ve never kept a submissive around for this long, and Leena doesn’t seem like a sub, or like she would even be into that sort of thing. Except for the fact that I found those handcuffs this morning.Policehandcuffs.

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