Page 49 of Undeniably Enemies

“We’ll see. It’s likely going to get awkward since my parents and his parents are good friends.”

“Oh, stop with that already,” Kenna exclaims as she drops into the seat beside Rory. “I think that’s the story of most of our lives here. Sorel’s parents are good friends with Mason’s parents, and Stone and Tinsley’s parents are the same. Katy’s parents work closely with Bennett, and Wren’s family is practically attached to Jack’s.”

“Nice one.” I roll my eyes at her, and she smirks and shoots me a wink.

“She’s not wrong,” Katy concedes. “We’re all like two degrees of separation.”

I snicker, but Rory tugs on my hair and brings me back to what she’s doing.

“Tell me more about school,” I ask of Rory because I don’t really want to talk about Keegan and Alden and definitely not about Jack. Rory eagerly complies and informs me all about her friends and the boys in her class who aren’t always nice and how she loves her teacher but hates where she sits. When she’s done with my hair, I pull out my phone so I can see what she did.

“Awesome, kiddo. That looks great. I love it.” I snap a selfie of both of us. “My turn?”

“Yes!” She starts jumping up and down behind me and climbs over the seat onto my lap. I quickly scarf down a few bites of food, wash it down with my drink, and have her sit with her back to me while I twist in my seat.

“Is Uncle Jack okay?” she questions as I start to braid her hair.

“That would depend on who you ask,” I deadpan, only to catch myself. “Why?”

“Because he looks like he has a tummy ache.”

“What?” I drag my gaze away from her hair over to the other side of the suite where Jack, Owen, Stone, Vander, Alden, and Bennett are talking. The guys all appear to be in some heated discussion except for Jack, whose eyes are on us. Onme.

“Well, well.” Keegan clicks her tongue. “You’re right, kiddo. He does look like that. Or perhaps maybe he’s hungry. I think it’s Aunt Wren who is making him that way.”

“Knock it off. I am not. He looks irritated as he always does when he looks at me.”

Though there is no denying the intensity radiating from him. It’s the sort of intensity that makes my skin hum and my nipples perk up. Traitors that they are.

“I don’t think that’s what that look is,” Sorel jumps in. “Or if that’s irritated, I think I want Mason to look at me like that later.”

I glare at her, but she simply ignores it as she turns back to watch the game through the wall of glass.

That kiss was merely a distraction. A way to cut my panic off. It didn’t mean anything, and he as much as said so. Even if he hadn’t, I would have known that. To Jack, I’ll never be anything but a pain in the ass and a regret. But that doesn’t mean the kiss wasn’t toe-curlingly good, and judging by the expression on his face, he knows it and doesn’t like it any more than I do.

Katy leans in and whispers in my ear, “I don’t know what’s going on with you two, but he is looking at you like he wants to devour you. He doesn’t even seem to notice or care that Owen is like two feet from him.”

“If by devour you mean siphon my blood so he can use it for his evil experiments, then maybe. He looks like he wants to throttle me, which is pretty much our baseline.”

“That look is pain and torture,” Keegan states emphatically. “What happened with you two Friday night? You never told me, and I know he ran out after you.”

That pulls me up short. “He ran after me?” I didn’t realize that.

“Yep.” She pops the P sound with an impish grin on her face. “He was nothing short of riled, and he never returned.”

Huh. Weird. “Nothing happened. I left. I ordered an Uber and went home.”

“Hmm.” Kenna taps her bottom lip. “That man has it for you.”

I shake my head as I continue to braid Rory’s hair. “He does not.”

“He does,” Katy asserts. “Or at the very least he wants you.”

“We hate each other,” I defend adamantly as I tie off Rory’sbraid and she hops off my lap to run and show Owen. But now that I don’t have the distraction of my niece’s hair, it’s an act of will to force my gaze away from Jack’s.

“Sorel, you’re friends with him,” Keegan states. “What do you think?”

She holds up a hand and shakes her head as if she doesn’t want to be involved. “The last thing he said to me about it is that neither of you likes the other.” But there’s something else on her face, and it feels like she’s hiding or holding something back.

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