Page 53 of Twisted Ruck

"Yes, you were." I looked up at him and smiled.

He sat on a bench beside Jay, who already had his skates off and was wriggling his bare toes in relief. He hadn't seemed uncomfortable while skating, but he was definitely happier out of the confining footwear.

"I wasn't going to let anything happen to you," Atlas said. "If you're going to have bruises on your ass, I want to be the one who puts them there, not from you falling."

"What he said," Jay agreed.

"You guys say the sweetest things," I said. "Who else would think to say stuff like that?"

"Frost?" Jay suggested.

"Okay, he would," I said. "So would Dallas, I guess. Storm would enjoy bruises on my ass, regardless of how they got there."

"I knew he was a sadistic prick," Atlas said. "That confirms it."

"He's not so much sadistic as…" I didn't know how to finish that sentence.

"Sadistic," Atlas finished for me. It's okay, you don't need to cover for him. We know what he's like, don't we Jay?"

Jay shrugged. "Maybe we do and maybe we don't. I guess we'll find out. He's accepted that we're going to hang around, right?"

"He has," I agreed. "He's been kind enough to give you his permission to spend time with me, remember?"

Both of them snorted.

"He's all heart," Atlas said sarcastically. "And all cock. As in, he's a cockhead."

"I knew that was what you were trying to say," I said. Should I tell them about the bet between Frost and Dallas? The one about Storm and Atlas being friends someday? They'd probably find it funny, but Atlas might find it a challenge. He might decide not to be friendly with Storm, so Frost would lose. What would he have to gain by doing that though? Maybe I'd tell them later.

"I thought you might," Atlas said, breaking through my thoughts. "You're a smart woman and it's pretty obvious Storm Keller is a cockhead."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I promise you, Storm isn't that bad when you get to know him. And when he gets to know you. When he does, he'll let up and let you in."

"Can we not talk about him anymore?" Atlas asked. "We were having fun but that doesn't need to stop." He cocked his head at me in a meaningful, suggestive way.

I glanced around us. "Here? What if Coast came back in and found us?"

A shiver of excitement passed through me. I wasn't shy about fucking in front of other people, or getting caught. Not unless the person who caught us had loose lips. That was a rumour I didn'tneed to get around town. It wouldn't be a good look for me or the team.

Atlas gestured dismissively with his hand. "Coast is long gone by now. He let us in, but he told me to let ourselves out. The only people left in the arena are us and a few cleaners and security."

"What iftheywalk in on us?" I asked, no more deterred by that than by the idea of being busted by Coast.

"Then they might learn a thing or two," Atlas said. " I bet we could show them things they never dreamed of."

"Or fantasised about," Jay agreed.

Atlas pointed a finger gun at him. "That too. We could give them something for their spank bank."

"When you put it that way." I pushed myself up off the seat and stood in front of them both. I glanced at Atlas, then at Jay.

"Would you dance for us?" Jay asked. "Like you used to at Flirts?" His tongue slid over his lips like he wasn't sure if he asked for too much.

I smiled. "Of course I will." I loved to dance. I always would. Just because I didn't do it in front of a room full of men anymore, didn't mean I wouldn't do it for the guys I cared about. I'd already done it for the other three, why not for these two? I briefly wondered if Ramsey would want me to strip for him too. Did he know what I used to do for a living?

Since he was apparently more deeply embedded in the culture of Dusk Bay than I previously suspected, I expected he did. I got the distinct impression he knew alotmore than he let on.

Putting him out of my mind for now, I started to sway to music only I could hear. A beat in my mind and a melody danced to a million times before.

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