Page 133 of Wild Like Us
As I duck and crawl back inside, I tell him, “They must’ve thought we’d be asleep.”
“They’ll be back again,” Akara says, following me.
Sulli looks between us while we zip up the tent. “I know we probably shouldn’t risk doing anything, if they come back, but I’d feel better knowing I got you guys off too.”
“I’m fine,” I tell her.
Akara nods, “We shouldn’t risk it.”
“You’re both as hard as fucking rock.”
I raise a shoulder. “It’ll pass.” Yeah, I’m pent-up as fuck, but I enjoyed seeing her come and getting her off more than I’ll enjoy coming right now.
“Kits?” Sulli asks.
“Another time.” He fixes a loose wire in his radio. “It’s not important.”
“Your needs are important to me.”
He smiles. “I’m not sayingnever.Just not now.”
“Alright,” she says understandingly. “But maybe we don’t have to sleepinthe sleeping bags? Could we risk that?”
I look to Akara. He’s the boss.
He nods. “We can do that.”
We all crawl under the sleeping bags like a blanket, and Sulli rolls onto her side, facing me. She buries her head into my chest and then reaches behind her and pulls Akara’s shirt. He scoots closer until his chest is flush to her back. His eyes meet mine.
We’re not kissing.
We’re not really even holding her.
And yet it feels fucking intimate. I realize in this moment that I’ve never had this. I’ve fucked a lot of women, and most of the time it’s been un-sensational. Forgettable, even. I always thought I was bad at love. But maybe I just never had it to begin with. Never had intimacy like this.
That hits me.
“I’ll take first shift,” Akara whispers to me. “Get some sleep, Banks.”
It’s hard to close my eyes.
But I take his orders and try to drift asleep.
31
AKARA KITSUWON
The small nearbytown consists of a general store, a diner, and bait & tackle shop that has a pet store in the back. Sulli pulls Booger into the parking lot of Fish Hooks, and I adjust my radio.
“Sulli, you sure you want to do this?” I question. “It might just piss them off even more.”
She narrows her eyes at the store challengingly. “If it’s a prank war they want, it’s a prank war they’re going to fucking get.”
Banks and I confronted Team Apex this morning, and they pretended not to know anything about the snakes. But as soon as we turned our backs, they snickered like high schoolers that got away with shit. In that moment, I was all for retaliation. But that’s also a different side of me. The side that doesn’t own a security company and doesn’t need to deescalate threats.
“We’ve got your six,” Banks tells her.
I nod at that as we all climb out and head into the store.Shit,the smell hits me first, almost bowling me over: a strong, clashing odor of fish bait and pine chips used for hamster cages.
