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“Yeah, dude, we’ll get our girl back, no problem.” I’m cocky as fuck about it, but I know in my gut we will. And maybe in the meantime, I can win over my guy, too.

We crawl back into bed beneath the blankets, but he’s careful not to touch me. I’m on my back, staring up at the cave ceiling with a smirk on my lips. He’s fighting it so hard, but we both know he won’t win this one.

Reaching over slowly, I brush my pinky finger against his and smile wider when he hisses in a breath and doesn’t pull away. I wait several seconds before hooking our fingers. He still doesn’t move, so I take this small win and don’t push it. My free hand reaches up and clicks off the string of lights, plunging us into pitch blackness.

Chapter 28

BILLIE LUCAS

OhmyGod,it’sgoing to catch me! I run faster, sweat drenching my back and falling into my eyes. The dark hallway, lit by what looks like flickering candlelight, is freezing cold as I run away from my attacker. I don’t even know where he came from.

One minute, I’m sitting with Lacee outside in the courtyard, her face morphing as her tears turn to blood. I launch up so fast, stepping back away from her as she stands too. I then turn and run the hell out of there.

The last time I look over my shoulder, Lacee is no longer following me, but a tall man in a fisherman’s jacket. Its hood pulled up, blocking out his face entirely, stands there now.

I hiss in a breath when I slam into the end of the hallway, unsure which door to open first. Grabbing the door handle closest to me, I turn and shove it open. I run into the room but soon realize there is no floor. Glancing down, I see a black hole and the pit of my stomach falls out when I drop.

The walls of the pit absorb my screams as I free fall to my imminent death. But right before I hit the ground, I shoot straight up into bed.

My lungs burn as I heavily breathe, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest. Cold sweat soaks the back of my neck as a swarm of goosebumps runs along my arms. I’m in a damp, unfamiliar place, my eyes adjusting to the soft golden glow of the string of lights hanging from hooks in the cave wall. If I wasn’t so pissed off at the boys, I would have been able to admire this glorious place. Instead, I stormed into this bedroom and fell asleep when boredom took over.

And now I’ve had a horrible nightmare I can’t seem to decipher. I was sitting in the Reaper courtyard talking with Lacee as if we’ve been best friends forever—laughing and talking animatedly before she started crying. There’s just one problem: I would never be friends with Lacee Masterson. She’s slept with Christian and that knowledge makes me horribly jealous.

Why didn’t I question him sooner? It was entirely out of their character to just ignore me out of nowhere; it should have been a red flag. But my mother’s arrest and the destruction of my life blinded me to see anything else. Now my eyes are wide open.

I’m hurt by what they’ve done—how they’ve lied to me. I don’t understand why Christian would completely turn his back on me, allowing every one of our peers to bully the hell out of me. How could he possibly explain himself? Because I don’t think there’s anything he can say.

I think back to my nightmare, wondering if the blood from Lacee’s tears was an allusion to her death in real life. The man chasing me was probably my uncle. I can only assume, anyway.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I look at my phone and see that it’s just past three in the morning. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and stretch my arms high above my head with a yawn. Even though I’m still pissed at the boys, I have the urge to go check on them.

But for a split second, an image of one of them sleeping with Dana enters my mind and jealousy wraps its ugly hand around my lungs. I take shallow breaths, feeling my face tingle as blood rushes through my veins.

As I move to the door, my imagination only gets crazier, making me think they’rebothlying with her. I’ll kill them all.

My hand shakes when I step into the tiny square hallway and grab the handle on the door right next to mine.Please don’t let me find them together. Please, please, please.

The room is pitch black, but the wider I open the door, the more the hallway light pours into the space. I blow out a breath when I only see Christian and Zeke in bed, but I halt when I see their position. Oh my God, they’re adorable.

I step further into the room and pat my ass for my phone so I can take a picture of these two spooning. Christian’s the big spoon, holding Zeke tightly to his chest with his face buried in the back of his neck. I won’t lie and say this doesn’t slightly turn me on.

Christian’s torso is completely bare, the overalls for his costume hang loosely on his hips—very loosely. I snap several pictures before putting it away. Leaning over, I see the V-muscle on Christian’s hip as it disappears into the denim, but being pressed so tightly against Zeke’s ass makes it hard to see the good stuff.

I hold my breath when Zeke groans, shifting gently in his sleep.Please don’t wake up.Christian moves with Zeke until they’re perfectly flush again. It’s almost adorable to see these two spooning. It surprised me when they kissed each other before kissing me a few days ago, but it also kind of makes sense.

They look so peaceful as they sleep, not able to lie to me or punch each other in their stupidly handsome faces. It’s hard to see everything in the dark room, but I can still see some bruising on their cheeks.Real tough guys.

It hurt to watch them hurt each other, but I enjoyed it because I didn’t have the guts to hit them myself. But as I stand here watching them sleep, all I want to do is crawl into bed with them, right there in the middle, so I can kiss both of their wounds away. I hate when I’m mad at them, and Ireallyhate that Dana was right—I need to get over it, too. None of us are innocent. Not even me and my lies between them. How can I point the finger at them when I have three pointing back at me?

Deciding to crawl into bed with them—big-spooning Christian—I’m distracted by his phone buzzing on the bed just behind him. It must have fallen out of his back pocket. I should leave it alone, right?

Nibbling on my bottom lip, I grab his phone without another moment of hesitation and swipe my finger across the screen. When the pin-code screen appears, I curse beneath my breath.What is your code, Christian?I study his face as if it’ll help me figure it out.

I tap out 1-2-3-4, but the screen wobbles and doesn’t unlock.Damn it.After trying several other basic number combinations with no luck, I look back at him and shake my head. If it’s my birthday, I’m going to have to immediately forgive him because I never knew he knew it. And that would be huge for Christian.

0-3-0-3.

Boom. It unlocks and a picture of the three of us from two years ago at homecoming greets me. Why hasn’t he shown me this side of himself? Christian being sweet and sensitive? No, I don’t believe it. But this? This changes everything.

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