Page 170 of Entangled

That really is how they see me.

I sigh. “Fine, set it up. Whatever. Let people get drunk and fall into a firepit. A few less civilians for me to deal with.” Pausing again, I look at Heather and grimace. “Forusto deal with. If that works for you?”

Heather’s brows couldn’t creep up any higher short of flying off her face. “Yeah. That works for me.”

I stalk toward the door, and Heather follows. We have a lot to go over today.

“Oh, and Heather?” Lucky calls.

Heather glances back at Lucky as she reaches the door. He dimples sweetly, looking up at her hair. “You call my boyfriend a middle-aged washout again, and your hair won’t be blue. It will be gone.”

She leans back, smiling back just as sweetly. Her hair really is fucked. “You touch my hair again, and I’ll snip off the end of every flogger, break every cane, and burn every rope in your smutty little cock cave.”

Heather finger waves at Lucky’s horrified stare, then drags me out. We make our way out to the lawn where the teams should be gathering to get their instructions for the day. I find myself glaring at the civilians as we leave the house, wondering if they’re the ones giving Eden a hard time.

“What?” Heather prompts as we make it into the crisp air.

I look down at her. “What?”

She scoffs, then walks us over to the coffee table that gets set up every day. We don’t have enough goat’s milk to waste on coffee, or any sugar, so it’s just black instant sludge. I don’t feel like lining my stomach with battery acid today, so I watch her have at it.

“I’ve been talking to you for five minutes about shooting practice and who is ready, and you haven’t listened to a single word.”

She has? I grimace, eyeing her. Finally, I blurt, “Why is everyone so invested in Eden’s relationships? She’s had a hard enough time already. She doesn’t need this shit.”

Her twitching lips are instantly annoying. “Dom, I’m guessing things were a bit... intense... when Eden got here, right? The first time, I mean.”

I cross my arms as she pours herself a tepid cup. “Why would you say that?”

She gives me an amused look, her brows quirked pityingly in a way that usually means she thinks I’m being dense.

“Five men with too much testosterone who hadn’t seen a woman in over three years?” Her voice becomes droll. “Just a guess.”

I roll my eyes. “It was civilized.”

Sort of. There was only one brawl over it.

Heather snorts into her cup, grimacing as she tastes it. We start making our way through the tents when she continues. “Look, there are eighty-five women here and only seven men—and all of those men are already taken. Except Aaron, andugh. Even excluding the ones who don’t give a shit about you one way or another, there’s some interest in your availability.”

That almost stops me short. I stare at her as we walk. “What?” I shake my head. “You’re off base. No one has approached me.”

Heather laughs, and a few heads turn to look at us. “Yeah, okay, CC. Except theyhavebeen approaching you. Didn’t you wonder why Mila kept asking you about the moat? How to hold the shovel, how deep she should dig, my God, you’re so clever for thinking of it...”

She makes a face.

Mila... The name doesn’t shake anything free, but I do remember being interrupted half a dozen times yesterday.

“I thought she was just stupid,” I mutter. Who asks three times if their hole is to my liking?

Oh. Right. Maybe shewasflirting.

“What does that have to do with Eden?”

She shrugs. “Jayk and Beau, that’s two out of five into her—people think it’s a little greedy. Jasper and Lucky seem off limits to them, for obvious reasons. That only leaves you, who terrifies half of them, unless they can convince Jayk to give them a comfort fuck.”

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

Why are people even thinking about this when they have their lives to worry about? Getting laid isn’tthatgood.

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