I steal a kiss that does nothing to help me leave this room with any dignity.
Short. Hard. Electric.
“Don’t.” I grip his jaw. “And this isn’t over.”
Sol licks his kiss-red lips. “Okay.”
I don’t know whether he’s agreeing to not pay Oscar from his own pocket or that what I said in the heat of the moment means something. But more activity in the hallway pulls me away from him, and I exit my room too fast for him to follow me.
Voices greet me as I shut the door.
Skylar and someone else who sounds too much like Sol for me to ignore.
Dav.
This motherfucker. Anger surges through me and I clench my fists, but Sol’s desperate plea last night is etched on mysoul, and somehow I swallow my temper. Tap into a decade of Regiment training and school my features. Only then do I venture to the front door and flank my housemate.
Skylar’s annoyed. He might not know about Dav’s latest escapades, but he’s been around Sol long enough to figure his father knocking on our door doesn’t mean anything good.
How did he get up here?
Then I remember he’sallowedto come to the front door. Because he’s Sol’s dad—he’sfamily—and fury returns to my veins. “What do you want, Dav?”
“Oh you know, Jack.” Daveth Bosanko weaves around, trying to see past me. “Just looking for the boy.”
“Sol’s not here,” I lie with zero hesitation. “I’ll get him to find you later.”
Dav frowns, about to remind me theSironais in the cove and Sol’s car is in the car park. To ask me where his son is so he can go find him. Totestme, because this wily old git knows I’m lying.
But Skylar intervenes, reaching out to give Dav a shove that sends the man listing backwards. “You heard him. Now fuck off.”
He slams the door and reaches for his phone, tapping out a message. “I’m telling Oscar to keep him out. Sol’s still here, right?”
“Um. Yeah.”
“Keep him busy.” Skylar pockets his phone and I realise he’s dressed for work. “Hopefully Dav will get bored before Mal comes back.”
“Mal’s still on the beach?”
“No, he went with Saint to get Sol’s car.”
I’m lost, and it happens so fast I physically flinch, my weaker arm jerking out to smack against a nearby dresser.
Skylar doesn’t miss a beat.
He catches my wrist, lowering my arm for me as he fills in the gaps. “It conked out last night. I picked him up, but I thought you might need him with you today, so Mal went to get it.”
Sol hasn’t mentioned his car. I’m sure of it. But maybe he did and I was too caught up in stealing his clothes from his body to listen. Not that telling me would’ve done him much good. I can’t drive anymore. I can’t do a lot of things?—
Can you fuck him, though?
Shitting hell. I scrub a hand down my face, aware of Skylar observing me, trying to decide if he can leave or if he needs to call Sol to my side first.
Get it together.
I scramble for mental purchase. Find it in the sole instruction Skylar’s given me. Obeying orders like a good soldier.
Keep him busy.