He stands and pulls his shirt over his head, then folds it and places it down on the chair. Next are his boots and pants; within a minute he is naked and walking toward me.
I bite my lip as I watch him get closer.
Fuck, you whore! You just fucked Ares and now you are imagining Clay’s head between your legs? What is wrong with you?!
As I climb into bed, I focus on anything but his naked body until he gets in beside me. “Clay...”
“Go to sleep, Kayla.”
I consider arguing but decide against it. “Thank you,” I say instead.
He doesn’t answer, so I pull the covers up and close my eyes.
Brawley
The three of us are standing around waiting for people to be let onto the island. Vero is running late—because of course he is—but instead of getting his costume on he is sprinting toward me. I have about two seconds’ warning before he launches himself into my arms, but I catch him as he wraps his legs around my waist, his arms going around my neck.
“I’m so excited!”
“You’re going to do that one day, and I won’t catch you.”
Vero laughs. “You will always catch me.”
He isn’t wrong—I always will, and he knows it.
The cocky asshole. He presses a kiss to my mouth and then slides down my body.
“Go, get your costume on. I brought it down for you.”
“In a sec, Kayla and I are runningtogether tonight.”
“I know. You’ve told me a million times since this morning.”
“But she has no idea that we are all hunting her. I’m going to pretend to protect her and then absolutely not protect her once you catch us.”
I roll my eyes in loving frustration. “Good plan. Now get dressed, or no one will be chasing anyone.”
He takes off, and I turn back to Clay and Ares. I know something is up between them and have let it go for almost a week.
“What the fuck is going on?” I snap.
Clay looks at Ares, and they both glance over at me. I pin them with a glare; I won’t let this go tonight.
“Kayla has been feeling as if she is being watched. It started recently, and though I have checked her loft, I came up empty. But I trust her gut,” Clay finally replies.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Because your boyfriend isn’t stable right now, and after his last episode, we almost lost her. So excuse us for not wanting you to let it slip while Vero sucks your dick.”
“Will you two please not start this right now?” Ares sighs.
“I put a PI on it and got an email an hour ago confirming her shitty ex got out of prison,” Clay continues.
“Am I the only one in the dark about an ex in prison?” I snap.
Ares shakes his head. “No, she only just told me, and the only reason I told Clay she had a shitty ex was because of this whole situation. Otherwise, none of you fuckers would know about it.”
“We don’t even know for certain if it’s him, but the PI is doing some more digging. He has a record of controlling behavior and was in prison for a while. That’s all I know so far.”