Page 255 of Barinov

“Ugh,” I groan. “I only have a few more assignments left thankfully.”

Zeke’s brow furrows slightly as he reaches into his pocket. He pulls out his phone, thumbs flying across the screen.

“What are you doing?” I ask, leaning sideways to try and catch a glimpse of the glare on his phone.

He locks the screen with a click and slides it away. A genuine and striking grin breaks across his face. The first real one I’ve seen in way too long.

“Just had to send a quick text to Briggs. I’ve got an idea.”

Chapter 66

LEX

Bull Shoals Lake - I think on the Arkansas side

Ready to finally have some fucking fun!

41 days since we got our girl back.

“Holy shit,” I mutter, glancing out at the massive bluff and the glass-like water stretching out forever. “Where are all the boats? Or the docks?”

“Quiet, huh?” Briggs says from behind the steering wheel of this absolute monster of a Malibu boat, a smug grin on his face.

Apparently, Zeke’s little I need to ask Briggs a question thing back at the penthouse was him securing an invite to Briggs’ grandmother’s gigantic lakehouse on Bull Shoals. This place is secluded as hell. Surrounded by towering limestone cliffs and thick walls of pine and maple trees. We’ve passed by a few small family docks but for the most part there isn’t a single mega-marina or crowded public dock in sight.

It’s just raw, untouched nature.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, baby?” Bella purrs.

She’s in a tiny red and black bikini that has had Little Lex just begging to be released from my swim trunks. She leans back into my lap at the bow, her long, tanned legs draped across Cade as he rests a hand on her ankle.

I loop my arm around her waist and drag her back against my chest. The yellowing bruise on my eye throbs a tad under the hot sun. But being out here in the fresh air with our girl safely between Cade and me makes me forget all about Zeke’s fists.

“It’s perfect,” I mutter, inhaling her cherry-vanilla scent mixed faintly with the smell of her coconut sunscreen.

“Told you guys up at the house,” Ty calls out from the back. He’s on the sun pad, strapping his feet into his sleek black and teal Ronix wakeboard. “There’s no place like The Bull.”

“You ‘bout ready, Ty?” Briggs calls out, checking the mirror.

“Born ready,” Ty says. He drops backwards off the sun pad and disappears into the blue-green water with a loud, clean splash.

Brett leans over the side, chucking the neon-yellow wakeboard rope out toward him. Once the line slackens in the water, Brett sits back down on the wraparound cushions next to Haley who is sitting on Knox’s lap in that shimmering teal one piece with the cuts to her navel.

Brett reaches under the seat, pulls out a folded plastic rod with a bright orange flag attached. He hands it over to Ellie in her hot-pink strapless bikini.

“Here, Buttercup,” Brett grins, sliding it into her hand. “You man the flag today.”

Ellie rolls her eyes but takes it, holding it up with a mock salute.

Briggs hits a button on the dash and the boat’s massive Wet Sounds speakers kick to life. “Get Country” by Niko Moon bounces off the limestone cliffs as he cuts the wheel and aligns the Malibu with the center of the empty channel.

When the fucker turns his ball cap around backward and sits up on one knee in the seat, my hold on Bella tightens. Briggs deepens the throttle and the boat rears back. The engine groans with pure horsepower as it plows a massive, rolling wake behind us.

Ty pops right out of the water, keeping his knees bent and cutting hard to the left. Fucker carves effortlessly inside and outside of the white caps, spraying sheets of glass-smooth water into the air.

I watch him go. I’ve been in street fights, ring fights, hell, even the bloody trenches of The Blackout. But watching him glide over the surface like that looks like a goddamn blast.

“I miss doing that,” Cade sighs, his hazel eyes locked on Ty as he continues to cross the wake with ease. He turns his head slightly to look at Bella. “Sweetheart, remember when Cal and I finally did the tandem—”