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Right now, Ty and Walker were bonding over the fact that they’d grown up loving boats, thanks to their grandfathers. In DC, they liked the same steakhouses, Ty knew someone Walker had worked with, and yeah, it was a dream to restore an old fishing boat and spend more time on the water than on land.
Fascinating stuff.
They’d already made plans to show each other their boats.
But the most important thing was Walker’s carefree smile in the glow of the fire. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen him genuinely happy with life. It’d been before his mother had died.
The business consultant, the shark in a suit, was nowhere to be seen now. He was a rougher diamond tonight, in khaki shorts, tentacle tats, and messy hair.
“I love the sound of subbies on pins and needles,” River said quietly.
I didn’t take the bait.
“We’re not making any sound.” Shay took the bait.
River smiled. “Exactly.”
I shook my head at Shay. Sometimes we were reminded that he was still a rookie. “Honestly, Shay.”
“Don’t start,” he huffed.
“No. But speaking of starting,” Reese said, finally done with whatever he’d been doing on his phone. “We obviously don’t want you to run around with an actual key to the boats—it’ll get lost before Shay’s shorts are down. So, here.” He retrieved a small, rounded rock from the pocket of his own shorts. Someone had drawn a line around the middle of it with a marker. “If any of you subbies are in possession of this at the end of the night, you get to sleep with us on the boats.” He tossed the rock to Shay, and my gaze followed it across the fire and into Shay’s palm.
My life vest. My ticket to freedom.
“As you know, Ty’s boat offers a cabin with all amenities, a proper toilet, and warm food,” Reese went on. “Walker’s rental offers an outdoor dining area that converts into a cushy sunbed for sleeping under the stars. There’re plenty of blankets and pillows, better snacks, coffee, and it ain’t gonna rain.”
“You should work with us at Westwater,” Walker joked.
That was interesting to me. So he hadn’t quit his job at Westwater Hotels? Figures. They must have a DC branch or something. I was not surprised they didn’t wanna let him go.
“I’m a man of many skills.” Reese smirked. Then he flicked us a seemingly disinterested glance and raised a brow. “The fuck’re y’all still here for? Run.”
Oh shit.
Shay and I jumped to our feet immediately, and I dragged Lane up too. He was about to learn a thing or two about the Mclean House curve balls. If you didn’t react fast, it could be too late.
Adrenaline shot straight into me, and the three of us darted down the beach. Strategy, strategy, strategy. We needed a strategy. The water was a dumb route for taking cover, but we could hide our tracks there.
“How long do you think we have before they come after us?” Shay asked.
“A couple minutes, maybe,” I replied. “As soon as we’re around the bend, we’ll run in the water so they can’t track us as easily.”
“Oh my God, I love this,” Lane blurted out in a breath. “Should we hide the rock? They didn’t specify we had to keep it on our persons or whatever.”
Good idea, but here, we had to think two steps ahead.
“I’ll just put this out there,” I said. I heaved in a big breath and looked behind us. Perhaps another twenty seconds, and then the Tops wouldn’t see us. “If we keep it on us, they’ll grab it by force. If we hide it, they’ll torture us till we tell them where it is.”
“I wanna fight it out,” Shay said.
You will.
I nodded for the guys to head out to the water.
“Do we have to hold back?” Lane pressed.
I chuckled, out of breath already, which was fucking embarrassing. The other two weren’t even breathing heavily yet. “Shay is a martial arts champion, River and Reese are former private military contractors, Walker discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in college, and Ty doesn’t look like he’s messing around. Don’t hold back, Lane.”
He could not look happier.
Savages, the lot of them.
When we got home, I wanted a date with Archie. We could have tea and biscuits and discuss Downton Abbey. He’d wash me clean of this heathen behavior. I mean, I’d kind of need it since I got off on this too, just not to the same degree Lane and Shay did. My monster fantasies with Walker had involved less chasing and fighting. More…wrestling.
Another glance behind me let me know our footsteps disappeared within seconds in the calm waves.
One problem. The beach was untouched. Our tracks would reappear the moment we left the water.
I started panting. And fearing that we would take cover in the jungle soon.
More snakes…
“I understand the jungle might be the best bet,” I said, swallowing dryly, “but we can bank on them having flashlights.”
