AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He dials up his brother and walks into the hallway.
“And you’re going to jail.” I point at Skinny Rick. “And you’re going to jail.” I point at Big Joe.
Then I realize I still have the vibrator in my hand, and I toss it back in the box. I’m not eating anything until I get some hand sanitizer.
Fisher Greene is nothing like Rylan. He’s grumpy and stern and always oh so serious. But like all the Greene men, he’s gotten even hotter with his salt-and-pepper hair.
He came in and took Rylan to the side while his deputies, Mato and Peterson, replaced the fuzzy handcuffs and rope with real handcuffs and escorted both men to their police vehicles. Mato returns, but Peterson doesn’t.
“So is this your storage unit?” Mato asks.
“I have a representative from the storage locker company coming down. They’ll have to board up the outside exit,” Fisher says, coming around the corner.
“No, it’s not ours,” I answer, unsure what story Rylan used.
“They were just passing by and saw the crime in progress.” Fisher turns to his little brother. “Next time, call the police first. Don’t play at being the hero. Lucky for you, they were a couple of thugs more interested in vandalizing than stealing.”
Rylan comes next to me. “Yeah, we will.”
Mato looks from Rylan to me and studies me for a second. “Funny you two are together again—when a B and E is happening, at that.”
“We didn’t commit a crime,” Rylan says rather convincingly.
“Hmm?” Mato raises his dark eyebrows and pushes himself off the wall. “This is one kinky fucker, whoever’s locker this is.”
We all look in the box.
Fisher shakes his head and goes to meet the owner of the building outside while Rylan takes the time to run upstairs and lock up Declan’s unit.
Fisher says we can leave, and we walk down the street to Rylan’s rental car. I’m fairly sure Fisher didn’t believe us, but he said he’s been looking for Big and Skinny since they graffitied a big boulder by the bay last month.
Once we’re secure in the car, I let out a relieved breath, thankful nothing more happened.
“Now I’m going to feed you,” Rylan says, starting the ignition.
“You don’t have to. Just take me back to the cabin.”
“There’s no food there. I’ll grab a pizza.”
My head suddenly becomes heavy, and I lay it on the headrest, staring out the window as the darkness of Alaska blurs past. At some point, my eyelids feel as if they weigh a thousand pounds. As hard as I struggle to keep them open, I lose the battle as Rylan’s scent surrounds me and I drift off thinking of when we finally made things official.
We were seventeen at the drive-in movie with Declan and Aubrey. Rylan had borrowed one of his brother’s trucks, so we were in the bed while Declan and Aubrey were in Declan’s parents’ SUV.
Since we’d been thrown together so often because our best friends were dating, our hatred had waned into a mutual appreciation that at least we had a lot in common.
A group of girls from Sunrise Bay walked by the tailgate, all lifting a hand to wave at Rylan. “Hi, Ry!” they said in unison.
I bit down my jealousy. He wasn’t mine.
“Hey,” he said back and spread out a blanket for us, then reached inside the cab and pulled out some pillows too.
“You really came prepared.” I positioned my pillow against the cab of the truck and slid back to rest my back against it.
“It’s not my first time.” He smiled.
I was still getting used to seeing his smile pointed in my direction, but it lit something inside me that I loved. He settled in next to me, and I liked the heat wafting off of him because the night was a little chilly. I looked at Aubrey and Declan in the back of the SUV next to us, but they were already making out and the movie hadn’t even started yet.
I put the popcorn bucket between us and handed him his drink.
