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CHAPTER 1
Crossland
“Istill can’t believe you two,” Weston said from his seat right next to Asher at the poker table, but his eyes were on Ethan and me. “You both repelled down a skyscraper today but wouldn’t tour the live volcano.”
Ethan and I shared a look, but Ethan was the first to speak. “Hey, I boarded down one. Isn’t that enough?” He jabbed a thumb in my direction. “He’s the one that didn’t do either. Why don’t you give him more shit?”
I gave him a mock offended look. “Thanks for throwing me under the bus.” I shook my head. “Repelling down the skyscraper didn’t involve being chased by hot lava at the same time.”
Fuck that. I was all for nature and hiking and exploring the local terrain, but it didn’t matter what Weston tasked me with. I would never be one to risk my life as much as he did. Though he had slowed down ever since he and Brynn got engaged.
Had to give him credit though, this morning had been unmatched. Dawn had just broken the sky when we’d repelled down the city skyscraper, the entire cityscape of New York stretching out before us as we plummeted down. It wasn’tsomething I’d easily forget. Thankfully, there was no lava included.
“I think you’re all nuts,” Asher said, leaning back in his chair just enough to flash his fiancé, Daisy, a wink. “You wouldn’t catch me doing that.”
“You did the volcano boarding,” Weston countered. “What’s so different about flying down the side of that versus going straight down a skyscraper?”
“The difference is I hadcontrolof the board, and my feet were firmly on the ground. There wasn’t just a flimsy harness and carabiner holding me steady.”
“What’s life without a little risk?” Weston teased.
“That’s the beauty of this group,” Asher said. “We get to choose our risks.”
“Speaking of this little group,” I said, glancing around the table and noticing one seat was empty. “Where is the dismal sixth player?”
Gareth had been uncharacteristically quiet—even for him—as we waited to get our game started, but I spared a glance to the empty seat, and the one directly behind it that Serenity usually occupied.
“He’s late,” Weston explained. “Let’s wait another ten minutes. If he doesn’t show up, we’ll start without him.”
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and he won’t show up at all.” I knew that wouldn’t be the case, but a guy could dream.
“I’m not that lucky,” Gareth said.
I glanced to my right, cocking a brow at him. “You don’t really mean that,” I said. “I bet my Rolex that you’d be the most upset out of all of us if Doyle suddenly lost his seat in this game.”
Gareth flashed me a warning glare, one that I dutifully ignored. The guy was undeniably scary, and, as his best friends, we’d certainly heard more than our fair share of stories thatsounded more like a mafia movie script than real life, but he didn’t scare me. Maybe that made me reckless, but I didn’t care.
The guy couldn’t keep his eyes off Serenity whenever she was in the room. Even when he wasn’t directly looking at her, he always knew where she was, like he had a sixth sense about it. And yeah, we were all worried about the girl, especially with her father being the asshole that he was, but with Gareth, it was different, and I loved pointing it out when no one else would.
“Speaking of Serenity,” I said, even though no one had, I just enjoyed getting a rise out of Gareth. “Has she called in her chip yet?”
“Jesus, Crossland,” Ethan said, but laughed. “He’s going to murder you.”
“No way,” I argued, leaning over to nudge Gareth with my elbow. “He loves me too much. Not that you ever tell me,” I added for good measure, batting my eyes dramatically. It was enough to get the barest of smiles from him, which he held close to his chest like he’d run out if he used them too much.
“I wouldn’t murder him,” Gareth said.
“See?” I aimed at Ethan, who sat on Gareth’s right. “I’m his favorite. Come to think of it…” I tilted my head, dramatically running my fingers over my trimmed goatee. “Actually, I’meverybody’sfavorite.”
Asher shook his head, barely holding back his laugh as he shuffled the cards.
“You’re not my favorite,” Gareth continued. “But I wouldn’t murder you. That would be too easy. Do you really want to find out what happens to people who think it’s entertaining to fuck with me?”
Nowthatwas enough to pique my curiosity. Gareth rarely evoked the old-school tone we all knew he’d used when he’d been entrenched with his family legacy, but whenever he did, it was intimidating as hell. I knew he was just fucking with me, butdamn, I never wanted to be on the other end of a genuine threat from him.
“I know I’m late,” Doyle grumbled as he entered the room, taking his seat on my left. Serenity followed him, lowering into her designated chair behind him.
I bit down on the question on the tip of my tongue,why don’t you sit with the other girls while they plan out their night?Brynn, Daisy, and Alex were already gathered around one of their tablets, checking out the best things to do in the city. They’d hang here with us for a while before heading out, as was their usual plan if they decided not to stay the entire game. But I knew from Doyle’s big mouth that Serenity was to be seen, not heard, and while I hated that, I didn’t want to say anything that would get her into trouble. Probably the same reason why Gareth so rarely vocally expressed his opinions about Serenity’s role here either.
