“When living with my mom, we didn’t pay anyone. If something needed to be done, I did it.”
“Stop,” I say, coming up behind her. I spin her around and grip her hip with my right hand. My left hand pushes her hair from her face. “What did Kellan say to you to make you change your mind? Did he blackmail you?”
She laughs at that. “No, but he is a lot like you in other ways.”
“How?” I ask, my hand pausing in her hair.
“He pinned me against the lockers.”
“He what?” I bark.
“Told me to end it with you and drop out of the group before you make an even bigger joke out of me.”
“Austin …”
“If you’ve learned anything about me, it’s that I don’t like being cornered. I don’t like being told what I can and can’t do.”
I smile softly down at her. Glad to see that fight back in her gorgeous green eyes. “Yeah.”
“He gave me until tomorrow to make my decision.”
My teeth clench at that. “And what if you don’t choose what he wants?’
She shrugs. “He didn’t say. But I remember hearing you say that you like to perform.” My brows rise. “So …” She wraps her arms around my neck. “We are going to give them all a show, baby.”
I laugh at the way she calls me baby. It’s the first time she’s ever said it, and I hate how it makes chills run up my spine. “What do you have in mind?”
She reaches up and gently kisses my lips. “Right now, I want you to take me upstairs and rip this dress off my body. And fuck me like they’re watching.”
AUSTIN
Sunday evening, we pull up to the barn at nine o’clock. We were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago. We spent all day in my bed, then took our time getting ready. Cole walks around and opens the passenger door for me. I smile up at him, and he has a smirk on his face.
He takes my hand in his and opens the barn door for me to enter. We come in, and all chatter comes to a stop. Deke sits on the couch texting on his phone. Shane and Bennett lean up against the table to the right, and Kellan stands facing them.
“Hello, everyone.” Cole says cheerfully.
I watch Kellan’s brown eyes narrow on him.
“Finally.” Deke jumps up. “Let’s get this over with. We shouldn’t even be meeting tonight. We don’t have a dare to do.”
“That’s because Cole is taking his sweet ass time fucking Kaitlin,” Kellan says, looking at me. “Not sure why. She’s a guaranteed lay.”
I tighten my hold on Cole’s hand. He ignores Kellan.
“I called the meeting,” Bennett says and turns around to dig into a black drawstring backpack. Identical to the one that lies under my bed. He opens it up and pulls out five white envelopes. “Here you guys go.” He hands one to Shane and Kellan. Then he walks over and hands Cole two. He tosses Deke the last one, and he catches it midair.
“What is that?” I ask.
Cole hands me one of them. I take it and feel the thickness.
“This …” Deke holds his up and smiles at me. “Is payday.”
“Payday?” I ask confused. “I don’t—”
“That laptop you stole from Jerrold’s,” Bennett interrupts me, “had several accounts on it. I’m draining them one at a time into an account I set up. This is the smallest one. And this is your cut. We each got ten thousand.”
“What?” My mouth falls open in a gasp. I shove my envelope into Cole’s chest and let go of it. It falls to his feet. “I can’t take that.”
Kellan snorts. “Surprise, surprise. The princess doesn’t want it.”
“That’s blood money,” I snap.
“It’s whatever you wanna call it.”
“It’s illegal,” I argue with him.
Cole reaches down and picks up my envelope.
“What you did to get the laptop was illegal too. Or did you forget that?” Kellan arches a brow in challenge.
I look away from him.
“That’s what I thought,” he adds.
“Find anything else on the laptop?” Cole asks Bennett.
He shrugs. “Nothing useful. The guy is into some pretty sick shit when it comes to sex. But besides bank accounts, there was nothing useful.”
“What about cell phone records?” I ask.
“What about them?” Kellan snaps.
Everyone’s eyes turn on me. “What about them?” Deke asks in a much nicer tone.
“A lot of people don’t like to log in every time they go to a site they frequent often, so they keep their passwords remembered. If you knew his carrier and typed it in, maybe it will still have him logged in. You could go through his phone records. See who he has spoken to.” They all just stare at me, and I shrug, feeling awkward. “It could be nothing …”
“No. It’s a good idea. I’ll check into it,” Bennett says.
I nod once.
Cole takes my hand and turns us to face Kellan. I square my shoulders, knowing what is about to happen. “She’s not pulling out of the group,” he growls.
“Who said she was?” Bennett demands.
“Kellan.” Deke crosses his arms over his chest.
“What?” He and Shane both speak at once.
Kellan’s jaw sharpens, and he narrows his eyes on me. “Even if you could retract your dare, which I knew you couldn’t, I still wouldn’t pull out.”
Cole surprises me and jerks me to face him. His hands go to my hair, and his lips crash down on mine. My lips part on a gasp of surprise when his tongue slides into my mouth. His hands tighten in my hair, and my eyes close on a moan. My hands grip his shirt as he kisses me like he’s desperate for me. Needs me. He tilts my head to the side, and I allow him to take my breath away. The man could kill me if he wanted as long as his hands were on me at the time. My pussy tightens, and my legs threaten to buckle as he fucking takes what he wants.
Giving Kellan a show.
My eyes slowly open as he pulls away. His blue eyes look over my shoulder, and he smirks. “And she’s mine. Stay away.”
The room falls silent as I regain myself and pull out of Cole’s hands. I turn around to face them. Kellan glares at me, but his brown eyes start to burn brighter as a sinister smile spreads across his face. He takes a step toward me, and Cole yanks me back by my shoulder, ready to jump between us.
His eyes go to Cole. “If this is how you guys wanna play it.” Then he walks past us and out the door.
_______________
Monday morning, I walk into the Reynolds house and see Lilly already coming down the hallway toward me. She wears a pair of jeans and a pink shirt that has a kitty on it, and her blond hair is in pigtails. She opens her arms. “Austin,” she squeals and jumps into mine.
“Hey, princess. You ready to go to school?”
She nods excitedly.
“Do I need to pack you a lunch? Or do I need to give you lunch money?” I know Blanche is away this week, and I’m not all sure what she eats for lunch. Cole didn’t give me any instructions.
“Cole made my lunch this morning before he left. It’s already in my backpack.”
“Awesome,” I say. “Let’s get going then.”