Focus.
“Why is it so hot?”
King’s eyes go up and down my body before coming back to my eyes. “Because Texas.”
“No, I mean, do we have air-con in here? I might die.”
“If only,” he mumbles, climbing up the steps that bring him into the RV. “Get your bikini. We’re going to the waterhole while we wait for the crew to set up the generator.”
I dash into my room and grab the first bikini I can find, slipping it on. Nothing fancy. Just a yellow and white two-piece. I take a couple of bottled waters out of the fridge before slipping on some little white ripped shorts and a tank. I’m taking a sip of water and waiting for King outside when he finally emerges. I fall into step beside him.
The silence that hangs between us is comfortable as we pass everyone’s RVs. Just as we come up to Midnight’s, Maya and Rose are exiting, but Val and Mischa are already sitting outside, rubbing oil onto their bodies. Killian, Kyrin, and Keaton show up next with a few people I haven’t met yet. I make eye contact with a few of them, but they make it obvious when they pointedly avoid me.
Val pauses while rubbing oil onto her leg, her eyes fixed on me. She pushes off her chair and bounces her way to King. “Can you oil my back?”
King pays her no attention. “No.” He shoves past her and goes straight for Maya. He leans into her ear and whispers something, her eyes coming to mine.
“Don’t get comfortable on that seat. You’re only keeping it warm until he comes back to me,” Val announces as I’m passing her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I throw back over my shoulder, mainly because I don’t. Unless she’s picking up something that I haven’t yet. Or maybe she’s just insecure because I’m staying with them.
Rose comes over to me, wearing a little red bikini and nothing else, her arm hooking with mine. “I need a swim before I melt.”
“Ditto.”
“Hey.” She tugs on my arm, just as we all start walking toward God knows where. “Are you okay in there? You can ask Delila for your own trailer. I heard her speaking with Justice the other day, and they both agree that you’re going to have your own show on top of the SOK scenes.”
“SOK?” I ask, before I connect the dots. “Right. I don’t know what she would want me to do.”
“Um…” Rose rolls her eyes. “Dance, of course.”
I drop my sunglasses over my eyes. “I’m nothing special.”
“You are so wrong.” Rose turns her head over her shoulder slightly, before coming back to me. “When you dance, Dove, you create a new world. You captivate the entire audience. There’s peace in your movements.”
King’s arm wraps around my torso, pulling me into him as he walks behind me. “Yeah, but always remember that in peace always lies havoc.”
I try to wiggle out of his grip to no avail. Once we’re in the parking lot, King pulls out a set of keys and pushes the unlock button on his keyring. A black Ford Raptor lights up. He points to it. “Get in the car.”
“Can she ride with us?” Rose pleads. “I haven’t seen her in so long!”
King pauses, cutting her with his corpse eyes. “No.”
At least he’s not an asshole just to me. It’s an overall personality defect. “I’ll see you when I get there,” I tell Rose, making my way to the truck. I go to slip into the back when someone picks me up from behind and puts me in front of the passenger’s side door. I turn around to find Killian smirking. “Little Bird rides shotgun.”
Sighing, I open the door just in time to see Val glaring at me from the other side of the parking lot. She’s about to slip into a white Range Rover, but paused her movements to make it known to me that she hates me.
“Don’t worry about her,” Killian catches me off guard by whispering into my ear. “She’s just jealous because King has never paid her any attention that goes past the bedroom.”
“What?” I say, turning to face him.
Killian shrugs. “King fucks her and disregards her. When I say fuck, I mean just fuck. He never touches her. Never kisses her. Everything they do is in the bedroom, and nothing past that door, and it’s her door, not his door.”
“Are you both done gossiping?” King starts up the loud truck, and I pull myself up by the running board, sinking into the leather seat. I can feel him watching me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignore him. I’m confused by the sudden back and forth. At what point did he and I establish something? I missed it. That’s what worries me. It was organic. The knots and bonds were knitted without me noticing. Now I don’t know how to untie all the knots because I missed how they were woven together.
“Stop thinking too much into whatever the fuck Kill is filling your head with.” King drives us out of the parking lot, following behind the Range Rover and another car.
“I’m not.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, you are.”
“And you can read my mind now?” I tease, chancing a look at him.
His jaw tenses, and for a second, I want to hit myself for joking with him. It’s bad enough that I can’t stop kissing him or being on his lap, let alone joking with him. And anyway, he probably can read my mind. I wouldn’t put it past him. Or any of them.
He hits the stereo, and we let the music fill the empty space around us. Which is a lot because this truck is massive. “Hail to the King” by Avenged Sevenfold starts playing. I roll my eyes at the irony of the song and distract myself with all of the passing trees and buildings. The road turns into gravel, and we’re bouncing down a bumpy road.
I spin around and look at Killian, Kyrin, and Keaton, who are in the back.
Killian’s already smirking at me from the middle. “What? Scared we’re taking you somewhere to kill you?”
“Actually, that thought didn’t cross my mind, surprisingly, but where did the rest of them go?”
“Lost them on the trip.” Keaton catches my attention. Talking with Keaton on the way here was probably one of the highlights of my trip. He’s not someone who looks like he makes a lot of friends, but for whatever reason, he’s chosen to make one out of me.
I turn back around, just as King pulls up to a clearing. “Wow!” There’s a long waterfall that’s pouring over a cliff, crashing into the clear water below. “Wait, how do we know there aren’t gators or anything in this water?”
King shrugs, climbing out of the truck. As soon as his door is opened, the humidity slaps me across the face, and suddenly, I no longer care. Anything to take away this sticky heat. Just as I’m closing the door, the Range Rover and other truck pull in, parking beside us. I’m instantly annoyed that Val is here.
They all stammer out, and Rose yanks at my towel. “Take your clothes off, Dovey!” She hands me a wine cooler, and we clash our bottles together in a cheers.
I take a sip and watch the rest of the girls strip half naked and all go diving into the water after The Brothers.
“You all right?” a voice says from behind me. “Why aren’t you in the water?”
I turn around to find a guy I haven’t met yet. He’s tall and slender with kind brown eyes. He’s attractive, at first glance.