I blink, exhale hard. “What?”
She points at the bed. It’s a king-size, covered with pillows and furry blankets. A girl’s bed. “Sit.”
I don’t like the mischievous light in her eyes. “Or what?”
“Or you can leave, Zach.” She quirks an eyebrow. “Forever.”
At first I think she’s dead calm about it, her face not even twitching…but then I see her hands. They’re in fists at her side.
So I go over to the bed.
I sit.
And she smiles at me like I deserve a fucking treat.
Trinity turns her head without taking her eyes off me, and calls out, “Guys? I need a hand.” And then, with a twist of her mouth, adds a reluctant, “Please.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Apollo
“Shut it, would you?” I whisper, waving a hand behind me. “I can’t hear if you two keep yakking like that.”
“You shouldn’t be eavesdropping in the first place,” Rube says.
“Aw, leave the kid alone,” Cass says.
I turn and scowl at Cass over my shoulder. “Kid?” I’m almost two years older than him.
He smirks at me from where he’s lounging in the hot tub. He practically lives in the thing. I’m surprised he hasn’t sprouted scales yet.
I put my ear back to the crack in the sliding door. Rube pulled it closed when he came back a few minutes ago, and then scolded me when I tried to open it.
Zach and Trinity are talking so quietly, I can barely make out more than a word or two. It’s driving me nuts.
“Apollo, chill,” Cass calls out.
“Shh!” I hiss.
There’s a splash, and the slap of wet feet on the deck. The balcony is covered in slats of wood that stretch all the way to the eight-seat hot tub. A yard away, the balcony ends with a glass railing so you can soak up the bubbles while staring out at the ocean.
I fucking love this house.
I’ve never loved anything as much in my life…
Okay, that’s a lie.
“...forgive you, Trinity Malone. I don’t think...”
I strain to hear more.
Screw this.
I grab the sliding door. “I need the—” I begin.
Rube lets out a low, “Not a chance,” a second before Cass grabs the door and slides it closed all the way.
Right in my face.
“Come on, man. I won’t bug them.”
“Let them talk,” Rube says. He’s standing by the railing, leaning on crossed arms as he stares out at the ocean. He faces forward again as Cass splashes back into the hot tub.
“Come and get in,” Cass says. “Knowing those two, this could take hours.”
Hours?
I sigh, and stand for a few more seconds by the door. I guess Zach will tell us everything anyway when they’re done…but how am I supposed to wait that long?
As I’m about to turn around, I hear something.
I’m right up against the door a second later.
“What?” Cass demands behind me. “What is it?”
I love you. But I won’t ever...
I turn wide eyes to Cass, then to Rube, who’s facing me now.
I creep away from the door like Zach and Trinity are the ones listening to us, and beckon Rube over when I reach the hot tub.
He frowns, but walks over anyway.
Cass glances up at him and then shields his eyes with a flat hand. “Dude, can you put on some shorts or something?”
Rube is still wearing the towel he came out of the bathroom with. “How about you stop looking?”
Cass rolls his eyes, and then trains them on me. “What did you hear?”
“He said he loves her.” I step back, clapping my hands together in front of me as I wait for their response.
Cass rolls his eyes again and mutters, “Christ, finally.”
Rube looks like he turned to marble. “He said that? You’re sure?”
I nod feverishly. “I know what I heard.”
Rube shakes his head. “You must have—”
“Jesus, Rube, don’t put on that act. We all fucking knew it.”
Rube’s one eyebrow cocks up. “We did?” he says dryly.
“Fucking obvious from day one. She pushes his buttons just right, and he loves that shit.”
And Rube doesn’t argue, because I guess he did know. We all did, just like Cass said.
Zach’s mental, but under all that repressed rage, and hate…he’s just a guy. It’s been brutal for us, even after we got out of that basement, and it fucked us up in different ways. Zach went on the offensive. He’d push people away the moment he saw them as a threat. To himself, to us—it didn’t matter, because to him, we’re one and the same.
I’m so fucking glad he was the one who said it first. Because holy crap, I’ve been wanting to tell her that for a while now.
Zach’s not our leader anymore. We don’t need that kind of structure. But maybe it was some kind of respect.
Unspoken, but unanimous.
I love that about us.
We have an unbreakable bond, the four of us. With Trinity…
I don’t know if she’ll ever be on the same level as us—mentally, emotionally—but we have the rest of our lives to figure it out. And I’m not going anywhere.
Now that Zach’s told her how he feels…I’m pretty sure he’s not going anywhere either.
“So you think she’ll let him upstairs?” I ask them.
Cass rolls onto his back and sticks his toes out of the water, not bothering to humor me with a reply.
“Don’t know,” Rube says. He comes closer, grabs my shoulder, squeezes. “But that’s her decision, not—”
“Guys!”
All three of us spin around to face the door. And I’m sure my heart isn’t the only one that goes thump at the sound of Trinity’s voice.
“I need a hand.”
Cass lets out such a delighted chuckle, the hair on my arms stands up. He jumps out of the hot tub, streaming water over the deck as he races for the door. We shove and push at each other, jostling for pole position, but all it takes is a disapproving rumble from Reuben to make us stop.
We look back at him. Cass shrugs, mouthing, “What?”
Rube holds up a finger.
And then Trinity lets out a sulky, “Please.”
Rube nods his head.
All it takes is elbowing Cass in the stomach, then I’m the first through the door.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cass
“You called,” I say, walking up behind Trinity and sliding my hand onto her shoulder. The black robe she’s wearing does all sorts of delicious things to my fingertips, especially when I trace her collarbones through the silky fabric.
Zach is sitting on the edge of her bed, looking mighty out of place against the pale pink bedspread.
Rube comes up behind me, but doesn’t pass. I guess he’s waiting to find out what she wants, just like me. Just like Apollo.
And, judging from the frustrated look in Zach’s eyes, he doesn’t have a fucking clue what this is about either.