by Ruby Vincent
“Miss me?” he asked, grinning.
“Always.” I hopped up and wrapped my legs around his waist. “Take me somewhere private, please.”
“Private?” he whispered. “We haven’t scoped out the best places to have sex yet.”
I nipped his nose. “That’s not what I meant, silly. And we’re not having sex here.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Ezra did as commanded and carried me away. Wide, open fields stretched out around us. There wasn’t much to see, but charming touches here and there made the property quaint. An old-fashioned water trough was the centerpiece of a small flower garden. A huge oak was the only thing blocking the view. It withstood the breeze while the tire swing hanging from it swayed with the wind. Ezra placed me on it.
“Leighton is not involved,” I announced. “Whatever shady shit Aiden is into, she had nothing to do with it.”
“How can you be sure?”
“You’re not around her, Ezra. She’s nice, funny, and tough. More than that, she’s not about to let anyone mess with the Sallys. She believes in loyalty even stronger than I do. One conversation about what we owe each other as people and I know she wouldn’t be a part of hurting Sawyer or Teagan.”
“Okay. I trust your instincts.” He peered over his shoulder. “But there could be other Sallys who know more than they’re saying. I’m working on getting closer to the brothers, but I have to be careful. I can’t push too hard.”
“Why?”
Ezra’s eyes locked on to mine. “Because Aiden knows I don’t trust him.”
EZRA
Val’s friend shook her ass at us. “Get ready to pay for me to lounge in my bikini sipping mai tais on the way to the Bahamas.”
Colton wolf-whistled. “I consider that a good cause.”
I kept my mouth shut and my eyes averted like a good boyfriend. I wasn’t stupid enough to do something that would stop Val shaking her ass at me.
“Ezra.”
The voice stopped me cold.
“Get in here.”
Slowly, I looked toward the house where Aiden stood on the porch, eyes fixed on me.
“Now,” he finished.
I hesitated. What does he want? He hasn’t spoken a word to me since the Close Enough party. He’s been smiling and strutting around the house like nothing happened.
He can’t do anything to me, another voice reminded. Not in broad daylight.
The fact that I needed that reassurance chilled me. Who the hell was this freckled-face nobody? How did the person I dismissed as irrelevant from day one become the center of this mystery?
“Are you waiting for something, Lennox?”
Snapping out of it, I picked up my feet and climbed the path. Aiden disappeared into the house, expecting me to follow.
I stepped in the doorway in time to see the hem of his shirt go into the living room. I slowed down and cautiously rounded the corner.
“Put these in my truck.” At his feet were two red coolers. “In the back seat. Don’t let it block my view.”
“Sure, Aiden.”
I bent and grabbed the handles.
“We don’t have a problem, do we, Lennox?”
I froze. Aiden’s voice was soft—almost casual.
“What do you mean?”
Aiden moved out of the corner of my eye. I sensed his presence behind me, then the doors clicked shut.
“I got an interesting call today,” he continued. “Someone—he wouldn’t give his name—rang up the Silverton chief of police and asked questions about me. My connection to Sawyer and Elizabeth. And if anyone around me has ever... disappeared.”
Michelangelo.
I slowly straightened as he reclaimed his spot before me.
“I guess he couldn’t have known my dad and the chief are old poker buddies. Robert called me right after he hung up.”
Aiden’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, but it reached me. Unease skittered up my spine as we gazed at each other. His hands were in his pocket—his stance loose. But the atmosphere was charged like a man facing a rearing serpent.
“Was it you?”
“No,” I replied. My expression gave nothing away and, thanks to Valentina, my eyes looked nowhere but at him.
“Really?” He cocked his head. “And you’re not having anyone else look into me either?”
I shrugged. “Not me.”
“That’s good,” he went on. “Because you and I settled this whole thing with Sawyer. You believed that I did something to him, but then you heard the whole story and accepted you were wrong.”
He was telling me, not asking me.
“Absolutely,” I said lightly. “You know if you ask me, maybe the police sat down and had another think. Sawyer went out to that van because of you, and you were the one predicting he’d make a sudden exit. One of them must have decided to do a little digging to be sure.”
“They didn’t,” Aiden said without skipping a beat. “The police know he’s with his family. They’ve moved on.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“I can.”
“Well, someone clearly has more questions,” I shot back. “Like what exactly were you talking about in the basement.”
He quirked a brow. “Is that a question?”
I kicked the cooler out of my way and shortened the distance between us. “Yes.”
Aiden’s smirk was level with my eyes. “Refresh my memory? What did I say exactly?”
“You know what you said. You’re asking to see how much I overheard and just how deep a hole you need to climb out of.” I returned his smirk with one of my own. “Very good, but I can’t be beaten in a verbal joust, Connelly. If you’ve got an explanation for what you said in the basement, let’s hear it.”
An expression flashed across his face—too quickly for me to read.
“I have the same one for you that I had for Noone. Sawyer couldn’t handle the pressure and he planned on dropping out. Teagan went home to be with her mother. That’s it. Let it go.” Aiden’s eyes flicked down. “And put that cooler in my truck, pledge.”
He sidestepped me.
“I hope whoever is checking up on you believes that story,” I said.
The soft click of the door was his reply.
As requested, I packed up the cooler and then climbed into Austin’s back seat. Music, laughter, and conversation buzzed in my ear as background noise. My mind couldn’t connect to it.
He knows. I see in his eyes that he knows I’m digging into him. The only question is... what is he going to do about it?
“WHAT WILL HE DO, EZRA?”
I drew the blanket tighter around us.
The front of the ranch wasn’t much to look at. The same could not be said for the back. It had everything. The bunkhouses held enough beds to sleep all of us, on top of couches, a microwave, a rug, and across the walkway, shower facilities. In addition, we had a picnic table, aboveground pool, and the fire pit that Val and I were cuddled in front of.
It was just us. Everyone else trudged to the bunkhouses to get some sleep in anticipation of the real reason we were here—the impressive obstacle course that took up the rest of the property. There were two bunkhouses. Officially, one for boys and one for girls, but no one was enforcing it and I’d like to see them try to stop me from sleeping with Valentina.
I buried my nose in her neck. “He’s not going to do anything.”
“You can’t know that.” She twisted in my arms and I saw the worry etched in her face. “If I didn’t know it before, his chat with you sealed it. He did something to them. What if he tries to do it to you?”
“He can’t.” I pulled her in, pressing our foreheads together. “I’ve gone to the cops about him. I’ve told my mom about him. I’ve even got someone looking into his past. If I go missing now, he’s the first one they’d drag into an interrogation cell.”
She grabbed me and gave me a scorching kiss. So hot heat ignited beneath my skin.
“You better bel
ieve I’d burn that house down with him in it if anything happened to you,” she said, voice hoarse. “But I won’t pretend I’m not freaked. If it wasn’t Sawyer who told the cops he was fine, who was it? If they spoke to his actual parents, why are they lying? There’s too much we don’t know and it puts us at a disadvantage in every way.”
“Mike is working on it. There is nothing this guy can’t find out. If he can’t get to the information, he’ll have a source who can. Once he tells me what we’re dealing with, we’ll have information to take to the police.”
She made a low, frustrated noise. “I can’t talk about this anymore. It’s making my head spin. Say something to make me smile, please.”
“All right. How about this? We’ve never made love in front of a fire.”
“That’s not true.” A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, achieving my goal. “We took that vacation over the summer. The hotel we stayed in had a beautiful fireplace and I distinctly remember you and me rolling around on the rug.”
I glanced over her shoulder. “I’m talking about a real fire. A crackling, smoldering pit and you and me rutting next to it like cavemen. Getting dirty and hot and—”
I cut myself off. My cock twitched, responding to my on-the-spot fantasy.
“No.” Val’s lips skated across my cheek and found the shell of my ear. “Keep going.”
The sound of my zipper drawing down could hardly be heard over the crackling flames.
“It’s always a hard choice,” I said huskily. “Whether to put you on your knees or lay you on your back.”
Val was gentle as she freed me from my confines.
“Staring up at me. Your legs clinging to my waist. Your cheeks flushed. Those lips...” I caressed the object of my attention, parting her mouth slightly. “Those lips pink and swollen having just been wrapped around my cock.” I hissed as she swirled her finger around the tip. “Valentina Moon, you on your back is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Ezra,” she breathed.
My tongue flicked out, tasting my name on her lips.
“But you on your knees is so delicious it should be a crime,” I went on. “That pert little ass in the air. The sweat from our bodies trickling down your spine as I ram into you over and over and o-ver.” My voice cracked as Val picked up the pace. Fire rollicked in her emerald eyes—bewitching me, burning me, promising all I needed was right before me. Suddenly, I had to have her right there on that lounge chair.
“Off,” I ordered.
Val didn’t ask what I meant. We shuffled beneath the blanket, highly aware of the people sleeping not twenty feet away from us. Soon, her shorts and panties were pooled at my feet.
“I won’t be on my knees or my back,” she whispered, a trace of teasing in her tone. “I hope that doesn’t disappoint you.”
“We haven’t even gotten to how much I love you bouncing on my cock. I could write a damn book.”
She giggled. “I don’t know how you do it, Ezra Lennox. All these things I thought I’d never do and then a few words from you and my clothes are off. Somehow I always give you what you want.” She pressed a kiss to my cheek, then my lips. My body coiled with anticipation as she pressed me to her entrance. “We can cross rutting in front of a fire off the list.”
“Val?”
We stilled.
“Val, there you are. Leighton says you have to come inside. We wake up in five hours.” Keily walked right up to us. “What are you guys...?”
Keily glanced at my feet. “Oh.”
“It’s not what you think,” Val blurted.
She chuckled. “Yes, it is. I’m sorry, I’m an idiot. You two keep doing what you’re doing and I’ll tell Leighton you’re sleeping in the boys’ bunk.” Keily winked at me. “Just don’t get too loud.”
Her friend skipped off like it was no big deal. Val buried her face in her hands.
“Holy hell,” she groaned.
“The blanket covered us. She didn’t see anything.”
“That’s not the point. We just got caught having sex.”
“We got caught before having sex.” I smacked her backside. “Now we’re going to have sex.”
“I think the mood is lost, don’t you?”
“No,” I protested.
Val clambered off me anyway. “I’m sorry, love. We can go camping—just me and you. I let you do anything you want to me in front of the fire.”
I held out my hands, willing her into them. “What do I have to do to make you get back on my lap?”
Gripping the chair handles, she leaned over and gave me a soft peck. “Rewind time and seduce me faster.”
I was less than pleased trudging after her to the bunkhouses. Val veered off to the boys’ bunk while I went into the bathroom and masturbated.
She was waiting for me in the bottom bed. I curled up next to her, relaxed by her warmth despite desiring her with every molecule of my being.
Eventually I drifted asleep to her soft breaths on the back of my neck.
VALENTINA
“Get up!”
I bolted upright, nearly smacking my head on the top bunk.
“Everyone up,” Aiden repeated. “Ladies, back to the Sallys. From this point on, we’re rivals. Boys, get dressed, eat, and meet up behind the bunks.”
Palmer, Mai, and I dragged ourselves out of our shared beds and wandered over to the Sallys’ bunk. In there, Leighton was shouting the same thing at the bleary-eyed girls.
I saved her the trouble and started getting ready. I was the first one in the main house cooking my breakfast.
Sofia came in and hugged me from behind. “How much do you love me?”
“Enough to make you an egg sandwich.”
“You’re the best.”
Sofia sat at the farmhouse table and plopped her head down.
I cooked me, her, and Ezra a quick breakfast while the other girls streamed in. He deserved it after having his sex fantasy dashed last night.
“Eat quickly,” said Leighton. “We’re doing warm-ups on the front lawn and then we’ll get started.”
I finished plating our food and moved over so the other girls could get in. Sofia raised her head to tear into her sandwich.
“How exactly are we doing this?” I asked Leighton. “I took a look at the course. Do we really have to complete that whole thing?”
“If we want to win, yes.”
“So, if the most girls finish first, we get the cruise,” Blair said. “Sounds easy enough.”
Leighton swung her leg over the bench and joined us. Sofia handed her one of her sandwiches which she accepted with a thank you.
“You’ll go two at a time,” Leighton said. “One guy, one girl. If a Sally gets through the course first, it’s one point for us. Doesn’t matter how many times you fall on your ass. You just need to finish. It’ll take a while to get through all of us, but afterward, the real fun starts. We’ve got music, a cooler full of beers, and marshmallows for s’mores. Do me proud and then we’ll celebrate.”
“Are you doing the course too?”
“Everyone is. The Sallys are in this together.”
We finished our breakfast with renewed vigor. The Sams tromped in as we headed out and I snuck Ezra a kiss for good luck.
“The first kiss in the many it will take to make it up to me.”
I grinned. “Does breakfast bring me closer?”
“It’s a start.”
“Come on, Val.” Blair grabbed my hand and pulled me the rest of the way.
The Sallys gathered next to the water trough. By now, I knew the routine. We stretched and then launched into our jumping jacks, getting our hearts pumping.
The sun rose on the course, lighting up the morning dew blanketing the field like frost. Some of the boys and girls shuffled tiredly about. The same could not be said for the brothers and sisters. They formed neat lines in front of Aiden and Leighton—backs straight and hands clasped behind them.
Aiden handed Leighton a cli
pboard. As he leaned in, he held his board in front of his mouth and whispered something to her.
“Listen up,” she said, drawing back. “By now you know how it works. Finish the course first and you win a point for your house. The pairs have already been assigned, so don’t ask to go against your friend. We don’t need anyone getting hurt out here, so be quick and smart. No pushing, shoving, or touching your opponent in any way. If we see that shit, you’re disqualified. Understood?”
“Yes, Leighton,” we chorused.
She swept out her hand to encompass our playground for the day. “You’ll start by climbing the low wall and then it’s on your hands and knees through the tunnel. After the tunnel, you climb the ladder, leap across the stepping stones, swing over the ditch on the rope, go through the ducking lane, walk across the balancing bridge, and finally it’s an all-out sprint to the finish line. Any questions?”
There were none, so she kept going. “We’ll do the pledges first, then the brothers and sisters, and finally Aiden and I will go. First up, Mai and Xavier.”
I sought Ezra through the sea of boys. We came together and held hands.
Mai and Xavier took their places at the starting line. The boys and girls separated and formed on opposite sides of the low wall. Ezra and I stayed together.
“How much do we care about winning?” I asked.
“Enough to want to see Richards go down!” he shouted at my best friend’s back.
She spun around, middle fingers up. “You wish, Lennox! You’ll be eating my mud!”
“I did not know this girl was so competitive,” I mumbled.
“You missed the prep school years,” he said with a laugh. “Sofia is fierce and she’s going to be sobbing in the mud when the Sams win!”
“Say it to my face!”
My eyes crossed lamenting how I ended up with such dorks. “Should I leave you two to your trash talk?”
“Nah. Leighton’s burning a hole through our heads, so I better shut up.”
Ezra wasn’t lying. Leighton’s flashing eyes closed my mouth too. When she was satisfied we’d be quiet, she walked up to the finish line. “You two know the rules. We will be watching. Play fair. Push through. Fight hard. Ready?”
