RAMSAY.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and as I took it out, I glanced over my shoulder. Then I sighed.

Gem: Hi! What are you doing? How are you?

Gem: Are you okay? It was crazy pants yesterday and you took off, which I get, but also—I need to know you’re okay and if you’re not, give me a clue. Like send me a single emoji and I’ll make a plan to figure out where you are and how to get to you and how to get you out of wherever you are. Okay? Okay. Proceed.

That made me laugh.

Me: I’m currently watching Kira and her friends hanging all over my cousins, and I’m trying not to puke.

Gem: WHAT? Where are you? Do you need me to call in the Red Cross?

Me: I’m pretty sure you’re getting your emergency people wrong, but no. I’m okay. At my cousins’ for a BBQ. I’m in the backyard at the campfire because I’m avoiding the inside where my aunt and mom are. But I’m also avoiding the basement where my cousins and Kira’s group were flirting, but they just moved to the backyard. They’re pretending to play basketball.

Gem: Oh. Got you. I’m handing you a Kleenex in sympathy right now.

Me: Thanks. I’m taking it.

And oh, boy, but this needed to be handled as well. My chest got tighter.

Me: Also, going to be honest. I don’t want to talk about my ex or my dad. I’m sorry I didn’t say this to you until today.

Gem: No. That sounds realistic. I’d probably hide for a full month.

Me: No, you wouldn’t. You’d go to your cousin and your family, and they’d be there for you. You’d also probably think of me before I thought of you, and I’m sorry for that. I really am.

She didn’t respond for a bit.

Gem: That means a lot. A whole lot. Like, I’m totally happy that I picked you as a friend and I’m really happy that I’ve not let you knock me off.

Gem: Wanna hang tomorrow?

Me: Yes, so much. But something normal and almost boring. Like studying.

Gem: Totally doable. I’m also very boring as a friend. I’m aware that you’ve not been given the chance to realize that because I’ve been busy with my secret superpower life, but you’ll see tomorrow how boring I can be. School nerd is my disguise. I do it well.

The back of my neck prickled as someone sat in the chair beside me.

I felt him first, so I knew it was Scout before I looked.

Then, once I did, I got all warm.

He was giving the look, the same he gave me as he said, “I’d do it rough, and I’d do you in a way where you’d be screaming for release.”

A release.

I squirmed, feeling that need in me. I could literally feel him sliding inside, and he’d only just looked at me.

I sent a quick text to Gem.

Me: Gotta go. Call you later.

The phone buzzed almost right away, but I put it away and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”

He flashed me a smile, but it didn’t extend to his eyes. Those were still flat. “Got back on the invite list. That your doing?”

“No. I had nothing to do with that.”

He shrugged, lounging back, his feet going up on the edge of the brick circle around the bonfire. His hands went into his pockets, and I kept looking at those hands.

How they’d feel on me.

“I’d do it rough . . .”

“Not going to fuck you at your cousins’.”

My eyes jerked to his, and he raised an eyebrow, but I saw his eyes starting to smolder.

I snapped, though my pulse was speeding, “Didn’t ask you to do that. That’s your role.”

He ignored my last comment, saying, “It was in the look. I can feel when you want me to fuck you.”

That took some air from me. “You cannot.”

His gaze was knowing. “I can. You can’t read me as well, but you’ll get there, which is not something I’m excited about, by the way.”

I opened my mouth and then shut it. I had absolutely no idea how to respond to any of this, but he was right.

I wanted him, and my body was heating up because of it.

I huffed. “This is so annoying.”

He snorted. “Get in line.”

We shared a look until one of the girls shrieked from the basketball court. It broke the spell.

“There’s something messed up about you hitting on me with my cousins just over there.”

“I wasn’t hitting on you, just stating facts.” He shifted suddenly, jerking forward and moving so his feet were facing me. He bent forward, his hands still in his pockets, and his eyes were piercing. “Want the truth? I didn’t know you were here. Alex called me, invited me, and I jumped at the chance. I miss my best friend, and then I walked back here, saw you sitting here with a smile on your face and your legs crossed, and my dick got hard.”

He leaned closer.

His voice lowered. “And I got pissed because I don’t want you here. I don’t want you to be messing up my friendships with your cousins, but I can’t give them up, and my dick isn’t giving you up. So, you figure out the dilemma. Me? We need to do something to get you out of my system because the reason my hands are in my pockets is because I can’t take them out. If I do, they’ll be on you, and I’ll be carrying you to the back of that garage so I can put them somewhere else on you. That’s the truth.”

“Carrying you to the back of that garage so I can put them somewhere else on you . . .”

A guttural sound escaped me, and I had to bite my lip to keep a groan from leaving them.

My whole body was ablaze.

He dropped his voice lower, almost whispering, and he scooted even closer. “I know you’re wet because I can smell it. You have your own aroma, and I’m the only one who can pick it up because it’s meant just for me. I know that, and you’re sitting here, looking all cool and hot, and it’s driving me crazy because I want to make you look messed and rode hard.”

“Stop,” I choked out, thrusting a hand out.

He caught it, one of his hands ripping from his pocket.

The touch sizzled. Hand to hand. Skin to skin.

Our eyes caught and held, and we both knew we just fucked up.

A huge mistake.

He was touching me. I was touching him, and that throb got more demanding. I felt it through my whole body, and images of him touching me more, kissing me, and bending me over flooded my mind.

Knowing how good it’d feel because just his hand holding mine was sending tendrils of pleasure shooting through me, coating my insides.

His voice was rough “Look up. Tell me no one can see this.”

I looked and had to refocus to actually see. My cousins were involved in their game.

I looked to the house. Nick was at the grill, his attention there and on his phone.

I looked more, through the window. My mom and aunt had moved to the kitchen table. Glasses of wine in front of them, and they were deep in some conversation.

“No one’s looking.”

As soon as I said it, a long finger rubbed the inside of my palm—slow, measured, purposeful.

My eyes went back to his, and his were burning into me. Then he shifted, putting my hand down and over his jeans. I felt him, felt how hard he was, how he was straining against his pants. My hand turned, cupping him, and he sucked in some air, but he leaned down and his nostrils flared.

“Yeah. You’d be all ready for me.”

“Scout!” someone yelled.

I jerked my hand away, but he didn’t move. His eyes held mine for a second before he turned around.

Kira was heading our way, almost skipping. “Hey, guys.” She collapsed in one of the other chairs, her feet going up on the brick bonfire circle like Scout had first sat. “What’s up?” But she was distracted, her face glowing and perspiring a little as she watched the rest of the group slowly coming our way.

They filtered in. Her friends, Ciara and Leanne holding back. They waited for my cousins to choose their seats and then perched on the arms of their chairs. The wooden chairs were sturdy enough and the arms were flat enough so they could almost sit normally. It was one reason I loved bonfires at Aunt Aileen’s house.

I shot up, knowing Clint would see something on my face that I didn’t want him to see.

He shouted behind me, “Where are you going?”

I held a hand up, saying over my shoulder, “Bathroom.”

Trenton yelled, “Bring back drinks! Booze preferably.”

“Trenton,” came from his dad.

“I mean, soda preferably.”

Uncle Nick grunted, but I glanced over just as I opened their sliding glass doors. He was staring at my cousins before his phone beeped and his attention went back to that. I frowned, just slightly, but my head was a mess. A lust-filled mess.

I needed time alone and time to cool down.

“I want to make you look messed and rode hard.”

Sensations broke out all over me, and I cursed softly. I needed to get a handle on whatever this was between Scout and me. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t right.

I still hated him.

“Hey, sweetie.” My mom smiled at me as I came inside.

I coughed, willing my pulse to slow down. “Hey, Mom.”

“Wanna come and talk to us? Tell us how school is going?”

That made me pause because I still hadn’t told her about the picture.

My stomach dropped.

This would be the perfect place. Perfect time.

Aunt Ailes was here. There were others here.

She couldn’t go off the deep end, which was what she’d do. It was part of the reason I didn’t want to tell her.

God.

Dread filled me, but I needed to get it over and done.

My mouth dried up.

My mom frowned, seeing the change. “Sweetie?”

Fear clamped down on my insides, shooting all of the other stuff out of the way.

My chest grew tight again. “Uh, Mom . . .”