“Colt! Joss!’’ I hear him looking for us.
“We’re stuck in here!” I yell to him.
“Where?” he yells back, and I see him pause on the hill through the window.
“The shed.”
She pushes her dress down and brushes her hair back as she turns around. Her eyes dart off toward the window and I’m waiting for her to say something cruel or sarcastic before Ben gets here. Instead, she’s uncharacteristically quiet. So I say something stupid. Bound to get us into a situation we can’t unfuck. Just like the last time we agreed to exchange favors for favors.
Ben’s closing in so it’s my last chance to say something.
“I’ll pose for the pictures on one condition.”
Her eyes come to mine, and she gives me a curious look.
“What’s that?”
“You go first.”
“Meaning?”
“You pose for nude shots, and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t think the target audience wants pictures of me.”
“I’ll buy them.”
Something changes in her eyes, a look that comes and goes that I can’t read. She turns away from me then, so I can’t see the rest of her reaction, because Ben opens the door and we both turn toward it.
“I’ll think about it,” she whispers as she walks past me and then Ben.
“Thank God, Benny. We could have died in there. You have a whole fucking spider army you need to take care of. Barely held them off. One of them definitely had a tiny machine gun, and I think they were building a trebuchet. It’s out of control, really.” She jokes with him, acting like nothing at all happened between us.
But Ben’s eyes float over her and then land hard on me, an eyebrow rising along with his suspicion.
“Thanks for the rescue,” I mutter.
“Seems like I might have shown up a little late.”
“Or too early.”
SEVEN
Joss
That nightafter everyone is gone and Harper and Ben have gone to bed, Violet and I sit out on the deck with cocktails. We’re curled up under blankets and staring at the stars on her Adirondack chairs.
“So you and Colton managed not to kill each other.”
“No thanks to your husband and his meddling comments.”
“True. He was just ready to start shit all over the place tonight.”
“Just to be clear, Xavier definitely snuck off to fuck Harper, right?”
“I would almost guarantee it, yes.”
“I think I like them together.”
