“… you’ll consider us.” Kayden finishes the sentence. He crosses his arms, as if daring me to call it a joke. There’s no humor in his eyes at all. And no question in his voice.
As if he’s not asking.
Damn it. My cheeks flare again as I gape at him. “That’s not – I’m not building agrouphere!”
“Aren’t you?” Aiden moves to stand beside his brother as I duck out from between them and back away. He crosses his arms, and they both truly look identical in that moment. “Are you sure?”
“She doesn’t look sure,” Kayden points out, his voice curt.
“No,” Aiden agrees. “She doesn’t look sure at all. Which suggests that theremightbe a vacancy after all, brother.”
“It does.”
“Stop.” I hold my hands up, blinking rapidly. “There is no vacancy for – for whatever it is you think there’s a vacancy for. The vacancy does not exist.”
“A space, then,” Aiden supplies in a helpful tone. “In your group.”
Oh, god. “There is no group—,”
“Lyss?”
I jump a mile before I spin around, certain that my cheeks are bright red. Chess blinks at me, his eyes bleary and half-filled with sleep. “You were gone when I woke up. You okay?”
I blanch. It takes him a second.
A few seconds, to lower his eyes.
Any sleepiness in his expression disappears fast. “What the fuck?”
Chess lunges for me, already ripping off his shirt before he bundles me into it. I fight not to roll my eyes, only to groan when Hatter pops his head through the door. His eyes widen as he looks between me and the twins.
And to make it worse—
“Is there a party?” Buck saunters in past him, his lips tugging into a grin as he takes in the three of us. “Thereisa party. I can’t believe you didn’t invite us, Trouble.”
“See?” Aiden waves his hand. “Like I said. A group. We’d like to join.”
Kayden nods silently.
Chess mutters something unintelligible and highly uncomplimentary under his breath as he tries to wrestle the buttons of the shirt closed. “I can’t leave you alone for one fucking second. What are you, a fucking magnet?”
Exasperated – and possibly alittleheated at the visual the twins are creating in my head - I shove him off, throwing up my hands. “Let me make this very clear. There is no – zero, zip, zilch – vacancy for my group. My bed. My vagina. My damn fucking treasure chest. Whatever the hell expression you want to use. All positions arefilled.”
Silence. A tense, edgy silence that does nothing to soften the redness that I’m certain has spread across my whole body.
The twins both raise an eyebrow, matching looks of skepticism on their faces.
Hatter’s cheeks are flushed.
Chess looks like he’s about to murder someone.
And Buck grins, wider than I’ve ever seen him smile as he clicks his tongue. “You are truly the most interesting person I’ve ever met, Trouble. DoIhave one of these positions?”
“No, you damn well don’t.” Chess snaps. He turns to me. “Right?”
I slap my hands over my face. “There are no fucking positions! For any of you!”
Also, I really need to use the bathroom now.
