“How the fuck they find out?”
“Come on, cuz,” Priscilla said. “You have your spies and your dad has his. You know how it is. Do you really need to ask?”
The muscle in Ocean’s jaw ticked furiously. The cousins waited for him to fill in the blanks, but he just stared at them until I cleared my throat and attempted to plow through the ice. “So, do you guys live in the building?”
“Oh, no,” Chiara said. “The city can be too much sometimes, and not all of us can live under armed guards twenty-four-seven like our big cuz. Most of the family lives closer to Glamis.”
Chiara looked closer to my age—maybe even a little younger—while Priscilla looked closer to Ocean’s age. There were other differences between Ocean’s cousins that were hard to ignore. Priscilla was tall and thin, while Chiara was short with a little more curve. Both of them had Ocean’s dark eyes, though their skin was a fairer brown than his but not as pale as mine. Chiara was the warmer of the two—soft spoken and quick to smile. Priscilla was more reserved and observant, taking everything in quietly and rarely chiming in. Although that could just be because she was clearly a bitch.
“Uh…Glamis?”
“I guess we don’t have to ask how you two have been spending your time because it clearly wasn’t talking,” Priscilla scolded. “Glamis is the seat of our family,” she explained with an impatient sigh and a hint of loathing for both me and theKilpatrick family estate. “It’s where the Boss and his family stay, but we’ve all called it home at one point or another.”
“Anyway, now that you’re here,” Ocean intervened before I could check her ass. “I have a job for you two.” He walked over to his wallet on the dresser and plucked a black credit card from it before returning to the door, where his cousins still stood. “Coby had to leave everything behind when she moved in with me. She needs a new wardrobe and all of the other bullshit y’all spend my money on. You think you can handle that?”
“Shopping!” Chiara squealed before snatching the card from Ocean’s fingers. “I can’t believe you’re crazy enough to trust us with the black card. Ooh! Coby should come with us. We can have a girls’ day and get to know her better.”
“Nah,” Ocean said.
“Why not?” Priscilla challenged.
“Because I said so.”
Oh, boy. Feeling Ocean’s dominance rolling off him in waves, I rubbed my nape nervously. Priscilla must have too because she backed down with a roll of her eyes and one last glance at me before spinning on her high heels and leaving the room. Priscilla didn’t seem to care one way or another if I came, but Chiara seemed genuinely disappointed as she turned and reluctantly left, too.
“There,” Ocean said with a panty-melting grin directed at me like he was proud of himself. “That should keep their nosy asses out of my business for a while.”
“What was that about? Why couldn’t I go with them?”
Ocean was halfway to the ensuite when he paused and regarded me with a raised brow. “You wanted to?”
“Not really. But I’m curious why you didn’t want me to.”
Ocean didn’t respond right away, turning to disappear inside the bathroom, so I followed him. “I don’t really have the men to spare right now.”
“Okay…and?” Ocean didn’t respond as he pulled out the first aid kit and sloppily patched himself up. “You think I’ll run, don’t you?”
He simply stared at me through the mirror as he wrapped his shoulder. His dark eyes warned me to drop it before he moved away from the sink to turn on the shower. After shoving down his sweats, he stepped under the cold spray. He must have really wanted to avoid a fight because he didn’t even wait for the water to turn warm. For a few seconds, I was distracted watching the water sluice over his dark skin as he washed himself with a thick bar of soap.
It took too long for me to realize Ocean still hadn’t answered me.
He turned his back on me to continue showering. I narrowed my gaze on his strong back and tried not to be distracted by the way the muscles bunched and flexed as he moved.
Ocean still didn’t trust me.
Did I trust him?
Maybe a little, but not blindly. At least…not yet. And not in the way I trusted Hunter.
If she told me to wander blindfolded into rush hour traffic and that I’d make it unscathed, I wouldn’t think twice about throwing myself into danger.
I wasn’t there with Ocean yet, but I would like to be.
“Your cousins seem afraid of you,” I said, changing the subject. “Is there a reason why?”
Besides the obvious…
Ocean’s attention finally returned to me, and then he beckoned me inside the enormous shower. I only hesitated half a second—worried that he’d distract me from the answers I wanted—before I untied the sash on my robe and let it fall to the heated floor.
