I quickly pulled out of Reese, tucked my condom clad dick back into my trunks, and turned around to hide her body behind mine. Propping my arms on the edge of the pool, I answered, “Yeah, man, what’s up?”
“Heading to Cedar Valley to cunt hunt. You wanna ride?”
I felt Reese tense behind me. Fucking Shaker. “Nah, brother, not tonight. I’m beat,” I replied honestly.
“All right, catch ya later.” With that, he was gone.
As soon as the door closed, Reese was pushing against my back. “Move, Duke,” she growled.
Turning back to face her, I placed my hands on her waist and frowned at the scowl on her face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Seriously?” she screeched. “He asked you to go on a cunt hunt not even 10 seconds after you had your dick in me!”
“Keep your voice down unless you want someone else to come out here,” I warned. “He didn’t know I was out here fucking you in the pool.”
“And that makes it okay?”
“Who else was he going to ask? Dash is following Ember around like a lost puppy, Phoenix and Badger never go, Carbon is MIA most weekends, Byte prefers the club whores, and the rest of the guys are either too old or too young to go.”
“Move,” she growled. I didn’t.
“What exactly are you upset about? I told him I didn’t want to go.” I could understand her being upset if I had agreed to go with him, but I didn’t hesitate to tell him no.
“How often do you say yes?”
“Aw, sugar, are you jealous?” I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
The hard shove against my chest was unexpected, causing me to take a few steps back. She climbed out of the pool, grabbed her towel, and headed for the door. “Fuck off, Duke,” she said over her shoulder before she disappeared inside.
By the time I made it back inside, she was nowhere to be found.
CHAPTER THREE
Reese
It had been three days since the evening Duke and I spent by the pool. We had seen each other several times since then, but we hadn’t had any time together alone. I was beginning to get frustrated with the whole situation. I knew Ember had a lot going on and needed me, but I didn’t think 30 minutes or an hour to myself was asking a whole lot.
I was feeling emotional and I didn’t like it. What made it even worse was that I had no idea why I was feeling so emotional. Regardless, I did what I always did in times like that, I shut down. I started snapping at Ember. I knew I would feel bad about it later, but I couldn’t care less at the time. She kept going on and on about the common room being empty while I did my best to ignore her. Finally, she got up and walked down the hall. I took the opportunity for what it was and went to my brother’s room. I knocked on the door and waited.
“What?” Carbon grunted.
“Can I come in?” I hesitantly asked. If he was in there fucking some club whore, I didn’t want to see it, hear it, or even know about it.
The door flew open and there stood my hulking brother. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said as I brushed past him and entered his room. A quick sweep of the room revealed it was currently a whore-free zone. “I just felt like hanging out with my big brother. Is that okay?”
“Cut the bullshit, Reesie. What’s really going on?” Carbon knew me better than anyone and could always tell when something was wrong with me. I had a love/hate relationship with that fact.
I sighed and let my shoulders slump forward, “I don’t know, Carbon, honestly. I just feel like something is wrong and I feel like crying, but I have no idea why.”
He closed his door and sat down beside me on the bed. Wrapping his arm around my shoulders, he pulled so that I was leaning into his chest. Blowing out a heavy breath, he said, “We can’t find Duke.”
My head shot up so fast the top of it slammed into Carbon’s chin. “Fuck,” he cursed while I shrieked, “What do you mean you can’t find Duke?”
Carbon studied me briefly before answering, “Just what I said. We can’t find him. He’s not answering his phone and no one’s seen him all day.” He paused and watched me, scrutinizing my every move. “When was the last time you saw him?”
Crap. Carbon was very good at reading body language, especially people he knew well. I would bet money my reactions had prompted him to suspect something was going on between me and Duke. I forced my muscles to relax and prayed my voice would cooperate when I answered, “Yesterday, in the common room at dinner. Him and Dash ate with me and Ember. I think something is going on between Dash and Ember.” I was hoping to redirect his suspicions to Dash and Ember instead of me and Duke.
