“Yeah, I know you.” I shrugged. “I’ve known you for years.”
“Zion’s right,” Kali said as she unscrewed the bright pink water bottle she’d borrowed from Jayla.
The glass was going to shatter from Gedeon’s glower directed at her in the rear-view mirror. The man specialized in exuding very specific wavelengths of emotions: from dirty looks to death stares.
“I would listen to him,” she added between gulps of water. “I wouldn’t want to crash into another tree on our way back. We have a scheduled war to attend.”
Gedeon looked like he couldn’t settle between strangling me right now or waiting until we returned home and restraining me next to Ezra.
An entirely new emotion in the spectrum of his daily ones.
I also might have enjoyed how his murderous intentions made my pelvis spasm a little too much.
He gritted out, “You told her.”
About his terrible driving skills when he was a teenager? “Of course.”
I patted his thigh, savoring how he adjusted his foot on the speed pedal to nestle his leg into my touch. The muscles in his leg flexed so hypnotically they melded my palm to him, and I moved the task of ripping holes in his jeans to the top of my priorities.
The offending pair of pants could suck it—they were going to lose their fight of harboring Gedeon from me. And the reward for my victory? Feeling Gedeon up any time I wished to do so.
He was the most appetizing trophy you could win.
“She needs to know the important bits about your driving experience if we’re getting into the car with you. Why do you think we fastened these”—I tugged on my seat belt—“before you even had the chance to twist the ignition key?”
If thunder could be a sound people made, then Gedeon’s grumble as he dragged a hand down his face would have been it.
“Please stop the car.” Kali pulled the waistband of her leggings away from her belly. “Or I will pee my pants and soak your seats.”
A sigh so heavy it could collapse buildings betrayed Gedeon’s acquiescence. He engaged the brakes, gently bringing our car to the side of the road—an utterly forsaken, deserted stretch of asphalt.
Kali practically tore the backseat door off its hinges in her rush to get out and sprint toward a cluster of birch trees. Theblack stripes on the white trunks failed to conceal her as she dropped her leggings and squatted?—
I chuckled at her glare. She and Gedeon, they could start a grimace contest.
Naked, obviously.
I would lay on our bed, sprawled on my stomach, my feet rocking in the air as I enjoyed the show.
Such beautiful creatures they were, a juicy strawberry and a ferocious birdie.
Climbing out, I slammed the passenger door shut and raised the tailgate. The minute of digging through our backpacks proved successful, and I emerged with my findings only to be struck by the scene before me.
Gedeon stood leaning against the driver’s side, hands in his pockets, his neck craned, eyes closed—a personification of serenity.
The midday sun doused his face, the sheen of sweat on his forehead a telltale symptom of the approaching claws of a headache, its talons excruciating, as he’d described it once.
A breeze tousled the dark waves clashing around his temples, and his thick lips parted on a slow exhale, collapsing his chest.
Controlled breaths.
It was worse than he made it out to be.
Draping the extra t-shirt over my shoulder, I offered him the sparkling-in-silver bottle. “Here.”
He sniffed the contents, but took a sip, his tongue darting out to collect a fleeing drop. “Is this?—”
“Peppermint tea?” I leaned against the car beside him. “Yeah.”
