“Yeah, I know.” He opens those pretty honey-brown eyes of his back up. He had to shower three separate times when he got back, and then cover himself in body spray and cologne. When I lean in toward him, all I can smell is the coconut oil he rubbed into his hands. “But you saw how he acted the other day. I had two choices in there, Bernie: kick his ass or leave. And he’s a good leader, even if he is a dick sometimes. I’d follow him into the pits of Hell.” I nod, because I’ve always known it. You could see, looking at Hael and Vic at age eight, that they were destined to share their lives together in one fashion or another. “What does he think about Aaron?” he asks, nodding his chin slightly and then grinning when my eyes widen in surprise.
“You know about that?” I ask, and Hael shrugs.
“I see you two looking at each other differently now. I figured it’d happened.” Hael doesn’t stop smiling, reaching out a hand and running his knuckles down my bare arm. I shiver, but not because I don’t like it. Quite the opposite actually.
“He hates it,” I admit, but our conversation didn’t exactly go any further than me fucking his possessive attitude into the bathroom wall. That’s all we’ve got, as far as a conversation on the matter. “But I guess I’m still marrying him, so he can’t be all that bothered.”
“You guess?” Hael laughs, checking his phone for the time again. He sighs, like he’s already exhausted. I don’t blame him. After what we did today, I think a nap’s in order. “You’re definitely getting hitched, Bernie.” He leans in toward me, smirking slightly. “And on Vic’s birthday, no less.”
“His birthday?” I ask, frowning. Vic has been insistent that we get married soon, but I didn’t realize he had an exact day in mind. His birthday … figures. The first possible day we could get married, we will. I’m sure his mother, Ophelia, will like that one.
“Yep,” Hael says, putting his mouth near my ear. “He turns eighteen just one day after me. how does that get you? That Vic’s the younger one between us.” Hael bites my ear, hard enough to startle me, but then he grabs my hips in his hands and pulls me close. “Look, if this kid really is mine … I don’t know what I’ll do. But what I can tell you is this: there’s no hope for me and Brittany. There never was.”
“Then fuck me before you go over there.” The words come out before I can question them. Hael looks surprised, but not as surprised as I am.
“Well, shit, Blackbird, how am I supposed to say no to that?” he asks, grabbing me by the hips and guiding me around to the front of the Camaro.
Hael sets me on the hood of the car, placing a hand on either side of me as he leans in, pressing his lips to the side of my neck. My entire body lights up like it’s on fire, and I suck in a sharp breath.
“Where should we go?” I ask, because this is not a good spot to have sex, on Aaron’s driveway in the middle of suburbia. Likely, we’d end up getting the cops called on us, and we all know how that’d turn out.
“Go?” Hael echoes, cocking a red brow. “We ain’t goin’ nowhere, Blackbird. I’m short on time, Vic is probably seething inside the house, and the neighbors around here always look at me like they need to protect their sisters and daughters.”
“Well, do they?” I quip back, and he just grins at me. “I’m serious, Hael. Have you been …?” The words get stuck in my throat because I know I’ll sound stupid as shit saying them. Have you been sleeping with other girls? I mean, I know I’ve been fucking Vic, and I just screwed Aaron, but hey, I’m jealous as shit at the thought of you with someone else.
“Um, you mean between the burying of bodies and the gang war on our hands, have I been dating?” Hael pauses, the edge of his lip quirking up in a cocky smirk. “Or … fucking? Have I been dipping my dick into the sweet waters of a pussy that isn’t yours?”
I grab him by the face, my fingers brushing against all of that red stubble as I dig my nails into his skin. His body feels hot between