him. “I know. You guys aren’t the sleuthiest stalkers.”
“Evidently not since somebody never saw where you ended up hiding it again.” He glares at Lucas.
Lucas doesn’t even bother replying or looking back at him. He lifts his stare to meet mine again, a sly smile on his lips. We both know why he didn’t see where I hid it. I gave him the slip. Honest to God, I climbed out my dorm room window so he wouldn’t see me leave, then trudged myself all the way to my hiding place with the safe in my book bag.
I didn’t even open it. I couldn’t bring myself to. Not when Dickie was dead, and I was all alone again.
“You could’ve asked us for help,” Stone says.
I smirk. “I wasn’t really in the trusting mood.”
“How about now?”
His weighted question settles like a shroud, rooting me to this spot. They want me to be theirs. They always have. Though Stone is putting on this façade like he couldn’t care less, the truth is in his eyes. He still claims me in his mind. I think he even hates himself a little for it because what I did to his father didn’t lessen the attraction between us. His gray-blue eyes bleed possession, and, so help me, I can’t help but fall into their trap.
He’s said all the right things. What more could I want from him?
Well, that makes me laugh because as far as I’m concerned, Stone has a lot to atone for.
“I’ll show Wyatt and Lucas.”
A growl of frustration rips through Stone’s throat. “That’s not how this works.”
“How does this work then?” I ask coyly. “Because from what I’m hearing, you still held secrets from me while I was about to give you everything I hold dear in this world. Maybe it’s a good thing Cole interrupted me from showing you?”
Stone gets to his feet, his hands clenched into fists at his side. “You want my secrets? You want everything I have?” His nostrils flare. He resembles an avenging angel with his blond hair and slick eyes. A calming breath later, he fixes his shirt over his shoulders. “Why not? You’ve already had everything. You just never knew it.”
He searches out Wyatt and Lucas, then turns on his heel, leaving us there.
My heart clenches at his retreating form. Wyatt sighs, lying his head back on the couch cushion. “Jesus. You two. The moment you get together, you’re going to end up killing one another, I know it.”
I send him a death glare. “We’re not getting together. We can’t stand each other.”
“What you mean is, you can’t stand being without each other. You can’t stand the past that’s kept you apart.” He shakes his head and looks at Lucas for help. “Tell Tits I’m right.”
Lucas swallows. “Are we going to get the safe or what?”
“Without Stone? He’ll freak the fuck out.”
“That ship has sailed,” I comment.
Wyatt shakes his head. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I can’t help,” he says, gesturing toward his stomach. “I’m fucking useless.”
“Aww, don’t say that. You look pretty.”
Wyatt smirks and winks. “You know it, baby.” He reaches out to put his cowboy hat on, and I nearly combust when he leaves the brim low, his piercing blue eyes almost hidden. He pins the front between two fingers and bows his head. “Either way, I won’t be of much help.”
Lucas jumps to his feet. “I’m sure Dakota and I can handle it.”
Wyatt’s curious stare stays on his friend while I excuse myself to put shoes on. I walk down the hall, peering the length of the glass corridor and notice Stone’s door is wide open. It’s as if he’s begging for an invitation, but I’m not giving him the satisfaction. The Jacobses used Dickie’s lack of finances against him. Coercion. That’s what it was.
I grab my sneakers from my room without giving him a second thought. When I come back out into the living room, Wyatt and Lucas are talking in hushed, angry tones. Wyatt is the first one to cut the conversation short when he sees me come up behind his friend. He gives me a smile that isn’t a Wyatt trademark one at all. There’s no special sauce behind it. “Will you be okay here?” I ask. “Are you feeling okay?”
His grin gets bigger. “Don’t you worry about me, Tits. I might have to ask you for your magic hands again sometime soon, though. I’m sure Lucas won’t mind.”
From the look Lucas gives him, I’m thinking he absolutely does mind. My