The Havoc We Wreak - Becca Steele Page 0,17

before. Maybe it was the aura coming off him—he came across as smooth and charming, but underneath you could sense how lethal he was.

“This is Kinslee,” I answered for her, when the silence stretched. He smiled and lifted her hand, placing a kiss to the back of it, and I saw her flinch. What the fuck?

After one last look, he turned his attention to Lena, who had no such trouble with introductions, being her usual confident self.

Once the greetings were out of the way, he strode to the door, picking up a navy suit jacket from the hook on the wall and shrugging it on.

“Feel free to help yourselves to anything. Z knows where everything is. Happy Birthday, Winter.” Then he was gone, and I spun around to face Kinslee.

“What the fuck was that all about?” I hissed under my breath.

“I don’t know,” she whispered. “He really scared me.”

“He scared you, but Z doesn’t?” I queried.

“Yeah. I mean, I can tell they’re both cut from the same cloth, if that makes any sense, but…well, I know Z, I suppose…” She trailed off, shrugging, clearly at a loss for her own reaction.

“Okay.” I decided to let it go. “Come on. What are you in the mood for? I’d quite like to try the knife throwing.”

“Archery,” she said decisively. “I want to be the next Katniss Everdeen.”

“Of course you do.” We walked over to join the boys, and I was immediately pulled into Caiden’s arms.

“I missed you,” he husked into my ear.

“It’s only been a few hours.”

“Still missed you.”

I smiled and reached up to kiss him, threading my hands through his messy hair, loving the feel of his body pressed against mine.

We drew apart, and I turned around in Caiden’s arms to face the others.

“Archery and knife throwing? Everyone agreed?” Cassius asked, and I nodded, seeing the excitement on Kinslee’s face as she bounced on her toes, raring to go.

“Sounds good to me. Archery first?” I suggested.

Kinslee beamed, and I smiled to myself.

Zayde led us through the building to a large, spacious room where archery targets were set up, waiting for us. After the run-through of what to do, which in my case mostly involved Caiden using any excuse to get his hands on my body and aiming my bow for me, I was surprisingly okay at it. I managed to hit the target, at least, so I’d call it a win. Kinslee and Lena had an impromptu competition, both of them way better at it than I was, and I took loads of photos on my phone of them in action, posting a couple to my social media accounts and tagging them.

After the archery, we took a break before the knife throwing. “I have to say, this is not what I ever imagined doing for my birthday, not even close, but it’s so much fun.” I gulped down the water from my bottle, then wiped my brow with the sleeve of my hoodie, watching as Zayde and Weston compared knives, examining the blades under the bright overhead lights.

“Glad you’re having fun. I’ve been wanting to bring you here for a while now, but y’know, life got in the way.” Caiden tugged me closer. I was sitting on the floor in between his legs, leaning back against him while he leaned on the wall behind us. “And there’s still more to come.”

“You mean the party tomorrow?”

“No, not that. More today.”

“More? What else could there possibly be?” I angled my head to look around at him, and he dropped a kiss on my nose.

“It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait and see.”

I pouted, trying not to smile. “Don’t I even get a hint?”

“Nope.” He smirked at me. “Your tricks won’t work, so don’t even try them.”

“You’re no fun,” I huffed.

“Oh, but I am. I’m a lot of fun.” His voice was suddenly low and rasping, and I shivered as he slid his hands under my hoodie, under my top, onto my bare skin, while he lowered his head to softly bite my ear.

“Fuck. If you want me to make it through the rest of the afternoon without dragging you off and making you fuck me senseless, you’d better stop that right now.” My words were practically moaned, rather than spoken, thanks to the effect he had on me.

“Really,” he drawled, nipping at my ear again.

“Let’s make a bet!” Cassius’ loud exclamation cut through our private moment, and Caiden released me with a sigh. “Whoever hits furthest from the centre of the target has