to do a forfeit.”
“Hang on, I’ve never thrown a knife before. The people who have, have an advantage,” I pointed out.
Cassius pursed his lips in thought for a moment, frowning, before his expression cleared. “Okay. Everyone who’s thrown a knife before has to throw it with their left hand, or with their eyes closed if they’re good at throwing with both hands.” He raised his voice, pointing first at Caiden, then at Zayde. “That’s you two. Eyes closed. Everyone okay with that?”
“Sounds a lot fairer to me than your original idea. I’m ready!”
When it was my turn, I stepped up, holding the knife in my hand, trying to remember Caiden’s basic instructions. “Ooh, this reminds me of playing darts. Hey, West?” I turned to him, and he gave me a blinding grin.
“Yeah, I guess it’s kind of like that. You have to get the hang of balancing the knives, though.”
I did not have a natural talent for throwing knives, it turned out. The boys were all pretty good, Zayde by far and away the best, hitting the target with unerring accuracy every time. Lena was pretty good, too. When I asked her if she’d done it before, she told me she’d had practice with weapons as part of her martial arts training.
Caiden was the last to go, and we’d definitely saved the best for last, in my completely biased opinion. My boyfriend throwing knives was sexy as fuck. He’d taken off his hoodie, and he was in one of his endless supply of tight black T-shirts that highlighted his muscles. He held a knife in each hand, and he was spinning them on his fingers in front of him, basically showing off, but it left me panting. A quick glance at Kinslee and Lena told me they were just as entranced with my boyfriend. Not that I could blame them, at all.
“Damn, girl, your boyfriend is hot,” Kinslee murmured to me, and Lena nodded in agreement.
“He’s always loved these,” Weston told me, suddenly close to my ear, making me jump. I nodded distractedly, unable to tear my eyes from Caiden. As I watched, he threw them both in quick succession, and they embedded themselves in the target.
“Yes!” he shouted, fist pumping the air with a victorious grin, and I raced over to him, launching myself at him. He staggered backwards, unprepared, but caught me.
“What’s—”
I cut off his words with a kiss, and he immediately responded, sliding his tongue into my mouth, sending a throbbing need straight to my core.
When I eventually pulled away, breathless, he lowered me to the ground, keeping his arms around me. “Wanna tell me what that was all about? Not that I’m complaining.” His eyes were sparkling, and that sexy smirk was back on his lips. Yeah, he knew exactly why I’d jumped on him.
“I think you know.” I rolled my eyes, but my voice came out all breathy. “And you’d better be prepared to make up for torturing me later.”
His smirk widened into a grin. “I’m prepared. The question is, are you?”
After that, my concentration was non-existent, and I lost the bet. Cassius took pity on me, as it was my birthday, and since we hadn’t agreed on a forfeit, he said my punishment would be to do a shot of his choice at my party. Shots at a birthday celebration? I wasn’t about to argue with that—it didn’t sound much like a punishment to me.
We decided to call it a day after the knife throwing, although Zayde and Weston both suggested having a go on the shooting range. At this point it was getting late in the day, and Caiden kept insisting we needed to get back to the house to get ready for the final part of my birthday.
When we arrived back, I headed upstairs with Caiden and flopped down on the bed, rubbing my aching arms. I pulled out my phone, looking back through the photos I’d taken during the day, when I suddenly remembered the birthday gift from Arlo.
Sitting bolt upright, I retrieved it from the drawer next to the bed and unwrapped it curiously.
A small note fell out, and I immediately recognised Arlo’s handwriting.
Stay safe. Arlo
I opened the box with a shaking hand, pulling out a small silver cylindrical object, with a key ring at the top. It looked a bit like a pen, with grooves down the aluminium body, which tapered down to a pointed end. “What’s that?” Caiden asked curiously from his position next to me on the