ignore the excitement threading through me at the idea of heading up into the mountains to search for treasure again. The treasure runs in my blood. There’s no use fighting it.
11
I make my way back to the bonfire and go straight for the cooler again. Despite the feeling like I might have lost a little bit of my soul, I’m at peace with this decision. I didn’t just crumble at their feet, I gave them a win-win scenario. They had to strong arm me into it, but maybe it will all turn out for the best. A mutually beneficial arrangement where we all get what we want.
I have the cooler in my sights when a body blocks my view. Let’s see, ample cleavage even though she claims to be all innocent and a pair of pouty lips. Yep, it’s the devil incarnate. Meghan tosses her hair over her shoulder as she eyes me up and down. “What was that all about?”
I peek at her, laugh, and attempt to move around her. She’s so desperate it’s funny. At least I never threw myself at people. I knew where I stood. Maybe I should give her a heads up that sometimes it’s better to sit back and keep your mouth shut.
“What’s so funny?”
I bend over to grab a beer out of the cooler. The same guy who popped the cap for me before does it again, and I take a long swig before I turn toward her. “You,” I say simply.
Her glare turns murderous.
I don’t know what it is about today. Maybe it’s striking the deal with the three devils or the fact that we’re outside in my territory, but her very existence is pissing me off. “Why do you care, Meghan? I’m no one, right? You’ve treated me that way my whole life. If you want to know what that was about, ask them.”
A hand drops on my shoulder, and I nearly come out of my skin. I turn to find Stone standing beside me, a cocky grin on his face. “Ask us what?”
Meghan’s eyes round, and mine almost do the same. Why does he keep touching me now? Heat radiates from the spot where we connect. I may be a social outsider, but I do know I shouldn’t be having that kind of reaction when my stepbrother touches me.
I slip out from under his arm, and Meghan looks justified. She moves forward, slipping in next to Stone in the spot I just vacated. “I was just wondering what you were doing with her.”
“You know she’s my stepsister, right?” Stone says, confidence seeping through his very being as he gives me a look that says way more than stepbrother-stepsister. In an instant, the look vanishes though. “We had things to discuss.”
“She’s not your stepsister now though.” She tiptoes her fingers up his chest, and I want to throw up. “Her dad’s dead.”
“You bitch,” I snarl. Lucas comes around me, grabbing me by the hips to steer me away.
Meghan is all smiles until Stone grabs her wrist, tearing her fingers away from him. “That was rude.”
“Well, it’s true,” she says, still using her teasing voice like this is all a part of her mating ritual. Flirting and insults. It’s disgusting.
“Come on,” Lucas says in my ear until I stop fighting him. If Stone is attracted to that kind of trash, he can have at it. Meghan turns, glaring at Lucas’s hands on me, but all I can feel is the heat from his flesh on mine, his fingers gripping my hips where my shirt doesn’t cover. “You can deal with that,” Lucas says to Stone, giving him and Meghan a mocking salute.
I let Lucas steer me away to where the radio is. Couples dance, swaying to the music like the stars above have put them in a trance. He lets me go in the thick of things and twists me around. “What are you doing?” I ask, placing my hands on his, which are still curving around my hips. The only thing is, I don’t shove them away. My fingers just stay there, like I’m holding him to me. His brown eyes capture mine. The bored look I’ve seen since he started school at Saint Clary’s is gone. In its place is a tumultuous hold on the present. He always has this way of simultaneously looking like a stray cat, but also with a sly gaze that says he knows too much. I heat under his inspection. “Stop touching me,” I say,