here for it in the dirtiest way. “You might not have noticed, Partner, but no one wants me. I’m a freak,” I say, echoing Meghan’s words.
He pushes forward and growls into my ear. I suck in a breath as his cock grinds into me. “No one touches you. No one bullies you. No one so much as whispers your name unless it’s mixed with ours.”
I’m breathless, holding onto his shoulders for dear life. Abruptly, he sets me on my feet, and I palm the rock behind me to keep from falling on my face.
He grips my chin. “Are we clear, Dakota Wilder?”
I will not submit. Not to a Jacobs. Not to anyone, but definitely not to a member of his family. This is just him trying to regain the upper hand because they know they need me. If they don’t have me, they don’t have what my family knows. “Not nearly,” I say. “Don’t mistake this for anything more than a business partnership, Stone. You want what I have, and I want to find my father.”
His brow creases. “Dakota…”
I hold my hand up, wanting to slap myself for that coming out. “If we happen to find the treasure, that’ll just make my father’s homecoming that much more special.” I turn away from the look on his face. It’s akin to pity, and that’s not flying with me. I prefer him to be a prick, pressing me against this rock.
I turn, take a few steps, and am immediately blocked by Wyatt and Lucas. “Looks like we missed the real party,” Wyatt says, taking in my wild hair, and I’m sure even in the moonlight he can see my flushed cheeks.
I meet Lucas’s gaze, and he immediately looks away. Wonderful. This tentative partnership isn’t going well at all.
“I’ll make sure you get home,” Stone says.
Wyatt steps in front of Stone after letting me by. “I think we need to stay back and discuss some things. How are you doing, Lucas? You good?”
“Drunk as fuck,” he says, but the earlier good-naturedness is gone. In its place is a cold, disinterested voice. Whatever he and Wyatt fought about must have been big.
“Great,” Wyatt spits.
“Here,” Stone says. A flash of silver shines in the air. I hold my hands out, and by some miracle, I catch a set of keys. I glance into my palm and see the truck keychain. “You owe me,” Stone says. “Not only did I have to pay that old mechanic for the truck, but I also paid him to fix the engine. I knew a guy who could find me one, and we had it overnighted to your pal Dickie’s shop.”
I want to jump up and down. My dad’s truck! I can’t believe I’m holding the keys again. I thought I had to say goodbye to it forever. Stone’s words keep me grounded though. He tries so much to control everything, and that’s not going to work for me. “Let’s get one thing straight, Stone. I don’t owe you anything. We’ll call it even. You’re not getting everything you wanted with the contract and I don’t want your money anyway, so let’s say our partnership costs you this truck. Oh, and my laptop. Deal?”
Stone narrows his gaze at me. I’m a good people reader, but I’ve never figured out Stone. I’ve always just thought it was because there were too many differences in our upbringing. I can’t even fathom what it would be like to be rich, and he can’t understand what it’s like to be me. I don’t even want to try to figure him out anymore. I’m not sure I need to go down that winding path.
“Deal,” he says. “Though that laptop’s a piece of shit. It broke when my father’s assistant tried searching through it.”
He holds my gaze as I grind my teeth together. “I have a paper on that laptop that’s due next week.”
“Not anymore you don’t. It’s in the trash.”
Asshole. I open my mouth to tell him where he can shove my trashed laptop, but Wyatt interrupts me. “Lucas, go back with Dakota. Sober up and be on the lookout.”
“Sure thing,” Lucas says, voice bored again, like the effects of the alcohol are wearing off. He’s so different from the guy who danced with me out there in the middle of the party.
I don’t argue with Wyatt because apparently Lucas has had enough to drink, and he doesn’t need to stay and drink anymore.
Stone points at the keys in my hand. “She’s parked a few