through the tree, seeing him saunter into the courtyard with Milo, Amy, and a couple of his friends in tow.
“What are they doing here?” I whisper, scooting away on reflex with my stomach twisting. “I got rid of that app.”
Shit. How did they find me?
Liv stares at me, but I don’t look at her. I can’t do this now. Not right now.
She waits a few seconds, the option to just take her back in my arms and own this hanging between us, but…
She rises. Scooting her chair back over to her side of the table, she takes out her phone and taps away, and I don’t know what she’s doing, but I just sit there, leaning back and see them head our way.
“Hey, baby,” Callum says, strolling over with a plate of key lime pie, Amy carrying a soda.
I glare at her. Did they follow me or something?
Callum slides a chair over and takes a seat at our table, his posse hovering behind him. He shifts his gaze to Liv. “Hey, baby.”
She scoffs under her breath like her patience with both of us is about gone.
Callum grabs my fork. “Heard you were here without me,” he says. “And here I thought you were with one of the Jaeger boys.” He looks from me to her. “Team meeting, ladies?”
“Bored, Ames?” Liv fires back. “Money, sex, privilege, but you’re still so bored, you gotta come all the way over here to look for entertainment, huh?”
I hold my glass, the icy condensation cooling my palm but not the rest of me.
“All the way over here,” Liv taunts. “Because if I were Clay, I wouldn’t want you.” She glances at me. “If I were Clay, I would find you pretty pathetic, and that must piss you off.”
His gaze sharpens on her, and I watch them, ready to mobilize if he moves.
She fixes her eyes back on him. “I’m even willing to bet you don’t get her hot. Or any woman, for that matter. That’s why you’re sexually abusive, isn’t it?”
Abusive…what?
“They don’t get hot,” Liv says again. “They smile. And they fawn. And they fake.” And then she sits up, rolling her hips a little, and moaning. “Oh, oh, you’re the best, Cal. The best.” She follows with more whimpers and groans.
I bite back my smile.
“Maybe she is hooking up with one of my brothers.” Liv shrugs. “Maybe more than one. I have five, after all. Sometimes they work as a team. I mean, how could you compete?”
I narrow my eyes, kicking her under the table. She laughs under her breath.
Callum cuts into the pie. “Your words hurt,” he says, “but not as much as I will, and you know it. We could carry you and Clay out of here right now and get away with it.”
“Could you?” she retorts.
His eyes gleam. “Five against two, Liv.”
“Is it?”
Just then, howls fill the air. “Ow, ow, ow!” And goosebumps spread over my skin, knowing who just entered Mariette’s.
That’s who she was texting. Her brothers.
Callum straightens in his chair, his blue eyes alert as four out of the five Jaeger boys fill the entrance, looking for their sister. I do a double take, seeing Krisjen holding Trace’s hand.
And Milo’s here. Awesome.
In a moment, everyone surrounds the table where Liv and I sit, the other diners in the courtyard casting glances and noticing something is up, but no one moves.
I speak low to Krisjen. “What are you doing with Trace?”
“We hooked up the night of the brawl,” she whispers over her hand.
I knew it.
I look left to right, the tension thick as the two groups stare at each other.
“So I hear there was a break-in at Fox Hill last night,” Callum says, eyeing my brothers. “Know anything about that?”
A break-in at the country club? I didn’t hear about that.
“I don’t know a thing,” Dallas replies. “We’ll keep an ear out, though. Anything stolen?”
“Nothing,” Callum snaps back. “Strange, huh? Just the face of the founder’s portrait scorched, even though there was a cash register and tons of liquor on the premises.”
“Yeah, strange,” Army tells him. “We’ll keep our ears open.”
“Sure, you will.”
And I dart my eyes between the two groups of people, feeling like I’m missing something. The Jaegers don’t keep the grounds at Fox Hill, nor do any of them work there in any other capacity. They wouldn’t break in just to defile a painting.
I’m not sure who would. Callum seems to know something I don’t, though.
Liv sits back in her chair. “So, um…Callum here thinks Clay is sleeping