My pulse pounds against my temples and only grows wilder, harder when she doesn’t simply nod and stick her hand out for him to lead the way. Jonah walks for the rock, but Brielle, she stops, and looks from it... to me.

She stares, waiting.

And that’s how I leave her.

Her hesitation, it speaks volumes, and my ears are already ringing, I can’t take much more.

Not of this.

Not of her.

Something’s wrong with me, and I need to find out what it is. I need to stop these weird jolts, the unwelcome thoughts, and random aches that keep coming.

Yeah, I need to figure this shit out, and right this fuckin’ instant, ‘cause I can’t take it.

Instead, I find a bottle, and the second the engine’s off and I’m parked in front of my house, I drown in that bitch.

Chapter 20

Royce

We gave Enoch long enough to breathe, and from what we could tell, he walked around without a fucking worry. He has no clue we suspect him, which is dumb as shit on his part.

Right this minute, the asshole is at scout’s camp, so we’re about to grab Micah a throwaway ride and have him run him off the road on his way back. When he does, we’ll be there waiting.

Cap takes the driver’s seat, Maddoc forces Raven into the passenger’s, and the rest of us load up in back, waving to Zoey when she and my dad roll out of the driveway ahead of us.

Off we fuckin’ go.

Andre pulls into the dirt parking lot the same time we do, and we all climb out at the same time.

“I can pull the gate back, let you roll in?” he calls over his hood.

“We’re good, my man. Let’s get it open so we can slip through when Micah gets here.”

He nods, and jogs for the gate right as a third set of tires hit the gravel.

Andre looks over and frowns. “Hey, boss.” He looks to me specifically. “Imma need you to tell me who walks through and who doesn’t.”

I glance over my shoulder as Micah parks, my eyes instantly pulled to the passenger seat.

The fuck?

I’m at his door the second his shoe hits the ground, and I shove him back.

His arms fly up, but he waits for me to speak.

“We gonna have a problem, Micah?”

“What? No.” He shakes his head, but quickly realizes what I’m talking about, or more, who. “She just jumped in, man. I told her I had to cancel, and she wouldn’t get out.”

Cancel.

Cancel what?

I pull him in only to slam him back.

“She weighs fifty fuckin’ pounds,” I growl. “If she don’t listen, you lift and throw her ass out.”

Brielle climbs from the car and stomps her way around it.

“To be fair,” he draws out, his eyes flicking from where my family stands watching me. “I was going to... and then I thought better of it.”

My family dares to fucking laugh, but cuts off when I hit them with a glare.

I focus on Micah. “Going to what?”

“You know, pull her out.” He gestures toward her. “But back home, when Franky grabbed her by the arm, you fed him his own ass. Thought maybe she wasn’t to be touched.”

My fingers flex with a sudden need to agree, because fuck me...

The thought of hands on her makes me see red.

That’s a fucking problem.

And unexpected.

And not part of the plan.

I didn’t bring her here for me.

Didn’t bring her here for anyone else to have either.

I shake my head, shoving him away.

He stumbles, waiting for me to face Brielle before he walks over to stand beside Andre.

Brielle rubs her lips together. “You don’t always have to put your hands on people.”

“You don’t always have to make me.”

She flicks her lashes toward the sky, shaking her head.

“Why are you here?”

“I work for you.”

“I didn’t call for you.”

Her eyes narrow. “Maybe I’m an overachiever.”

“Nah, you’re feeling bad for yourself ‘cause you got ditched yesterday.”

“That’s good. Keep thinking that.” She tips her head like a brat. “That means my poker face is getting better.”

“I saw your poker face at the warehouses. It sucks.”

“It was good enough to get Enoch Cameron to spill his little heart out to me and admit he had a cheating girlfriend.” She pops a brow. “Or should I say ex-girlfriend.”

My frown is instant, and I dart forward. “Wait, what?”

I look to my brothers, both standing casually near the hood of the SUV, focused on us.

“Oh, my bad,” she sasses. “You thought I ended up at the table, in the chair right beside the guy you and your family strategically invited that night, by accident?”

“How the fuck—”

“Did I know to pry?” she interrupts with a laugh, not bothering to get permission to share. “Your brother, you can ask which one. He told me to be friendly to a green bottle, but to keep my hands to myself. I know that means go hunting.”

“I know which one, and that was stupid. Dangerous.” My heart pounds heavy in my chest. “You should never hunt without protection.”

Protection.

I’ve never been touched at all.

Fuck.

“Oh, I had protection,” she teases, a knowing look in her eye. “See, there was this wolf who tracked me all that night, and from what I’ve gathered, his teeth are real sharp.”

My abs tighten beneath my shirt.

Yeah, I watched her. I constantly watch her.

I can’t fucking stop.

It’s irritating and why I had to leave yesterday after I fucked-up the day by bringing others into it. Because frustrated or not, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Brielle fights a smile. “Maybe I’m good at poker after all, huh, Playboy?”

My eyes slide between hers and that smile she tried to bury breaks free.

I lick my lips. “Maybe.”

“Only one way to find out,” she leads. “Use me, Royce Brayshaw.”

Heat spreads through my groin at a rate I could never fight off, but I don’t allow it to take over the task at hand.

I study her a long moment, glancing from her to Micah, to my family.

They leave it in my hands.

“Okay, little Bishop.” I reach up, pulling her hair free of the little tie and trailing the silver strands as they fall, teasing the skin of her neck and shoulders.

She straightens her spine, waiting.

“Go on in, pick your poison.”

She steps ahead, falling in line with Micah and Andre and I hold back, turning toward my family.

I glare at Victoria. “This what you meant when you said you’d save the explanation for later?”

She grins. “Yep.”

I look to Maddoc.

He shrugs. “She was there, made sense to use her.”

I scoff. “You come up with that just now based on her little speech?”

A grin pulls at his lips, but he says nothing.

We start walking in, and Raven falls in line beside me, props her forearm on my shoulder and says, “Speaking of using her...”