Page 33

Kayla takes a few steps backward as the impact of Clay’s shot registers, red dripping down her shoulder. She smirks and lifts her gun as she fires toward us, then turns and runs.

“First to catch my paper-cut princess gets to fuck her,” Vero says and takes off after her.

“Catch me if you can, suckers,” Kayla yells out from somewhere in the darkness.

Clay, Ares, and I all look at each other, then we must all have a fuck-it moment at the same time. I’m surprised Clay joins us, though he has complained so many times that the women he fucks bolt when he gets a little rough. I get it, but though I love violence and it turns me on, I am capable of fucking without it. Clay is wired differently and has convinced himself that if he lets his guard down and catches feelings, it will make him weak.

He has it completely wrong. I am head over fucking heels in love with Vero, though god knows why, as he’s a lot to deal with. Every day when I open my eyes and see his face staring up at me, my heart skips a beat. Loving him doesn’t make me weak. If anything, it makes me stronger, but since I live for violence, it works out well for me.

I don’t follow the others; I already know where she is heading. She will go where she thinks Vero will go, as he is her safe space amongst us.

I make my way to the tanker, keeping an eye out for her and the others, though so far I see no one. The hatch to the tanker is already open, and as I pull myself up and inside, Kayla spins around.

Her back hits the curved wall, paintball gun raised and aimed directly at my chest.

I hold up both my hands slowly.

Kayla’s chest is heaving—she is clearly not a runner—and the red paint has dried in streaks down her shoulder and across her collarbone. She looks absolutely feral, and I understand now why Vero is so infatuated with her.

“Not who you were expecting?”

“No,” she admits, not lowering the gun.

“You can put that down,” I say, but she just raises a brow at me, mistrust written all over her face.

“Give me a good reason why I should.”

I take a cautious step toward her; the tanker is bigger than I expected. “Because I’m not here to shoot you, but I would like to fuck with Vero a little. Call it payback, if you will.”

“So you’re using me?”

I shrug. “Maybe. But maybe I am also curious. What is it about you that has Vero looking at you with hearts in his eyes?”

“You’re jealous,” she quips, and I laugh.

“Not exactly. I eliminate threats. Are you a threat to me, Double P?”

“No. If I thought I was causing issues, I would walk away. I want what you two have, but not at your expense.”

“Then I think we should give him a taste of his own medicine.”

She smiles and crosses the space, putting her paintball gun down. Then she presses her hands to my chest and pushes me backward until I am seated on a tiny bench seat that barely fits my ass, and she straddles my lap.

Before we get a chance to say or do anything more, a thump on the side of the tanker has us both looking toward the hatch. Vero’s head appears, his gaze moving from her to me and back again, then he grins. It’s unhinged, just the way I expected.

“Look at you two,” he says, before dropping himself inside headfirst and crashing to the floor. “My favorite person in the world and my new second favorite. And you’re already in position.”

He pushes up from the floor and moves toward us. With the three of us in here, the space feels a lot smaller than it did a minute ago. He stops behind Kayla and ducks his head down to the curve of her neck, his eyes finding mine over her shoulder. “Are we doing this?”

We become a tangle of bodies as I nod and reach for the hem of her tank. She lifts her arms up and I pull it over her head as Vero unclips her bra from behind. I pull her closer, and her hands slide up my chest, scrunching the material of my shirt as she gathers it up, then removes it completely. She runs her eyes over my chest as Vero moves his mouth down her spine. His hands come around to the front of her pants, popping them open, and between the two of us we get her out of her clothes.

Kayla sits back on my lap with zero self-consciousness, staring at me with blue eyes I swear are almost green, and I can understand why she has even Clay all up in his feelings. She is fucking stunning.

“You going to take those off?” she asks, nodding at my pants.

“When I’m ready,” I growl, and as she raises a brow at me, Vero laughs silently against her shoulder blade.

I take my time, moving my hands over her body. It’s been so long since I enjoyed the feel of a female beneath me. I trace the lines of her tattoos, and she shivers beneath my touch.