“That’s one way to flush out rats,” I say, turning back to our house.
“Preston doesn’t live there,” Baron points out. “We’ve got to think about this logically. Have a strategy. Driving by and tossing a flaming bottle of gasoline is too obvious.”
Trust Baron to be the levelheaded one.
“Then let me finish off Devlin’s house,” Duke says. “It’ll let them know we’re onto them, but it gives us time to find out where he lives, what he drives, all that shit.”
“You’ll be doing the neighborhood a favor,” I agree. The fuckers love rubbing shit in our faces. Not only does that burnt shell bring down the value of the neighborhood, as Dad likes to point out, but we have to look at it all fucking day.
Duke rubs his hands together in anticipation and gives an evil laugh, mimicking some cartoon villain he’s seen. He may be clowning, but I see the truth behind it. He’s about to cum his pants just picturing the blaze.
I leave them when Lo’s Mustang pulls up at the end of the drive. I jog down and meet her.
“Oh my god,” Everleigh says, rolling down the window. “What happened?”
“Probably some punks skipping school,” I say with a shrug, like it doesn’t matter.
“From our neighborhood?” Eleanor asks. “Do you think our house is okay?”
I could kiss the idiot for giving me such a good opening.
“I’ll run by and check,” I say, opening the passenger door.
Everleigh slides out, pretending to trip and fall into me. Lo rolls her eyes and grins. I help her sister into the back and then slide into the passenger seat. “You really think they hit more than one house?” she asks.
“Probably not,” I admit. “I just want to be there when you get home and make sure everything checks out.”
“Thanks,” she says. “But you know we have Dawson.”
I shrug it off. I can’t tell her the truth of it, that Dawson’s way too soft to deal with Preston Darling, if this was really his doing. None of them have any idea how close he got to Lo last year. I’m not going to give her one more thing to worry about, so I don’t fill her in. There’s nothing much to tell. I traded her safety for a chance to get Preston once last year, and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat. End of story.
Lo is… Rare.
Her grit and tenacity and strength remind me of another girl I know, another girl who showed me it’s possible to feel something besides hate for someone who doesn’t carry my blood. But that’s different. Lo is an honorary Dolce, loyal and brave and fucking fierce, the way I imagine Crys would be if she’d survived the Darlings and come out the other side.
Harper is the enemy.
If it weren’t for the fact that we had eyes on her all day, she’d be first on my list of suspects. She loves painting, after all, and she hates us.
Suddenly all I can think about is her breathy whisper in the dark this morning, and my cock throbs inside my pants.
“Put it in.”
Christ.
I wanted to. I wanted to see if my cock would even fit in that tight little cunt that squeezed my finger like a vice, like it couldn’t take anything bigger. I wondered if all her big talk about fucking that tattoo artist was just a front to make her seem tough because she didn’t want to admit she’s a fucking virgin. She was tight enough to be one. That’s not what stopped me. I wanted to fuck her anyway, to force my cock through that tiny opening, rip her wide open and make her scream. I wanted to make her cum so hard she blacked out, and then fuck her unconscious body until she drowned in my cum.
But not there.
Not where I can feel the ghost, the monster, watching over my shoulder. He’s too strong there. I don’t know what I might do to her if I let myself.
Gloria’s hand falls on my forearm, her wicked nails grazing my skin. “House looks fine,” she says, giving me a squeeze, bringing me back.
“I’ll go in and check with you,” I say. “Just to be sure.”
She rolls her eyes, and I know she thinks I’m being overbearing and all that shit. If she knew Preston, and she knew she was on his radar, she’d stop with the attitude. But I can deal with the attitude better than she could deal with the danger, so I shrug it off and go inside with them, noting that the alarm system was on all day and everything looks fine before I’m satisfied. The Walton twins are looking at me all swoony by the time I walk out, and I hear Everleigh whisper, “How does she get him to go all caveman protective like that?”
I shake my head and hold the door for Lo, who steps out under my arm. She’s changed into workout gear while I was checking the house, and now she hooks her hand into my elbow, swinging her hair around as we walk down the drive.