by E. M. Moore
“Shut up,” Stone growls.
“She has a right to know.” Lucas chucks my beer bottle wherever he threw his. For the first time, I hear the slur in his voice. “And you know it.”
Stone’s eyes shutter closed for a moment. In the light of the moon, they appear way darker than they do in the sun. I guess that’s only fitting since we’re not having the happiest of conversations right now. Stone straightens his shoulders, his hard gaze on mine. “There’s someone else looking for the treasure,” he says simply.
I scoff. “There are always people looking for the treasure.”
“Yeah, well, we have reason to believe that these people might be a tad bit dangerous,” Wyatt says, speaking up.
I smirk. What? Do these guys think I’m new? “Do you know how many skeletons are populating the Superstitions right now? There are always people searching for the treasure and about half of them you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. The other half are split between worse than that, and families who want to take home pictures of their adventurous vacation.” I make finger quotes in the air. “First rule of treasure hunting with me, boys, is that you realize I’m not the girl everyone at Saint Clary’s thinks I am. I don’t roll over. I don’t play dead. And I’m sure as fuck not scared of a little competition.”
I walk to the edge of the truck and jump down. I smile into the moonlit landscape, my limbs afire. I’m closer to my dad. I’m closer to feeling more me than I have in a long time. Just talking about the treasure reminds me of who I really am.
“I told you I liked her spunky,” Wyatt says, his voice pitched low.
I smirk at his words. Not only did commanding those assholes feel awesome, but I also can’t ignore the excitement threading through me at the idea of heading up into the mountains to search for treasure again. The treasure runs in my blood. There’s no use fighting it.
11
I make my way back to the bonfire and go straight for the cooler again. Despite the feeling like I might have lost a little bit of my soul, I’m at peace with this decision. I didn’t just crumble at their feet, I gave them a win-win scenario. They had to strong arm me into it, but maybe it will all turn out for the best. A mutually beneficial arrangement where we all get what we want.
I have the cooler in my sights when a body blocks my view. Let’s see, ample cleavage even though she claims to be all innocent and a pair of pouty lips. Yep, it’s the devil incarnate. Meghan tosses her hair over her shoulder as she eyes me up and down. “What was that all about?”
I peek at her, laugh, and attempt to move around her. She’s so desperate it’s funny. At least I never threw myself at people. I knew where I stood. Maybe I should give her a heads up that sometimes it’s better to sit back and keep your mouth shut.
“What’s so funny?”
I bend over to grab a beer out of the cooler. The same guy who popped the cap for me before does it again, and I take a long swig before I turn toward her. “You,” I say simply.
Her glare turns murderous.
I don’t know what it is about today. Maybe it’s striking the deal with the three devils or the fact that we’re outside in my territory, but her very existence is pissing me off. “Why do you care, Meghan? I’m no one, right? You’ve treated me that way my whole life. If you want to know what that was about, ask them.”
A hand drops on my shoulder, and I nearly come out of my skin. I turn to find Stone standing beside me, a cocky grin on his face. “Ask us what?”
Meghan’s eyes round, and mine almost do the same. Why does he keep touching me now? Heat radiates from the spot where we connect. I may be a social outsider, but I do know I shouldn’t be having that kind of reaction when my stepbrother touches me.
I slip out from under his arm, and Meghan looks justified. She moves forward, slipping in next to Stone in the spot I just vacated. “I was just wondering what you were doing with her.”
“You know she’s my stepsister, right?” Stone says, confidence seeping through his very being as he gives me a look that says way more than stepbrother-stepsister. In an instant, the look vanishes though. “We had things to discuss.”
“She’s not your stepsister now though.” She tiptoes her fingers up his chest, and I want to throw up. “Her dad’s dead.”
“You bitch,” I snarl. Lucas comes around me, grabbing me by the hips to steer me away.
Meghan is all smiles until Stone grabs her wrist, tearing her fingers away from him. “That was rude.”
“Well, it’s true,” she says, still using her teasing voice like this is all a part of her mating ritual. Flirting and insults. It’s disgusting.
“Come on,” Lucas says in my ear until I stop fighting him. If Stone is attracted to that kind of trash, he can have at it. Meghan turns, glaring at Lucas’s hands on me, but all I can feel is the heat from his flesh on mine, his fingers gripping my hips where my shirt doesn’t cover. “You can deal with that,” Lucas says to Stone, giving him and Meghan a mocking salute.
I let Lucas steer me away to where the radio is. Couples dance, swaying to the music like the stars above have put them in a trance. He lets me go in the thick of things and twists me around. “What are you doing?” I ask, placing my hands on his, which are still curving around my hips. The only thing is, I don’t shove them away. My fingers just stay there, like I’m holding him to me. His brown eyes capture mine. The bored look I’ve seen since he started school at Saint Clary’s is gone. In its place is a tumultuous hold on the present. He always has this way of simultaneously looking like a stray cat, but also with a sly gaze that says he knows too much. I heat under his inspection. “Stop touching me,” I say, my voice coming out too breathy.
“You like it when I touch you, Dakota. You might as well admit it.” He yanks me closer, and we start an easy rhythm of sashaying to the Imagine Dragons song that just started. My neck pricks as people watch us. I try to break free, but his hold only tightens, his hips firmly against mine as he pins me against him. Not to the point of pain, but to the point of captivity, caught between two steel arms. It’s not just his arms either. It’s his stare. His brown eyes shimmer with the reflection of the bonfire flames.
“What are you doing?” I ask. I’m used to flying under the radar, but this definitely isn’t that. It’s my book heroines who get dragged onto a dance floor with the sexy guy who says something to them that they’re not used to hearing. Do I like it when Lucas touches me? In two words, fuck yes. But that’s my body talking, not my mind.
“What am I doing?” he asks playfully. “Holding you. I thought that part was obvious.”
Despite trying not to dance, I get carried away. His hips move against mine, and if I didn’t move with him, it would just look awkward as fuck. “Why? You came here because of Lance. That’s it. You’ve done nothing but treat me like shit.”
A small smile parts his lips. “That was when you were working against us. You just said that we can have you, and I mean to take you up on that.”
“I meant as partners. Partners in treasure hunting, Lucas.” I manage to make enough of a gap between us, so he can read my face clearly. “Nothing more.”
He lets go, his face pulling taut. “I guess you can head back over there and let Meghan pick you apart then. Would you rather that?”
“Meghan?” I scoff. “Please. She’s tried her best since Kindergarten, but I’m still standing. Her idea of winning is pointing out how she’s the best while tearing everyone else down. She’s a coward, and if I felt the inclination, I’d kick her ass. Instead, I find her sad and petty. I don’t give a fuck what she thinks, nor anyone in Clary for that matter.”
A slow grin tracks over his face. “There you are.”
I narrow my gaze.
He takes a curl that came loose from my topknot and holds it between two fingers. “I was surprised to see you here, like this.” His stare eats me alive. It’s simultaneously sexy and dangerous. “For years, I thought you were shy, a little meek. But you’re als
o funny, adventurous…” He drags his gaze down me again. “…sexy.”
I bite down on my lip, wishing his words away. “That’s where you’re wrong. In Clary, I’m an outcast. You’ve been here a few days, so I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. The rumors. The whole town thinks the Wilders are a bunch of freaks.”
“You know what I think?” Lucas asks. He cups my face. “I think—”
A booming voice interrupts us. “What the hell are you doing?” Wyatt asks.
I jump, immediately moving away from Lucas after getting caught in his stare again. Somewhere in our conversation, I’d completely forgotten the stay away from the archenemies rule. His hand was on my cheek, and the way he stared at me... It almost looked like he was going to kiss me.
“Fuck off, Longhorn,” Lucas spits, his voice thick with alcohol.
Wyatt grabs a hold of Lucas’s upper arm and drags him off to the side. They stand and argue. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but their shoulders are tense. I hug myself, close my eyes, and try to talk some sense into my brain. I can’t get caught up in them. This is a business transaction, nothing more. In fact, I’m using them to find my father.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I peek up to find Stone. He’s looking over my head at Wyatt and Lucas arguing, but then he moves his gaze to meet mine. I cock my head. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
Anger rolls through me. These guys just can’t strong arm me into working with them and then pretend like they give a shit about what’s going on. “What do you care?” I force out.
Stone’s jaw tightens. He grabs my arm and moves me behind a boulder, out of view from the rest of the party. “Come on, Dakota.” His smile turns devilish. “We’re partners now.”
I laugh because that’s just rich. “You blackmailed me. We’re partners under duress. Just admit it, Stone, you don’t give a shit about me or my family. This is all because you saw me as prey and you know you need me to find the treasure because you were never going to find it by your damn selves.”
“Technically, I am your family. I’m your stepbrother, remember?” His eyes flash greedily, raking me over. He grins as my body heats all over. “You still can’t keep your needy eyes off me, watching me with every move I make. Practically eye fucking me from moment one. And now, you decide to grow a spine because you’re jealous over some made-up Barbie doll.”
I suck in a breath. His words are so wrong. That’s not what’s happening at all. “If you weren’t watching me, how would you know I was watching you?”
“I’m not the one lying to myself. You bet I was watching you.” He drags his gaze down my body. Heat creeps up my neck until my face is flaming. His mouth parts as he takes me in. He trails his fingers just below the hem of my crop top. “Why in the hell would you hide this all these years?”
My muscles jump underneath his touch. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten laid, and the few times I had sex weren’t anything special. A quick lay in a tent with a boy on vacation. As a way of getting money, my dad used to take families up into the mountains on “treasure hunting tours”. The kid was my age, and I was curious. No one in Clary ever looked at me, but he did. We kept in touch for a little while, but it was obvious what we wanted from each other, a casual exploring of our bodies.
Stone Jacobs though? There’s nothing casual about him. I can already tell there would be no fumbling our realigning or soft apologies in the dark. It would be so much more than that.
But also so, so wrong.
I stick my chin in the air. “I’ve never hid from you.”
He grabs my hips. “Your dad kept you locked away like I was the big, bad wolf.”
I breathe out. “Aren’t you?”
We are enemies, anyway. When two people want the same thing that only one person can have, that makes them competition. When the competition goes deeper than sport, that makes them at odds. It becomes personal. Feelings get involved, and despite the fact that I’m going to be working with him, I don’t have to like it.
“Why do I have a feeling you’d like me that way?” Stone purrs. He grabs me under my thighs, hoists me up, and presses me against the rock, leaning between my legs.
I let out a cry as soon as he nestles against me, his cock erect under his pants and rubbing against my core.
Fuck, fuck. I close my eyes, trying not to focus on the needy pulse between my legs. This can’t happen. Not with any of the three of them but definitely not with Stone Jacobs. My ancestors would turn over in their graves, and that’s not to mention that we’re actually related. Technically.
Stone doesn’t seem to care right now though. His hips move ever so slightly. “I know that feels good, Dakota. Don’t hide it from me.” After a moment, he stops. “I have a stipulation to our agreement.”
I arch my hips, letting myself revel in the growing need pumping through me. It’s hard to even think straight while he’s pressed up against me. My mind is telling me to get the fuck out of there as quick as I can, but my body is singing a much different tune. Technicalities be damned. Stone fucking me against this boulder sounds like the best way to scratch this itch.
He hums a low growl in the back of his throat. “Open your eyes, Dakota.”
I shake my head. As soon as I see his penetrating gaze, I won’t trust myself.
He leans forward, his breath teasing my ear. “Look at me.”
His command curls my toes until I blink my eyes open.
He gives me a nod of encouragement, yanking me toward him again until my panties are on fire. “You said you were ours,” he starts, echoing Lucas’s words from earlier. “Then, you’re ours. No one touches this body while we’re partners. Understand?” He pulls away to stare those captivating eyes right into my soul.
I don’t even know what to say. Part of me wants to tell him to go fuck himself. How dare he? But the other part of me is 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 down from Wyatt’s.” He nods toward Lucas who’s already heading that way. Lowering his voice, he says, “Make sure he’s okay.”