Chapter Eleven

Melanie’s happy announcement to the group that she’s now on a six-month trial run with them leaves Kavon flabbergasted.

Eduardo is indifferent, Jo is suspicious, and Collin is intrigued.

As for Jaxon—no one’s seen him since our little tête-à-tête.

It’s a boring Monday night, and no one appears to have plans to go out. Everyone’s gathered in the living room, loafing. Except Jaxon.

Jo and Melanie are playing chess on the floor, exchanging silent dares and intimidating eyebrow arches. It’s remarkable how well they’re getting along within mere hours of Melanie’s arrival, considering Jo’s detested me the whole time I’ve been here.

Eduardo and Kavon are slumped on separate armchairs, engaged in a heated debate on Apple versus Android. Collin and I are lounging on the big sofa watching parkour videos on YouTube. My back to his chest, I’m drawn up between his bent legs as he holds out his smartphone at a comfortable angle so we can both see the screen.

Being with Collin is my new favorite thing. He’s open and down to earth, and he doesn’t snub me like the almighty Jaxon, who’s constantly shooing me from his sight. I can relax with Collin, breathe with him. He accepts me and snuggles me and warms me.

Yet, the more I get used to being touched by a man, the more I crave Jaxon’s touch.

I dreamed of him last night. I dream of him while I’m awake. I dream of him in the shower. There, for the first time in forever, I ventured close to touching myself, imagining my hands were his. Urges like that are new and unfamiliar to me, all that raw sexual desire… But now I ceaselessly think about this man and what he does to me. What I want him to do to me.

He’s corrupted my thoughts and shuffled my hormones.

I’ll never be the same again.

“Ace,” I mutter as one of the lads in the parkour video leaps off one towering roof to another and lands with a handstand.

“Sick, right?” Collin agrees.

We are wholly engrossed in the video when Jaxon strolls into the room. Hair damp from a shower, barefoot, wearing faded jeans and a plain white T-shirt. He looks…normal. Not the usual stiff, wooden wall of impassivity and intimidation.

At his entrance, Kavon and Eduardo drop their debate. Jo and Melanie pause their game of chess. But Collin and I continue watching our video. We don’t need our eyes to listen. At least, that’s what I tell myself, so I don’t have to risk looking at Jaxon and have my knickers melt off me.

He comes to a stop at the foot of the sofa and stares down at us. Briefly, his head swivels to the others, and then back to us. From the corner of my eye, I can see his jaw working, back and forth.

“Col, can I have your undivided attention, please?”

Attention still on the screen, Collin holds up a finger in the universal sign for “give me a minute,” then exclaims, “Ohwoah!” when one of the guys attempts to kapour off a staircase and fails, slipping and hitting every step on the way down.

Ouch!

Reluctantly, he closes out of the app and squeezes the back of my neck in a gentle caress as he mutters, “Don’t even think about trying those moves, Nerd Girl,” before directing his full attention to Jaxon.

Jaxon looks expressionlessly above my head to Collin, never at me.

I feel Collin stiffen, and I bet he’s staring right back at Jaxon. He seems to be the only person in this house who’s not intimidated by their leader.

Jaxon blinks and looks around to the others. “Just FYI. As of tomorrow, Melanie Tahira is on a six-month trial for the team.”

“Yeah, we heard,” Kavon replies. “Thing is, I wasn’t aware there was an opening.”

Jaxon slides his cool gaze to Eduardo. “You wanna tell them, or should I?”

Eduardo shifts uncomfortably.

“Tell us what?” Jo demands.

Eduardo scrubs a hand down his face.

“Tell us what?” Kavon echoes.

Shifting to the edge of his seat, Eduardo braces his hands on his knees. “Amigos, I’m sorry, I should have told you a long time ago, but…I’m resigning.”

“What?” Jo and Kavon exclaim in unison.

“I know. It’s sudden. But you know Mama is ill, and I have not been there for her because of this job. I have to go back and spend some time with her and the familia before she goes. You understand, si?”

Jo’s dark eyes narrow. “You sure this is about your mother? Or is this about Della?”

Eduardo scratches his forehead.

“She’s pushing you to quit, isn’t she?” Jo presses. “Ever since you knocked up that frigid, rich bitch, she’s been causing problems. She’s the law and you’re the outlaw. But didn’t she know that before she dove headfirst onto your dick? Now she’s using her pregnancy to control you.”

“Jo…” Kavon cautions.

Eduardo pushes to his feet. “Look, I get that you don’t like Della, but she’s my woman and she isn’t going anywhere. True, she is ecstatic that I’m resigning, but I really am doing it for Mama…and for our little one.” He walks over to her and looks down. “It’s my decision, Jojo. And it’s final.”

She just glares up at him in open disapproval.

Kavon asks, “When are you leaving?”

“In two weeks.” He ruffles the top of Jo’s hair. “Sorry, mi hermana.” Then he leaves the room.

Kavon asks Jaxon, “Is the new girl an engineer? ’Cause if she’s gonna replace Ed, she better be.”

Melanie speaks up. “I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering. Tim has a master’s—with more practical, hands-on experiences than me. She’s been building robots since grade school. Twelve months ago, she designed and built a sports car engine for an esteemed car company in Germany whose name we can’t disclose due to contract clauses. Therefore, even though I’m perfectly capable of doing all your jobs better than you ever could, if I happen to stumble, Tim will be here to help me.” Her chin dips as she eyes Kavon under her brows. “Satisfied? Or should I go on?”

Kavon’s gaze shifts to me. “She the boss of you, or something?”

“Nope,” I reply with an easy smile. “She’s just bossy.” I shrug. “I’ve no problem with it. Actually, it makes my life easier. I don’t have to answer lame questions from people who aren’t on my level of genius.”

Collin chuckles and slides an arm around my middle.

Kavon shakes his head, then turns back to Melanie. “Sorry. I’m not sold.”

“Good thing I’ve got three months to prove myself, then.”

Jaxon steps in, his attention fixed on Collin’s arm around me. “New sleeping arrangements. Until Ed moves out in two weeks, Melanie rooms with Col, and Timber with me.”

Silence.

Painful silence.

Jo’s eyebrows blend in with her hairline.

Kavon’s mouth gapes open like a ripped back pocket.

Collin goes rigid behind me, his arm tightening around my middle.

And, me? Well, I’m just trying to process the decree, wondering if I heard wrong. Pretty sure I had.

But Kavon proves I didn’t hear wrong when he asks, “When you say with you, do you mean in a sleeping bag on the floor? Or in your bed?”

Jaxon is without expression or reaction. “Yes, Kav. In my bed.”

“But…” Kavon glances around the room, searching. For what? Understanding? “But you don’t allow people, anyone, not even Nadine, in your room. Let alone your bed.”

“A first for everything,” Jaxon says, deadpan.

His voice laced with a hard edge, Collin mutters, “You’re not serious, are you?”

With bored eyes, Jaxon cocks his head. “Why would you assume that?” he asks, his tone flat as stale soda.

“Because you know Timber and I are hooking up. Can’t imagine how you’d think it appropriate to take my girl from my bed and put her in yours.”

Shocked, Melanie catches my eye and mouths, “What. The. Hell?”

But I’m too stunned to react. Jaxon wants me in his bed? The man who allows no one in his room wants me in his bed?

Why?

Why?

Breaking the brick-thick tension in the room, Mel says, “So, um, while you blokes butt heads over whose bed Tim will be bonking in, I’d like to object to rooming with Collin. No. Just, no. He has platinum hair, his teeth are too white, his lips are too pink, his abdominal muscles are too hard, and all that really freaks me out. So, no. I choose to room with Jo instead. If she doesn’t mind.”

Jo’s eyes snap to Melanie. “What?”

As if Melanie hadn’t spoken, Jaxon responds to Collin with, “Your girl? Didn’t I hear you making plans with Simone today? And here I thought I was doing you a favor taking Timber off your hands before she gets too attached and you have to break her naive little heart.”

Collin grits his teeth. “Timber and I have an understanding.”

Jaxon snorts. “No, Timber’s a shiny new toy for you. And when you were supposed to be watching her, you weren’t. That’s how this one”—he gestures to Melanie—“was able to find us.”

“Bullshit! Bullshit, and you know it,” Collin fires back. “Bull. Shit. You can’t force her to room with you. It’s not happening.”

A humorless, ephemeral laugh from Jaxon. “Unfortunately, the decision is not up to you, Col.” His frosty blue eyes drop from Collin to me, a barely there, damn near imperceptible crook to his lips. And, locking his gaze with mine, he does it yet again.

He holds me hostage.

With just his eyes, he strips me and seduces my soul. He taunts me. He dares me. Dares me to turn down his bullcrap proposal. He dares me to stay out of his room, out of his bed.

He dares me.

And I’m weakened. Undermined. Overturned.

I already know.

I already know what I want.

I already know that I want him.

The decision is not up to Collin, nor up to him. It’s up to me.

And from the victorious gleam in Jaxon’s eyes, he already knows what my decision will be.