Fearless Like Us (Like Us 9)

“He had to walk away,” I tell Banks. “He would’ve decapitated you.”

“But she wanted him to stay to talk it out. And he should’ve just sucked it up, pulled up his fuckin’ undies and talked.”

I shoot him a look. “You think that was a ‘clusterfuck’”—I use his word that he muttered to me on our hike back to the parking lot—“it would’ve been a hundred times worse if he stuck around.”

Honestly, I didn’t really expect Sulli to tell her dad—of all people—about our relationship first. I doubt Banks expected that bomb-drop either, but we know these families. I’d be terrible at my job if I was shocked that Ryke ended up swinging.

He’s known for talking with his fists.

“Yeah, I think Kits is right,” Sulli says sadly. “It’s good that he left before anything else exploded.”

“Like Akara’s confidence,” Banks says.

I look to Sulli. “Please kick the back of his seat for me.”

She almost smiles and she barely nudges his seat with her foot. To me, she says, “I reserve aggressive seat-kicks for the real fucking assholes.”

Banks laughs hard.

Yeah, she’s referring to me.

I playfully fling her hair in her face. Light touches her eyes, and I help her peel off a strand of hair that stuck to her wet cheek.

She rubs her runny nose with her palm. “Cum…fuck…snot is…everywhere. I’m a fucking—”

“Bombshell,” Banks interjects.

She blushes.

Banks has that effect on Sulli, but she’s also eyeing one of my arms that stays wrapped around her waist. With my other hand, I search the backseat pockets for tissues.

Suddenly, a blue T-shirt catapults at Sulli.

She catches.

I stop my hunt. Noticing a bare-chested Banks driving the Jeep. He stripped for her. Classic Moretti move, giving the shirt off his back.

“Banks the Barbarian,” I quip.

“You’re letting this barbarian drive,” Banks says with a crooked smile.

“You know it.”

Sulli nearly smiles too, and she lifts the tee to her nose, smelling Banks’ scent. After a few inhales, she wipes the snotty mess on his tee, and her attention returns to me. “I’ve never seen you that angry, Kits.” Her green eyes look like the wild we just left. “Not like that, anyway.”

Hands back on the wheel, Banks chimes in, “You popped off.”

“I didn’t,” I refute.

“You did,” they say together, and out loud, Sulli wonders, “Was it because my dad was the one who went at you?”

“No, but,” I start to explain when I catch a glimpse of the traffic up ahead. “Take the next right, Banks.”

He takes a sharp right, the Jeep whipping fast. Shit. Just as Sulli starts to careen towards the door, I clutch her waist and pull her halfway on my lap.

Her breath hitches. And she grips onto my sculpted shoulder.

Is she okay?

I skim her with concern that we both recognize as something ancient and then I look into her with desire that feels raw and freshly discovered. My pulse upticks. This is still so new between me and her. A fledgling romance that we’ve let fly free around us.

I brush a few pieces of hair out of her face. Letting my fingers trace the carve of her squared jaw and along the softness of her pink lips.

“Thanks for the save,” she breathes, and I wait for her to slug me, but she drinks me in for a second before glancing to the driver’s seat.

Banks is catching glimpses of us through the rearview mirror. And she seems to be in her head about him.

We really need to go over the ground rules together. At least have some sort of consistent plan so she’s not paranoid about time and attention given to us and so jealousy isn’t a habitual monster.

What I know: I like watching them kiss. And Banks likes watching us kiss. More than anything, he probably hates chauffeuring us around, and the only reason he hasn’t called me back to the front seat is because A.) Sulli likes me back here and B.) I’m his boss. I order him around.

Keeping her partially on my lap, I try to take Sulli’s mind off our relationship. “So Ryke has laid into me before. If it were up to your dad, he’d be the one protecting you twenty-four-seven.” I think back to how I yelled at her father.

That was not how I wanted that to go.

At all.

I sigh. “I just lost my shit back there because of what he said.”

“That you’re her brother?” Banks lets out.

Sulli cringes.

I glare. “Don’t even, man.” I bow forward a little towards him. “And I might’ve popped off at her dad, but at least I don’t have a death wish. Remember when Ryke threatened to kill us if we touched her? Remember what you said?” I mimic Banks. “We already did, sir.”

Banks is unbothered. “I wasn’t going to lie. It’s not like I said I fucked his daughter.”

Sulli goes pale. “God, he really would’ve fucking killed you.”