Wilder (The Wild Ones 3)

“I washed it! And I showered! I’m not still wearing it from yesterday,” I assure him, the words bursting from my lips to rush to my defense.

His grin only grows.

“That just makes it worse,” my sister whispers against my ear. “You look lovesick now. You should have just looked like you’re too lazy or too busy to worry about hygiene, while looking and smelling fabulous.”

Someone kill me.

Kai leans over, sniffing me, and I stiffen. “You do smell good. So does my sweatshirt. Probably the first time it’s been washed in a while.”

“Worst thing to say, dude,” Hale groans, while I silently think of the many ways I want to kill Reese.

Kai shrugs, dragging me closer to his side. It’s then I realize we’re all being watched once again.

“For the record, the way they always stare is hella creepy,” Reese states a little too bluntly.

“Don’t mind them,” Hale says, blocking her view as he gently examines her cast. “Sorry again.”

“It was my fault. Besides, I busted your eardrum with my screams, so we’re even.”

Kai shudders next to me. “Damn glad we didn’t come after all.”

These guys are just so overly familiar so quickly that it’s off-putting and ensnaring at the same time. I don’t know how to deal with people like them.

“So we’re going to your friends’ house?” I ask when it gets quiet.

“Yep. Don’t judge us based on…any of them. Also, we have to be careful not to be caught,” Kai adds as he stands, pulling my hand in his as though it’s a natural thing.

I’m worried about the fluttering in my chest that accompanies such a simple action. The fluttering intensifies when he threads our fingers together, casually strolling with me at his side.

I can’t even remember the last time a guy held my hand. Middle school? Maybe high school. It’s a lost art among the guys I’ve tried to date since then.

Reese is right. I like him way more than I realized.

Surely it’s only because he saved my life.

Regardless, this isn’t smart for either one of us, considering this is a vacation on the other side of the country.

Hale’s phone rings loudly, and he answers. Almost immediately, he holds out his phone.

“It’s your ma,” he tells Kai.

My eyebrows lift, wondering how normal it is for her to know where he is and who he’s with.

Kai curses as he grabs the phone. “Ma, this isn’t going to help me at all, you know? You can’t just keep stalking and calling me.”

Reese looks over at me as though she expects an explanation. I don’t have one.

“Don’t do that. I’m hanging up…Ma, I mean it.”

He snaps the phone shut and tosses it back to Hale, who catches it midair.

“You realize I’m not staying in Tomahawk long?” I ask him as he walks me toward his Jeep.

“Nothing wrong with making friends and enjoying it while you’re here, is there? It’s not like I’m planning to put a ring on it. All that baby talk is just Ma. She’d be saying it about any girl who stood too close,” he states, immediately bursting my cocky bubble that I’m somehow a rare creature to his family.

I didn’t even realize there was a bubble like that, so I feel a bit like an idiot for now being self-aware.

“What about your dad?” I ask in quick deflection.

Only after the words leave my mouth do I regret it, because his smile slips ever so slightly.

“Me, my brothers, and my sister spread his ashes in the lake when I was twelve.”

This is why I should never ask personal questions to anyone. I never know what to say after I’ve unintentionally stepped in an insensitive shit pile.

“It was a long time ago. No worries. He was a self-centered drunk who didn’t hang around much, so he was only doing more harm than good before death. After death, he brought my family closer by showing us how short life can be,” he adds.

I climb in on the passenger side of his Jeep as he holds the door open for me, and I idly push my hands into the front pouch of his hoodie that I’m wearing.

“Sorry,” I tell him as he climbs in.

“It was a long time ago,” he tells me as he cranks the Jeep and starts driving us off.

He smells damn good today. Like really good. Not at all like weed.

“Can I ask why you do the whole pot thing to such an extreme?” I ask after the uncomfortable silence stretches on.

He shrugs a shoulder. “Makes a living.”

When I just continue to blink, confused by the simplistic answer, he grins like he finds me amusing.

“Do you really want the sales pitch?” he quips.

“I’m seriously just trying to figure you out a little, since we keep spending time together. It helps to get an idea of how a person thinks when you’re trying to get to know them.”