Wilder (The Wild Ones 3)

Killian bristles, narrowing his eyes at Hale, as I smirk.

“You going to go chase after the sister right away?” Killian asks, cutting his gaze away from Hale.

“Fuck no. I’m showering first, since someone broke the only damn shower in our one room cabin on the first night,” I remind them, saying that last part real damn loud for the people in the back.

“Like I meant to do that!” Jared Malone shouts from way behind.

“Fourteen guys in one small cabin with no shower? It’ll take me an hour to wash this stench off,” I say through clenched teeth, getting angry just thinking about how long it’s going to take me to get gas, get back to my Jeep, drive home, shower, and then track her down. “If she got a whiff of me now, she’d never see me the same again.”

“True,” Hale concedes. “You’re already struggling even when you smell good.”

I’m going to kill that cocky son of a bitch.

“Getting laid has made you a bigger asshole than usual,” I point out.

“You’re just bitter because you couldn’t get laid even if you crawled up a chicken’s ass and waited,” he fires back.

Damn it. Now he’s even better at being a smartass.

Killian snorts, and I slant my eyes toward him. “As if you’ve got room to laugh about that shit,” I remind him.

His laughter dies immediately, and his eyes go flat as he just looks at me like I’m the biggest asshole in the world.

“That’s cold. And a little disturbing,” he grumbles, muttering that last part just loud enough for me to hear it.

I smile, glad that I at least got the upper hand on one of the fucking Vincents.

Cougar takes off, using her route to bypass the town…or to stay upwind of us. She bailed out and elected to walk long before we ran out of gas.

If Cougar can’t stand the smell of me, I can only imagine what Piper will think. I can’t even get the girl to kiss me.

“Pathetic,” Killian says again when Hale climbs a tree and curses the phone for still having no signal. “I’m going to laugh if this chick already went home.”

Hale cuts a glare toward his brother.

“Do you want to die?” he asks very seriously.

“If I did, I’d just climb your ego and then fall down to your IQ,” Killian quips with a fuck off smile.

I smile at that, because it’s nice to see Hale sweating a little. He’s talked a big game these past five days, since I think he lost his virginity, if I’m being honest.

If not, he hadn’t been but with maybe one other chick in his entire life. Then he lands a girl like Reese while I struggle my ass off? Yeah, his ego has been through the roof for five unbearable days.

“It’s days like this I wish the womb had closed up after Lilah and I passed through,” Hale decides with a firm nod, and then goes back to trying to find signal.

“I was born before you,” Killian argues.

I’ve never understood why they all argue that they were born first. It seems like a stupid argument to me.

“A thought just crossed my mind,” Hale says very soberly all of the sudden.

“I bet that was a long, treacherous journey for that lonely thought,” Killian grumbles.

“We’re all cranky. How can I go see her when I’m this cranky?” Hale asks, looking at me like I’m going to be the one to have the answer.

“I officially have two sisters,” Killian says as he starts jogging away from this entire conversation.

“She thinks I’m the sweetest damn guy she’s ever met. I can’t see her when I’m cranky, or I’ll shatter the illusion,” Hale goes on.

“I’m glad to see you’re not letting your education get in the way of your ignorance,” I state dryly.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve obsessed over her for five days. It means I doubt you’ll be cranky when you see her. You do, however, smell like shit. I’d at least shower first,” I suggest, throwing the dick a bone.

So long as he does good with Reese, it buys me more time with Piper. She seems less in a hurry to get home than that first night. Especially after three days of just hanging out with each other. I know a lot of that has to do with Reese’s reluctance to leave Hale behind.

I hate being friend-zoned, but it’s better than nothing.

Also, I’ve never actually made friends with chicks. It’s a pain in the ass, because I’m like a fish out of water with women.

After jogging in silence for a bit, he finally starts to say something, just as we reach the edge of the town. I don’t hear a word of it, because…something terrible happens.

My stomach slaps my ankles, because I spot the one person I want to see…after I shower. I haven’t showered yet. That means I don’t want to see her yet.