Deviant (Boys of Winter 3)

Grayson’s brows arch as Cruz scoffs from beside me. “Don’t even fucking think about it. If anyone is tasting you today, it’s me.”

“Don’t get feisty,” I laugh, looking up at him with a wide grin and melting as he meets my gaze with a heated one of his own. “You can all have a turn, but Monster Cock first. Watching him Superman out that broken window got me all shades of hot.”

Carver grumbles from the front seat. “No one is fucking when we get home. Winter is going to her damn bed and staying there until we can be certain that she can walk around without her stitches tearing open.”

I roll my eyes. “Ugh, fun police,” I mutter, reaching forward and nudging his elbow that rests on the center console. “You should try fucking one of these days. It’ll do wonders for that attitude that’s always shoved right up your ass.”

Carver ignores me as King and Cruz silently shake with laughter on either side of me, probably enjoying me being high on pain meds more than they should. “Maybe you’ve forgotten, but there’s a crazy, psychotic killer after you who will stop at nothing to end you, and as of five hours ago, was exposed. With Harding out of the game, she’s got no one now. No inside information, no one getting her the codes, and no one telling her where the fuck you’re going to be. I give her twenty-four hours until she figures out that Harding is out, and after that, she’s going to be desperate. She’s un-fucking-hinged and will be coming at you full force with bullshit attacks that haven’t been thought out. It’s going to be messy and brutal, the kind of shit that you don’t want to get caught up in. Is that clear?”

I clench my jaw, hating his tone. I know all of this. It’s the only thing that has circled my mind for the past five hours, but sometimes to get through something, you need to laugh, and right now, I need these boys to keep my mind occupied with anything but Paris Moustaff and her insane obsession with ending my life. I need the boys to distract me with the promise of a good time because my only other option is to focus on the pain shooting through my abdomen. And if I do that, I’m going to break, and something tells me that isn’t going to be a pretty sight.

“Geez,” I mutter under my breath, grabbing hold of Cruz’s thigh and using it to push myself back up into a sitting position to each of the boys’ dismay. “You really are the fun police.”

Carver meets my stare in the rearview mirror, watching me for a long moment, surprised by my audacity to not take him seriously right now, but he doesn’t need to know that I actually do. I take him more seriously than I ever have before. “This isn’t a joke, Winter. You can’t be going around playing these stupid little games anymore. Call me the fun police all you like, but from now on, until we take this bitch out, you’re playing by my rules. We have to set up a meeting with the heads of Dynasty to figure out how to proceed with Harding, and then after that, you’re staying in bed until you’re healed. There won’t be any more sneaking out in the middle of the night to beat the shit out of someone, and you’re going to have one of us watching your ass everywhere you go, even if it’s to take a piss. I am not taking any chances. With us all knowing her real identity now, we all have targets on our backs. Her game just got four times bigger. The stakes have risen, and now it’s not just about protecting you, it’s about protecting us all.”

“You don’t think I know that?” I demand. “You don’t think the thought of something happening to one of you guys has been circling my mind since the second Harding first mentioned it? I know the stakes have risen. I know this affects us all now, but I’m not going to go running scared. I’m not going to hole up in my room, terrified that she’s about to come barging out of my closet with a chainsaw and a death wish. I get it, I’m injured and I’m not helping anyone while I’m like this, but the second I can, I’m going to be out there with you guys, doing everything I can to end this, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me. Dynasty is mine, and I’m not about to let some identity stealing bitch take it away from me.”

Carver’s stare doesn’t waver despite being the one in control of a vehicle currently speeding down the highway. He watches me for a second, his stare hard and as lethal as they come. The moment seems to go on forever, and when he finally rips his gaze away, the breath is knocked right out of me.