Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
I held up my water bottle while the Tops raised their beers, and Shay followed with his own water.
“An official welcome to Mclean House, Lane.” Reese tipped his bottle at my boy, who blushed uncharacteristically. “May you suffer with us for years to come.”
“Hear, hear,” Walker and I said.
Our gazes met. Jinx.
“I’m stoked to have another masochistic primal player with us,” Shay said happily.
Oh, he was happy for another reason too. River and Reese had given Shay permission to play with Lane and me—and not just for the trip. They wanted to see him run around and have fun with “all the other little maso whores.”
If I read River and Reese correctly, they had plans for Shay and Lane. They were similar in their playtime. And the twins were big-time voyeurs. I sincerely doubted they’d ever join any group play themselves, not for as long as there were video cameras around and their eyesight worked.
“We should hash out the Picture-Perfect Game too,” River mentioned.
“Oh, right.” Reese inclined his head. “We’re breaking up Mack and Lane, obviously. Lane, you’re with Ty for the event. Macklin, you’re with your hubby.”
Yikes. Well. It wasn’t too surprising. It made sense.
“On that note, you can take a walk with me for a bit,” Ty said to L—no, wait. He didn’t say that to Lane at all. He was looking at me.
“And I’d like to exchange a few words with you, Lane,” Walker said.
Lane and I glanced at each other.
Talk about ominous.
I hurriedly crammed the last of my hot dog into my mouth and got to my feet. Time to roll with the punches. We weren’t gonna be able to fish out any information until they wanted us to know something anyway.
“What about me?” Shay asked.
Ty and I walked away to the sound of Reese telling Shay to mind his business. Which…was pretty much what he was doing, poor guy. He’d get his takedown tonight. I was certain of it. Throughout the day, the Tops had swum out to the boats more than once. Coincidence? I think not. They were in full preparation mode.
“I’m guessing this is about Lane’s scene,” I said.
Ty inclined his head, and we walked a little farther down the beach before he spoke. “I’ve been studyin’ him all day. Would you say it’s a fair assessment that he’s not as observant as you are?”
I side-eyed him.
He smirked. “You’ve seen us throw equipment into the jungle all afternoon.”
Uh, I actually hadn’t. But now I knew what he was referring to. “I’ve seen you go on random errands with shitty excuses to the boats.”
Reese did not need to check his phone that often. I doubted he had reception anyway. And I didn’t know why Walker hadn’t brought extra clothes from the start. What was in the first duffel he’d brought ashore if not clothes?
“I wouldn’t call Lane unobservant,” I said. “Far from it. He’ll pick up on things no one else sees sometimes. But his focus is on processing new impressions if he’s in a place he doesn’t know—with people who are new to him. On a schedule he didn’t structure for himself.”
Ty nodded with a dip of his chin. “Makes sense.”
“And I wouldn’t call myself overly observant all the time either,” I went on. “But I’ve been around a minute. I know how River and Reese operate before events. Walker, too, for that matter. And just like Reese and Lucas have some sort of brother relationship—only theirs is weirder—River and Walker pitch their sadistic ideas to each other as if they were born to do it. So when those two take a romantic walk down the beach, trouble is brewing.”
Ty chuckled. “I see.”
“My problem,” I said, planting a hand on my chest, “is obviously that I give away all the secrets. I shouldn’t be blabbing to you, the toppy enemy.”
He laughed a little. “So I shouldn’t ask what’s weird about Lucas and Reese?”
Oh. I waved that off. “Weird is probably the wrong word. It’s just fun to watch. Reese will toss ideas at Lucas, who will mull things over and be all reasonable and stuff. You’ll notice that Reese’s superpower is to think quickly. In his field, he had to throw together exit strategies and plans in a matter of seconds. But sometimes he spins out of control, and Lucas slows down the brain spin—just like River does.”
Ty hummed and slowed down to a stop. “You do talk a lot.”
“Yeah, I know. Shit.” I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck.
“That wasn’t a complaint.” His smirk was back, and he folded his arms over his chest. “Information is always good.”
Right. But it would be nice if I could make the Tops work for it sometimes. Instead, I had to be so quick to give everyone the ins and outs so they would fit into our community faster. And given how hooked Lane was on Ty, at least kink-wise, I wanted Ty to feel right at home with us.