Devious Love (Bay Falls High NEXT #3) - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,1
Especially tonight.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s like two,” he said.
“Why are you awake?”
“Two is early for me,” he said. “I’m like a vampire. Want to see my fangs?”
He opened his mouth and laughed.
I swallowed hard. “I’m not in the mood for laughing.”
“I’m just trying to help. You were making a lot of noise.”
“What kind of noise?” I asked.
“Groans. Moans. You were rolling around too. Then you whimpered.”
“You heard that?”
“All of it,” Talon said. “I was just coming in to check on you. Like I said I would. I kept my promise.”
“You’re earning your paycheck,” I said.
“Speaking of which…”
Talon rubbed his thumb to his middle and pointer fingers on right hand.
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I will pay you when I get back to the beach house.”
“Which is when?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I said. “Got it?”
Talon inched forward. “Don’t think this is me being nice. There’s a time limit to my work before the getting paid thing.”
I looked around the room. “I mean, you’ve treated me so nice. What room is this?”
Talon laughed. “Sorry it’s not a mansion. This is the Troc version of a guest bedroom.”
“Bunkbeds?” I asked. “And ones these tall with the ceiling so low?”
“Better than sleeping on the street,” he said. “How’s your head?”
“Fine,” I said. “Just a bump.”
“You are a Bump,” he said.
“Oh. Good one.”
“What were you dreaming about?”
“None of your business,” I said.
“Two predictions.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“One, you were dreaming of Noah, Easton, and Xavier. You can’t even hide from them in your dreams. That’s not good, darling.”
“What’s the other prediction?” I asked.
“Thought you didn’t care?”
“You already started talking…”
“Right,” Talon said. “Second prediction. You were thinking about me.”
“Now that’s a nightmare,” I said.
Talon laughed. “Come hang for a minute. Get some air. Let’s go.”
He swung his legs over the bed and jumped off like it was nothing.
That made my heart jump.
I carefully climbed down the loose ladder.
The bed was creaky. Not safe.
But it was the only bed I had at the moment.
The name of the game was to hide out and think.
Talon grabbed my hand and walked me out of the bedroom.
Trocs lived in long, skinny houses.
They had quite a few bedrooms in each house, but each room was really small. Like it was made to cram in as many people as possible. Which is what the Trocs did. It was family, friends, or whoever else needed a bed.
That’s how Talon’s house was. I wasn’t sure if it was actually his house or not.
I didn’t ask.
I was starting to learn that in life sometimes the less I knew, the better off I was.
We walked the mile-long hallway in the dark.
The house had a smell to it.
Kind of like old clothes, old food, and dust.
There were no cleaning people or personal chefs or anything that was the norm for the Bumps.
I heard laughter.
I pulled at Talon’s hand.
“Who’s here again?” I asked.
He ignored me.
He was such an ass like that.
I hated that he had a sense of power over me.
For the moment, he did.
And to top it off, I owed him money for helping me.
Everywhere I turned I felt like I owed someone something.
Yet all I wanted was my revenge for what had happened.
We entered the living room and I spotted Kace and Crew.
They were sitting on opposite couches, passing a joint back and forth.
The smell of the smoke hit my nose and I cringed.
Emily and Raine were in a chair together, with a bottle of something.
Giggling, pointing and laughing at Kace and Crew.
It was more than obvious the four were plotting their night together. Someone would eventually choose someone and then just run with it.
There were a handful of others there.
I didn’t care who they were.
I didn’t want to know their names.
“Ah, man, look… that’s a Bump,” some guy said.
“Ah, man, look,” I said. “It’s my middle finger.” I lifted my middle finger. “You like that?”
“I bet you’d like it if I used my middle finger on you,” the guy said.
Talon snapped his fingers. “Brock, shut it.”
“What the fuck?” Brock asked.
“I said to shut up,” Talon ordered.
“Ah, fuck, he’s hitting a Bump,” someone else said. “Talon is hitting a Bump. Take that shit off the checklist.”
“What checklist?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Talon said.
“Winter, we have a checklist,” Kace said. “It’s fun shit to do.”
“Kace, not now,” Talon said.
“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Kace said. He held the joint out. “Want some, Winter?”
“No thanks,” I said. “I’m good right here.”
“Come hang with us,” Emily said. “Have a little sippy, sippy.”