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He shrugs, reaching down to scratch inside his shorts with one hand.

“If she will let us, why not?”

I clench my teeth.

“Be serious, Cass. What are we going to do with her?”

“I am being serious,” he scoffs. “We stepped into a situation, offered a solution… And this is it. Why would we stop now without a better plan?”

“Yeah, okay. That’s a good point.”

He sniffs and looks around, clearly less bothered by this than I am.

“Is that really what’s on your mind? How quick you can get her back out the door?” he asks carefully.

I shrug and shake my head. “Basically, yes. That and the part where I don’t want to be accused of abducting the colonel’s daughter. That is the basic outline of my thought process right now.”

“I’m sure she will stick up for us,” he grins.

“Let’s hope so.”

“Are you sure you’re not freaked out by the threesome?”

I catch his eye, trying to suss out the breadth of this question. Freaked out? No. This was inevitable. Not exactly on my to-do list for yesterday, but definitely coming.

“No, she’s into it. That’s all that matters.”

“Yeah… She’s amazing,” Cass nods, his voice distant and flushed with wonder. “Pretty sure she’s a virgin.”

“Pretty sure? How would you know that?”

“Well, I had her pussy half a centimeter from my eyeballs, and it all looked factory issue to me. Practically still has the cellophane on it. But feel free to take an inspection, bro. I think she likes you.”

Shaking my head, I just turn around and dump the rest my coffee in the sink. Washing the mug, I can buy a few seconds to clear my head.

I don’t know what it is that’s blocking me up. It feels like a fog, but not exactly. A distraction. Some kind of noise in my head that wasn’t there before. Little flashes of her smile, her skin, memories of her scent. It’s coming, I can tell. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

“So I guess it’s settled? We will keep track of her

until she tells us she wants to do something different?”

I hear him tap out a rhythm on the counter behind me. Something nonchalant.

“Sounds good to me,” he answers breezily. “Our objective is to keep her away from that jackass with the teeth. Seems simple enough. Maybe we can just go with the flow? I know that’s kind of not your style.”

Bristling, I turn back around. He is grinning smugly, the kind of expression that used to get us into fistfights.

“Maybe you don’t know what my style is,” I counter.

“Yeah, dude, I know everything about you. I’m in your head. When you bust a nut, I can feel it from a mile away.”

“That’s just the shockwaves from the explosion.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Ha! Good one. What I’m saying is… This feels good. Let it feel good, don’t overthink it. Reality will set back in soon enough.”

Raising an arm, he dips his head to smell himself and pulls a face, then backs off and heads out of the room. Seconds later, I hear the shower snap on.

Chapter 13