Page 86 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part One

“What about Jason?”

Ari clears his throat and casts a glance at me. “With Keon.”

“Oh. Okay.” I don’t get why he looked at me like that until it finally hit me. “Oh! Are they…?”

“No. They’re just hanging out.” I feel like there’s more that he wants to say, so I just stare at the side of his head. He finally sighs and relaxes in his seat. “Fine. I thought maybe we could get to know each other better.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?” I laugh.

“I wasn’t sure if you even wanted to.” I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. Did he not see what he did to me by justflirting? Ari is the one I’ve spent the least amount of time with, but that’s because he’s usually guarding Jason at High Flyer.

“Of course I do,” I say softly.

Ari gives me that drool-worthy grin, and his shoulders finally fully relax. I take advantage of it by staring at his profile while he drives. Ari truly is gorgeous. His face is almost too perfect,except for a few small scars and the little bump on his nose that tells me it’s been broken before. He’s broad in the chest, lean in the waist, with long legs. But what captured me the most was his eyes. They are light blue with a dark blue ring around the iris. Keon says he’s used his looks more than once to disarm someone in the field, and I could totally understand why.

My phone chimes with a message, and I smile when I flip it over to see the screen.

Keon: Have fun with Ari, Mama.

Kira: Have fun with Jason. *insert winking emoji*

Keon: It’s not like that, lol.

Ari takes a left off the road and heads down another street. He keeps sneaking glances at me, so I smile.

Kira: I think Ari is kidnapping me.

Keon: As long as he brings you back. I won’t hesitate to kill a motherfucker.

Kira: My big, strong hero.

Keon: I know I’m big, Mama.

Kira: Now I’m blushing and thinking about how big you are.

I can practically see Keon grinning in my head because I know that’s exactly what he wanted. I slide my phone into the front pocket of my backpack when Ari starts going to a narrow driveway with trees lining the side. “Where are we going?”

“I wanted to show you something.”

I stare out of the windshield, curious. A gorgeous brick house comes into view when he breaks through the trees. It’s bigger than the one they live in now, with a huge wraparound porch and a little lake running behind it. “What is this place?”

Ari parks in front of the porch and puts the truck in park. “My house. Well, the team’s.” He slides out of the truck before I can comment and opens my door when he gets to my side. Hereaches in for my hand and helps me down when I slide mine into his.

“They don’t know about it?”

“Not yet.” Ari keeps hold of my hand and leads me up the steps. He unlocks the door, and I gasp when he pushes the door open. The large foyer is wide and open. When I walk further into the house, I realize it’s all like that. “I wanted to finish it first.”

“This place is gorgeous, Ari.” I walk through the rest of the downstairs, taking in the big kitchen with its shiny marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. There are several rooms downstairs and two bathrooms.

“This isn’t even the best part.” He grabs my hand again and leads me to the back of the house. He opens the french doors, and we step out onto a back patio. There’s a large pool in the middle and a hot tub to the side. Little showers are set off to the side so you can wash off from the lake or pool. Seeing the lake from back here, I realize it’s not small at all.

“This is…amazing.”

He leads me over to a sitting area, and we relax back on a large lounger side by side. “I was hoping to have it done already, but we weren’t home enough to put the work into it.”

“They’re going to love it.”

He grunts and looks at me. “They better.”