Page 112 of Dark Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 10)

“Right. And you even live in the den of sin now.”

“Please, don’t call it that. Just stick with den.”

Or Batcave.

Shit. I shake that thought from my head.

I tried banishing him from my thoughts after I watched him walk away from me on Friday night. But the insistent dick just keeps popping up.No pun intended.

“So are all the guys coming?” I ask, hoping that the question doesn’t sound too loaded. Although the second it’s out of my mouth, I feel Bri’s intrigued stare as I lean forward and hold onto Stella’s headrest to get a better look at where we’re going.

“Well, not Daemon, obviously. Seb invited him. Gave him the address in case he changes his mind. But he’s being antisocial as usual.”

“He’s been even weirder recently,” Emmie murmurs.

“He’s having a hard time with school,” I blurt, regretting it the second the comment leaves my lips.

“Oh?” Stella asks.

“Alex told me,” I say in a rush.

“I heard you two had a babysitting date Friday night,” Emmie says, glancing over her shoulder and wiggling her brows at me.

“It wasn’t a date. He just came to keep me company. It was nice.”

“Nice, sure,” Jodie joins in. “That boy is so hot for you, Calli.”

“I’m not interested in Alex. He’s my friend. That’s it,” I sulk, crossing my arms over my chest and falling back into my seat.

“Have you told him that?” Stella asks.

“Of course I have. Over and over. He’s like a dog with a bone.”

“Oh, there’s definitely a bo—“

“Don’t say it,” I growl, fighting a laugh as I interrupt Emmie.

“We’re here,” Stella sings as she turns off the main road and begins down a bumpy track.

“I swear to God, Doukas, if you’re about to pull up to tents, we’re going to be having serious words about our friendship. I don’t think— holy shit,” I gasp when she turns the corner and what I’m hoping is our accommodation appears through the trees.

“Oh wow, that’s… cute,” Jodie breathes, her nose damn near pressed against the window to get a better look.

“Looks like we beat the boys, too,” Emmie says.

“Did you see the length of the shopping list we sent them off with? They’ll be a while yet.”

“I can’t believe you put some of that stuff on there,” Jodie laughs.

“What did you ask them for?” I lean forward, intrigued.

“Oh you know, the usual. Tampons. Vag wash.”

“Jesus,” I mutter, climbing from the car. “They’re gonna love you lot for that.”

“We’ll make it up to them,” Emmie says as I move forward.

“So what do you think? Better than camping, right?” Stella says, closing in behind me as I take in the tipis in the trees before us.