Page 8 of Deadly Obsession

FIVE

JAMES

As the ladies attacked Sera, it was hard not to laugh.

Even harder not to cover my ears at the high-pitched tones of each of them squealing and trying to talk over one another.

Reminding me of the effect you get when you pour the slop in the pigs trough at feeding time.

The thought created a funny image in my head—not one I’d ever voice out loud, though.

I moved around the gathering of women, towards Brian with an outstretched hand. Brian stood a bit shorter than I was, just under six feet with crimson hair and an average build. Judging by the look on his face, I could tell the ride up here from the airport with the ladies was likely torture.

“Welcome to America,” I said, giving him a firm shake. I glanced over at the girls. They all seemed giddy until I noticed Sera managing to pry herself loose to catch her breath.

“James, good to be here. Though I’m regretting the travel arrangements we’d made.

Wouldn’t you know my noise-canceling headphones would die on the plane before we even landed.

The entire drive up, I just listened to the ladies go on about one book man or another.

Not that I mind typically, of course, but I couldn’t get a word in edgewise, even if I’d wanted to.

” He let out a sigh and a soft chuckle, looking like a man who had just been rescued from a bad storm.

“Sounds like you’re in need of a beer, my friend.” I laughed, clapping him on the shoulder and gesturing to the fridge, where I grabbed us each a Budweiser and popped them open. “To good times,” I said, passing him his and tapping our bottles together before taking a long swig.

It was five o’clock somewhere after all.

The sound of the bottles clinking was all it took to break up the chatter.

“James! Hello, handsome, are you going to serve us ladies too?” Lola cried out, peeling off from the group and over to me.

Smiling up at me, she reached around my waist, her body flush with mine as her nails dug into my back.

I set my beer down on the counter and gently placed my hands on her forearms, freeing myself from her grip and quickly opening the fridge.

Brian’s face visibly cringed, but with his back to the group, I was the only one who seemed to notice.

Prior to Sera arriving, I’d stocked not only this fridge but the icebox out on the porch with enough food and drinks to last the entire group for the duration of the stay.

The cabin was fully stocked with a mix of beers, liquors, and hard seltzers.

I grabbed four White Claws and passed them to Lola, who smiled and snatched them from my hand.

After she distributed them to the other girls, each one took their turn coming over to hug and greet me as if suddenly aware of my presence.

After a brief post-trip conversation, Sera went with the girls to show them their rooms, and I escorted Brian to his.

“So, mate, what time did you get in? Surprised you beat us here. Get on with Sera all right so far?” he said, tossing his bags on the bed he’d claimed for himself.

The room featured a full-size bunk bed and a couch off to the side that could be pulled out into a small sleeper. The original idea had been for the three guys to share the largest room, apart from the main bedroom upstairs.

“I got here early last night actually. Stocked the house and made sure everything was good to go,” I said, lifting my beer to my lips as I sat on the small couch and leaned into the cushions with my other arm draped across the back.

Brian paused in the middle of unpacking and raised a curious brow at me.

“Oh, I see. Well then, you must have been here to greet Sera? Sure she appreciated that. Being in a foreign country, all alone up in the woods.” He resumed his unpacking, claiming some of the drawers for himself and stowing away his things.

“Yeah, I reckon she appreciated it well enough,” I said, not eager to give him all the details of last night’s activities.

He stood in front of the dresser, pulling out another drawer, when something seemed to click in his mind and he began to scan the room. With a fair idea as to what he was looking for, I continued to sit and sip on my beer.

“Mate, where’re your things?” he said, his eyes finally landing on me again.

“Oh, they’re upstairs, in the main bedroom,” I said with an uninterested shrug.

“Well, now, would seem she appreciated you coming here early rather much, hm?” Brian said with a laugh.

I was just about to respond when we heard banging on the stairs before a tall, slender, long-haired man appeared in the doorway.

“Well, the fuck do we have down here? What’s up, bro-bitches!” Robert stepped into the room, arms outstretched. He instantly grabbed Brian and slapped him on the back.

I stood and moved in his direction, offering my free hand only to be pulled into a one-armed hug, managing not to spill my beer—thanks to my quick reflexes. “Rob, good to meet you face-to-face. I take it Lyndsey is up with the ladies?”

He nodded and looked from the top bunk to the couch, as if deciding which he wanted.

“Yeah, man, she took her shit to her room and went searching for the other girls. She tells me you got up here early to surprise Sera, huh? You dirty dog you. How’d it go?

You smash or what, bro? Don’t skip on the deets!

” He punctuated his words with a light jab to my shoulder, and I allowed it.

“Makes sense you’d have Danielle help with your planning. Take it she didn’t originally know she wouldn’t be staying with Sera, though?” Brian said from behind Robert with a smirk.

“What? Broooooo, Danielle is going to be pissed at you,” Robert added.

I just smirked and shook my head. “Well, Danielle will get over it. I’m sure she won’t mind too much.

As for last night’s events, I’m not one to kiss and tell, but I will say Sera and I are getting along just fine.

” I paused, my eyes looking from one guy to another.

“So, hands off, clear?” My tone dropped deeper than intended but with the proper amount of threat in it.

And from their expressions, I knew they understood clear as day.

Brian nodded. I wasn’t so much worried about him, though.

He’d had a thing for Lola since the conception of the group.

He was quiet and sophisticated. And unlike myself and Robert, he was strictly a Booktok guy.

All of his content was focused on providing really in-depth reviews and ratings of every book he read.

Not just romance or dark romance either, which was something else impressive about the guy.

He read anything from character development, to science fiction like Star Wars , to dark romance books where the main male characters were ogres or demonic clowns.

His page was actually pretty big for being more tame, around 30k followers in just a few months. To add to his list of accomplishments, he was typically ARC reading for at least three authors at a time and paid to do it in many cases. He was by far my favorite of the guys .

Robert, on the other hand, hit on anyone and everyone, as if his only requirement for a woman was that she had a pulse, and even that was questionable.

Apart from that, though, everyone enjoyed him.

He was the class clown. Whether it was his comical masked, Deadpool, surfer guy, stoner content or his unpredictable comments and memes in the chat, he was easily the life of the party as far as the men went.

He’d hit on all the women on this trip but never in a way that had crossed the line.

Either way, if I had to put money on it, I’d say Lyndsey was his focus.

When we’d all picked Shingletown as our getaway destination, he’d immediately told Lyndsey he could pick her up since he lived in San Diego and she was in Los Angeles.

They didn’t seem like they’d be a totally bad match either; though one was certainly more Beverly Hills and the other more beach bum.

Normal conversation resumed, as the guys unpacked their belongings and I got comfortable on the couch and pulled out my phone.

Placing one earbud in, I opened the app to the hidden cameras I’d installed all over the cabin before Sera had arrived and began flipping through each of their feeds one at a time.

I didn’t place a camera in either of the other girls’ bedrooms. I was no pervert and had no intention of spying on any of the other women here.

Just when I was about to close the app and return my attention to the guys, however, I heard my name on the feed and paused, curiosity getting the better of me.