Page 4 of Hunted

“I know, Mo-Mo,” I try to reassure him.

“Mo-Mo? Wait, did you name the lemur after Reece?” Bower asks with laughter in his voice.

Maurice pulls back and looks down at me, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. “You named a lemur after me?”

I shrug my shoulders. “It seemed fitting.”

He cups my face, his eyes dropping to my lips. “Darla, I missed you so fucking much.” He starts to dip his head towards mine and my breath catches in my throat.

We’ve kissed before, but it had been relatively innocent, a quick peck on my doorstep or when we were cuddled up watching a movie. I have a feeling kissing him now would be completely different.

But before his lips connect with mine, I’m pulled back hard against Weston’s chest, and he uses his other hand to push Maurice back a step.

“Whoa, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Weston asks angrily, circling his other arm around the front of my shoulders and pinning me against him.

Maurice—No, that name isn’t fitting anymore, and Mo-Mo definitely doesn’t work for such a hard-looking man. The others call him Reece. Nobody had ever called him that when we were young, but it suits him now.

Reecefrowns up at Weston. “I was about to kiss my girlfriend.”

My eyes widen in surprise. I mean, technically, we never broke up… but to make such a bold claim fifteen years later is both flattering and terrifying.

Weston lets out a huff of laughter. “I don’t think so, mate. She’s not your girlfriend.”

“Excuse me?” Reece asks, his expression turning angry.

“She’s mine.”

“Ours,” Kingsley corrects, making Reece’s wide eyes turn to him in surprise.

“What did you just say?”

“Zee is our girlfriend, all three of us.”

Reece’s jaw drops open, then snaps shut. His eyes bounce between all of us as he opens and closes his mouth again, then finally he takes a step back and runs his hand down his face in frustration.

“I don’t even understand how that would work. But it doesn’t matter. She was mine first.”

Should I feel upset that he seems to be treating me like a lost toy? Maybe I am a little, but by the happy fluttering of my heart, more than anything, I’m thrilled that he still wants me.

“Fuck off, Benson,” Weston says, using Reece’s last name in anger. “She’s not an object you can just claim.”

“I fucking know that, Callahan!” Oh… I guess the last names come out when these guys are angry.

“Then stop treating her like one. You don’t even know her.”

“Idon’t know her? You’ve known her for what, two months? I grew up with her. We’ve known each other since we started walking,” Reece says angrily, his arms flying through the air as he speaks. I don’t everremember seeing the old Reece get angry, and it’s slightly scary to see him so worked up now.

“So you knew her as a child. She’s not the same person anymore and neither are you.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll always want her,” he says, his voice calming on the last part as he looks down at me, a pained expression on his face.

“Look, why don’t we all calm down a little here?” Kingsley says, trying to disarm the situation. “Reece, the truth is you haven’t seen each other in fifteen years, and a lot has changed, for both of you. Neither of you are the same people you were at thirteen, nor do you know each other as adults. So why don’t you just take some time to get to know her? It’s not like we have anything better to do.”

“And then what? You’ll let me have her?” Reece asks, frowning at him.

“Um, excuse me, but do I get any say in this?” I ask, starting to get a little frustrated at how Reece was acting like he had complete say in who I dated.

“Stop being a dick, Reece,” Bower says, glaring at him. “Maybe you can try asking Zee whatshewants.”