Page 32 of Marked by the Pack (Crooked Point #2)

Wednesday

Zoey

“And that’s why we can never go back to Vegas,” Ace said.

I couldn’t stop laughing. “Otto, you didn’t.”

“They dared me to,” Otto said. “What was I supposed to do?”

It was easy to picture Otto running ass naked down the Las Vegas strip. I shook my head. The guys needed to stop daring Otto to do ridiculous things. That’s what had gotten them into this whole mess in the first place. I bit the inside of my lip. What mess exactly did I mean?

Because sitting here, eating with them? It all felt so normal. They didn’t seem like terrifying werecats. They just seemed like the unattainable guys in town that I had suddenly won over.

This wasn’t a mess. This was…pretty much perfect.

Except for Titan who hadn’t said a word the entire time we’d been eating. But I was finding it easy to ignore him when the rest of the guys were so entertaining.

I took the last bite of my burger.

Bennett leaned toward me. “You have something…right there.” He touched the side of his own lip to show me.

I mimicked him and wiped the corner of my mouth.

“Other side,” he said with a smile .

I wiped the other side.

“Here, let me get it.” He leaned closer and wiped beneath my lip with his thumb. “There. Perfect.”

It felt like all the air had left my lungs. I was still finding it hard to believe that Bennett liked me.

“Lame.” Otto coughed into his arm. “Pick-up.” Cough. “Line.” He coughed again.

Bennett threw his napkin at him and then grabbed my wrist. “Come here.” He didn’t give me a chance to follow his instructions. He just pulled me onto his lap.

His other hand settled on my waist as his lips fell to my ear. “I was so desperate to feel your lips around my cock earlier that I realized I haven’t even kissed you.”

The combination of his sinful words and hot breath in my ear had me leaning closer to him.

I lifted my arm and wrapped it behind his neck. Never in a million years did I think I’d be sitting here like this. With him. With all of them. “So are you saying that there wasn’t anything on my face, and you just really wanted to kiss me?” I whispered.

“I also wanted an excuse to touch you.” His fingers slid back, his hand falling to my ass.

I smiled. I was starting to understand him. He liked being the one next to me. A touch here and a touch there during dinner as we all laughed. And he definitely seemed to like when I touched him back. I slid my fingers into his hair as I turned my head toward his.

“Then how about we rectify the situation?” I whispered against his lips.

He ran the tip of his nose down the length of mine. But he still didn’t kiss me. We both just sat there. A fraction of an inch away from what we both wanted. I breathed in his exhales as my heart ricocheted against my ribcage.

He lifted his hand from my wrist and put it against the side of my face. “I should have known the answer was right in front of me. I’d almost given up.”

“On…what?” I whispered.

“On finding the right person.”

The way he said it made my heart ache. He’d thought Emma had been the right person. I thought he was still hung up on her. But he wasn’t looking at me like he was lusting over my best friend. He was staring at me like I was his missing piece.

And I knew he was worried because until a few days ago all I talked about were casual hookups. But I was going to prove him wrong. I wanted to be his person. I closed the distance between us and pressed my lips against his.

He groaned and dug his fingers into my skin.

My lips parted for him as he deepened the kiss.

I’d dreamed of kissing Bennett ever since I first saw him in town. And this was so much better than my dreams. He held me tight, completely possessing me. If he hadn’t already ravished me tonight, I would have straddled his waist right here.

“Ow, ow!” yelled one of the guys.

I’d been so lost in the kiss that I’d completely forgotten his friends were watching.

“Get a room,” Otto coughed.

I laughed and pulled away. And for some reason, I turned to Titan.

He grunted and pushed away from the table, his chair scratching against the concrete .

I cringed as he walked away. He opened the door to the roof and disappeared down the stairs.

“Don’t mind him,” Huxley said.

It was a little hard to just ignore Titan.

His dark glances and grumpy demeanor were starting to shake me.

Not to mention his threats downstairs. It seemed like Titan thought that I wasn’t being honest about my intentions with his friends.

And I wasn’t sure how to convince him that I was all-in here.

“Here,” Huxley said and put his hand out for me. “I know how to make you smile again.”

Bennett eased his grip on my hip. He kissed the back of my ear. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Go.” He lightly slapped my ass and I laughed.

I slid my hand into Huxley’s and he led me away from the other guys.

“I really appreciated you bringing dinner,” he said.

“Well, get used to it.” I smiled up at him. I realized that this was the first time I’d ever been alone with Huxley. We stopped at the edge of the roof and stared out at Main Street down below.

Huxley lightly traced his fingers along the choker he’d given me.

Okay…so I had been looking at Main Street. He’d been looking at me. I turned toward him and placed my hand over his against my throat.

His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he stared down at me.

“So this necklace has some kind of power? To protect me…from Callum?” That’s what Bennett had said. That the necklace would protect me from vampires but not werecats .

Huxley nodded. “The inscription. An ancient blessing to ward off evil. If Callum gets close enough to your neck, he’ll be repulsed by the smell of your blood.”

I laughed. “Repulsed by me, huh?” I dropped my hand.

“I know…hard to believe.” He smiled down at me. “But I hope it’s true.” His fingers traced the inscription on the choker. “And if not…at least the gold looks pretty around your neck.”

I laughed again. “I really like it. Thank you, Huxley.”

“I hope you like this too.” He grabbed a white package wrapped with a red satin bow. I hadn’t seen it perched on the ledge beside him. I’d been too distracted by the view and then him. He placed it in my hands. “Open it.”

“You bought me something else? Huxley, the necklace was already too much.”

“Eh…technically I didn’t buy that necklace.”

I stared at him. The necklace was beautiful. I loved it. But… “Am I going to get arrested if someone sees me wearing it?”

“I don’t think any curators are roaming around this town.”

“Why do you guys steal artifacts?”

“At first we were looking for a cure locked inside one of them. And now…Bennett and Titan believe that if we return stolen treasures from Egypt back to where they belong that maybe we’ll be…freed.”

“So you’ll need this necklace back?”

“No, that’s a minor relic. There are more important ones. Besides, I’m not even convinced anything will work at this point. ”

I stared at him. He didn’t believe in a cure either. Why had they all given up? I pressed my lips together. I didn’t want him to think I didn’t accept him just the way he was. Because I did. I cleared my throat. “So this necklace isn’t what you were looking for…but you still took it.”

“It doesn’t belong to them either, Zoey. But this does belong to you.” He tapped the top of the box.

I had a lot more questions about their thievery.

But that would probably come out after I stole from them .

Secrets of the trade should only be shared between fellow thieves.

So instead of questioning my boyfriend who just wanted to lift his curse, I untied the satin bow.

I lifted the lid and stared down at the most expensive lingerie set I’d ever owned.

I knew my way around lingerie for my job.

And this was quality. The thick bands crisscrossed every which way, mimicking something you’d see on a bondage site.

And yet, the fabric was velvety soft. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the circular chains linking everything together were made from pure gold.

“I told you I’d buy you more, princess.”

I was starting to really love that nickname. And him showering me with gifts. A girl could get used to this.

“And this’ll be much harder for me to rip,” he said.

I smiled up at him. “I love it.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded. “Thank you. It’s so beautiful, I’m almost scared to wear it.” I put the lid back on the box.

“There’s more where that came from. Only the best for my girl.”

My girl. I wanted to squeal .

He leaned down and kissed me. His expensive cologne wafted around me. God, I wasn’t sure what cologne he used, but I wanted a bottle to spray my pillow with so I could dream of him.

He pulled back far too soon when his friends starting whistling at us. But Huxley didn’t guide me back over to them. Instead, he put his arm around my shoulders and we stared down at Main Street below.

I was surprised at how different the twins were.

Huxley liked to lavish me with gifts. And Ace would rather get his hands dirty, setting up a camera system to make me feel safe.

Otto just liked spending time with me one on one.

Bennett seemed to like having his hands all over me in front of everyone.

And Titan? Gah, Titan. That man just liked hating me.

I looked back up at Huxley. It was strange. I could so easily picture myself with each of them. But I still couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to get all of them. This didn’t feel real. It was like a dream that I’d wake up from any moment.

“What are you thinking?” he asked as his gaze fell back down to me.

“That someone needs to pinch me so I know if I’m dreaming.”

Someone cleared their throat and Huxley and I both turned around.

“Emma’s on the phone for you,” Ace said and handed me my cell phone.

“Did you answer my phone?”

He smiled. “No secrets here, Zoey. Besides, it’s just Emma.”

Just Emma. No secrets. Now my mind was spinning. I knew Bennett’s history with Emma. But I didn’t know how far she’d gone with the rest of the guys. I needed to talk to her. I just needed to rip the Band-Aid off and find out. I put my phone to my ear.

And I immediately yelped when Huxley pinched my ass through my dress.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked.

“Fine.” I laughed and swatted Huxley’s hand away.

“You’re not dreaming,” he whispered. “Or if you are…I am too.”

God. I couldn’t stop smiling.

“What’s going on?” Emma asked.

“Sorry. Nothing. What’s up?” I tucked the box of lingerie under my arm. I couldn’t wait to try it on for Huxley.

“Callum doesn’t have the coin, but I do have some information. Are you home? I was just about to head over.”

I almost forgot the purpose of tonight. Getting intel for the bank job I was about to pull. I’d been too distracted by Bennett thrusting his cock into my mouth. “I’m out, but I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

“Great, see you then.” She hung up.

“Thanks for this,” I said to Huxley. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Then I turned to Ace. “And you. You’re the only one that hasn’t kissed me tonight.”

“I can fix that,” Ace said and closed the distance between us.

God, the man could kiss. But I wasn’t getting distracted this time. I gently slipped my free hand into his left pocket. This morning he’d pulled a key off his keychain to give to me. A keychain full of other keys. A keychain that I was 99 percent sure would have a key to the bank on it.

Emma hadn’t found the coin. Which meant it was time for my plan. But my plan would be dead unless I knew how to get into the bank in the first place. My fingers brushed against Ace’s keychain. Yes.

I slowly lifted the keychain out of his pocket and tucked it beneath the box under my arm. I gave him one last peck before stepping back. Mission complete.