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seven

RHETT

“Stop pacing,” Kyle grumbled at me from where he was sprawled out on the opposite side of the bed from Erin. His voice was low, but we’d both realized by then that she slept like a rock no matter what was going on around her. The food coma after dinner would only make her sleep harder. “And tell me what she said to piss you off so much.”

I gritted my teeth. “She thinks I’m afraid of relationships.”

That wasn’t what had me pacing.

It hadn’t taken me long to realize she was right. And I wasn’t angry with her for that. If anything, I was grudgingly glad she’d pointed it out.

What had me pacing was the realization that she was Kellie’s exact opposite. Bluntly honest. Straight and to the point. Not dramatic in the slightest. There was no passive-aggression. Just aggression. Which was fucking perfect .

And on top of that? Her past.

Because the idea of a man hurting her?

It made me want to hunt the fucker down and kill him, slowly and painfully. He wouldn’t be the first person I’d tortured, but he’d be the first whose pain I relished.

I trusted Kyle for the most part, but he didn’t need to know her past.

He didn’t get to know her past.

She was mine.

Or she felt like mine, though I knew she was nowhere near that.

Kyle snorted. “You are afraid of relationships.”

“I know.”

“So accept it and move on. Fight for her.”

“You know damn well that if I show a shred of interest or possessiveness for the woman, I’ll be off the island in a heartbeat,” I growled.

He flashed me a white-toothed grin. “Unless you play the game my way.”

“How?”

“Win.”

I scoffed.

“Think about it, Rhetti. No one believes you’re interested in taking a mate. You just have to fight your possessiveness enough to keep them thinking that way.”

I was so pissed, the obnoxious nickname he’d been using for centuries didn’t even register.

“She wants to cause chaos,” I said flatly. “You think I can sit back and pretend not to be affected the next time she kisses some asshole in the jungle? It took everything I had not to kill Jim when I smelled him on her skin. If he’d been close enough, I would’ve done it.”

Kyle’s grin widened. “She can cause chaos without getting physical with anyone.”

“How do you figure that?”

“She starts rumors. Walks around with a hickey on her neck, with her scent mysteriously washed clean. Someone will inevitably mention that they saw her leave a few minutes after someone else, and then the gossip will begin.”

“You think I can let someone else mark her neck? We’re not even together, and the idea pisses me off.”

“ You mark her neck, moron.”

I kept pacing.

He watched me, waiting.

Though the bed was massive, Erin was already starfished across it, taking up eighty percent of the mattress. Her right hand was only a few inches away from Kyle’s arm.

I itched to move it further.

“I shouldn’t even be talking about this with you,” I finally growled, running a hand through my curls. They weren’t tangled, for the first time since I landed on the island. “You could tell everyone else that I want her.”

“ Do you want her?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

Kyle laughed. “Like hell you don’t. And I told you from the beginning that we were allied, whether you liked it or not.”

“That doesn’t mean a damn thing in this game.”

“Sure it does. And beyond the game, we’re friends, Rhetti. Even if you sometimes wish we weren’t. And friends don’t let friends die when there’s a woman they’re finally considering living for.”

“That’s not convincing.”

“The woman wants you ,” he said.

“I don’t know that.”

He lifted an eyebrow at me. “Her pheromones kicked in when she was pressed against you. I was right there. Her scent is there to pull you in. Not me. And for the record, I think I deserve a woman who actually likes me. You can have this one.”

I grimaced.

He wasn’t wrong on either front.

“You’re really going to help me get to the end?”

“Sure am.” He winked. “I’ve got a few more months in me. You don’t.”

“What do you want in exchange?”

“Nothing.”

His response wasn’t convincing.

Not at all.

I gave him a deadpanned stare, and he finally gave me a sheepish grin. “After the game’s over, I need your help finding a male who can both handle my sister and treat her well. She wants to settle down, but you know most of the males find her intimidating.”

She was.

Kyle’s sister was a handful.

I knew a few men who would get along with her, though. It would be a pain in the ass, but I’d find someone.

“It’s a reasonable request. You have a deal,” I agreed.

His grin widened further. “Good. Now get in this bed before your female starts snuggling with me. She keeps creeping closer, and I’d like to make it through the night with my head attached to my body.”

I was across the room and maneuvering my way beneath Erin’s limbs in a heartbeat.

And despite the fury still coursing through my veins at her admission about her childhood, I was breathing more deeply than I’d been able to in months.

Because I was going to fight for Erin, even if it forced me to face everything I was apparently afraid of.