Page 30 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

“I know you’ve shared women before. But never had a serious girlfriend all together.

This is as new for you as it is for me. And once you take the cure, you won’t have to figure out the logistics.

You can all go your separate ways. You won’t need me anymore.

You can all be with whoever you want.” I cringed at my own words.

Could I sound any more desperate? I’d been so used to online romances.

The real deal was so much more complicated. And my heart kept messing with my head.

Bennett nodded.

What did that mean? That he was agreeing with me? Fuck.

“I can see why you’d be worried about that,” Bennett said. “Especially with how Titan’s been behaving.”

“Yeah.” My heart started pounding. “So...are my fears valid? Because I really don’t want to lose you, Bennett. I feel like this is just the start of something amazing.” I wanted it to be all of us one day under that gazebo. Maybe that was wishful thinking. But it was easy for me to picture.

He reached out and lightly touched the side of my face. His fingers trailed down to where he’d bruised my neck. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I like this arrangement exactly the way it is.”

“You do?” I couldn’t hide the excitement from my voice.

He nodded .

“But I know you only share because you’re worried one of you might shift.”

“That’s not the only reason.”

“It’s not?”

“Not for me. This relationship is what I want. I know that now. We’d done it once before actually. Not a relationship. It was a one night thing. Before we were cursed.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, during spring break one year.”

“The same spring break when you got cursed?”

Bennett shook his head. “No, this was actually the year before that.”

“And you liked it then? When you didn’t have to do it?”

“Yes.” He gently ran his thumb along my bruise. “It was one of the best nights of my life. Until we all had you right on that table, that is.” He gestured to the patio table behind me.

That had been one of the best nights of my life too.

I’d been ashamed of how good it felt with those guys back in college. The ones that leaked the video. I’d tried to bury that side of me because I’d been so hurt. “Why did you only do it that once before?”

He shrugged. “We never really talked about it after it happened. We were all pretty drunk. I figured none of them remembered. But after we got cursed, we were all having a hard time controlling ourselves. It just made sense to bring it up after all this time. And I wasn’t the only one that had enjoyed it.

There is something very sexy about one of my friends filling you as you scream my name. ”

I swallowed hard. “I couldn’t agree more. ”

“Then I think you have your answer. At least you have it from me.”

“You might think differently after you take the cure though.” It was easy to say things wouldn’t change. Who knew how he’d really feel? And like he said, I had my answer from him. I still needed a straight answer from Otto. And Titan.

Bennett sighed and his hand fell from my neck. “You have nothing to worry about. I don’t think we’ll be taking that cure any time soon.”

“What do you mean? Did you hear from your contact?”

“No.”

“Oh. Well maybe he went to bed early or something and missed the time to call you?”

“He didn’t miss the time. He’s missing.”

“I’m sorry, what? What do you mean he’s missing?”

“When he was a couple hours late calling, I tried him. And one of his friends answered the call. Apparently he’s been missing since last night. Sometime after he sent me that text. I was the last person who heard from him.”

“Oh my God.” I put my hand over my mouth.

“I don’t know how to tell the guys. We’re all friends with him.”

I slowly lowered my hand. “It hasn’t been that long since he went missing though. Surely he’ll turn up. Maybe he just went out for the night and slept over somewhere. Or he went on a last minute vacation or something and forgot to tell anyone.”

“But who leaves without their phone? Or wallet? Or any of their personal belongings? ”

No one. That made him being missing seem significantly worse. “Bennett, I’m so sorry.” I put my arms around him.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around me. “I just wish I was there to help search for him.”

“Are you thinking about going?”

“It’s not really a good time to leave town right now. With everything going on.”

I knew he meant Kebe. And maybe he was a little worried about Elias showing up too. I hugged Bennett a little tighter. “How did you know him?”

“We took anthropology together in college. He was one of the first friends I made on campus.”

I kept my arms around him.

“I really don’t know how to tell the guys.”

All my worries and fears suddenly felt so silly. Bennett was up here trying to break devastating news to his friends. And I was worried about what-ifs. The only thing that mattered was that I was here to support them. “You don’t have to do it alone.” I slid my hand into his.

“Thanks, Zoey. We should probably get this over with.”

I nodded and let him pull me toward the exit that led downstairs.

When everyone got home, Bennett had everyone sit down as he broke the news. The guys seemed shocked. They all must have been close to the guy.

Everyone was quiet for the rest of the night.

Ace still showed me my surprise, but I could tell his mind was elsewhere.

He’d made me the most beautiful four-poster bed.

And Huxley had designed the rest of the room.

It was somehow modern and classy like Huxley, yet homey and comfortable like Ace. It was perfectly me.

But it felt weird to be in here all alone. I curled into a ball in the bed and pulled the comforter up to my chin. There was a chill in the air that wouldn’t go away.

Bennett was right. No one just walked away from their life and work without taking a single thing with them. Which meant...what? That he was taken? Or...worse?

None of the guys voiced it, but by their moods I could tell what they were all thinking. They thought their friend was dead.

The last text he’d sent was to Bennett. Could that have somehow led to this?

I tried to shake away the thought, but I couldn’t. How could us having questions about that coin lead to someone’s death? It didn’t make any sense.

I shivered under the comforter.

I wasn’t going to be able to sleep in here all alone. I pushed the comforter off of me just as my door opened.

“Are you awake?” Otto whispered.

I smiled in the darkness. “I was just coming to find you.”

Otto chuckled and closed the door. He crawled into bed beside me, tucking me into his side. The warmth from his body was almost enough to chase away the cold from my skin.

“I’m really sorry about your friend,” I said.

Otto didn’t respond. He just held me a little tighter.

I pressed my head against his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. “Can you tell me about him?”

I smiled as Otto launched into several stories about his time with Ray back in college.

He even had some photos. I stared at Ray in the picture of all of them at the beach.

He had blue eyes and was tan from the summer sun.

“Who’s that?” I asked and pointed to the only other person in the photo I wasn’t dating.

“That’s Patrick. He’s the guy on the dig site that Bennett reached out to too.” He was tan with green eyes. They were both quite handsome. This was taken from years ago, but Ray was too young to die. Just thinking about it made my heart hurt. “I’m sure Patrick is helping look for Ray.”

“Yeah.”

“He’ll turn up,” I said. “I’m sure of it.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” he said.

“Have a little faith.”

“Faith? It’s hard to have faith when you’ve been cursed. And when it seems like anyone we’re close to gets hurt by this too.”

“Otto, this isn’t your fault.” I knew he blamed himself for being cursed. But there was no reason to blame himself for that or for this.

“Isn’t it?

“Otto.” I lifted my head. “This isn’t your fault,” I said more firmly.

“I’m so scared that you’re going to get hurt by us too.” He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

“The only way you could hurt me is by leaving me.”

“We both know that’s not true.”

Yeah. He could accidentally shift and attack me. “But you have control over this.”

“I’d never leave you, Zoey.” His lips brushed against mine. “I love you.”

I smiled. It was everything I’d needed to hear. “I love you too.” I shifted so that I was straddling him. I knew I couldn’t take away his pain. But I could certainly distract him for one night.