Page 126 of Too Far

Arousal swirls low in my gut as he stares me down. The switch has officially been flipped.

Game. On.

Crooking two fingers, he juts his chin and beckons. “On the table, Jo. Crawl to me.”

Liquid heat pools in my belly, and instantly, I’m a moth to the flame. Under his spell, I rise from Locke’s lap and place both hands on the table.

“Oh, hell yeah.” Kendrick pushes back and rises from his seat. “I’ll find cards and grab drinks. What are you having, Mama?”

Before I can answer, Kylian clears his throat.

I whip my head around to tell him to wait his turn and practice a little patience, only to find his eyes no longer on me. Instead, they’re hard, ice blue and piercing, and fixed on the opposite side of the room.

Heart lurching in my chest, I lift my hands off the tabletop and spin.

“Decker.”

The sight of him instantly sends my heart plummeting to the floor. His shoulders are slumped, his eyes sunken, and his skin stretched taut. He looks exhausted, tormented. So unlike himself.

“I’m just grabbing food.” He glances at me, then turns to Kylian. “I planned to wait until you were done in here, but it’s getting late…”

“Of course,” I insist softly, sliding off the table. “There are leftover steaks and potatoes in the fridge. You can eat at the table and join us if you want.”

“Jo,” Kylian scolds. “You don’t have to give him the time of day.”

Spinning on my heel to face him, I plant my hands on my hips. I take a deep breath in, tempering the annoyance bubbling up inside me. “I called a Time-out this morning.” Then I turn back to Decker. “Grab some food. We’ll sit with you while you eat. We were planning to stay up a while anyway.”

Kylian makes a noise of protest, so I shoot him a warning look.

Kendrick sidles up beside me, grazing along the curve of my waist and gripping my hip. “You’re good?” he double checks, his low tone soothing and supportive.

Nodding, I peer up into his deep brown eyes. “I’m good,” I promise. “We’ll play later.”

“Yeah, we will.” He strolls deeper into the kitchen to fetch our drinks.

Behind him, a despondent Decker follows.

Chapter 58

Josephine

Iwaswrong.Sodamn wrong.

Despite calling a time-out, despite desperately craving normalcy and civility, sitting at the table with Decker is agonizing.

Kylian looks unbothered. Smug, even, like he knew it would be this awful.

Locke and Kendrick both seem to be tolerating Decker just fine.

It makes sense. They’ve spent more time with him over the last few weeks. Between games, practices, and going back and forth to the mansion when they weren’t with me, Decker has been in the fold more than I have.

Decker and I are the ones struggling.

And fuck, are we struggling.

“Did you, uh, did you have a chance to get outside today?” His question isn’t pointed at anyone in particular, but with the cold shoulder he’s receiving from the guys, I feel compelled to answer.

“We did.” I nod, sipping the hard seltzer K placed in front of me twenty minutes ago. I’ve palmed the can so much it’s already warm. “Kendrick and I took a hike with the girls.”