Page 41 of Watch Your Back (Devil’s Backbone #2)

Fucking Nate. I should have just let him make a scene and taken my token back…but at the same time, I’m pretty confident he will take good care of Spark during the game. As much as he pretends she irritates him, a blind man could see how soft he is growing toward her these days.

He knows how much she means to us, and as such, he won’t risk her safety. Maybe he’s finally starting to think of her as family? She is technically his stepsister, and he always wanted siblings.

It’s just paintball. What’s the worst that can happen?

T he party—if we looked past the fact everyone was in their underwear at best and all but naked at worst—was surprisingly normal.

Sure, it all had the Devil’s Backbone air of excess about it with shots being handed out in glittering crystal shot glasses and poker chips made of precious metals, but if you squinted really hard, it would just be a regular college party.

Carly and I played—and won—about four games of cocktail-pong, where instead of Ping-Pong balls, we needed to toss tiny resin ducks into the opposing teams’ brightly filled martini glasses, and Heath seemed to make it his mission to ensure we both had plenty to eat from every possible canapé that roamed past.

Wearing Heath’s shirt made me so comfortable, I was actually enjoying myself for a while. Until I glanced over to see a girl called Serafina eating foie gras like she was starving, and a chill of unease ran through me.

“You okay?” Nate asked as I abandoned Carly and Heath to head over to the bar for some water. Maybe I was too drunk?

I nodded but couldn’t wipe the confused frown off my face even if I tried. I requested my water from the bartender, then turned to Nate, who was watching me with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

“I’m fine,” I murmured, taking a sip of my water.

“Liar,” he accused softly, quirking a brow.

“What happened?” He was seated on one of the tall cocktail stools, his injured ankle propped up on another and a tumbler of whiskey on the coaster beside his hand.

He wore nothing but a pair of white-gold boxers, but I doubted he was getting many complaints.

Nate spent a lot of time in the gym, and it fucking showed.

Forcing myself to shift my gaze away, I looked back in the direction I’d just seen Serafina scoffing her fatty duck liver. “Um, you know that girl who is always asking people to sign her PETA petitions outside the science department? Serafina?”

Nate nodded slowly. “Yeah, she’s a third-year DB. Really heavily involved in anti-cruelty to animals organizations. Why?”

My mood soured even further, hearing him confirm what I already knew. “I just saw her eating foie gras. Like shoveling it in as if she’d never tasted anything more delicious in her life.”

He wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t sound right. Maybe it wasn’t her you saw? There are lots of people here from other universities. Could it have been someone else?”

I nibbled the edge of my lip, unsure. “Maybe.”

“Or maybe it wasn’t foie gras? There’s heaps of weird mushroom and tofu canapés going around as well.” He grimaced like he’d accidentally tried one of those and wasn’t a fan.

I sighed, nodding. “Yeah, you’re right. I just thought?—”

“You thought maybe she was hypnotized to act against her free will,” he finished for me with an understanding smile. “I get it. I’ve been overthinking a lot of shit lately too. But, Ash, Dr. Fox is gone.” He carefully avoided saying dead, and I appreciated that fact.

“I know,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

“It just feels wrong to move on with our lives, doesn’t it?

Like we should have gone to the authorities with what we knew.

But then I’m also fully aware of how fucking insane we would sound if we tried to report it.

Hypnosis? Come on. Even we struggled with the concept when Heath suggested it. ”

Nate blew out a long breath, then reached out to grab my shirt and pulled me closer so he could speak softly. “I get it, and I agree. But we also can’t let this rule us, Ash. Dr. Fox is gone, and so is the hypnosis-experiment shit. It’s okay to relax, and it’s okay to be happy.”

Logically, I knew he just didn’t want to be overheard, but my stupid pulse was racing at how close we were all of a sudden. Like my dumb-ass lizard brain thought he was going to kiss me.

Where the fuck had that thought come from?

Shocked and puzzled by my own thoughts, I found myself locking gazes with Nate’s whiskey-brown eyes and searching for…

something. Hatred, disgust, pity, or irritation—any of the emotions I was more comfortable seeing in his eyes.

But I found none of those, and that rocked me harder than I was really prepared to admit.

Confusion rippled through his expression as I held his gaze, and I bit the corner of my lip nervously. He broke eye contact, his gaze dipping to my mouth, and I sucked in a shuddering breath before forcefully ripping myself away.

“Um, you should have ice on that ankle,” I murmured, gesturing to his elevated foot.

Nate cleared his throat, swiping a hand over his hair. “Yeah, I did. It melted.”

“I’ll get you some more,” I offered, putting another step between us as I backed away.

He shook his head. “Nah, it’s fine. I was going to head back to my room anyway.” He awkwardly hopped off the stool and tested weight on his bad ankle with a grimace.

I was just about to insist he let me help him when Carter swaggered over looking like some kind of fae prince with his jet-black hair and ink-covered muscles. “You need a hand, Essex?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Nate replied, then took a limping step and winced. “Okay, fine. But don’t even fucking think about carrying me bridal style.”

Carter grinned and faked like he was going to scoop Nate up in his arms, making his friend punch him in the chest. “Ow, fuck, bro, I was kidding. Come on. I’ll get you tucked into bed. You coming, Spark?”

Carly was gesturing for me to come back and play another dumb game with her and Heath—what looked to be horseshoes with solid-gold horseshoes—so I shook my head. “I’ll stay a bit longer.”

Carter cupped my face, tipping my head back to kiss me briefly, then promised to be back in no time. He offered Nate his shoulder, and the two of them exited the party arm in arm wearing nothing but their boxer shorts. Hot.

Okay, Ashley, where the fuck did that thought come from?

I groaned and shook my head. More water. I needed to sober up if I was actually thinking about Nate in any kind of sexual context.

No surprises, the horseshoes were indeed made of solid gold.

The excess of wealth was actually sickening, but at the same time, I was more than willing to reap the benefits when I won the society’s games.

We played for a while, and my switch to water definitely helped us win against the sloppy drunk girls wearing just bronze micro-thongs.

Carter returned sometime later and tugged me away to hand me a little velvet box. “Nate asked me to give you this,” he said quietly, glancing around. “We had a little run-in with Paige on the way back to our accommodation and…we both think this is a good idea.”

Confused, I opened the box he’d given me and inhaled sharply. “Oh.”

“And not that I like this part, but Nate did have a good point when he said we should tone down the PDA at these events. Word travels fast around the society—even if members have long since graduated.” Casual as anything, he took the diamond ring out of the box and slid it onto my ring finger.

I swallowed hard, eyeing the enormous jewel sitting in ornate claws. “I guess once a DB, always a DB, huh?”

Carter smiled. “Something like that. Do you like it?” He held my hand in his, looking down at the ring thoughtfully.

It was a large, brilliant white, oval-cut diamond encircled by a baguette diamond halo for a stunning sunburst effect, and weirdly suited me, as though it’d actually been chosen with me in mind.

“I do,” I admitted. “It’s fake though, right?” Because buying an actual diamond ring for your fake fiancée was absurd.

Carter just laughed, then got pulled away by some guy who begged him to go play life-size chess.

I returned to Carly and Heath, and Heath’s gaze immediately snapped to my new jewelry.

He pouted a little, but it was with a resigned sort of nod.

Apparently this was something the guys had already discussed among themselves…

“Damn it,” Royce hissed when he joined us, grabbing my hand in his to inspect the ring. “Guess he made it official, then.”

I rolled my eyes and gave him a shoulder bump. “Shut up, troublemaker. Want to escort me back to my room? For safety, of course.”

His grin spread wide and his gaze turned heated. “Oh, well, if it’s for safety, then how can I refuse? Heath!” he called out to where Heath and Carly were gathering our horseshoes. “I’m walking Squirrel back to the pool house.”

“I’ll come too,” Heath replied, handing Carly the heavy pile of horseshoes. “See ya, Carls.”

She rolled her eyes but sent me a knowing smirk. “Sleep well, Ash.”

“Oh, I will.” I grinned back, despite knowing full damn well very little sleep would be had. Now if only we could grab Carter on the way to make it a proper party…