Page 21 of The Claiming

“I knew you’d be in. Hopefully, we’ll all walk out of there.”

“If we plan accordingly, it should work. I’ll ask around about the dungeon and do some digging for the layout. You brief Siri and let her know what we’re thinking.”

He appears thoughtful. “Do you think she’ll agree? I mean, she may want to be caught.”

“If she does, I have a feeling she would be happy to be caught by you.”

He shakes his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His confusion causes me to laugh. “You’re such a dumbass, Jack. Siri likes you. It was obvious.”

“Not to me.” He runs his fingers through his hair—a classic Jack move when he’s confused or troubled and I nudge him playfully.

“Listen, Siri doesn’t stop talking—ever. She has a lot to say, but when she set her eyes on you, she was struck dumb. I’ve never seen her so tongue-tied and she had that doe-eyed expression when she looked at you. She tried to disguise it and look anywhere else but the entire freaking table saw it, except you, it seems.”

“Fuck!” He shrugs. “I was too busy trying to ice out that other girl. Kennedy, was it? She was seriously coming on to me.”

“That’s typical of you, Jack, most men, really. You only see the obvious and miss the importance of subtly.”

“I didn’t miss that Frankie couldn’t tear his eyes away from you.”

His words halt my teasing and a strange flutter in my chest heats my skin.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

It’s my turn to play dumb and Jack teases. “I’m guessing he doesn’t know what an asshole you are yet. Give it another week. He’ll soon lose interest.”

“You’re probably right.”

I laugh out loud. “I love that you’re here. I can be myself again.”

This time he nudges me and with a wicked grin shared, we head off to his new home, The Elusive house.

* * *

As we treadup the wooden steps, I note the chairs set on the veranda and the discarded beer bottles on the deck.

Jack shrugs dismissively as I point to them. “Welcome drinks.”

“And you don’t clean up after yourselves?”

I raise my eyes because that’s not the Reaper way. The place is run military style, and we are encouraged since birth to clean up after ourselves.

“I tried, but the guys told me they have girls who come in and clean every day.”

“Girls?”

My eyes widen as he shrugs. “Apparently, a few of the students pitch in. They do it out of love. At least that’s what Jesse told me.”

“Disgusting.” I turn my attention away from the bottles and as we step inside, it feels as if I shouldn’t be here.

Despite the exterior, inside is grand on a surprising scale. There is a large staircase in the hall that leads upward and splits at the top in two directions.

Jack heads for it and as I follow him up, the stairs creak under my feet. We bear left and he opens the third door on the right.

“Hey, you lucked out.”

I step inside a huge bedroom with the biggest king sized bed covered in decadent bedding.

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