Page 38 of Gather the Storm

And can I just say that playing-guitar Wolf might have been my favorite version so far?

He was wearing one of his sleeveless T-shirts and jeans, his thighs spread enough that I was tempted to walk between them, take the guitar from his hands and set it aside, straddle his hips until I felt the hard press of his cock against my cunt.

Jesus.

“Um… it was fine,” I said, trying to get a handle on the lust roaring through my body. “It was good.”

“We’re going to order in,” Otis said, still focused on the video game.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said. “I need to stock up on supplies tomorrow, at the grocery store and the home store. I have a list.”

I hadn’t expected the Beasts to take me up on my offer, not so quickly anyway, but now that they were here, I needed to get it together. This was my show.

“No worries, sunshine,” Wolf said. “After five years of prison food, takeout is A-Okay with us.”

This was all starting to feel weird: the guys making themselves at home, lounging around like a hot-D buffet, the nicknames from Wolf and Otis, the everyday talk of errands.

I caught Wolf staring at my tits and remembered I was still in the clothes from work, clothes picked by Jace, like everything else in the closet upstairs.

I scowled at him and he flashed me a can-you-blame-me grin.

“I’m going to change,” I said.

I headed for the stairs at the front of the house and hurried to my room on the second floor. I was flustered and warm, like I had a flu coming on, except the only sickness in my vicinity was the three guys sprawled out in the living room, and I was starting to feel like they were going to be harder to shake than the flu.

I peeled off the clothes I’d worn to work, glad to be out of the tight skirt and low-cut blouse. Luckily no one had said anything about my outfit — although I’d definitely seen disapproval in Diane’s eyes when she’d first gotten a look at my cleavage — but I was probably going to have to sneak in some other tops from home.

The low-cut blouse I’d worn had been the most work-appropriate top in my closet. Without an infusion of clothes from home, it was only going to get worse from here.

I left the closet and combed through the drawers in my dresser. Jace had filled the top ones with sexy underwear and bras — the only good thing about his fashion dump — and I assumed there had to be some pajamas or tracksuits or something to lounge in.

And I was right, but since he was Jace, there were no soft lounge pants or comfy T-shirts, no tracksuits with jackets or matching pajama sets, just an assortment of boxer shorts that looked two sizes too small and a drawer full of camis that wouldn’t even cover my tits.

Fucking asshole.

I chose the biggest pair of boxers I could find and pulled them on, then turned in front of the antique full-length mirror in the room. As I’d suspected, my ass was hanging out the back.

I stifled a swell of annoyance aimed as much at myself as at Jace.Whyhad I agreed to his stupid terms?

But I knew why: I’d been afraid they would say no, had been willing to do anything to get them into the house, where I couldtry and figure out what had really happened the night Blake was murdered.

I pulled a cami out of the drawer, slipped it on, and adjusted the stretchy fabric to cover my tits as best I could. Then I tugged my hair into a ponytail and sat on my bed, feeling defeated.

It was only my first full day with the Beasts and my plan was already starting to feel stupid. How was I supposed to juggle my internship, work on the house, and find out what had happened to Blake while Jace tried to make my life miserable?

How had I gone from hatching the plan to get the Beasts here to sitting on my bed in clothes I didn’t want to wear whiletheytook up space in the living room?

My phone dinged from the dresser and I got up to get it, then saw a text from a group chat I didn’t recognize: me, Jace, Wolf, and Otis.

The first text in the group was from Otis.This Indian food isn’t going to eat itself.

I rolled my eyes and dropped back onto the bed with my phone in my hand.

A few seconds later, another text came in, this one from Wolf.No point starving yourself, sunshine. We’re not going anywhere.

I exhaled a puff of breath that expanded my cheeks like a puffer fish and debated the merits of joining them for dinner versus scrounging up something from the very limited options in the fridge downstairs.

It was Jace who sealed the deal with a text (Get your ass down here for dinner. Now.)and not for the reasons he probably thought.

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