Page 6 of Wild Like Us
“Want to check it out?” I ask them.
They’re already leading the way.
I follow them up creaky metal stairs and into a tight hallway. It’s actually weirdlyquiet.The outside sounds of laughter and the music from amusement rides are more muffled here.
Banks messes with his earpiece. “Comms are jammed?”
“No service,” Akara tells him. “It’s fine. Thatcher is keeping tabs on everyone.”Thatcher Moretti. He’s the SFO lead. Banks’ identical twin brother is actually higher than Banks on the security hierarchy.
Metal disks line the hallway, and they spin Akara 360-degrees when he steps foot on one. He keeps complete and total balance.
Like a badass.
Banks trips. “Jesus,Mary—”
Akara catches Banks’ wrist and pulls him onto the second spinning disk. They’re hugging to stay on the same metal plate.
I grip the side railings and use my upper-body strength to avoid touching the disks. Leaping my way through.
Akara cups his hand over his mouth. “Cheating!”
“Hey, I’m being fucking resourceful. Why else put railings here?”
“For people like Banks,” Akara quips, stepping easily on the next disk.
Banks follows and laughs. “She’s allergic to land, so she’d know how to avoid it. I’m a fucking tree. I actually likestanding.”
“She’s not a mermaid,” Akara says as we pass the rest of the spinning disks.
Banks looks a little ticked. He even shoots Akara an annoyed glance.
Akara frowns back like,What?
I look Banks over, my pulse quickening, and I bite my lip, feeling a smile. He came to my defense. Feels like some type of romance—or I could be really fucking playing myself. How far-fetched is it that Banks could see me as more than a friend?
He’s never even made a move.
I get that there are bodyguard rules. Close but nottoofucking close, but some of my cousins havedecimatedthose rules.
Maximoff.
Jane.
They deserve a round of applause for doing the fucking impossible and making it all work.
We enter a much larger blue room. Polka-dot-painted boxing bags hang like a maze. And I tell Banks, “Don’t mind Kits. He doesn’t believe in mermaids.”
Banks cocks his head at Akara. “You don’t believe in beautiful women who swim in the sea?”
“With a tail?” he asks incredulously. “No, man. That shit is forDisneymovies. Anyway, Sulli is more like a…” He eyes me. “String bean.”
My mouth falls, and I’d slug his arm if he were closer.
He smiles teasingly. “No muscle. Can’t lift a five-pound weight. Way too tall. Definitely a string bean.”
I push a boxing bag aside, trying not to zero in on the “too tall” part. I am taller than the average woman, but the rest of his words were bullshit. I have a lot of muscle and a fuckingsix-pack that I worked hard for.
Plus, I can lift over a hundred-fifty pounds.
