Page 110 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part One
“And you’re okay with that?”
“What else is there? I don’t have a family to go home to. I don’t have a mom, dad, siblings. Nothing. I don’t have shit, Gav.Youguys are my family. This is where I want to be.”
Gavin sinks back against the seat, staring out of his window and completely shutting me out.
It’s going to be another long, quiet day.
Before Kira wentin to see Professor North, I had her call me so I could listen in. The conversation went smoothly, and I checked the device when I got in the car. The green light was lit, indicating it picked up something. The drive to the house to tell Ari was tense. Things were weird between Gavin and me, and Kira was a ball of nerves. But when we pulled up to the house, she pulled her shoulders back and marched into the house like she owned the place.
I follow her as she goes straight to Ari’s office and slaps the cloning device down on the desk. “There.”
Ari looks down at it, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I thought I told younotto get involved.”
“And I saidyouaren’t my boss.”
“Do you realize how dangerous this was?”
Kira takes a deep breath. “As you can see, I’m fine. He never even suspected anything. Tyler was on call with me the entire time just in case things went sideways.” Her panicked eyes meet mine when she realizes she gave away that I knew she was going to do this.
Shit.Ari’s angry blue eyes flash to me. I keep my slouched position against the wall, feigning nonchalance even though my heart is pounding in my chest. “You let her do this?” Ari growls, standing from his chair.
“It was my decision!” Kira says, jumping to stand in front of Ari. “Stop trying to murder him with your eyes.” She smacks her palm against his chest when he won’t look at her. Ari looks down at her, still pissed off, but there isn’t an ounce of fear in her eyes. “Stop treating me like I’m a fragile piece of glass. I’m not stupid, Ari, and I’d never put myself in danger. Tyler knows that, which is the only reason he agreed to this. We had it covered.”
I can’t stop the grin that spreads across my face, and Ari’s eyes snap back to me. “Get that look off your fucking face.”
“What look?” I ask innocently. Ari growls deep in his chest, and it does weird things to my body. “Come on, Papi. Take a breath before you have a heart attack.”
Ari moves faster than I anticipated. He steps around Kira, stalks up to me, grabs my throat, squeezes, and pushes me back against the wall. “Your smart mouth…” he trails off because I already know that it pisses him off. I lick my lips, and his eyes track the movement. He pushes closer until his nose brushes mine. “What else can it do besides talk shit?”
“I suck a mean dick,” I wheeze, and Kira cuts off a laugh.
Ari’s face doesn’t change, and then he licks across my top lip.Goddamn. I wait with my breath held to see what he’ll do next. Nothing has happened since that day at High Flyer; we’ve hadtoo much shit going on. But I’ve been fucking dying for it. Then he steps back. I try to keep the disappointment off my face, but I know I don’t succeed. I try to slide past him, but he blocks me by putting his hand on the wall beside my head. “It’s time we settle this.”
“Settle what?”
“Us.” That word drops between us, and I hear Kira suck in a breath. He grabs my hand and starts dragging me toward the stairs. “Let’s go,” he says to Kira. Ari spots Jason and Gavin on the couch. “Come on,” he barks, not stopping. He keeps his death grip on my hand all the way up the steps until he stops outside Keon’s door. He bangs on it, and Keon opens it seconds later. He spots us all and raises a brow.
“What’s going on?”
“How’s your arm?” Ari asks, making both Keon’s brows shoot up.
“Uh…fine?”
“Good. Come on.” Ari marches to his room and pushes me inside. Everyone files in slowly behind us, confused as fuck, except for Kira. Her breath is coming in little pants, already knowing what the hell is about to happen. Ari glances at everyone and then looks back at me. “We’ve been dancing around this for weeks. I know everyone can feel the sexual tension floating around the goddamn house. If anyone has any objections to what we talked about, now’s your chance.” He’s giving us a chance to say we didn’t want to share. I meet Gavin’s eyes, and he nods, letting me know he’s fine with it. I see Ari do the same to Jason. Jason smiles, and my breath stutters from my lungs because he just sealed my fate. “If anyone isn’t comfortable to be in the room, you don’t have to stay. I just wanted to get it all out in the open.”
Keon slides behind Kira and wraps his good arm around her waist. “Do you want to stay, Mama?”
“Y…yeah. But I don’t?—”
“We can watch,” he says smoothly.
“Okay,” she whispers, leaning back against his chest.
“Clothes off,” Ari barks at me.
If he thinks I’m backing down from a challenge, he has another fucking thing coming. I jerk my shirt off, but before I can reach for my pants, Ari’s lips are on mine. I groan into the kiss when his tongue strokes mine. The kiss is rough and demanding. It’s no less than what I expected from Ari. My hands slide under his shirt, and he leans back long enough for me to pull it off. Our hands go to each other’s jeans, trying to get them off with hurried movements.
“Holy shit,” someone whispers, but I’m too far gone to figure out who it is.
