Page 79 of Bad Wolf

The anticipation, bone-deep tiredness, excitement, and anxiety all mix together, turning me into a wreck.

To top it all off, if I thought that since receiving the photo from Casey his impromptu pool party had fizzled out, I’m sorely mistaken. I spy every fucker I know from the den’s floor-to-ceiling windows. Except for, and I say this with an exhale, my mom and dad.

Thank fuck.

I can hear Jack’s laughter before I’ve even stepped foot in the kitchen. My teammates Gunner, Callan, and Rex are throwing him around in the pool, while my sister swishes her legs through the crystal clear water.

Casey and Theo are manning the grill, and the women who carry their balls around in their purses are sitting on the sun loungers that line the pool’s patio.

I make my way out onto the deck and every guy here looks on as if this is the best show they’ve ever seen. Rex looks positively giddy, and my brothers each wear practically identical shit-eating grins.

Jack waves like a maniac, but Gunner dunks him under the water, effectively drowning out his excited yelp of a greeting and with it, my surprise.

Wren has her back to me and is fighting off a laughing fit, slapping Troy on the shoulder, who laughs while she gasps for air.

I see she got her best friend back. Let’s hope she’s still willing to take her old boyfriend back too.

I mean, another old friend.

Troy spots me coming over her shoulder and smirks. He stands up and greets me with a one-armed hug.

“This is what I wanted to talk to you about. She told me everything and I just couldn’t stay mad at her. That doesn’t take anything away from how much she hurt you, Dude, but I can see by your face you’re beginning to let some of it go.”

“I am, man.”

“That’s fucking good to hear.” He claps me on the back.

Wren is still none the wiser, her little feet kicking out as she giggles her head off. Yep, she’s just my brand of crazy.

“What’s so funny?”

No one has ever sobered up as fast as she does in that moment. Her head snaps up to look at me. Her gorgeous face is free of makeup and her hair is pulled back from her face by a thin silver-colored headband, it falls wavy and thick around her shoulders.

She’s been in the water and then let it dry. I know this, because it looks the same as it did when we spent days by the lake as teens. She pulls me from my reverie with feigned abruptness.

“Can you excuse me? You’re in my sun,” she says it so cooly, she succeeds in riling me up a hundred degrees. Two tiny sentences and my blood is at boiling point, as fast as my car can get to sixty mph.

What’s more severe than exhaustion? Total brain malfunction? I bend to her ear and growl, “Don’t fuckin’ sass me, Wren. It’s time to talk.”

Wasn’t as quiet as I thought I’d been though because there’s a collective groan, no doubt from the males present. I can’t even stop myself.

Somehow, she makes me say and do the most stupid shit.

I’m on a roll now though, and the white swimsuit she has on does nothing to calm the storm that rages inside of me. It’s a one-piece, but it’s backless and frames her tight little body perfectly.

Goodbye sanity, hello maddening lust and soul-crushing possessiveness.

“The time for talking is over,” she says from her sun lounger and turns her back on me again.

“Not yet, it isn’t. Come with me.” I straighten and hold out a hand like the gentleman I was supposed to be before she opened her mouth.

“Uncle Knox, you got your swimmers? Get in here!” My awesome nephew squeals.

He gets another dunk.

Wren yanks the oversized shimmery pink framed shades she’s wearing and flings them across the sunbed, standing up in one svelte move.

“You can go eff yourself right now, Knox Madden. You don’t get to order me around or make a scene in front of everyone here. I’m leaving, okay? You won’t have to put up with the sight of me for much longer, just give me time to say a goddamn thank you and a proper good bye!” she says in a shout-whisper.

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