“I didn’t think you thought we even had a thing,” he says, giving me a shit-eating little smirk that makes my blood boil. I narrow my eyes on him. Is this the point where I get another lesson in reality? The Havoc Boys have been like fairy-tale boys to me until now. But is Hael really just a cocky prick who likes to screw and run? Am I going to get a dose of his special breed of asshole? “What does Vic think?”

“Not everything is about Victor,” I snap back, gritting my teeth. Hael smiles and then nods, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Yeah, I know.” He opens those pretty honey-brown eyes of his back up. He had to shower three separate times when he got back, and then cover himself in body spray and cologne. When I lean in toward him, all I can smell is the coconut oil he rubbed into his hands. “But you saw how he acted the other day. I had two choices in there, Bernie: kick his ass or leave. And he’s a good leader, even if he is a dick sometimes. I’d follow him into the pits of Hell.” I nod, because I’ve always known it. You could see, looking at Hael and Vic at age eight, that they were destined to share their lives together in one fashion or another. “What does he think about Aaron?” he asks, nodding his chin slightly and then grinning when my eyes widen in surprise.

“You know about that?” I ask, and Hael shrugs.

“I see you two looking at each other differently now. I figured it’d happened.” Hael doesn’t stop smiling, reaching out a hand and running his knuckles down my bare arm. I shiver, but not because I don’t like it. Quite the opposite actually.

“He hates it,” I admit, but our conversation didn’t exactly go any further than me fucking his possessive attitude into the bathroom wall. That’s all we’ve got, as far as a conversation on the matter. “But I guess I’m still marrying him, so he can’t be all that bothered.”

“You guess?” Hael laughs, checking his phone for the time again. He sighs, like he’s already exhausted. I don’t blame him. After what we did today, I think a nap’s in order. “You’re definitely getting hitched, Bernie.” He leans in toward me, smirking slightly. “And on Vic’s birthday, no less.”

“His birthday?” I ask, frowning. Vic has been insistent that we get married soon, but I didn’t realize he had an exact day in mind. His birthday … figures. The first possible day we could get married, we will. I’m sure his mother, Ophelia, will like that one.

“Yep,” Hael says, putting his mouth near my ear. “He turns eighteen just one day after me. how does that get you? That Vic’s the younger one between us.” Hael bites my ear, hard enough to startle me, but then he grabs my hips in his hands and pulls me close. “Look, if this kid really is mine … I don’t know what I’ll do. But what I can tell you is this: there’s no hope for me and Brittany. There never was.”

“Then fuck me before you go over there.” The words come out before I can question them. Hael looks surprised, but not as surprised as I am.

“Well, shit, Blackbird, how am I supposed to say no to that?” he asks, grabbing me by the hips and guiding me around to the front of the Camaro.

Hael sets me on the hood of the car, placing a hand on either side of me as he leans in, pressing his lips to the side of my neck. My entire body lights up like it’s on fire, and I suck in a sharp breath.

“Where should we go?” I ask, because this is not a good spot to have sex, on Aaron’s driveway in the middle of suburbia. Likely, we’d end up getting the cops called on us, and we all know how that’d turn out.

“Go?” Hael echoes, cocking a red brow. “We ain’t goin’ nowhere, Blackbird. I’m short on time, Vic is probably seething inside the house, and the neighbors around here always look at me like they need to protect their sisters and daughters.”

“Well, do they?” I quip back, and he just grins at me. “I’m serious, Hael. Have you been …?” The words get stuck in my throat because I know I’ll sound stupid as shit saying them. Have you been sleeping with other girls? I mean, I know I’ve been fucking Vic, and I just screwed Aaron, but hey, I’m jealous as shit at the thought of you with someone else.

“Um, you mean between the burying of bodies and the gang war on our hands, have I been dating?” Hael pauses, the edge of his lip quirking up in a cocky smirk. “Or … fucking? Have I been dipping my dick into the sweet waters of a pussy that isn’t yours?”

I grab him by the face, my fingers brushing against all of that red stubble as I dig my nails into his skin. His body feels hot between my thighs, scalding really. It’s dark out here now, the only light cast from the sconces on either side of the garage. Maybe, if we were really careful, we could screw on the hood of the Camaro?

“Answer me.” The words are an order and Hael knows it. He lets out a small whistle of surprise.

“Cher,” he murmurs, pronouncing the word like sha. I looked it up on my phone after the encounter with his mother. Apparently, it means like sweetheart in Cajun French or something. “No, I haven’t slept with anyone since we defiled my ride.” He taps his palm against the hood of the car for emphasis. “Why? You want me all to yourself or something?”

I give him a look.

“Hael Harbin, would I be out here if I didn’t?” I ask, gasping as he slides his hand up my leg and into my shorts. His fingers tease the wetness between my thighs, stroking my ember into an inferno with a casual smirk plastered to his face.

“That’s not an answer at all,” he remarks, reaching down with his other hand to undo his own pants. “I mean, you’re screwing Vic and Aaron now, so what use could you possibly have for me?” I grab a fistful of his hair and force his mouth to mine, tasting that finely honed practice of his. It’s both simultaneously a turn-on and a serious goddamn thorn in my ass.

I don’t like thinking about Hael with other girls.

He pushes his fingers into me, making me groan. The car creaks underneath us as he leans forward and runs his hot tongue up the side of my throat.

“Promise me you won’t touch another girl without telling me first,” I whisper huskily, but only because I’m too much of a coward to say what I really want. Promise me you won’t touch another girl—ever. But we’re young and this is new, and I just can’t bring myself to ask him that.

“Mm-hmm,” Hael murmurs, breathing me in as he pumps his fingers in and out of me. “I’ll make that promise. You gotta do something for me though first.”

“Yeah?” I ask, beyond the point where I could actually find the strength in myself to resist him. If Hael asked right now, I’d give him everything. Everything. He keeps the energy of this group up, keeps us from letting things get stale, perfumes the air with his laughter. We need that. Not just me, but all of us.

“Play a little game with me,” he murmurs, kissing across my throat, teasing my clavicle, and then biting my nipple through my shirt. I hiss and grab his head to me. “Whoever comes last wins an oral sex session of their choice, to be redeemed whenever, wherever. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like a game I could easily win,” I growl back, using my grip on Hael’s hair to bring our faces together. We share breath for a moment before he removes his fingers from my cunt and grabs his dick instead. “Oh, by the way …” I pat the car with the palm of my left hand. “I’m touching your car. Victor told me to never, ever touch your car.”