Twisted

She loved him, she wanted him in her life, but she deserved to be treated right. That’s why she’d broken up with Tucker, because he hadn’t treated her right. She couldn’t change her mind about that now, just because she craved Riley more than her next breath.

She wouldn’t die without him. She knew that. She would miss him, yes, and would probably cry herself to sleep for weeks. But in the end, she would be okay. Right?

Next time she got Riley alone, they were going to hash this out.

They walked the few blocks to the meeting place, the parking lot of a deserted warehouse. Not much traffic this way, which was always a good thing. The sun was setting, shadows cast in every direction. Another good thing.

“I wonder if Aden is—” Victoria began, then stopped on a gasp.

Aden simply appeared. In a blink, he was hunched over and fighting for breath.

He could teleport. He. Could. Teleport. When the heck had that happened?

“That’s…a little more…difficult than I…imagined,” he panted.

“Aden!” Victoria rushed to him.

He straightened, and by the time she reached him, his arms were open to her. She threw herself at him, and he hugged her tight, burying his face in her neck. She winced a little, obviously hurting from her injuries.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. Having almost lost each other must have trumped whatever he’d been angry about.

“Yes. Just a little bump on the head when Tucker threw me into the wall. Are you?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I was so mad at you. I should have—”

“No. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I can’t believe—”

“I was jealous, but if I’d just stopped—”

Lord above, they were talking over each other, making eavesdropping very difficult.

Victoria cupped his cheeks. “You have no reason to be jealous, I promise. It was a onetime thing, and it will never happen again. It wasn’t even very good.”

Mary Ann had no idea what they were blabbering about, but Riley must have because he mumbled something about “not his fault” and “better than good, as always.”

Took a moment, but something clicked inside Mary Ann’s head. Onetime thing. Never happen again. Not very good. Better than good.

Sex.

Glaring, she wheeled around. The wind blew, causing several strands of hair to Swan Lake over his eyes. He had his arms crossed over his chest, the pose casual and unconcerned.

“You told me the two of you had never been involved!” She threw the words at him as if they were weapons.

To his credit, he didn’t pretend not to know what she was asking. “We slept together one time. That’s not exactly an involvement.”

Then what was? “Is there anyone you haven’t slept with?”

There was no change in his blasé expression. He shrugged. “Just an unlucky few, but that just means I haven’t met them yet.”

“Really? You’re using sarcasm now? Really?”

“What do you want me to say, Mary Ann?”

“When did it happen? Tell me that much.”

“Before I met you.”

And that made it okay? “What about before you dated her sister?”

A nod, as if he didn’t hear—or didn’t care—about her disgust. “Yes. Before then. I’ve never cheated on a girlfriend, and I never will, so this argument is pointless.” Pointless.

“Screw you,” she said. Then, “Oh, wait. Fifty percent of the people in this circle already have!” Her math was off, but she didn’t care. No wonder she’d always been so jealous when she watched him with Victoria. No wonder the pair was always at ease with each other. They’d seen each other naked! And once tasted, forbidden fruit was that much easier to taste a second time. And a third.

Mary Ann was proof of that. How many times had she made out with Riley when she shouldn’t have?

“Look, it was awkward, all right?” Now he was the one throwing words like weapons. “Like she said, there’s not going to be a repeat performance.”

Again, as if that made everything okay. “Why don’t I sleep with Aden, then, and we’ll see how pointless —”

Riley leaned down, getting in her face, all hint of placating her gone. “You will not sleep with Aden.” There was so much fury in the undercurrents of his rasping voice, she felt the brush of it all the way to the bone.

She could only blink in surprise. Now, here was a reaction she hadn’t expected from him. It meant he still cared about what she did—and who she did it with. “Why? Because I’m still your girlfriend?”

A moment passed. The fury melted, and he straightened, gathered his wits. “I…I don’t know. Neither one of us is the same person we were a few weeks ago.” Honesty. Well, that she had expected, and now she wanted more. “Just say it,” she said, forcing the issue despite their rapt audience. Please don’t. Please don’t say we’re through. That we’re over, done.

A muscle ticked below his eye. A sign of his upset, and something that had happened quite frequently lately. “I’m practically human. I can’t protect you anymore.”

If that was his only argument, he’d never get rid of her. “You did just fine back at the motel.”

“And what about when a pack of wolves decide to make you their lunch?”

“So, if you could still shift, you would stay with me every second of every day?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Lock me up?”

“No.”

“Then how would you have protected me from that before, huh? I could become someone’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, whether you shift or not. Stop making excuses and say what we both know you want to say.” Don’t listen to me.

He was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring with the force of his inhalations. “We’re…we…”

“Say it!” No. Don’t.

A hard hand settled on her shoulder, and Mary Ann whipped around with a startled yelp. A frowning Aden stood beside her. Riley snarled at him, realized what he’d done to his king and cleared his expression.

“Let’s head to Tonya’s. I’ll get Victoria there. Riley, you get Mary Ann there.”

Warmth flooded Mary Ann’s cheeks. Okay, so now she cared about her audience. “Why do you want to go back to Tonya’s?”

“She has answers about Julian that I can’t find in the papers and photos. So, meet us there in…” He glanced at a wristwatch he didn’t have and had never worn. “Half an hour?”

Enough time to work through their current problem, he was saying.

Riley nodded. “Fine.”

“Good.” Aden and Victoria sauntered off, hand in hand.

Way to rub it in.

“Come on,” Riley grumbled, taking off in the other direction. He rounded the far corner, Mary Ann close to his heels. Rather than picking up where they’d left off, he picked out a car to steal.

She didn’t protest as he popped the door lock, removed a chunk of plastic around the ignition, then cut and twisted the exposed wires. She just acted as lookout and slid into the passenger side when the engine roared to life.

Soon they were winding down the roads a little too swiftly for her peace of mind, winding in and out of traffic. Which still wasn’t heavy, but come on. Only took one vehicle to get in your way, and hello, wreck.

“Slow down.”

“In a minute.”

He’d never driven this erratically before. Not with her. “If I say what you wouldn’t, will you slow down?”

His fingers curled around the wheel, his knuckles quickly losing color. “I don’t need you to say it. I can.”