Footsteps sound behind me, and Wyatt sighs. “Nooo, what are you doing?” He pushes forward, standing in front of the stove until the boys move. “I swear you do this just so I’ll come in and save your asses.”
Stone pockets his phone. “We were trying to be nice.”
“Go be nice at the bar where Dakota’s fine ass is.”
“Hey, I thought I was Tits.”
He grins at me over his shoulder and winks. “After last night, I have a lot of different nicknames for you.”
“Magic hands?”
Stone stiffens at my words, and Wyatt cracks up. “Calm your horses. I didn’t fuck her.”
Stone takes a sobering breath. Once he’s under control again, he says, “I don’t care.”
Even I recognize the lie when it flies from his mouth, I just don’t know why he does care.
“Good because if I did fuck her, the whole house would know.” Wyatt turns to wink at me again, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. Despite the night he had, he seems to be full of it this morning.
Lucas laughs. “Even Dakota is calling BS on your bullshit.”
I watch the scene in front of me with new eyes. It’s like wiping the rain from a windshield. I see how they interact with each other. Lucas and Stone trying to help Wyatt while Wyatt puts on airs that he doesn’t need help while secretly wanting help. They’re like a family. A disjointed one, sure. Not your typical parents and siblings, but hell, my father and I were never the typical family unit either. Everything about us was abnormal.
Wyatt finishes the breakfast, and even though we should be hurrying to make it to at least some of our classes today, we settle in like it’s the weekend. We take the plates and the food out to the patio like the morning after I first arrived. The guys talk easily, telling stories about other times when Wyatt was drunk off his ass and how they had to drag him home. Then, the stories expand to Lucas, and then even Stone. Stone’s story surprises me the most. I didn’t think he ever gave up control willingly. To get drunk, you have to give up the biggest control of all, yourself.
Despite the good-natured jabs, Stone immediately changes the subject when it veers toward him. He might as well be a warden from that prison last night for all he lets get free.
When we finish, I pick up the plates, even at Stone’s disapproval, and move them to the kitchen. When I come back out, the contract is sitting in front of me. I’m not sure which one of them saved it last night, but they’re all eyeing me expectantly.
Even more so than yesterday, I feel comfortable signing this document. There’s just one thing bugging me. One thing that’s not directly stated in the contract, but I want it to be.
“What do you think?” Stone asks. “Are you all in?”
I worry over my lip. My stomach dips low, surprising me with the feelings of how momentous this is. I went from being by myself, sticking to the shadows, to being front and center of three gorgeous men. Our plan revolves around me, and it gives me both a high and an overwhelming feeling that I’ll never be able to measure up. What my family knows about the treasure didn’t come from me.
My father always said I’d put my stamp in history when it came to the treasure, all I had to do was wait.
Me? I just thought that Dad would find it. He worked so damn hard on it that if anyone deserved to put their mark in history regarding the treasure, it was him.
Maybe it is my time now though.
I gaze up at Stone. I understand what’s riding on this for him. Sometimes, I can see the panic in his eyes. The feeling that he doesn’t have a hold of the reigns like he would prefer. “Is it just the four of us?” I ask.
Stone cocks his head. “What do you mean?”
“All this talk in here about never letting slip what my family knows, I want to make sure it’s just the four of us.”
He narrows his gaze, and it’s not just him. Stone and Wyatt look confused as well. “Dakota, you’re going to have to be more specific.”
“When we’re talking about sharing information, how far does it go? Does that extend to your dad?”
I don’t care if he is Stone’s father, I don’t like Lance Jacobs. Call it that gut feeling. Intuition. My father always said I should follow it, and I will. Spending time with Lance won’t even change the way I feel, not like it has with these guys.
“My father would like the information, yes.” His jaw clenches as he swallows. “If you’re asking if the information can stay between us four... You, me, Wyatt, and Lucas, then we’ll do that. My father is the reason we’re in this shit anyway.” My fingers buzz as he takes a pen and moves the contract in front of him. On the last page, he starts writing, then makes four underlines. “I added a new clause. If we all initial the new clause, it will be binding. If you want to make sure, I’ll give you the number to a law—”
I hold my hand up to stop him. I trust him. God help me, but I fucking trust Stone Jacobs. “I believe you.”
His eyes spark with emotion. He turns the contract to me and hands over the pen. I read his new clause, which states that the parties the contract refers to are the four signing parties, and that no other party shall be privy to any information shared within the group or even contained within the contract. “You’re not going to tell your dad about this?”
“I’m saving my friends and the people who were pulled into this. That’s it. I’m not here to save my father’s ass
