Nowhere to Hide (Masked Men Novellas)

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Riley

Tai’s large frame is powering through the water ahead of me. Sure, I didn’t expect to win a swimming race against him, but being able to gloat would have been nice. I’m a sore loser, always have been. My parents banned game nights when Braidy and I were younger. It was unfair, Braidy cheated all the time, but they never saw him. It was my temper tantrums which sealed the deal.

Reaching out as I gain on him—something I think he’s allowing purely because he’s being nice—I grasp his ankle. Catching him off-guard gives me a slight lead until I’m sinking beneath the water. I flail my arms, but it’s no use. I rush to the surface, sputtering as I gasp for air.

“You always were a terrible loser,” he says. His hands are still tight on my waist from helping to pull me above the water. His hair is slicked back off his forehead, and it makes me want to slide my fingers into it.

“Was not. Besides, you have an unfair advantage, thank you very much.”

“How do I have an unfair advantage?”

I gape at him. How does he not know? “You have all of that going on. And me, these things weigh me down,” I say, first pointing to him, then cupping my breasts. The damn things are so big, no matter how much weight I lose, they stick around.

Tai looks down at my tits and his gaze lingers. He licks his lips, toying with his piercing before looking back at my face. “I don’t know, shouldn’t they float?”

I snort and release them to splash water in his face. “Maybe,” I say as I lean back until I’m floating, and Tai does the same.

“So, what has my Riley Bear been doing all these years?”

“I dropped out of college and I’m now working for my pain in the ass brother, making sure his social media accounts stay active. I get to weed out the trolls who ask when they will get another sex tape.”

Tai chuckles. “Sounds like Braidy has some crazy fans.”

“Uh huh. What about you? What have you been doing the last four years?”

“Grinding, making money, having fun, living life. It’s nice to slow down and relax. That’s why we agreed to come this year—life is finally getting back to normal.”

“I’m surprised there are no girlfriends following the three of you around.”

Tai sinks down into the water and stands back up. “We haven’t had time for girlfriends. Working as much as we do, relationships don’t really fit. What about you? Have you been breaking hearts?”

That makes me snort, and I slap my hand over my mouth. “I had one boyfriend, but that was enough to make me swear off of men.”

“Was he a dud in bed?”

Sinking back down into the water, I shrug. “I don’t have anything to compare him to, but he was a dick in general and had an issue with my size.” Tai’s eyes widen and he repeats my words slowly, as if he doesn’t understand. I rush to interrupt him. “Who cares? He is history. One day I might care, but the sex wasn’t good enough to make me run out and find someone else to get under. The only men I meet now are famous and that’s an automatic no or they’re friends of Tillie’s, and let’s face it, half of those guys are drug dealers or on drugs.”

A whistle pierces the air and we both look to our right, where Kennedy stands on the back porch of the cabin.

“I better go inside. We have one last business call left today before we finally get the week off. Get on, I’ll swim us back.”

I know I shouldn’t, but how often does your childhood crush offer to let you touch them? Tai turns his back to me, so I wrap my arms around his neck and he swims forward.

“Riley,” he says as we approach the dock.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let one moron ruin future choices. Sex is amazing when you’re treated right.”

We reach the dock, and I let go of him and swim to the edge. I watch as he pulls himself out, water rolling down his abs as he leans down and holds his hand out to me. Taking his hand in mine, he pulls me out of the water like I weigh nothing.

“Thanks,” I mumble.

Tai waits while I pick up my towel and wrap it around my body, then we walk back to the house side by side as Kennedy watches us. If you didn’t know him, Kennedy’s prickly outside would scare you away. Because he’s one of Braidy’s best friends, he tolerates me, and I have seen a nicer side to him. He might be an asshole, but he cares about his friends. Probably too much, like the time he got suspended from high school because some kid gave my brother shit for some play he was in and Kennedy beat the shit out of him in the parking lot.

Tai stops on the porch next to Kennedy, and I wave to them like an idiot as I walk inside. I don’t bother getting changed yet; instead, I drape my towel over a chair and head into the kitchen for a snack.

Opening the cabinet, I find the blender and push up onto my tippy toes, trying to hook my finger into the cord so I can pull the darn thing down. Warmth presses against my back, long arms reach around me, and very male hands grab the blender. The scent of clean laundry and soap envelops me, and I know it’s Archer—he always smelled clean, like when you pull your washing from the dryer, so warm and cozy.

“That bikini should be illegal,” he whispers. “Your brother would murder me for my thoughts right now.”

I chuckle and turn to face him. “Well, he isn’t here and I’m not a child anymore.”

“No, you’re definitely not,” he says, stepping away from me.

I watch him as he walks backward out of the room. Dammit, I spent years getting over them and it only takes one hour in the same house and all the feelings I held are resurfacing. I need to do something. To remind myself to stay away from them. I know if I call Tillie, she will only tell me to jump their bones—even if one is her brother—and that isn’t helpful. I can’t afford another broken heart.

I make my banana smoothie and clean up the kitchen, then head upstairs to shower.

“Oh fuck,” I hear Kennedy swear, and it stops me in my tracks. “Just like that.”

What the hell? I thought they came here alone, but who knows, maybe a friend turned up. Tiptoeing toward his bedroom door, the one Kennedy always uses when he stays here, I peek through the crack and my mouth falls open. In the span of a second I feel a rush of emotions—upset, glad, and turned on—when I see Tai on his knees with a mouthful of Kennedy’s cock. I lick my lips as I watch Tai’s head bob up and down and the way Kennedy twists his fingers into Tai’s hair as he thrusts into his willing mouth. Maybe I need to get laid. And maybe my ex was bad at sex because I never felt this turned on, my core throbbing with need.

I step back quietly, but a business card at my feet catches my attention. Once I pick it up, I see it has a bear’s paw embossed on the front. I flip it over and it simply has a QR code—I wonder what it’s for? Walking back into my room, I close the door behind me and power on my phone. All my clients know I’m away but will check in periodically. No urgent messages pop up, which is a relief. So I scan the code and a website loads onto my screen, displaying the slogan: Where fantasies become reality.

What does that even mean? I click the drop-down bar, and it reveals a services tab. My mouth falls open at a list of fantasies on offer. Holy shit! They even have photos, but they are done so tastefully. Wow, if this is how sex really is, I was definitely doing it wrong. The women look sexy and in control and the men are almost worshipping them. Though, if I have to be honest, being tied up isn’t a fantasy for me. However, being chased, kidnapped, maybe even a little pain, those things make me weak at the knees when I read about them, but those things only happen in books... or at least that is what I tell myself.

I open my laptop and scan the QR code again. I need my phone free to call Tillie, and she answers just before it almost rings out.

“Hey,” she says, sounding winded.

“You lost your phone again, didn’t you?”

She cackles. “I will have you know it was strategically placed in the refrigerator. I was not high at all.”

“If you say so. But I have a 9-1-1 situation, and I need you to be honest with me.”

“If you are ringing to tell me you want to bang my brother, you already know how on board I am with becoming your sister.”

“Tillie! Listen to me without interrupting. He’s hot, but that’s not the issue. If you were to find a secret—or maybe not a secret—website, which offers to bring your deepest fantasies to life, would you do it?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

“Even if your fantasy is a little dark and depraved?”

The line is silent for a second. “Probably more so. Because if it were legit, then wouldn’t it be safer? If anything bad were to happen, you could sue, and we’d be sipping Mai Tais by a pool in no time. Then I wouldn’t have to sign up to those sugar daddy websites to bring our dreams to fruition.”

“Those are your dreams, boo. I think I’ll do it. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I won’t answer that, but have fun and be safe. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do, Til.”

“Exactly, so have fun. Plus, it’s your birthday tomorrow, and you refused to stay and spend it with me, so get dicked down and live out your fantasies instead. Then at least once you find Mr. Vanilla and settle down, you can remember the one time you got your freak on.”

“Who says he will be vanilla?” I say with a laugh, and Tillie joins me. Yeah, she’s right, he will be, because that is who I am. I don’t step out of line. Honestly, I wouldn’t call getting my nose pierced and one small tattoo—or even dropping out of college—stepping out of line.

“Live a little, babe. You won’t be young and hot forever. Let your hair down and channel your inner me, even if for only one night. Who knows, you might like it and join the dark side.”

“Okay, I’ll let my hair down. YOLO and all that.”

We say goodbye and I click on the inquire now button on my laptop, then fill in all the basic questions—name, age, location—but I stumble when it asks for a picture. I upload a work photo in which I look a little more put together than I normally am and hit next.

Explain your fantasy in detail and click off any hard limits.

Hmm, I type how I want a masked man to chase me through the wilderness and force himself on me. My heart thuds. Maybe this is wrong... what if our neighbors hear me, or someone videos me? Though realistically we don’t have any neighbors for miles; my parents own everything for as far as the eye can see.

A knock on my door makes me jump, and I hit submit.

Shit, shit, shit.

I can take it back, right? I slam the laptop closed, grab the business card, and shove it under my pillow.

“Riley Bear, are you awake?”

“Come in,” I say, and Tai pops his head into my room.

A blush creeps up my cheeks when I picture him on his knees. I’ve never thought much about two men together, and it never occurred to me how hot it could be. Not that it had even occurred to me to watch anyone have sex before now.

“Hey, we are going to barbecue on the deck. Did you want to come down and join us?”

“I’ll be down soon—I’m just finishing up some work.”

Tai nods. “You may want to get a little more dressed. It’s cooling down outside.”

I nod as he leaves me to it, then I scramble off the bed. As I open my suitcase, I thank myself for being so indecisive and packing outfits for every occasion, even if I only planned to lounge around alone the entire week. After pulling out a pair of loose-fitting pants and a low-cut top, I take them and my towel into the bathroom in the hall and quickly shower.

The only downside to the cabin is the shared bathrooms. Only the main room on the third floor, which is my parent’s room, has an en suite, so the rooms on this level all share. Doing a quick side French braid, I opt out of makeup, adding only a little mascara. I’m thankful I have always had good skin and so have never really worn makeup, not unless I’m meeting a potential client. I take a deep breath before making my way downstairs, reminding myself that I’m not a needy teenager with a pathetic crush on her brother’s best friends anymore, I’m now a grown-ass woman and I can be around them and not get weird.