Nowhere to Hide (Masked Men Novellas)

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Kennedy

You know that moment where you realize just how fucking wrong you were? I see the way the other two look at Riley, and neither of them would have been strong enough to fuck her then act normal. Tai already follows her around like a lost puppy and Archer pretends to be indifferent, but he has a hard-on for her every time she walks into a room.

I won’t lie—she’s stunning. All soft curves and an hourglass figure. She’s certainly filled out nicely since we last saw her. Which is even more reason it had to be me, not that I ran it by them first. I just left them a note when I noticed Riley leave the house. Well, they both got their damn wish. She will no longer think sex is bad, and she can move on with her life, maybe even find someone who knows what they are doing and worship her the way she deserves.

My jaw throbs like a bitch this morning. Archer sucker punched me the second I walked through the door last night and Tai hasn’t spoken to me since. He bunked with Archer last night, which isn’t like him. They’ll understand my reasons eventually, especially when Braidy shows up. Guilt would have been written all over their faces, and one of them would have caved and told him.

Braidy isn’t stupid—he saw the way Tai flirted with her after she turned sixteen. He wasn’t one of those brothers who was all: “You can’t date my sister.” It was more of a “leave her the hell alone until she was eighteen” situation. Yet we stayed away because she had a pull on all of us, including me. I’m more of a fuck-them-and-leave-them guy and there is no way I could have done that to Riley under any other circumstance besides this one. Tai is a hearts-and-flowers guy and wears his heart on his sleeve, and Arch—he likes to be in control. We decided long ago none of us would pursue her. If it didn’t work out, what would happen with Braidy? He would hate us, and shit, he helped fund our business and we owe him a lot. He warned us once we started the club to leave her be, as he didn’t want her involved in that lifestyle.

The handle on my door jiggles, then it pushes open. Tai steps inside and closes the door.

“You calmed down yet?” I ask.

He shakes his head, and his hair falls over his eyes. “You should have spoken to us.”

I shrug my shoulders and throw the bedspread back, moving to get up. Tai’s eyes drop to my crotch, and he bites his bottom lip.

“The door was unlocked last night. You both could have come in,” I say, stepping closer to him, and he tries to scowl at me, which only makes me smirk.

“That was not in the contract. She didn’t ask for three.”

“So what? She had a safe word. Do you really think Archer won’t send a follow-up email to get her to sign up again?” Coming to a stop in front of him, I place my hands on his hips.

“We can’t take her money. I feel fucking terrible about taking it the first time.”

“You know as well as I do Arch will issue her a refund and make up some lame excuse.” The door opens, but I keep my eyes on Tai. “You know why I did it, don’t you?”

“Because you are a selfish asshole,” Archer snaps as he closes the door. “You did it because you never go back twice. This way you got to fuck her with no explanations or hurt feelings.”

I chuckle. He knows me too well, but I didn’t intentionally hurt them. “That’s a part of it, but can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t have caught feelings if it were you?”

“So what if we did? It wasn’t up to you to decide,” Archer says.

“Fine, then go for gold. I’m sure she would be up for more. Send her your follow-up survey or grow some balls and take charge like you always do,” I snap at him. “She won’t be expecting a second round.”

Arch and I occasionally get on each other’s nerves, it’s our alpha personalities, whereas Tai keeps the peace between us. Braidy and Archer are closer; their parents were best friends. And then Tai and I came along a few years later when we started school.

Archer’s phone buzzes in his hand and he looks down at it, swipes at his screen, and laughs. “Maybe we will,” Archer says, excitement in his voice. “It seems she did like the idea of more than one person.”

Tai and I both move closer to Archer, and Tai elbows me in the ribs. “Thought you didn’t go back for seconds.”

“Maybe I’m hoping for a performance review.”

Tai shakes his head as Archer reads through her feedback. She has requested another form, as we shut them after her application, since we have given our staff time off for the holidays if they had no other duties.

“Make sure you think this through properly,” I warn them both. “I’m going to make breakfast—it’s Riley’s birthday.”

“You snooze, you lose,” Tai says, running for the door and disappearing down the hall.

“Are you really concerned, or is this you just wanting to be the first?”

I turn to face Archer. “Believe it or not, Arch, I actually give a shit about you, even if we do butt heads. You are normally the sensible one who keeps Tai and me in line. Riley is the reason we kept our distance—not because of Braidy, but due to the potential she has to tear us apart. The crush she had on all three of us was obvious from the day she became a teenager, and we left the year it became apparent she was becoming a woman. Tai wears his heart on his sleeve, and you might come across all closed off, but you’re not—not the way that I am. You don’t think it was hard for me to hear she hated sex and how her douche ex made her feel shit about her weight? I did what needed to be done. You know I will support whatever choices you make, but I swear the second we leave here, we will never talk about it again. We go back to our lives. If you think you can handle that, then reply to her email.”

Archer gives me a swift nod. I don’t want Riley or them to get hurt. We all know that woman is wife material, and Arch is ready for the next stage in life. However, I don’t think Tai or I could watch them settle down together. And that’s even if her claim that she’s over us is the truth.

Leaving the room, I head downstairs to the kitchen. When I walk through the entry, I find Tai pulling out the pans and Riley at the table on her laptop.

“I told you that you didn’t have to do that,” she says.

I walk behind her and lean down—Braidy’s face is on the screen.

“What did you do?” I ask, and Riley jumps, realizing I’m behind her.

“Dude, put a shirt on. You’re even turning me on,” Braidy jokes.

“Jealous much? No one here is complaining. It’s not my fault you’re a troll.”

Riley laughs. “Yeah, sorry, bro. I would much rather see him shirtless than you. Thank you for sending birthday gifts, but you know I wanted to be alone and read.”

“You’re twenty-one, Rye. You should be out getting drunk and dancing on tables,” Braidy says.

“And I promise when you get here, we can do that. But it’s nice to relax, and let’s face it, it’s not like I haven’t been drunk before. You already sprung these three on me.”

“Don’t worry, we have a business meeting in town tonight for a potential investor, so we will be out of your hair for a few hours. You can run around in your birthday suit if you like,” I say, leaning a little more over Riley and smirking at Braidy.

Braidy scowls, and Riley’s laughter rings out. I step back from her and join Tai in the kitchen while she talks to her brother. Stepping up behind him while he flips pancakes, I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my chin on his shoulder.

“Do you forgive me?” I ask, and his body melts into mine.

“You know I do. So, do we really have a meeting?”

I chuckle against his skin. “No, but I know Arch well enough to realize he won’t let this go, so he can use this opportunity or it looks like we are making ourselves scarce for a few hours,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to his neck.

“I never thought I would see the day Kennedy Carter would look all loved up.”

Both Tai and I turn to look at Riley watching us, her laptop now shut. “I’m not loved up,” I fire back.

“Uh huh,” she says. “The hugging, the neck kisses, the whispering. It’s cute.”

“I am not cute,” I huff.

The smile on her face says she doesn’t believe me.

“Don’t worry, your bad-boy rep is safe with me. I just didn’t expect you to...”

I move across the kitchen, and her smile turns into an O shape as I approach. “You didn’t expect me to what... like cock?”

She swallows and nods.

“Things with Tai are easy,” I say with a shrug. “He doesn’t expect anything from me, no plans for babies and marriage. We have fun.”

She straightens and pushes herself to her full height, and I smirk at her. Riley isn’t scared of me, and she knows I wouldn’t hurt her. “And you think girls can’t do that?”

Reaching out, I twirl a strand of her hair around my finger. “In my experience, no. Especially once they get good dick.”

She scoffs. “That is presumptuous of you to think that you have a good dick.”

Tai chuckles from behind. “Don’t get him started, Riley Bear. He has a good D, and he knows it.”

“See? And you’re telling me you could have a situationship with no feelings attached?”

She shrugs. “Maybe, if it was agreed upon, I can’t really base anything off my experiences, but Tillie doesn’t do relationships.”

“Kennedy, leave the girl alone,” Tai interjects. “And, Riley, you can’t base any relationship off of Tillie—that girl is not like other women. I don’t think she could hold down a relationship even if she wanted to. She is as wild as they come.”

Riley laughs because she knows it’s true. It will take a special man to be able to handle her best friend. Tillie is unapologetically her—she doesn’t care if anyone likes it or not, and she says whatever comes to her mind before she thinks it through. Most men’s egos can’t deal with her.

“Happy birthday, any plans for today?” Archer says to Riley as he saunters into the room.

She turns away from me and smiles at him. No one mentions his sister, or our conversation. He loves her to death, but the girl has one mission in life, and it is to give her brother a heart attack.

“Thanks, Archie. No plans. The whole reason I came early was to do absolutely nothing. I just want to get some sun, read, and do nothing. It’s been so long since I could just relax.”

Before Archer can put his foot in his mouth and ruin what I have set up, I intervene. “Don’t forget, we have that meeting tonight in town with the potential investor.”

He raises a brow at me and nods. He won’t call me out; instead, he’ll wait until we are in private. “If you want us to cancel, we can stay and hang out,” he offers.

“Nope. No offense—as you know, I love your company—but I am happy to spend the night alone.”

Tai forces us all out of the open-plan kitchen and he finishes breakfast. The rest of the day flies by, and like creepers, we all linger when she goes outside to work on her tan. Archer and Tai have decided they want to fulfill Riley’s wish of being chased by multiple men. I can’t say I’m mad about it, and if I’m being honest, maybe I’m a little jealous.