The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1) (98)

It was mid-afternoon when they filed into the garage. Jay D was busy getting into everything while I was teaching Tyra the basic functions as she straddled the bike.

“Looking good, T-baby!” Jamie’s grinning face and the new hoop that replaced the stud in his nostril was the first to capture my attention, but when I searched Ever and Vaughn’s faces, I found them bare.

“We had a deal. Where’s your piercing?” Tyra demanded. She’d hopped from the bike and stood with her hands planted on her hips.

Ever’s mask remained intact, but it was Vaughn who gave them away. “You’re going to have to search a little lower,” he answered with a twinkle in his eye.

A blushing Tyra fell silent, and when I met Ever’s gaze again, there was a challenge there. Not going there.

“You already had that one,” I said to Jamie.

His answering grin only deepened my curiosity.

“Let us in on the gag, will ya?”

“We did your dare,” Vaughn said with a shrug, “and unless you’re willing to go searching, you’re just going to have to take our word for it.”

Fuck. Once again, I’d been outfoxed. It was becoming clear that I needed to sharpen my game. I was pretty sure this had been Ever’s doing. His silence spoke volumes.

Tyra rolled her eyes, but then a wicked gleam, identical to the one she had this morning, entered them a moment later. “Maybe we should get pierced in secret places, and see how they like it.”

I tapped my chin with my forefinger. “What an interesting proposal, Miss Bradley.”

“Is that an invitation?” Ever pinned me under his stare as he waited for my answer. I hesitated, wondering why his voice sounded thicker—almost too thick to understand what he’d asked.

“Hardly.” It would be far more fun to keep him guessing.

“Be careful playing with fire, Four.” He spoke his words with care and when he said—“There’s a hundred percent chance you’ll get burned”—I understood why. The flash of metal, piercing his swollen tongue, must have made it pretty hard to speak. I felt heat pool in my stomach as he headed for the door with Jamie on his heels. I couldn’t believe he’d chosen to pierce his tongue of all places. While the addition looked damn sexy on him, I didn’t understand his choice. It didn’t fit the meticulous elegance I’d grown used to.

Vaughn was a little slower to follow as he walked backward with his arm raised and his finger pointed at Tyra. “Get that pretty little pussy pierced. I don’t mind. You just remember that I offered you a treasure hunt. Reciprocity. Is. Mandatory.” The moment he disappeared inside the house Tyra and I gaped at each other.

“Did he say your…” I gestured to her part in question.

“You don’t you think he—” She gestured to her part in question.

Our eyes bulged at the same time.

“Oh. My. God!” Tyra screeched. “He. Did!”




Tyra announced she was running home to show her face to her overprotective father but not before sharing her painful idea to get a Brazilian wax. She’d reasoned that even though she was out of the running to get her cherry popped, she should still be prepared. I didn’t disagree. Vaughn may have turned her down, but any moment now, his desire would overcome him. Of course, she didn’t want to do it alone and insisted that as best friends, it was mandatory that we got our pubes ripped from our vaginas together.

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.”

“Did you just quote Bobby Unser?”

“I figured if you wouldn’t listen to me, you’d listen to a role model. I googled it right after I called for a reservation. Smart, huh?”

“A tad unfair, but who’s measuring?”

“Lighten up, Four. It’s totally worth the fifteen minutes of torture. You won’t have to shave for like a month.”

“I don’t shave. Well…not really.”

“Seriously? You have a bush?” She looked as if I’d just admitted to having herpes.

“I trim the hedges. I just don’t whack them all down.”

“Wow…I have a newfound respect for Ever. Didn’t you say he’s gone down on you twice? I hear some guys are jerks about it.”

I shrugged, unsure how to answer. I’d never thought it a big deal, but now that I was feeling self-conscious, I agreed to go. After she left, I took Jay D upstairs, grabbed number six, and was back in the garage before Ever could catch wind of what I was up to. I wasn’t sure if he’d actually stop me, but I wasn’t willing to chance it, either.

An hour later, I’d convinced myself that nothing topped the high of going a buck on an open road until I flew through the gates of McNamara manor and found Ever waiting at the end of the drive. I kept my bike pointed in his direction and was slower than I should have been to decelerate. Ever didn’t flinch when I finally braked a mere foot away. Shame. While I knew he wouldn’t shit himself, I was hoping he’d at least break a sweat. I plucked off number six, a yellow and black open-faced helmet bearing the Eye of Providence and the Hamsa, and smoothed my flyaways back—something I never would have cared about before—before meeting his gaze.

“Something the matter?”

He nodded toward the helmet now resting between the handlebars. “I didn’t take you for a religious person.”