Page 86 of Vicious Luna
“Anyone need a refill?” Andie asks as she pushes up out of the water, climbing onto the bank and heading for the nearest bottle of wine.
“I’ll take one,” I reply, holding up my plastic cup.
Chey and Sloane do the same, and Andie works her way around the edge of the pool with the wine, tipping some into each of our cups before upending the rest of the bottle into her own. Then she slides back into the water, turning to set hercup on the stone edge and swiveling back around to face me. “Okay, so say when,” she deadpans, holding her hands in front of her again and slowly spreading them.
“Andie!” Lo laughs, splashing water in her direction.
“What? Don’t act like you’re not wondering the same thing!”
I raise my cup to my lips to cover my giggle.
“Where’s Cam at today, anyways?” River asks.
“I left him with Madd,” I mumble between sips of wine.
She hisses in a breath through her teeth, wincing. “Ouch. Still torturing him, huh?”
I shrug, smiling slyly as I lower my cup. “Only a little.”
“So have you decided what you’re gonna do?” Cheyenne asks as she hops up to sit on the edge next to Riv.
I give a little shake of my head. “Still trying to figure that out,” I murmur, staring down into my cup. “I mean, it’s not like I can actually mate with him, right? Everyone knows who he is. That he used to be one ofthem.”
“Since when do you care what anyone else thinks?” Andie snorts.
I lift my head, cutting her a glare. “Idon’t, but it’s not that simple. He can’t stay, and I’m not leaving. This is my home.”
“You really think Madd wouldn’t let him stay if that’s what you wanted?” Lo asks, cocking a brow. “Your brother would do literally anything for you, Aves. You should’ve seen the way he was when you were captured.”
Sloane pales, bumping her arm into mine. “She’s right. I’ve never seen him like that.”
“I have,” Lo says solemnly. “Only once, after the accident.”
I can’t help but cringe at the reminder of the time Sloane and Madd hijacked the ski-lift at the old lodge as teenagers. Sloane almost died when she fell from it; that’s how she got her scar.
Her throat bobs with a hard swallow as she reaches up to brush her hair in front of her temple, as if covering the scarwill also conceal the memory. “If that’s what you really wanted, you know Madd would come around,” Sloane says confidently. “As long as you're happy.”
I slide my gaze between my friends, and they’re all just staring at me expectantly, awaiting my answer. So I push off from the edge and dunk my head underwater. I can’t tell them what I’m going to do about Cam because I still have no fucking idea how to handle this mess I’ve found myself in, and talking about the future won’t change the past.
I let my body go weightless beneath the water’s surface, not pushing up again until my lungs seize for air. As soon as I reemerge, I suck in a greedy gulp of oxygen, slicking my hair back and blinking water from my lashes as I glance around at my friends. “What?” I ask innocently.
“Girl, please,” Andie laughs, throwing out a hand to splash me.
I dodge out of the way, splashing her back. “Hey, I thought I was here to relax, not get grilled about my situationship.”
“Is that what we’re calling fated mates these days?” Lo teases.
I wave her off with an eyeroll. “You know what I mean.”
“Well, I like him,” River declares, kicking her feet in the water from her perch on the pool’s edge.
I turn my gaze on her, arching a dubious brow. “Spend one day with the guy and you come to that conclusion?”
Her lips peel back from her teeth in a grin. “Yeah, I’m good at reading people.”
“Speaking of reading people,” Andie cuts in, glancing over at my bestie, “Sloane, give us the real tea.”
She smiles shyly, curls bouncing around her face as she shakes her head. “Even if I had some, you know I couldn’t.”