Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“I pulled all of you into this. I am responsible if anything happens to you,” he whispers back.
I full-on meet his gaze. “You pulled in people who’ve done this their whole lives. Chill.”
Jake sits like he’s on the verge of storming a castle. I swear he and Nova together could be a pair of unrelenting legionaries.
Oliver bobs his head to the beat of nothing. “How many scenarios are there total?”
Nova thumbs pages. “I have all the way to R.”
“And we’re stuck on C?” Phoebe groans.
“Like I was saying,” I tell Jake. “Five hours.”
He twists off the cap of a Pellegrino. “I have nowhere better to be.” I hold his determined gaze. His homelife is chaos and power plays, and mine wasn’t that far off.
We’re doing this together.
“What are we calling him?” Trevor tilts his head to Jake. “You have to have a name.”
“You’re the professionals.” Jake stares around at us. “You tell me.”
We all look to Hailey.
She’s thoughtful. “It’s not that you’re rich. It’s that you have the keys to the town. The one true heir.” She says, “The King.”
Phoebe is grinning from ear to ear with Hailey, like we’ve officially just included a new person in our childhood clubhouse.
I’m not mad about it. I wonder if it’s because Jake isn’t someone I was taught to protect. He’s been trying to help me. To look out for me.
Jake smiles at the girls, then turns to me. “You said I’m not a real king yet.”
“You will be.”
He has to be. This can’t be all for nothing.
Nova tosses him a phone. “It’s your burner. We’ll give you our numbers. Memorize them. When you text us, you’ll use a crown at the end of your messages.”
“I have a serious question.” Trevor sits up now.
Nova folds the cover of his notebook. “Go ahead.”
“Oliver and Hailey—they should bunk up, and I should take Oliver’s bed.”
My arm falls off Phoebe. Jesus Christ. Here we go.
Oliver chews the grisly chicken slowly. “Was there a question in there?”
Jake wipes his hands with a napkin. Tension in his shoulders.
“It’s more of a serious suggestion,” Trevor says, “now that we know you’re boning my sister.”
“Oh God,” Hailey mutters, hiding beneath her book and sinking in the chair. “It’s just casual.”
Trevor gapes. “No way this is just casual.”
“It is.” Hailey drops her book to her lap.
“Then casually share a bed.”
No one says a thing.
Until now, I haven’t heard Trevor complain about crashing on the couch. Whenever I spend the night at the loft, I let Trevor take my vacant bed at the boathouse. Essentially, he’s been bouncing between Hailey’s place and mine.
Oliver and Hailey share a short glance. I think Oliver would share a bed with her indefinitely in a heartbeat, but not if it’d cause her more distress.
“She can stay at my apartment,” Jake offers.
Now Oliver pops the lid onto his container and wanders to the fridge. He’s avoiding. My sister looks ready to coexist with the chair cushion.
Before I butt in, Phoebe says loudly, “She’s not moving, and no one is moving in with her. Because I can live at the boathouse. Trevor can take my room.”
“No,” about everyone says at once.
“Moving in with your ex-husband?” Nova shakes his head at her. “Fuck no. We’re not putting your fake relationship in jeopardy. The entire reason Oliver and I are still rooming with Rocky is so you two can have time together.”
It’s been the best alibi for why Phoebe constantly visits the boathouse. They’re living with me for their sister. Phoebe rooming with Hailey is also the only reason I can stay at the loft.
Phoebe must feel a sense of guilt. Our relationship is causing this mess, and she’s never really been selfish. But this isn’t the first time we’ve all lived on top of each other.
Though, around this time, we’d be packing our bags and switching cities.
“Is the loft even safe anymore?” Oliver asks from the kitchen, since I told everyone about Varrick seeking to purchase it.
“I’ll talk to my mother about it,” Jake assures us.
“It’s safe for now,” Phoebe chimes in. “We don’t need to add find a new home on top of this job. Especially when this home is free…” She trails off in thought, then looks to Jake. “And maybe I could…with…”
The bottom of my stomach drops. “No. You’re not living with him.”
“He wouldn’t mind.”
“I mind.” She’d only be doing it to take one for the fucking team, and this is not it. I elbow Jake in the ribs. “You going to revoke that offer to our girlfriend, sweetheart?”
“You can’t stay at my place, Phoebe,” Jake tells her flat out.
I smile dryly at her, satisfied.
She threads her arms and peers past me to tell Jake, “Rocky has you wrapped around his finger. You realize that?”
“We just have mutual interests.”
“Which would be?”
“Protecting you.”
Phoebe’s shoulders slacken. Yeah, she would live with him, but she doesn’t want to. We both know that. Because living with Jake means I can’t sneak into her bedroom anymore. It’ll drastically limit our time together.