Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“I’d already considered marriage as a possibility,” she admits, sinking back onto the couch beside me. “I know…I know feelings are…involved.” She shies from Oliver and Jake.
I shoot Oliver a deadpan look, like Oh, but I thought it was just sex.
He waves at me like I’m sending him a gift basket and not an I told you so.
Hailey continues, “But this really is the best shot we have at finishing what we started. We’d be smart to take it. We’d be stupid not to.”
We all process in a quiet beat. Jake is careened forward, his fingers steepled to his lips. His eyes ping around us, as if expecting one of us to shoot this down.
He zeroes in on me. “What happened to ‘it’s not fucking happening’?”
“It’s nothing we haven’t done before.”
“If it were Phoebe—”
“We’ve been through this,” I snap at him, my blood igniting just picturing Phoebe springing out of her chair and trying to take this from Hailey. There is no fucking scenario where she could take this on without major irreparable consequences.
There must be a God, because I don’t have to talk Phoebe into walking away. She did that on her own.
I can live inside excruciating pain, but not a world where Trent has her. That would’ve fucking killed me.
If she didn’t back down, I would’ve manipulated Phoebe into not taking this role (being brutally honest). I would’ve done anything so she’d drop this bomb.
It’s not that I don’t love Hailey. It’s that the risks are much different. So are the desires, but just to be certain, I ask Hailey, “Do you want to do this?”
“Yes.”
I nod hard. “The second Trent puts a hand on you, this is over,” I warn her. “The job is off. I’m only agreeing to it on the flimsy fucking notion that he’ll see you solely as a piggy bank to Varrick’s inheritance and not a pair of legs he wants to slide between.”
“O-okay, Rocky.” Her widened eyes dart over to Oliver and Jake.
“You’re embarrassing our sister,” Trevor tells me.
Oliver’s lips quirk.
Jake’s eyes soften on her, but he intakes a sharp breath through his nose. He’s acting like we’re throwing her into a pit of vipers. He either thinks Hailey can’t handle this job like Phoebe can—because Jake did not show this same level of worry for Phoebe—or he’s just very much in love with my sister.
Hailey’s cheeks are still splotchy red. Yeah…she must really like them if she’s getting this bashful. I’m just glad she’s not so deep in her thoughts that she can blush from this.
She manages to sit up and face Jake. “I want to prove to myself, and maybe to all of you, that I’m better. Every day, I’m getting better. I can handle this mentally. I can take this on. I-I know I’ve been a burden to the team lately—”
“Hailey Tinrock,” Phoebe chastises, “you are not a burden.”
“I haven’t pulled my weight.”
I scrunch my face at her. “You literally figured out I’m a Wolfe.”
“I just need this, please.” She’s beseeching Jake. He’s the only one digging his heels in the sand. “It’s not like I’m pretending to be someone I’m not. I get to be the most me there is. The girl that Trent finds off-putting. Who knows? It might actually be fun.” She looks to Phoebe for encouragement.
Who, of course, is going to dole out a Mack Truck–sized one: “Fucking over Trent is fun.”
I cut in. “Being around Trent is the opposite of fun.”
“When has Rocky ever had fun?” Oliver teases.
“You can’t seriously be okay with this?” Jake asks Oliver with actual blazing heat. Jesus, are they in a real fucking love triangle?
Oliver pushes off the wall. “Running scenarios with Hailey to prep her for a high-risk, epic showdown? It sounds better than a summer blockbuster.”
Hailey smiles over at him.
“You mean that geeky little movie Nova missed the premiere of,” I pipe in.
“The Avengers,” Nova retorts, “probably headed to be one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.”
“Dork.”
“Asshole.”
We share a subtle smile, which seems to pull one out of everyone else. Everyone but Jake. Until Trevor says, “We are pretty much the Avengers. Just less G-rated. More badass. Like Dark Avengers.”
“That’s not a thing,” I say.
“It is, actually.” Nova smiles—really smiles in a way I haven’t seen since we were young, a time before his mom dated dickhead after dickhead mark—and he laughs to himself, his tough brown eyes rising to meet us. “They’re a group of villains who impersonate the Avengers.”
“So…frauds.” I raise and lower my brows.
Phoebe has an all too smitten smile. She does love the counterfeit. It makes my lips rise higher.
Oliver grins. “If the shoe fits…”
“Wear it,” Hailey finishes.
He winks at her.
I’ve never seen myself as a vigilante, but for Jake, imagining he’s this summer’s hammer-wielding superhero might keep him from wanting to rip his hair out. Trent isn’t just a mark; he’s the older brother Jake despises, so this is another level of fucked-up for him.