Page 108 of Hard Rain

Beth shook her head.

Boone stopped outside his suite and pulled a key card from his pocket. “Coffee downstairs at eight-thirty if you want it,” he said as he unlocked the door. “Be ready to work.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Nighty night,” Beth called as she disappeared into her own room across the hall.

Whip, Axel, and Knox continued down the hallway to their suite.

The suite looked exactly the way Whip remembered. The living room wasn’t much larger than his own back home, but compared to the motel rooms they’d spent the last week rotating through, it felt downright spacious. A couch faced the television, a small kitchenette occupied one wall, and three bedroom doors branched off the common area.

“Well,” Knox announced. “I get dibs on the room farthest from Axel.”

Axel looked over.

“…Why?”

“I enjoy sleeping.”

Axel frowned.

“I don’t snore.”

“No,” Knox said. “You talk.”

“I do?”

Whip smiled.

“Oh, yeah.”

Axel looked genuinely surprised.

“I’ve never heard me.”

“Exactly.”

Knox grabbed the bedroom nearest the front door.

The door shut.

Just like that.

Their eyes met.

Axel planted one hand on the wall near his head and leaned in closer.

“I’m done waiting.”

“So am I,” he said, gripping Axel’s hips.

“So…” he said. “Mine or yours?”

Whip smiled.

“Does it matter?”

Axel smiled back. “Yeah. Whoever has the bigger bed.”