Chapter 22: Killian

Killian wasn't a fool.

He had not made it this far in his life by being one and he had not made his career out of misunderstanding people. Not in his industry. All that to say, he was fairly certain he knew what was going on.

He knew that Maia liked him and he knew that she was putting her all into pretending she didn't. He knew Eloise liked him—at least, the idea of him—and was putting her all into getting his attention. He knew Silas was gone for Eloise and that Leith was gone for Willow and that neither of them really knew how close to falling their girls were.

He knew that Maxon didn't really like anyone but he did like Danica's body and he liked her status even more. He knew that Danica was enjoying her time in the manor but hadn't planned on finding a love match. He knew that Cora was hardly interested in playing the game. And, finally, he knew that Foster liked pretty much everybody and would probably couple up with the potted tree in the corner if given half a chance.

Killian felt good about his read on the manor. But that didn't necessarily change his situation. The one where his chance to fall in love was slipping through his fingers. He'd been excited about coupling with Maia at the end of that first week. And he'd thought she'd been excited, too. They'd talked and laughed every morning, had moved through the manor with a smoothness that only came from being with someone that made you feel safe.

That excitement had quadrupled, at least, once they'd kissed that first time. How quickly it shriveled and died when she spewed that shit about being friends. Normally, he wouldn't begrudge anyone their choices when it came to who they dated and who they offered their trust and their body to. But Maia wasn't as impressive a bullshitter as she fancied herself.

She wanted him.

What he couldn't figure out was why she wouldn't let herself have him.

So Killian had resolved to give her what she wanted. It was the honorable thing, even though it left him without a real partner.

And being without a partner was unfortunate in the manor. Especially so when they were gathered around a low fire and asked to play a game. Maia read the card in her hand with her usual brand of disinterest and Killian tried not to pout.

"Kiss the Honeymooner you think is the best in bed."

Maia shrugged from where she sat next to Killian and stood. He saw how she peeked at him before stomping over to Maxon and dipping her head in for a kiss. Maxon dropped his arm from Danica almost immediately in favor of gripping Maia's chin for leverage. She broke away when the man's tongue began to slip out.

Killian thought he might have cracked some teeth with how hard he was clenching his jaw by the time she returned to the space she vacated. She tried to ignore him, crossing her legs at the ankles and facing anywhere but towards him. Evidently, though, she got tired of being watched and gestured impatiently for Killian to take his turn.

He plucked a card from the middle and read to the group, "Give a hickey to the Honeymooner you find most attractive."

Killian couldn't help himself from finding a camera and shooting it a glare. He hoped Carter saw it. A kiss was one thing, sure, but it felt strange to him to bruise someone who hadn't asked for it. And what a shitty position to put him in. Maia refused to meet his eyes when he stood and he wasn't about to inflict a hickey upon her without her consent.

Eloise might be an easy enough choice but he hadn't really gotten to know the girl and it felt shitty to acquaint himself with her neck before he acquainted himself with her. So where did that leave the other girls?

Killian sighed internally, knowing his decision was a copout. "Neck out, Foster," he declared. "Lemme at it."

The contestants behind him cheered when his lips hit Foster's neck and Foster made a good show of moaning appropriately.

"Don't be jealous, Cora," Foster called out while Killian was still latched on. "You can have the other side."

Killian saw a hand raise in his periphery and he was sure Cora was extending a middle finger. "No point in playing if I've already lost first place," she lamented.

Finding it in him to return to his playful self, Killian released Foster with a pop. "I couldn't help myself. You understand, surely."

The Honeymooners snickered as he returned to his seat and held his hand out for Eloise to grab. She wasn't tall enough to reach the stack of cards without getting up and she smiled at him gratefully when she smoothed down the paper-thin fabric of her dress.

He almost wished he had never even met Maia, if it was going to come to this, so he could crack on with Eloise. She was a gorgeous girl, really. Sweet as hell. And she actually liked him. But how could he regret meeting Maia? Yeah, it made his heart hurt to know they'd gotten to this point of avoiding one another but would he really trade that short time they did have?

He didn't think so.

Eloise stepped forward and read the next card, stuttering over the first part. "Give a—a lap dance to the Honeymooner of your choice."

Killian's heart squeezed. He hated this for her. He doubted she'd ever given a lap dance in her life—especially if she'd had her first kiss only last week. A lap dance was one of those things a person had to have confidence for and Eloise always seemed a little too concerned with pleasing everyone else to grab onto that confidence with both hands.

She turned towards him, her eyes flickering in the moonlight and the smoke from the fire. Damn. He didn't even know the color of her eyes. He really hoped she wasn't planning on giving him the dance. He didn't deserve it, if he hadn't even really gotten to know her face.

He straightened, though, when she kept looking. If she did choose him, he wasn't going to bust that confidence by rejecting her. He'd be kind and encouraging and he would try not to think about how someone as sweet as her shouldn't be subjected to this.

Her staring, it turned out, was as measuring as Killian's and she bet against him in the end, turning instead to Silas. And, of course, she would. Clearly, the two spent a lot of time together. They got in bed together every night. Who else would make her feel safe enough to dance like that?

When Eloise began dancing, though, Killian was man enough to admit he'd been wrong. Apparently, her sweetness was not enough to get in the way of her giving a killer lap dance. She stood in front of Silas, her back to him and her feet planted in a wide stance as she swiveled her hips.

She bent forward, her hands on her ankles, and Killian couldn't exactly see from where he sat but he was certain that her dress couldn't be covering anything important. Silas choked and it was instinct for Killian to turn to Maia to share a conspiratory smile but only found her glaring at him.

Oh-kay.

Before returning his gaze to the show, he took stock of the other contestants, finding nearly every single one rapt with attention on the girl ninety percent of them had deemed closer to a little sister than a potential partner.

Eloise embarked on the slow process of straightening out, her hands never leaving her skin. They trailed up her legs twisting to the insides of her thighs where Silas could see them. It was then that she began the lap part of this lap dance, spinning to place her hands on Silas's shoulders and placing a knee on either side of his hips.

Her hands swept up from his shoulder to his neck, hooking around him with one hand while she removed her other to brush her hair off her own neck. The position had her dress riding up and Killian made to look away politely. Only, he didn't ultimately have to because there Silas's hands were, yanking down the hem of her dress before settling on her ass.

She rolled her body against his, bouncing once, then twice.

"That's—fuck, maneater. That's enough."

Eloise didn't seem to care too much about being cut short. Only slipped off Silas's lap and settled back into her spot. She beamed at the group, rearranging her hair back into its styled mane. "How'd I do?" she asked cheerily.

The contestants erupted into applause for the girl and Killian wondered if they were also realizing what a disservice they'd been doing to her every time they thought of her as innocent. Maybe he could try things out with her, Killian thought. Maybe not everything was so black and white as he'd imagined.

"Your turn," Eloise told Silas, poking him in the side.

He stared down at her like she'd just told him the grass was purple. "I think we all need a minute," he gruffed.

Danica fanned herself. "Can we have a break to go change our panties?"

"Need help?" Maxon wagged his eyebrows.

She pushed his shoulder, using her other hand to swipe the icy strands of her hair away from her face. "Managed on my own thus far."

Again, Killian sought Maia out for commentary and found her sharing a moment with Eloise. Maia was smirking and Eloise was blushing, both of them making some nonsensical motions with their hands.

Why wouldn't she give any of that attention to Killian? She was the one who'd said they'd make good friends.

Stupidly, he whispered in Maia's direction, "Impressive, wasn't it?"

Maia's hands stilled as she met his eyes. "Noticed that, did you?"

Hmm. Maybe he was a fool.

"Everyone did," he defended. "Didn't they?"

"Yep. Turns out Eloise is a multi-dimensional person capable of being both her cute-as-hell self and a sexual being."

Killian wasn't sure exactly what he'd done to earn this verbal whipping from Maia but it was better than her not speaking to him at all.

"Never said she wasn't," he agreed, and then began teasing before he could think better of it. Before he could temper his frustration with her and come up with something that wasn't a window into his actual feelings. "How many dimensions do you have, Maia? Just friend or foe hiding in there, or is there more?"

"Just the two," she snapped. "Keep it up and we'll reduce it back to one."

Somehow, he didn't imagine the one she referred to was the friend one.

He opened his mouth to respond but Maia patted his arm roughly with the back of her hand and pointed at Silas, who'd collected his own card and read it for the group.

"Kiss the Honeymooner you trust the least."

A chorus of oohs sounded. What a strange card for Silas to get, considering he kept mostly to himself when he wasn't trailing after Eloise. Killian briefly wondered if Silas would kiss them all.

The man studied the group and Killian noticed the way he lingered on Maxon. That would be who Killian might kiss, if he'd drawn the card. He had no doubt that Maxon's behavior read as genuine cheek on camera but he tended to make the rest of them a tad uncomfortable.

It made Killian sad, really, because Maxon's presence made Danica difficult to get to know. Danica seemed great, from what he could tell in group settings. She didn't have that socialite air to her, didn't think she was better than everyone else. She was open about her stint in rehab and her dry humor usually had them all laughing. Yet, she'd somehow gotten caught up with the guy everyone thought was a sleazeball.

Silas didn't choose the sleazeball, much to Killian's surprise. Instead, Silas leaned over Killian and pecked him efficiently, right on the lips.

Killian might take offense, if the other man's motivations weren't so clear. It wasn't that Silas didn't trust him as a person, he guessed. It was that Silas didn't trust him with Eloise. Eloise, who was staring at the two of them with her hands clasped over her mouth. But how did Killian let Silas know that he currently had no intentions of getting close enough to Eloise to hurt her without offending the girl?

He didn't.

Instead, he took the warning for what it was and nodded once towards Silas. Silas did not get the same treatment from Eloise, her mouth moving furiously at his ear once he'd sat back down. She had to extend herself to reach him and Killian wanted to laugh at the way Silas contorted himself to get chewed out.

He was probably used to it by now with how often he pissed her off.

Leith was oblivious to Silas's lashing when he picked up his own card, reading, "Act out your favorite sex position with a Honeymooner of your choice."

The man was conflicted, that much Killian could tell. He weighed Willow's reaction to the task but when she only winked, he collected her hand and walked her to the other side of the fire. Killian felt like he was watching something he shouldn't, the way Leith laid her down on the grass, pinning her wrists above her head with one hand. With his other hand, he wrapped his fingers around the back of her knee and pushed it up to her chest and then out. Leith settled himself between Willow's legs, his body blocking all the areas where her dress had hiked up.

In all honesty, Killian could see very little once he'd gotten her into position, the mass of his body nearly blocking her out. All he could see was the slow pump of Leith's hips and his profile as he stared down at Willow. She said something that sent him chuckling as he rolled off of her.

Willow hopped to her feet and held out a hand for her partner, who took it but really did most of the work in getting himself up off the ground. To the group, she said, "I don't really know what you guys expect from me after that."

"At least you didn't have to follow Eloise," Danica deadpanned.

Willow laughed and collected her card, reading, "Kiss the Honeymooners who you think are in the least compatible couple."

The girl's face fell immediately and, again, Killian was furious at whoever'd come up with this game, whoever had written these cards. Yes, he understood that the viewers probably wanted drama. And he understood that certain steps needed to be taken to achieve that. But, Christ, did people have to get hurt to manage it?

From the corner of his eye, he saw Maia's hands moving. A back and forth motion between them, maybe. He turned to catch her arctic eyes only to find her nodding in Willow's direction. And then Willow was over him, gently grasping his chin and placing her lips on his before sliding to Maia and doing the same.

She couldn't be serious.

She'd chosen him and Maia over Foster and Cora? Or Maxon and Danica?

Well, of course she had. Because Maia had fucking told her to.

He stopped himself from seething, at least outwardly. He couldn't be mad at Willow for this, for protecting herself from the others' wrath. It wasn't her fault she'd chosen him. But Killian really didn't think that his only kisses of the night should be from the other Honeymooners insulting him.

He didn't deserve that, that much he knew. And Maia didn't seem very keen on treating him how he deserved.

So maybe it was time to move on, for real.

Eloise rested a placating hand on his shoulder, her brows pinched in. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

No more pining over someone who doesn't want you, he reminded himself. You're not a fool.

He turned towards Eloise, angled his body away from Maia, and smiled.