Chapter 1
ONE
KOA
What the fuck is this?
“Gentlemen,” Finn begins but he’s cut off by my twin, being an arsehole as usual.
“Wankers,” Kai corrects him, causing him to chuckle.
“Gentlewankers, may I present to you, this year’s challenge?”
I wait and watch with bated breath as Finn, the flashy prick, lays out his cards. In the blink of an eye, the entire suit of hearts is laid out in order – Ace high, not low. Then he adds a Joker to the end of the line.
He splays his hands out in an et voila motion and stares at us expectantly. ‘Feels Like Summer’ by Samuel Jack is playing in the background and we’re enjoying a few beers before the season officially begins with our annual launch party tomorrow. Summer starts and so does the challenge.
Whatever it is.
Kai catches my eye sending a what the fuck look my way. Yeah, I don’t get it either.
Every summer Finn comes to stay at our hotel while his father travels the globe on business, and every summer since we were six years old, it’s been the same: we compete all summer long in a challenge of some sort.
Some reckless, some downright dangerous, and all of them guaranteed to push us to our limits.
In the early, slightly more innocent days, it was stupid shit like who could steal the most food from the kitchens without getting caught and taking a beating from Cook.
As we got older the stakes were raised to stealing from the guests – though the others never knew that I always dropped the majority of items back in the lost and found.
And once we were old enough and our designations emerged – and ever since really – the challenges were purely physical. Sexual. Downright sinful.
The cards don’t make any sense.
“I knew I’d have to explain to you two twats how this works.” He sighs and leans forward in his chair, pointing to the two of hearts. “It’s poker, yes? We play all summer to collect cards and at the end, we each put forward our best five card hand. The best or highest hand wins.”
I narrow my eyes, knowing that I’m missing something. Finn’s a fickle, but adventurous and kinky, son of a bitch, so there’s no way he wants to waste our final summer together playing poker.
“So what’s the best hand?” Kai asks.
“A royal flush of course,” Finn counters without missing a beat.
“And how do we get one?” Kai presses.
“Well, each card represents a smaller summer challenge. You complete the challenge associated with the card, you win that card for your hand.”
Okay, that makes a little more sense.
My brother nods his head in understanding. “So the royal flush would be—”
“The most difficult challenges to complete. Correct.”
“Alright. So what are we betting with this year?”
“A hundred grand buy in to play. Plus 2k a day each in the kitty to fund the creativity.” Finn’s grin spreads wide, a glint in his eye that’s more dangerous than mischievous. “Then there’s the prizes.”
Something about it sits wrong.
Not the challenge itself – we’ve done worse. Much worse.
But there’s a restless edge under my skin that wasn’t there five minutes ago. A prickle of something sharp and unfamiliar that makes it hard to settle back in my chair.
Like this summer isn’t going to play out the way it’s supposed to.
“Go on…” I say apprehensively.
“If I win, you sign over your shares of the Butler empire to me.”
“Done,” my reckless brother agrees before I can stop him.
“Koa, you too,” Finn adds.
There’s no way we can let that happen. Our great-great-grandparents built their legacy from nothing, and unlike my arrogant twin, who believes he can only ever win, I’m not about to risk losing it all on a bet. Especially a legacy that’s not mine to give away.
I shake my head and shoot my twin a hard look. “No deal, Finn. Pick something else.”
“Boo, you’re no fun. Okay, well if I get Kai’s I guess I don’t need yours, though it would have been nice to have the majority share to really stick it to Sol.”
Sol’s our older brother. Uptight, controlling, and every inch the dominant alpha. He wants little to do with the business, preferring to make it on his own as a university lecturer, but he still returns every summer to help at the resort. Begrudgingly.
He’s always on our asses about the fun we have and the way we choose to live our lives, telling us to pack up and settle down. Which is rich coming from him, the eternally lone alpha.
My plan this summer is to stay as far out of his way as possible.
“Never gonna happen,” I repeat, shaking my head. I won’t risk the Butler empire on a whim of stupid summer fun. “You’re not having either share. They’re not on the table for this.”
“Fine, pussy. If I win I want Kai’s car.”
“Which one?” Kai demands, already sounding wounded. His cars are his pride and joy. The idiot would rather sign away our entire legacy than one of his precious babies.
I scoff. Unlike my brother, material possessions mean nothing to me. Well, almost all material possessions…
“All of them. And Koa? I’ll take your surfboards.”
I grit my teeth and agree, because losing the only items that I care about – my collection of boards from our travels around the globe – is still better than signing away our family business.
I catch Kai’s eye and a moment of silent agreement passes between us, then we accept Finn’s terms. It’s not like we’ll let him win anyway.
“What do we get if we win?” Kai asks Finn thoughtfully.
“What do you want?”
I jump in before my idiot twin can ask for something stupid and pointless. “If I win, Kai’s taking all of my shifts for the rest of the year, including the holidays.” He groans dramatically.
My brother hates work. Why not hit him where it hurts? Demanding his collection of expensive sports cars is pointless; they’re all replaceable. Making him work for a living is a true punishment for the lazy and the feckless.
I turn to our best friend and continue, “And you, Finn, have to drop out of Oxford and tell your father that you’re coming to Alderbridge with us instead.”
A beat of silence.
Finn’s cocky mask flickers, something vulnerable beneath it.
We all know he wants to come with us, but his father has his life mapped out.
I’d be doing him a favour really, by winning this bet.
He even has an unconditional offer on hold to attend Alderbridge because his grades are literally perfect – but his father is making him follow in his footsteps at Oxford, reading a subject he has zero interest in or passion for.
“Impossible,” Finn chuckles but it sounds forced. There’s a tightness around the corner of his eyes that wasn’t there a moment ago. I hope he knows I’m doing this for him. “But as it’s never going to happen, I’ll accept. Kai, your terms?”
“When I win,” he begins. I punch him in the arm and he grins at me. “When I win, I’ll take half of your trust fund, Finn.”
“Only half? So generous,” Finn quips. “Deal.”
“How ever will he survive with only a cool five bil to his name?” I snort derisively.
Our family is rich. Millionaires based on our assets alone rather than actual funds in the bank, but there’s no denying that Finn and his father run in completely different circles to us.
He likes to joke that we keep him grounded when he slums it with us in the summer.
Of course Finn wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at losing five billion pounds to my brother.
Fifty percent of his trust fund doesn’t even make a dent on what he has already, or what he’s set to inherit when his dickhead of a father passes away.
“I’d never leave you destitute, mate. Your face ain’t pretty enough to make a living off.”
“But my dick is,” Finn quips. We all laugh, the tension of a moment ago bleeding away.
“Yeah, yeah, poor little rich boy with an even littler dick,” Kai gripes goodnaturedly before turning to me with a hard glint in his eye. “And Koa? When I win, I’m not sure what I’ll take from you yet. But it’ll hurt. I’ll make sure of that.”
I believe him. We may be twins, both alphas, but we couldn’t be more different. Kai takes pleasure in hurting others, whereas I prefer to love them. Usually we get along pretty well – mostly because I prefer to avoid conflict – but every once in a while we come to blows.
The tension has been growing between us since last summer when he stole my girl and broke my heart.
At least, that’s how I felt at the time.
Now I’m not so sure it was love. More like, disappointment and betrayal that my brother couldn’t just let me have one thing for myself, even for a few short sun and fun-filled months. Dickhead.
“So what do each of these cards stand for then?” Kai asks, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
Finn’s smile turns delighted as he grins at us. “I thought you’d never ask.”
I scrub a hand over my jaw, trying to shake it off. It’s nothing. Just the start of summer. The usual bullshit.
Still, there’s a pull in my chest I can’t quite place. Low and insistent. Gone as quickly as it comes, leaving nothing behind but the faintest sense that something’s already shifted. I don’t know why but for the first time in years, I’m not looking forward to competing.