by Callie Rose
And she can’t know.
So I don’t know quite what to say to her.
“Hey, Low?” Her voice is softer, concern creeping into her tone. “You there?”
“Yeah.” My eyes burn, and I squeeze them shut, but a few tears slip out anyway. “I miss my mom,” I whisper. “I miss her so fucking much I can’t breathe sometimes.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line for several beats. But it’s a nice kind of silence. The kind that means Hunter would be hugging the shit out of me if she were here right now.
“I’m sorry,” she says finally. “That sucks so much.”
“Yeah.” I drag in a deep breath and release it, forcing my body to relax. “But it’ll be okay. It has to be.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it will.”
We talk for a while longer, and I tell her about how my mom thinks maybe Judge Hollowell could help her, but that I don’t know if I should say anything to him. At least that’s one little thing I can share with Hunter, and it feels good to talk openly and get her advice. Then we move on to lighter topics, and I can tell she’s trying to distract me and cheer me up as she fills me in on the stupid shit my old classmates have been up to.
It helps.
Hunter’s always been good at that—at knowing when I need to talk about something and when I need to talk about anything but that thing.
The phone is still pressed to my ear, but my fingers and legs are starting to get cold. I’m about to stand up to head back inside when I hear a noise behind me and look up sharply.
Lincoln stands near the door to the house, his face cast in shadows. The last hints of daylight were fading when I stepped out here, and it grew fully dark while I was talking to Hunter.
The striking boy in the tuxedo crooks a finger, beckoning me, and my body is moving before I even think.
“Hey, dummy? I gotta go.”
“Okay.” She sighs into the phone. “I hope you feel better.”
“I do. Thanks. You’re the best.”
“Love you, Low.”
“Love you back.”
I press the button to end the call just as I reach Lincoln, who’s been watching and listening silently. When I stop in front of him, he drops his head to kiss me once on the lips, not touching any other part of me. Then he jerks his chin back toward the house before turning and walking inside.
Accepting his unspoken invitation, I follow after him, tossing my wadded up napkin in a wastebasket as we walk by. He makes his way toward the west wing of the house, turning down the hallway that leads to the pool room.
When we step inside, Dax, Chase, and River are already gathered at one end of the pool, lounging on the padded chairs in their suits and tuxes. The sight of it is so incongruous that it makes me smile. They look like they’re here for some kind of edgy editorial photo shoot—and halfway through the shoot, they’ll end up jumping in the pool in their fancy formalwear, because the rich and famous just don’t give a fuck.
“What’s up?” I ask, quirking a brow as I glance from Lincoln to the other three.
“We ditched out on the cocktail party a little earlier than usual. Decided to make it a pool party instead,” Dax says with a shrug.
“Yeah. We thought it might be a shitty night for you, so we decided to make it better.” Chase grins.
His words hit me in the chest, harder than I was prepared for, and I gape at the four boys gathered in the pool house as a pleasurable ache squeezes my heart.
They did this for me.
Because of the party.
Because of what happened at the last party.
Because my mom’s still in jail, and sometimes just thinking about that makes me want to curl up into a little ball.
They know.
They understand.
14
I swallow down the lump in my throat, grinning back at Chase. “Thanks.”
He waggles his eyebrows, loosening his tie before pulling it off entirely. When he starts unbuttoning his shirt, I glance at the other guys to see that they’re all doing the same.
“Um, what…?”
“You can’t really have a pool party without getting in the pool, Low,” Chase tells me, as if that should be perfectly fucking obvious.
He finishes unbuttoning his shirt and tugs the ends from his slacks. For a moment, all I can see of his torso is a line of sculpted, muscled skin in the space where his shirt hangs open. Then he slips his jacket and dress shirt off, draping them over the back of one of the lounge chairs.
The others are all doing the same, and when River’s hands move to unbuckle his belt and flick the button open on his pants, my heart rate kicks up into high gear.
I was right about them jumping in the pool—I was just wrong about how much they’d be wearing when they did.
He kicks off his shoes, leaving his pants unbuttoned and unzipped while he reaches down to tug off his socks. And then the pants go too, and he’s left in nothing but a pair of nice black boxer briefs that leave way too little to the imagination.
My teeth clamp down hard on my bottom lip as I watch, waiting to see if anything else is going to come off, torn between hope and panic at the thought that it might.
“Dude. I think your dick hypnotized her,” Chase says with a laugh, and my entire body jerks as I rip my gaze away from River’s crotch.
Motherfucker. I was full-on staring at his dick, like I was waiting for it to do a magic trick.
Or… something.
A heavy flush makes my face burn, and I shake my head, about to call Chase out for being an asshole—but when I glance over at him, there’s so much heat in his eyes alongside the humor that the words die on my lips. My flush grows deeper, but now the reason for it is entirely different.
All the guys stopped at their underwear, not taking off more than that. Which is good, because even though it’s unlikely any adults will wander away from the party and into the pool house, we’ll be less likely to get in trouble if we’re not completely naked.
Besides, this gives me a fighting chance of keeping my shit together.
Arms wrap around my waist from behind, and Lincoln’s breath teases my hair as his lips brush my ear. “What do you want, Low? Do you want to go swimming? With all of us?”
My body is pressed flush to him, and I can feel that he’s a little hard, his semi-erect cock pressing against my ass. The answering heat that flashes through my body is so intense it almost bowls me over, and I grab onto his muscled forearms for support.
I can’t help but think he’s remembering the conversation we had while he was inside me a couple weeks ago, when I asked him if the four of them had ever shared. That this is him offering me a chance to dip my toe into that water—literally, I guess.
Lincoln’s hands splay across my stomach, his touch both supportive and possessive, and I glance at the other three boys as I consider my answer. They’re all watching me too.
Clear gray eyes.
Green eyes and blue eyes.
And behind me, even though I can’t see them at the moment, Lincoln’s leonine amber ones.
My stomach clenches and relaxes, and I melt into Linc’s touch a little more.
“Yeah,” I murmur. “A swim sounds nice.”
Lincoln makes a noise low in his throat and kisses my ear once more before releasing me. The other three kings take my words as their cue, walking over to the water and leaping in. Linc follows them, and only once he resurfaces, pushing his dark hair back from his face, do all the boys turn to look at me.
Oh. Right. My turn to undress.
I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or bad thing that I changed into the little black dress before coming downstairs—because it means there’s really only one article of clothing that needs to come off to leave me in my bra and panties.
Kicking off my flats, I reach down and grab the hem of the stretchy black fabric. Then I pull it up and over my head in a single movement. I lose sight of the guys for a second as the dress obscures my v
ision, and when I find their faces again, their expressions have all shifted slightly.
They’ve intensified.
Heated.
Their gazes sweep over me with such deliberation that I swear I can feel each one of them individually, and the sensation makes me want to squirm with both pleasure and sheer overload.
My body is still flushed, and I can feel a slick ache building in my core, but I ignore it and step forward, slipping into the pool with a small splash.
Chase grins at me. “There. Now it’s a party.”
I grin back and splash him with water—and he, of course, retaliates quickly. I try to duck out of the way, but the other three boys fan out, trapping me in the middle of a rough circle as they all splash water at me.
“So—fucking—unfair!” I gasp as I spin back and forth in the clear blue pool, giving up entirely on evading their shots and focusing on just getting them all as wet as me.
They close ranks, coming closer and closer as we move toward the shallow end, until we’re hardly splashing each other at all and more just shoving water in each other’s direction.
Then they’re too close to do even that, and we stop the water fight entirely.
My feet can touch the bottom easily here, with the waterline several inches below my collarbone.
Lincoln’s hands find mine, and he tangles our fingers together, tugging me a little closer to him. The pool water is cool, but I can feel the heat of four large male bodies filling the space around me, and when Linc’s chest brushes against mine, my nipples harden instantly.
He’s directly in front of me, capturing me with his steady, enigmatic amber gaze. The twins ended up on either side of me, sandwiching me like they did the night I kissed Chase.
River is behind me, and it’s his hands that I feel first, resting lightly on the swell of my hips. Then Dax’s fingertips run down my arm under the water, and the light touch makes me shiver.
“Cold?” Linc asks softly.
“No.”
His grin is sinful. “Good.”
Keeping his hands locked with mine, he leans forward to press a kiss to my lips, and as if that’s some kind of secret signal, the other boys all move too.
River’s hands slide around to my stomach, bringing me closer to him, his chest brushing against my back. Chase drops his head to kiss the part of my shoulder that’s out of the water as Dax does the same on my other side.
I’m surrounded.
Completely encased by these four boys.
And it feels unbelievably good.
Lincoln must sense my body relaxing incrementally under their touch, because he deepens the kiss, asking for more, letting me take more.
And I do.
My fingers cling to his and my body undulates in the water as my tongue slides into his mouth, translating every sensation I’m feeling into our kiss.
The hands touching me grow a little bolder—not pushing too far, but exploring new parts of me, moving slowly and deliberately as they gauge my reaction.
Just when I think I might never come up for air again, Lincoln breaks our lips apart, staring down at me with dilated, half-lidded eyes. Then, without warning, he spins me in the water, turning me to face River. The twins release their hold on me but resume their exploration as soon as I come to a stop, and now I feel Linc behind me as River lifts a hand out of the water to trace the line of my jaw.
My clit is throbbing, pulsing in time to my heartbeat as my breath comes faster.
I didn’t know I would like this so much.
But I do.
I really fucking do.
River doesn’t push. He just waits. And it doesn’t take long for his patience to pay off. Lincoln’s hand presses lightly against my lower back—not so much a command as an invitation—and it breaks the last thin thread holding me back.
He’s okay with this.
He wants me to.
With that thought ricocheting around in my head, I move forward through the water and press my lips to River’s. We’ve only kissed once before, but somehow, it feels familiar, like we’ve done it hundreds of times. Like we know each other’s bodies and idiosyncrasies by heart.
The pool house is quiet, just the soft sound of our breathing and the water lapping against the edge of the pool filling the high-ceilinged space.
Everything about River’s kiss is different than Lincoln’s—the taste of him, the feel and shape of his lips, the patterns his tongue moves in. One isn’t better than the other, but the contrast between the two boys is striking, and it stokes a fire low in my belly.
Lincoln’s hands are sliding over every wet inch of my skin he can reach, and the sound of my breathing bounces off the walls as it grows sharper and louder.
Just when I think I might drown in River’s kiss, fingertips grasp my chin, turning my head away from the brown-haired boy. Dax grins at me before his gaze drops to my lips.
I haven’t kissed him yet. I’ve felt his lips on me, but I’ve never pressed mine against his.
No time like the present to fucking fix that.
Not giving myself time to freak out or chicken out, I lift my head, craning my neck a little to reach for him. River’s focus shifts to my chest, his mouth roaming over the wet skin beneath my collarbone, as Dax kisses me.
His lips are different too.
His taste is different.
It’s different than Chase even, despite how similar the twins are.
And it’s hot as hell.
“Fuck, Harlow,” Lincoln mutters behind me, sliding his fingers around to my front and dipping them beneath the soft fabric of my bra. When he catches my nipple between two fingers and pinches gently, I buck in their hold, gasping into Dax’s mouth.
Oh fucking Jesus.
The boy with the copper mane must like my reaction, because his kiss deepens, becoming hotter and more demanding.
When Dax and I finally break apart, I don’t even hesitate before turning to Chase. He doesn’t hesitate either, and before I know it, we’re making out hard while four sets of hands continue to roam over my body.
River’s hands brush the top of my panties, slipping two fingers just beneath the waistband of the fabric, but he doesn’t delve any lower than that.
That touch though, that tease, is enough to make my clit throb so hard I think I might come anyway. I’m overloading on sensations, my body and mind unable to keep up with the onslaught. My hands start roaming too, sliding down River’s cut abs, gliding over Chase’s arm and shoulder, covering Dax’s as he cups my breast, reaching behind me to shamelessly grope Linc’s ass.
I’m passed around the circle one more time, and it feels like being wrapped in a cocoon of warm bodies and hard muscle, of full lips and hot breath.
When I finally spin to face Lincoln again, his eyes burn like embers. But instead of taking things further, he kisses me once and then takes two small steps back, breaking the tight circle that contained me. The others do the same, and the water feels instantly colder without the press of their bodies around me.
Banked heat and amusement flicker in his hypnotic eyes as he lifts an eyebrow. “So, how do you like swimming?”
So many sensations are still crashing around inside me, echoes of their touch, that it’s a little hard to speak. But I clear my throat, pulling myself back together as I glance from him to the other three.
“It’s… I like it. A lot.”
“Good.”
He grins, as if he was pretty sure that would be my answer. Then he turns and kicks through the water, moving along the length of the pool with the grace and ease of a fish.
The heavy tension in the air dissipates a little, and we all break apart slowly. River turns to follow Linc’s lead, and with one more glance at me, so do the twins. I linger for a bit longer, trying to both recover from this moment and preserve everything about it in my memory.
When I finally join them, the five of us swim lazy laps in the pool for a while, talking about stupid bullshit and occasionall
y splashing water at each other as we pass. I glance downward once or twice, though I’m careful not to get caught staring like last time.
They all got hard as we explored each other—I could feel it— and that knowledge sends a rush of heat and something almost like pride through me. I’m still so worked up from their touch I can feel slickness in the crotch of my panties that has nothing to do with the pool water.
I wish we’d taken things a little further, even though I know it was a good call to stop. Not only are Lincoln’s parents in the house, but the three other boys’ parents are here too. It would not be a great time to get caught fooling around in the pool house.
When my fingertips start to get pruny, we climb out of the water and lounge on the large padded chairs, letting our underwear dry a little. We don’t talk about my mom or the man in the ski mask at all, and even though it sometimes feels like any moment we’re not talking about those things is a waste, I let it go for tonight. I’m going to have to tell Linc my suspicions soon, but I don’t want to ruin this moment.
After another hour, the guys put their tailored suits and tuxes back on and rejoin the party. I pull my dress over my head and sneak into the kitchen one more time to steal some leftover canapés, then head up to my room and wash the chlorine out of my hair before slipping into a pair of pajama bottoms and a tank top.
None of us talked about what happened between us, about that moment we all shared in the pool, for the rest of the night.
But when Lincoln knocks on my door after midnight and crawls into bed with me, I know he’s thinking about it.
I am too.
We tear at each other’s clothes, our first fuck so hot and desperate that it’s over in just a few minutes. Barely pausing to catch our breath, we do it again. And again.
He worships my body until the first hint of dawn begins to lighten the sky outside, and we fall asleep in a sweaty tangle of limbs.
And for once, I don’t dream of dead bodies and dark figures, or of the man who’s toying with my mom like she’s a pawn on a chess board.
Instead, I dream of four striking sets of eyes.
