Ben darts forward, fishes my phone out of my pocket, and holds it up triumphantly. "Got it!"
"PUT ME DOWN—DAMMIT—PUT ME—"
"Nope," Liam chirps.
"You deserve this," Luke adds cheerfully.
"What the hell did I do?!"
"Existing," Liam says.
Luke smirks. "And for being disgustingly in love 24/7."
"Yeah," Liam adds, pointing at me. "Punishment for being a massive simp."
"And for smiling at your phone like a Disney prince every five minutes," Luke says.
The rookies snort behind me. Traitors.
I keep retreating, palms out. "Guys. Seriously. Don't—"
The crowd is losing it—phones out, people chanting.
The twins start swinging me gently between them like I'm some oversized toddler.
"One!" Reese shouts.
"Two!" Jasper yells.
"Don't you fucking—!"
"THREE!"
And they launch me.
I hit the pool with a splash big enough to baptize the entire backyard.
Cold water punches the air out of my lungs, and when I surface, sputtering, everyone is cheering.
I shove my wet hair back, water dripping into my eyes, and swim toward the edge. Those two idiots are still doubled over laughing, practically wheezing.
"Oh, you're dead," I warn, hauling myself out of the pool.
Yeah. No way in hell I'm letting that slide.
I storm toward them, and their grins instantly falter.
"Uh-oh," Liam mutters, backing up.
"Nope. Nope. Absolutely not," Luke says, hands up like surrendering will save him.
Too late.
I grab each of them by the back of the neck — one in each hand — and before they can squirm away, I yank them forward andlaunchus all right back into the pool.
A splash explodes upward, drowning out the twins' startled yelps as all three of us go under. I keep my hands on their heads a second longer, shoving them under just to hear the muffled chaos before they burst up coughing, sputtering, and cursing at me between laughs.
"YOU ASSHOLE!"
