I looked down to my very visible erection and then back to him. “Unless you want to start explaining why I suddenly have a hard-on to everyone here, you need to give me that towel behind you.”
Panther sat up and glanced at it before grinning. “You mean that one?”
“Panther…”
“I should make you come get it.”
“And I should make youcomeand have to explain it to everyone standing on the opposite side of the pool.”
Panther chuckled and twisted to grab the towel behind him. “Okay, you win. But I answered, so…”
I held the towel in front of me and eyed him. “So according to you, that means I get all ofthatunder me later.”
Panther raised his beer and took a swig. “If you’re lucky.”
As I backed away from him, I grinned. “Don’t you know by now? I’m the luckiest motherfucker around.”
23Panther
“HEY, PANTHER? YOU gonna get your lazy ass up sometime soon? We need another body for volleyball, and you’re the only one left!”
I opened my eyes just in time to see Houdini lobbing the volleyball in my direction. Catching it before it hit me square in the nose, I sat up on the chaise lounge where I’d taken a quick power nap, to find the guys had erected the pool volleyball net and were all wading in the water on either side.
At one end, Alphabet, Phantom, Utah, and Solo were talking amongst themselves, and at the other Gucci, Whiplash, and Houdini were all looking in my direction like I was holding up the final game at the Olympics.
“Hey, don’t be too harsh on him. Maybe the Panther needed a little shuteye to recuperate from this week,” Utah piped up. “You know, since he’s still recovering and all.”
I tensed at the reminder of my accident, but Solo was slapping the water by Utah’s face, spraying him in his shit-talking mouth. I could’ve kissed him for that, but considering the audience we still had, I made a mental note to thank him later.
Getting to my feet, I tossed the ball in the air and then caught it in hand as I sauntered over to the steps of the pool and took the first few down.
As the water lapped around my thighs, Utah flipped Solo off. “It was just a joke. Fuck you, man.”
When Solo lunged forward and it looked like he was about to come to blows with one of his teammates, I called up the pool, “You think I need recovery time, Utah?” And before he could respond, I pegged the ball in his direction, landing it smack in front of him, again spraying his face with water.
Houdini let out a bark of laughter and looked at me. “Nice shot, but your aim’s a little off if you wanted to hit his piehole.”
My aim was spot-on. Utah wiped the water from his eyes. As satisfying as it might’ve been to knock the dumbass out, that wasn’t really my way.
“All right, boys,” Whiplash said as she moved into position by the net, directly in front of me. “Now that we know whose cock is the biggest—”
“Mine, right?” Solo called out from his position on the opposite side of the net.
“I was actually thinking mine,” she said.
Houdini kicked off the side of the pool and glided over to her. “I don’t know, Whiplash. I don’t think you got a good enough look at my equipment to make that kind of judgment.”
“And I don’t think I need to see it to make an accurate assessment.” Placing her hands on his shoulders, Whiplash shoved off the bottom of the pool and put all her weight into pushing Houdini away, and as he slipped under the water, she started laughing. “Go back to your corner, little boy.”
“There ain’t nothing little ’bout me. All you have to do is look.”
“Right, because it’s so believable when it comes from the source itself.”
“Okay, if you’re done shooting Houdini down for the five millionth time,” Gucci said from beside me, “can we start sometime soon? If we don’t, my balls are gonna end up looking like raisins.”
“Fuck, TMI, man,” Phantom called out from the other end of the pool. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it. “All right, girls—no offense, Whiplash.”
Whiplash shot him the finger.
