“How is she?” Eli asks from the doorway. Jack and Nico stand behind him.
“She’s tired,” Harper says and hands the glass back to Luke. “Thank you.”
The others hang back while Eli kneels down next to the tub and cradles her face in his hands. His dark eyes take her in.
“How are you, kitten?” It’s unusual for him to care, but she’s not just his piece of ass this time. Plus, she’s still getting used to sex.
She kisses his palm. “I’m good, Eli.”
He smiles and presses a kiss against her lips. “I’ve got to get home. We’ll have a night this week. Just you and me.”
She nods, and her eyes close as she relaxes against my chest.
“Night, sunshine.” Nico presses a kiss to her forehead.
“Night, Nico.” She lifts a hand but doesn’t open her eyes.
Jack comes in and runs his hand over her hair. “We need to work on your endurance, sweetheart.”
She opens her eyes and narrows them at him with a fierce frown.
He chuckles and taps her nose. “You’ll get there.”
When she flicks some water at him, he laughs.
“Good night, sweetheart.” He kisses her slowly, thoroughly.
When he breaks off the kiss, she sighs, a little smile on her face as she burrows back into my chest. My heart pounds a little harder at how much trust she puts in me. I want to be worthy of that trust. Luke walks the others out while I stroke my hand up and down Harper’s back.
“Do you ever think about the future, little nympho?” I glance into Luke’s room, thinking about the guys and our futures. Most people scatter when they leave high school. Not us. That’s never been the plan.
We’ve been through a lot together. They’ve had my back, and I’ll continue to have theirs.
“Mmm, college. Far, far away from here.”
“Where are we going to college?” I stroke my hand over her hair.
Her braid is damp, but her hair was already damp when she came down to the basement.
“I don’t know, War, where are we going to college?” she mumbles.Her lips brush my chest as she speaks, making my body get ideas. But now’s not the time for that.
“I vote somewhere far away so we can get out from under our parents’ thumbs. Definitely a university, so we can all study what we want. We’ll need a college that doesn’t require first years to live in the dorms though, because we’ll be buying a place. We won’t want to be separated from you for even a year.”
She lifts her head and meets my eyes. “Do you really believe that? That the five of you and I can live together for four years? And then what? We get married? Because that’s illegal in most states.” She closes her eyes and rests her head on my chest again. Her fingers play in the water beside us. “Besides, you guys won’t even keep me for the entire school year, and everyone knows it.”
“We made a deal, princess.” Luke strides into the room and turns on the shower. “You’re ours for the year. No backing out of it.”
“Why would you think we’d back out of it?” I ask, raising her chin so she’ll look at me again. Her brown eyes search mine.
“There’s five of you and one of me. I’m going to need to keep my grades up and spend time with my friends and family. Not spend all my time fucking the football team.” She arches an eyebrow like she knows she’s right.
She pushes off my chest and moves to the other end of the tub. “I’m new and shiny. Like a toy. You’ll play with me until you get bored and then throw me away for something new.”
She really believes that. It’s in the slight tremble to her lip and the tone of her words. She thinks we’ll drop her like we’re finicky toddlers. And that terrifies her.
Luke takes his boxers off and lifts Harper out of the tub.
“What are you?—”
