“Only sometimes?” He cocks an eyebrow.
The server stops by with the check. Before anyone else can claim it, Caden hands her a couple hundred-dollar bills and tells her to keep the change.
Caden grins. “Want to ask me another question?”
Smiling, I shake my head.
“Come on, little nympho. You’re sleeping in my bed tonight.”
“With the rest of us,” Luke clarifies.
“Yeah, but you guys don’t matter.” Caden draws me out of the booth and into his arms. “When this is all over, I’m keeping Harper.”
CHAPTER 18
The Coercion
Harper
I can’t tell if he’s joking or just egging on the other guys, but something inside me softens. I think I might like Caden. Like,like-like. It’s weird as he leads me to his car and helps me in.
I didn’t think I could actually like a horseman. Of course, Nico was and is one of my best friends, but he doesn’t count. Out of everyone, I didn’t figure I’d fall for Caden.
“You look perplexed,” Caden says as we pull out of the parking lot.
“You just said you were going to keep her, like Harper is some sort of possession of yours,” Nico says from the back seat.
“Yeah, so?”
“You can’t just keep a person unless you plan on being more than whatever the fuck we’re doing with Harper.”
I turn back to look at Nico with an arched look.
He holds up his hands. “I’m not saying we don’t have a weird sort of relationship going on, but according to you lot, there is an end date. School ends, this ends.”
I rub at the ache in my chest at the thought. Of course, I’ve always figured it won’t make it that long anyway, but it feels wrong to talk about this ending when it hasn’t even really begun. But isn’t that what I’ve been doing since the start, worrying about the end?
Isn’t that what’s really holding me back?
“Of course, Harper could tell me to go fuck myself.” Caden talks to Nico like I’m not even here. “But I’ve got months to sway her to my side and convince her. She’ll let me keep her.”
“What if I want to keep her too?” Nico leans forward in the seat.
“Well, we can both keep her.”
“Wait, what?” My head is spinning.
Caden grins. “Maybe by the end of this, we’ll all want to keep her. Do you want your own crew of men, little nympho? You can pick who pleasures you every night. Have fifteen kids. Three each, of course.”
“Whoa, I haven’t even let you inside me and you’re already signing me up for fifteen kids? Are you insane?” Fifteen kids? What the hell is Caden even talking about? When did he have time to figure all this out?
“Not fifteen? That too many?” Caden chews on his lip. “Well, I’m sure we’ll be willing to compromise to two apiece then. That’s only ten. Totally doable.”
“When they aren’t coming out of your vagina?” I almost yell. Why are we even talking about this? He can’t possibly be serious.
He pulls into the garage at his house. “If I had a vagina, I would carry them for you, but I don’t. Though we’ll probably need to start working on your Kegel exercises now. Gotta keep that pussy nice and tight.”
I close my eyes and count to ten. This conversation did not go the way I thought it would. Of course, I didn’t even start the conversation.
