“I’m in a good position to get into my first-choice school, but I want to keep my options open.” As his finger trails along the back of my bikini, I swallow. “I waver between wanting to stay close by my mom and getting as far away from here as possible.”
“Away from us?” Eli’s voice is soft and not accusatory.
I straighten and look into his golden-brown eyes. “Honestly, that was one of my primary motivations, but now—” I look at the pool and the guys playing in it. “I don’t know. I don’t know what the future looks like anymore.”
“Do you have an inkling of what you want to be?” Eli takes his hand from me.
“Career wise? Not medical. Maybe engineering or business. I like to be creative, but I also don’t want to sit at a desk for fifty to sixty hours a week.” I smile when my gaze catches Caden’s. “Of course, if Caden gets his way, I won’t have time for a career because I’ll always be knocked up my entire adult life.”
Eli sits up, and our shoulders rub against each other. “Do you see a future with us in it, kitten?”
Surprised, I turn to him. “Do you?” I look down at my hands and then up at the sky. “This isn’t even really a relationship. It’s fun, but how long can it last? I mean, outside this bubble of our world, there’s judgement and censure waiting to knock us down. Even within this bubble, girls are already calling me a slut, even though if they had the chance they would line up for you guys.”
The corner of Eli’s lips quirks up. “The great thing about being us is we don’t care what other people think. The only ones who matter are us. So what do you think, kitten? Could you imagine a future with us in it?”
I glance at him before I take in Jack, Caden, Nico, and Luke. Could I imagine being with them beyond this arrangement? What would that look like?
Eli slips his hand under mine and threads our fingers together. It’s gentle and almost caring. My eyes raise to his, and he brushes some hair off my forehead.
“You belong to us, kitten. We don’t take that lightly. We care about you and want to keep you safe, but we also want to fill you with so much pleasure.” Eli raises my hand to his lips and presses a soft, delicate kiss to my knuckles. He turns my wrist and drags the edge of his teeth against the sensitive skin.
Tingles shiver through me.
“I don’t really have a choice in any of this, and because I was the only one left, neither did you guys.” I squeeze his hand. “The only reason you’re after me is for my virginity, which is slowly being chiseled away.”
“Ah, the virgin sacrifice.” Eli smirks. “You honestly think we give a crap you’re a virgin?”
My eyes go wide. “Uh, yeah, that’s the whole purpose to this. I’m the last virgin in the senior class, therefore I belong to you.”
Eli stands and pulls me to my feet, but he leans down and throws me over his shoulder before I can stop him. His hand grabs my ass to stabilize me.
“What are you doing, Eli?” I smack my hand in the center of his back. “Put me down.”
“Nah, you need a lesson, kitten.” He walks to the edge of the pool. “Guys!”
Oh, what new hell am I in for now?
Eli plants me in front of him and turns me to face the guys. His arm wraps around my waist, holding me against him. The guys move toward us in the pool and look up.
“Who’s only interested in Harper’s virginity?” Eli calls out, loud enough if Caden had neighbors they definitely would have heard.
Heat creeps up my neck and cheeks. I wait while all of them look at me. No one lifts their hands.
“If Harper wasn’t a virgin, who would still want her?”
All of them lift their hand. Something in my heart feels lighter. But what does that even mean?
“Do we want to be the first?” Luke lifts himself onto the edge of the pool at my feet. Water streaks down his cut muscles, and I swallow. Fuck they’re all gorgeous. He pushes to stand directly in front of me. Water drips from his hair onto my nose, but I hold his eyes.
“Isn’t the whole point I’m the last?” I keep my expression neutral.
“The whole point is you’re ours.” Luke cups the side of my face. “Every bit of you. But if you weren’t a virgin, we’d still want you. You aren’t like other girls.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I back into Eli as Luke presses in on me. Even with swimsuits on, so much of our skin touches and stokes the fire burning within.
“Part of what we like about you is your innocence, but not because you’re a virgin. You aren’t jaded by other guys. You aren’t worried about what we’ll think if you make noise.” His hands lower to my hips anddraw me against him. “You’re loud and wonderful and soft and so fucking sexy.”
“You also care about us when you should have been running away.” Caden trails his wet fingers along my arm, and I look up at him. “You don’t always cave to us. You didn’t jump at your chance to be with the horsemen. You fought against us. Pretended to get grounded to fuck with us. You give in so fucking sweetly, but you make us work for it too.”
