The Risk (Kings of Linwood Academy 3)

But I can’t enjoy any of that right now, and as my gaze returns to the same spot where I started my slow perusal of the room, agitation bubbles up inside me.

“Fuck. What if she’s not here?”

“We just got here,” Chase comments, craning his neck to see through the legs of a group of girls that stop a few feet in front of us to whisper among themselves.

Something warm fills my chest as I realize that despite the prominent display of legs, tits, and ass, Chase barely seems to register the girls themselves as anything other than obstacles to his search.

Nope. Not interested in any of them.

Linc’s words from earlier flash through my mind, and it suddenly hits me how true that is. Since this thing between all of us started, I haven’t seen any of the kings so much as look at another girl, and I know I haven’t looked at any other guys like that. Why would I, considering what I’ve got right in front of me?

I hope they know tha—

My thought is cut off when I catch a glimpse of pink and red through the throng of bodies. I stiffen, using the edge of the pool to haul myself farther up out of the water and craning my neck. “There. There!”

A couple who’re making out and giggling move out of the way, and I see it.

Large pink and red cherry blossoms bloom from a woody branch that crawls up the girl’s side, all the way from her hip to her shoulder blade. I can see why Iris was obsessed with it, it’s fucking gorgeous. The girl who it belongs to turns to scan the room. She doesn’t have a drink in her hand, and it looks like she just arrived.

Perfect.

“Come on.”

Before the words are even out of my mouth, all five of us are surging out of the water, clambering back onto the tiled floor. We abandon our drinks and make a beeline toward her, cutting her off before she can be surrounded by friends.

She jerks to a stop as I come to stand in front of her, her gaze darting from me to the guys. She has chestnut hair that falls over her shoulders in waves, and big blue eyes that make me think of Iris’s.

“Uh, yeah? Can I help you?”

Her gaze tracks over all of us, and although it lingers on Dax and Chase appreciatively—guess she’s got a twin thing—she still sounds annoyed.

“I like your tattoo,” I say, not quite sure how to broach the subject of her dead friend.

“Oh. Thanks.” She smirks. “My mom was furious when I got it, but whatever. Fuck that bitch.”

Jesus. At some point, I’d really like to meet a teenager from Fox Hill who likes their parents. Maybe it makes me a huge nerd, but my mom is one of my best friends, and I don’t give a fuck who knows it.

Bypassing her statement entirely, I glance at Lincoln, who nods. No point beating around the bush, I guess.

“Did you know Iris Lepiane?” I ask, shifting my focus back to the girl.

She blinks. I have a feeling if she made a list of the top thousand things she thought I might say, that question would’ve been somewhere around nine hundred ninety-nine.

“Yeah. I did. So?” Her gaze darts around our little group again, really taking us in this time.

“I need to ask you a question about her. Can we go somewhere quieter and talk for a second?”

The girl’s eyebrows pop up. She looks torn between telling us to fuck off and satisfying her curiosity by finding out what we want. Curiosity wins, and she shrugs lazily. “Sure. Whatever. Anna’s parents aren’t home, so we’ve got free run of the house. As long as all the bedrooms haven’t been taken already.”

A few have, but we find an empty room on the second floor. Whoever Anna is, I’m guessing this room belongs to her little sister. It’s pink, with pictures of ponies everywhere.

We’re all still in our swimsuits. I wasn’t gonna risk letting the girl with the tattoo—Summer—get antsy and ditch us while we changed. I purposefully avoid sitting on the furniture, not wanting to leave a wet ass print in this poor little kid’s room, but Summer sprawls across the bedspread, looking like a fucking swimsuit model just waiting for the ocean spray to crash over her.

Now that she’s decided to play along, the annoyed look has left her face, and she’s staring at the twins again like she wants to eat them.

I’m trying to talk myself out of crawling onto the bed and smacking the crap out of her when Dax and Chase save me the trouble. Leaving River next to Lincoln, they cross the room at the same time, coming to stand on either side of me, so close that the bare skin of their arms brushes mine. They glance down at me, and I swear I see laughter dancing in Chase’s blue-green eyes.

When I glance back at Summer, the annoyed expression is back on her face, and I like this look so much better.