That single word makes my muscles relax completely. It breaks down my barriers and lets me s
ay the words that have been bouncing around in my heart for a while now.
“Linc… when I asked you about sharing, I knew it was about more than sex.” I pause, pulling my lower lip between my teeth. “I just didn’t realize how much more. How… much.”
It’s hard to articulate the feelings I’m developing for each of these boys, how important they are to me individually and as a whole.
But Lincoln seems to understand what I mean without making me fumble around for the words to describe it. He drops his head to kiss me, then pulls back, our noses almost brushing as he asks his next question.
“Have you ever done this before, Harlow?”
I try to contain my snort-laugh because our faces are so close together, but I’m not entirely successful. He cocks his head, still waiting for an answer.
“No,” I tell him honestly. “I didn’t even know it was the kind of thing I’d be into. Until I met you guys.”
“Good.”
His voice is a growl, and when he kisses me again, it isn’t a soft kiss like our last one. This is more like the kiss he gave me before he sent me off to crawl into River’s lap downstairs.
Bruising.
Demanding.
Possessive.
I kiss him back just as hard, and a shiver of something hot and sweet works its way up my spine as it strikes me that this thing between the kings of Linwood Academy and me is a closed loop.
It’s not a “the more the merrier” type situation.
There is no open invitation for anyone else to join us. Linc is willing to share me with his three friends because he loves them and trusts them, and I guarantee that’s how they feel too.
It makes the connection growing between the five of us slightly less terrifying, even though there’s no denying I’m out of my depth here.
The night Lincoln caught me spying on Dax and Chase with that girl in the upstairs bedroom, back when I still sort of hated them all, he asked me what I wanted—who I wanted. I didn’t dare answer, because even back then, even through all the bullshit between us, a spark of the truth had already lit inside my soul.
All four of you.
Linc and I kiss until the bruising intensity of our lips softens to something deep and slow and languid. We kiss until exhaustion steals over us and our eyes fall shut, our limbs twined together and our bodies pressed close.
And even though I know better than ever now just how dangerous the world is, I feel… safe.
25
I wake up early the next morning.
My brain turns back on at a little after six o’clock, as if someone flipped a switch. I don’t regret anything that happened last night, and I don’t regret taking a few hours off from what has been an exhausting and frustrating search.
But the break accomplished its purpose. I’m chomping at the bit to get started again, eager to use the last bit of time we have left.
Besides, as I was drifting off to sleep last night, a thought occurred to me. The bedroom I saw Chase, Dax, and that girl in… that wasn’t the only time I stumbled upon illicit activity in that room. The first night I snuck out to play poker, I heard Mr. Black in that room, heard the sound of his voice from behind the closed door. And I’m pretty damn sure he was having sex with someone.
Was it Iris?
Would he have been so bold as to bring her to his fucking house?
I don’t know. Linc hasn’t found any security footage that she appears in, but River was right. It’d be easy enough for Mr. Black to erase any incriminating footage on his own home security system. He’d be an idiot not to.
But maybe there’s some hint inside that room as to what went on in there, and who he was with.