The Lie (Kings of Linwood Academy 2)

Chase sounds shocked, amused, and turned on all at once, and the tone of his voice makes me chuckle against River’s warm skin. The boy beneath me draws back a little, tilting my head up to meet his gaze, and I can tell he’s checking to make sure I’m okay. That I don’t regret this.

I kiss him, soft and sweet, feeling him throb once more inside me. Then I crane my neck to look over my shoulder at Chase, biting my lip to contain my giddy grin.

His cheeks are a little flushed, he’s got a line of cum running up his stomach, and he’s still fisting the base of his cock. We’re all gonna need a towel or something for the mess we made.

“Yep.” My grin breaks free. I can’t help it. “Guess we did.”

And the landscape between all of us has shifted.

Again.

24

Lincoln, gracious host that he is, gets up a few moments later and heads to the downstairs bathroom. He comes back with several small hand towels, which he chucks at the other guys.

The tension that made the air hard to breathe before is dissipating, broken by what happened between us all—by the release of all that pent up energy. Dax and Chase are giving each other shit as I slowly disentangle myself from River. Before I can pull away entirely, he tugs me back toward him for one more kiss, and even though my body is wrung out and pleasantly sated, I feel it down to my toes.

I escape to the bathroom to clean myself up, and when I return to the rec room, the four boys are slowly picking their discarded clothes up off the floor. I scramble to catch up, not wanting to be the last one left naked. It doesn’t seem fitting for the reigning champion of strip poker.

“Well, if that didn’t take your mind off things”—Dax chuckles as he slips his shirt back over his head, mussing up his coppery hair—“there’s something very wrong with your mind.”

“My brain is fucking mush,” Chase says, heat still lingering in his gaze as he winks at me.

“Your brain’s always been mush,” Dax shoots back.

“Dick.”

“Smaller dick.”

Chase punches his brother in the shoulder, and my heart does a funny squeeze in my chest as I watch them. I’ve always had my mom, but even we’re not as close as these two boys are. It must be nice to go through life like that. With someone who’s always there for you, with you. Like a second part of your soul.

It’s not that late, and none of us are tired. But the general consensus is that no one has the brain power to resume our search tonight. And the guys were right. An evening off will be good. I don’t want to get sloppy or too exhausted and miss something important.

If there’s really anything here to find.

There is. There must be. And we’ll find it.

We head into the movie theatre and curl up in the large, plush chairs to watch an old action movie. I sit between Dax and Chase, and their hands chart little paths over my arms, my sides, and my legs as we watch the screen. Their bodies tilt toward me like I have my own gravitational pull, and every once in a while, one of them presses a kiss to my hair or nuzzles my neck. It’s distracting and comforting all at once, and by the end of the movie, I’m not really sure what much of the plot was.

When we make our way upstairs and split up for bed, I’m recklessly tempted to invite all four of them to come back to my room. I keep my lips clamped shut though. What happened downstairs was insane and amazing, but even though my body is ready to go full steam ahead, I feel like my brain and heart need a minute to catch up.

To fully grasp what this means.

So we say our goodnights, I kiss each one of them like it’s completely normal, and then we head back to our respective bedrooms. I hop in the shower before crawling beneath the blankets with my hair still damp. There’s still a current of energy buzzing beneath my skin, and it makes me aware of every place the sheets touch my body, every sensation heightened like I’m on ecstasy or something.

My eyes are just starting to fall shut when I hear a knock at the door. I don’t even have to guess who it is.

“Come in,” I call out softly, and a second later, Lincoln is inside the room, padding over to the bed.

He stands by the side of the bed frame for a moment, gazing down at me through the near-darkness. I can only make out the outline of his face in the dim light coming through the window. But when I reach for him, he moves immediately, letting me pull him down to lie beside me as he slips between the sheets.

He’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and my body soaks up the heat of his like a sponge as he rises up onto his elbow, still gazing at me intently.

“You okay?” he murmurs.

“Yeah.” I reach up and trail my fingertips down the side of his face. Even in the dark room, I swear I can make out the burning amber of his eyes. “We okay?”

“Always.”