AllFreeNovel
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We cruise to the party, only fashionably late. The team didn’t want to be on time and appear like we had nothing better to do tonight, but my brother isn’t stupid. If we waited an hour to arrive, he’d just post about how scared we were to be on their turf.
Instead, we all pull into my parents’ driveway—Constin, Farrow, Dylan, and Mace on bikes, the rest of us in cars and trucks—at eight-thirty, and according to Farrow, we’re leaving by ten.
Dylan climbs off her bike and removes her helmet, the red leather jacket doing a shitty job of protecting her from anything. I see the outline of her bikini underneath, her naked waist calling to me like a fucking magnet.
She removes her backpack and takes out a container of brownies she must’ve picked up at Frosted on the way. She said Quinn left treats.
We all stroll to the house, and I open the door, leading everyone inside.
“Welcome,” Kade calls.
He strolls through the foyer in swim shorts, no shirt or shoes, and a drink in his hand like this is my first time here too. Stoli and Dirk flank him, and I hear people in thekitchen. Others move around the pool through the double doors on the back patio, steam rising from the water.
Kade stops in front of me. “Keys in the bowl,” he says, pointing to his friend next to him who holds a glass dish. “Stoli will be in charge of the sober check when you leave.”
The bowl already has a dozen or more sets of keys.
Farrow looks around to his people, announcing, “A guy namedStoliwill be checking ifwe’resober enough to drive. Did you hear that, everyone?”
Chuckles and snickers go off, because Stolichnaya earned his nickname by always being the first onenotsober. His real name is Josh.
Mace steps forward, holding out her open backpack. “I’ll hold ours.”
One by one we all dump our keys into her bag as Kade and I lock eyes, and I see the faded purple bruising under his eye and the scratch along his jaw. His gaze, heavy with tension, tells me he’d offer no argument if I wanted to finish that fight. All someone has to do is light the match tonight.
I glance down, catching sight of the triple triangle tattoo on his torso that matches our mother’s.
“There’s a bathroom in the pool house,” Kade tells everyone, “one off the kitchen, and another in the basement. Don’t go upstairs, and if you have sex in my house, leave no trace. Not even your condoms.”
Coral hands him a cardboard carrier by the handles.
He takes it. “What’s this?”
He peers inside, seeing the three bottles of El Tesoro that Farrow probably swiped from Green Street’s private stash.
Kade smiles, handing it to Dirk. “We can use that,” he tells Farrow. “I half-expected it to be drugs.”
“Not before the game,” my friend retorts. “We want to beat you fairly.”
Kade laughs and then turns his attention to our group. “Ladies, the legal age of consent in this state is seventeen. Anyone younger than that?”
“Kade, shut up.” Dylan drives forward, shoving the container of brownies into his chest. “You’re being a tool on purpose.”
And she heads past him into the party.
Kade turns as we all follow her. “Oh, you missed me,” he coos. “You know you did.”
We head through the kitchen, my parents and sister nowhere in sight, everyone ripping off their hoodies, jackets, and shirts as we step onto the pool deck.
“Turn it up!” Kade shouts.
All of the Pirates—the players and their dates—turn, see us, and howl as “HONEY” by Luna Aura blasts over the speakers loud enough for the neighbors a quarter of a mile away to hear.
Dylan takes Mace, Coral, and a few others over to Aro, and the girls strip down to swimsuits, stepping into the pool. Dylan wears a light blue bikini, the ties thin across her back, and I don’t know why, but I glance at the pool house. There’s a couch inside. The door locks too. I take a drink from my cup to hide my smile.
She stands waist deep in the heated water, laughing at something Mace says, but then I look up to see Kade standing on the other side of the pool, his gaze on her too. Then it rises to me.
With his eyes gleaming, he takes a step and drops into the pool. Walking to Dylan and the girls, he slips a drink around her waist and into her hand, the plastic cup in myown grip cracking. I stop squeezing before I break it.All part of the plan…I tell myself.
