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I do feel something. But right now, I’m going to just let that be.
I’m not gonna poke it with a stick or run from it. I’m not gonna fight it or work my heart into knots trying to understand it.
One damn thing at a time, Soph.
Tugging my phone out of my pocket, I tap the button on the side. “Fuck. I better go. My next class starts in half an hour.”
Gray makes no move to release me, and I don’t push out of his hold. I don’t want to.
Elias wrinkles his nose, glancing down at his watch. “Yeah. Mine does too. I should go.” Then he grins, glancing up at me from beneath thick lashes. “Or…”
“Or what?”
“Or we could celebrate the fact that you’re still a Hawthorne student.”
“By blowing off class?”
His grin widens. “I understand it sounds counterintuitive. But you only have, what? Three more classes left today? Isn’t it better just to ditch the whole day and start with a clean slate tomorrow?”
Declan chuckles, rolling his eyes.
I chew my lip. Dean Wells’ lecture about maintaining my academic standing echoes in my mind, but honestly, I have been maintaining my grades pretty well. Just because I’m a broke foster kid, that doesn’t make me an idiot—or a slacker.
Besides, we’ll all have to buckle down and study for finals soon anyway. I can afford to take one day off.
“Sure,” I say, pretending my heart doesn’t give a little squeeze at the excitement that blooms across Elias’s face.
“Fuck yeah.” He rubs his hands together. “Beach?”
“A little cold for swimming, isn’t it?” Declan grumbles.
“Dude, if you ruin my chance to see Blue in a bikini, you and I are gonna have words outside,” Elias shoots back, shooting him a mock-serious look.
Declan rolls his eyes. “You’re such an idiot.”
Their easy banter and Elias’s flirtatious grin remind me of how things were the very first day I met them. Before everything went to shit. Before Gray’s grief turned them all against me. It’s like a picture of what could’ve been—what could still be, maybe, if we let it happen—and it draws a smile to my face.
The beach is a forty-five minute drive from Hawthorne, and we take Gray’s car.
It’s the first time I’ve driven anywhere in months, and I try to play it cool as I run my fingers appreciatively over the soft leather seats, but I’m obviously not subtle enough. Gray totally catches me feeling up his car, and the look he shoots me is both amused and heated.
A flush works its way up my neck as my pussy clenches. I’m still a little sore from earlier, but goddamn, I can imagine him fucking me in this car—or on this car—and the cascade of images that rush through my mind sends my temperature soaring.
I swear he growls under his breath as he guns the engine, and I bite my lip to hide my smile.
Now that some of the antagonistic energy between us has faded, it’s just left more room for the sexual tension that bubbles between us to take its place.
The guys all threw on trunks before we left the men’s dorm, and I have on a bikini with je
ans and a tee over it. None of the men bothered to put on shirts though, and when I glance over my shoulder, I’m treated to a delicious view of Declan’s many tattoos.
My quick glance turns into a lingering stare as I soak up the ink decorating his sculpted body, and when my gaze finally makes it to his face, I find him watching me with smoldering dark eyes.
“They’re nice pieces,” I say, ignoring the way my voice comes out scratchier than I meant for it to. “Beautiful ink.”
“You’ll have to show me yours sometime.” His half-smile makes warmth fill my belly.
He’s seen them already. My tattoos. Hell, half the school has already seen pretty much every inch of me.
