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Was I doing that? “I don’t even know how we would start over, or even if we could. Especially now…”
“Because she knows you’re suing for your emancipation.”
“And the whole thing with your dad and their living together.”
“Their lives,” Archie said slowly. “Not ours. We don’t need our lives to be about bad meatloaf.”
A giggle floated up through me. “We deviated on your birthday again.”
“Babe, you told me you loved me. Best. Birthday. Ever. I win. Hands down.”
We talked for another hour about everything and nothing. Eventually, the tired caught up with us, and I was listening to the drum of his heart when I went to sleep. I woke up to Archie nudging my legs apart and eating me out with a gusto that utterly destroyed sleep and left me a trembling, shaking mess before he moved up to slide into me.
An hour later, we’d showered and ate room service breakfast before we got ready to check out. It was almost lunch time and a lot later than I expected, but Archie hummed all the way back to my place. The guys were waiting for us. We’d texted to say we were on the way. The moment Archie got out of the car, he got hit with super soakers from three different directions. While it wasn’t as chilly as it had been the day before, it couldn’t have been warm.
“Oh, you assholes,” Archie said before handing me his keys. Someone had set a super soaker down for him, and he grabbed it. “Be right back, babe.”
Then they were racing around the parking lot, ducking in and around cars, hitting each other with water.
It was hilarious, and something inside of me unlocked as I watched the shenanigans. I really wished I could be out there doing it with them, but at the same time…I adored my front row seat.
And the fact that I was base. Anytime one of them got too close to me, they were suddenly safe.
Jake stole a morning kiss that way. So did Coop.
But Ian startled me when he slid an arm around my waist, turned me around, and half-lifted me like a shield before his mouth closed over mine.
Already breathless, I think something in my brain short-circuited at the glide of his tongue against mine. I’d missed him. Missed kissing him. Missed feeling the hard heat of his muscles bunching as he moved. The kiss lasted three seconds and seemed to last forever, then suddenly, he set me on my feet and grinned.
“Good morning, Angel.” Then he winked before he raced back into the fray. I was still touching my tingling lips when I caught Coop’s knowing look.
Wow.
Leaning back against the Ferrari, I tracked them all as my guys darted in and out.
Myguys.
Seriously.
Wow.
Chapter Twenty-Five
You Had Me at Goodbye
The Halloween party was in full swing when we got there. It was rare enough that I attended parties, much less parties thrown by other kids. Clearly, I’d gone to Archie’s or Ian’s places when they’d had parties—more often at Archie’s than Ian’s, but the principle was the same.
This was Corey Kaplan’s party though—another senior. Our arrival had snared some notice, we’d all come over in Jake’s SUV. The costumes the guys had picked out cracked me up and worked, too. They’d even made it so I could put my cast arm in a sling to ease the weight and added this faux basket.
I was Dorothy.
Jake took the Cowardly Lion, which made him laugh, and he kept growling at me. Coop was the Tin Man, but swore he wasn’t remotely rusty, though they had drenched him in this silver body paint. Archie had tackled the Scarecrow, and he had the loose arms and goofy hop-walk down. But Ian?
He’d gone for Toto, and I laughed so hard when he yipped at me that even the guys cracked up. Once we got to Corey’s though, Ian planted himself at my side.
“Toto and Dorothy go everywhere together,” he reminded me. “Even the bathroom.”
That got three firm nods from the guys. I couldn’t really argue with it. As it was, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to come to the party. But I think this was kind of our do-over. Homecoming had been spoiled, but not all of it. I still loved all the dancing we’d done and the silly pictures, but I couldn’t think about them without the gap in my memory swimming to the surface or waking in the hospital.
