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A grin pulled at my mouth. “I know.”
NINETEEN
PIPER
I scrolledthrough my phone mindlessly, propped up against my headboard. I’d been living here for the last few days and had been trying not to notice that I hadn’t spoken with Lucas since the muffin incident. It wasn’t that I wanted to see him; it was just a little insulting that he’d avoid his own home rather than have to talk to me.
“Pipsqueak.” Jax swung my bedroom door open and leaned against the frame. His eyes went wide when he spotted me, but that didn’t stop him from declaring, “We’re going out.”
I looked down at my plaid pajama shorts and oversized T-shirt before pointing at my under-eye masks. “Yeah, I’m going to pass.”
Alex popped his head in from around the corner. “Come on, Pips! It’s going to be epic.”
I huffed out a laugh. It hadn’t taken him long to pick up on Jax’s nickname for me. Both men watched me eagerly, and curiosity built in my chest until I couldn’t hold it in. “I’m not saying I’m going. But if I was, where would it be?”
Jax rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m not sure how I understood that, but we’re heading to the pool.”
My brows pulled together. “Uh, I know it’s Windsor and all, but October is a bit chilly for a night swim.”
“It’s a good thing it’s indoors. Now, get up before we miss all the fun,” Jax said and left before I could respond, knowing I wouldn’t be able to resist the adventure in his tone.
* * *
It only took a half hour for Jax to pull his truck up to the school’s athletic department. I looked between him, River, and Alex, and my eyes went wide when they all started to get out.
“What are we doing here?” I whisper shouted when I rounded the truck and stepped directly in front of Jax.
“Swimming.” Jax tilted his head and raised his brows.
My stomach rolled over itself as I looked at the darkened school windows. I couldn’t make out anything inside. “The school’s closed.”
Jax wrapped an arm around my shoulder and rubbed his fist against my hair. I twisted to get out of his grasp, but he held me still. “All you do is class and study. Come on, Piper. Live a little.”
His broad smile was infectious, and I dropped my head back in defeat. “We better not get caught.”
“Don’t worry. Alex is fucking the security guard. We’re good.”
I groaned. Could’ve lived without knowing that. I followed after Jax, entering the side steel door propped open by a rock, and was instantly hit by the sharp smell of chlorine and voices echoing around the cavernous room.
The main lights were off, casting the Olympic-sized pool in near complete darkness if it wasn’t for the four emergency lights located around the room marking the exits. There were at least ten other people here, most of them women, but I couldn’t make out their faces enough to know them.
“Hell yeah.” Alex kicked off his shoes and ripped off his shirt, leaving him in a pair of bright blue swim shorts, before doing a front flip into the pool. Water splashed around me, leaving wet spots on my clothes.
“Asshat,” I hollered after him.
“Get in here,” Jax called to me from the middle of the water.
I huffed out a breath, starting to seriously reconsider my being here, and swiped off my thigh-length dress, pulling it over my head and revealing my favorite periwinkle-blue string bikini. The room went silent, and my cheeks flushed as everyone’s attention drifted to me. Unease settled in my stomach before a tingling sensation formed between my shoulder blades, and I barely had time to look back before I was being hauled into thick, muscled arms against a solid chest. I sucked in a breath of spice before we started rushing toward the edge.
“Put me down.” I thrashed in his arms, but they only tightened.
“Not a chance, Killer,” Lucas said before launching us both into the air, and he didn’t let go until we were both submerged underwater. I couldn’t see anything, the dim light not able to penetrate the surface, and grasped at Lucas’s arm. He lifted me and smiled.
“You’re an asshole,” I hissed, wiping my hair out of my eyes.
“Never said I wasn’t.” He choked out a laugh and swam to the opposite side of the pool, where I could make out the silhouette of a girl hanging off him. My blood simmered in my veins as I watched the shadows over the group, my nose barely over the water when River approached me from the side.
“You okay?” His voice was low so it didn’t travel through the room.
