Chapter 6 The Launch
The Launch
Harper
I receive a text as I’m getting out of the shower on Tuesday morning. Yes, I still have to go to school. Mom refuses to listen to reason and swears it’s better for me. I didn’t tell her about the horsemen. That could be a whole thing.
And if she gets the administration into it, I might as well lay down and spread-eagle for them. They wouldn’t let that shit fly.
WAR (Caden):
Pick you up at 8
FAMINE (Jack):
Wear another skirt *winky face emoji*
I’m doomed. I dry my hair and grab a sweatshirt and ripped jeans. Sure, it’s still warm out, but the air conditioning in the school can be frigid even this time of year. After having my panties showcased for the entire school, I need a little more coverage for the day.
My scalp still stings a little from Luke grabbing my ponytail, so I leave my hair down and let it dry naturally.
Fuck them if they think their little fuck toy should dress pretty for them. I didn’t sign up for this job. And I can get to school in my own car.
I head to the kitchen and look at the schedule on the fridge. Mom’s a nurse and her schedule changes all the time. Right now, she’s working mornings, so she left before I even woke up.
I grab an orange and pack my lunch. By the time I’m ready to leave, I notice it’s five to eight. Okay, as long as Tweedledee and Tweedledum are late, I should still be fine. Of course, I’ll have an excuse ready for why I didn’t wait so I don’t get punished again.
When I reach the side door, I pull it open, and Jack and Caden stand there with shit-eating grins. Caden’s face drops as he takes in my clothes.
“Change,” he says as he pushes past me into my house.
“What? No. I’m fine. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.” I don’t mention I’m driving myself. One battle at a time.
“Then you should change quickly.” Jack grabs my hand and leads me into the house. “Your mom working?”
I’m not answering that and tug my hand to get it back. They don’t need to know I’m alone.
“She works at the hospital with my mom, so I know she’s gone. This will go so much easier if you just work with us, Harper.” Jack shakes his head and drags me toward the stairs.
“What are you doing?” I try to dig my feet into the rug, but Caden lifts me off them. “Stop.”
Caden wraps his arms around me and holds me to his front. He’s warm and smells like freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Not exactly what I thought the enforcer of the horsemen would smell like. A little too comforting.
Jack continues up the stairs and looks into my mom’s room, then the guest bedroom, before finding mine. Caden drops me on the bed. I almost bounce right off it. I scramble to sit up immediately and glare at him. His lip twitches at the corner.
“Strip.” He moves with Jack to my closet and looks through the hanging clothes. Brutes. Wait a minute. Strip?
I gape at their backs for a minute before crossing my arms. “I’m not stripping for you two.”
“Take your clothes off, sweetheart. We aren’t here to touch you, but we definitely don’t want to show up with you looking like that.” Jack turns to me with a grin and a wink. “We have a reputation to uphold.”
“These are my clothes. There’s nothing wrong with them.” I stand and tap my foot. This is ridiculous. “I don’t care about your reputations.”
“Grab her clothes. I’ll take care of her.” Caden smirks as he stalks toward me. Hunger lurks in his eyes as he takes me in.
I feel a responding pulse between my legs. Seriously? My horny bitch is such a betrayer.
It’s not like I don’t get it. The cream of the crop wants to fuck me. Evolutionary-wise, my internal horny bitch is already lying down and spreading for them to produce the best offspring.
I swallow. Yeah, no offspring. That would be a disaster.
I back away with my hands out in front of me. I’m in my bedroom with two horsemen and they’re trying to undress me. This isn’t good. I should run out the door and drive as far away as possible. But worse will await me if I disobey.
Plus, this is my senior year. One year left. Mom can’t afford for me to transfer anywhere else and homeschooling isn’t an option.
“Come on, untouched. You said it yourself, we need to get to school. Stop delaying.” Caden closes in on me until my back is to the wall. His warmth flows over me as his green eyes dance with mischief.
“Take off the sweatshirt, but we’ll make do with the jeans.” Jack shakes his head and pulls out a black top. “We need to take you shopping. Your closet is seriously lacking.”
Caden reaches out and grabs the hem of my sweatshirt. I don’t know what to do. Screaming won’t do anything. They’ll do what they want in the end. I’m not strong enough to stop them. But if they try anything more than taking off my shirt, I’ll fight for all I’m worth.
“Lift your arms.” Caden narrows his eyes.
I blow out a breath and put my arms up as he peels my sweatshirt off. A flash fills the room with light and I turn to see Jack lowering his phone.
“Did you take a picture of me in my bra?”
“Yup.” Jack smirks and presses a few things on his phone.
“Delete it.” I go to step forward, but Caden is still in front of me.
He bodychecks me. I take a breath. My bra has good coverage, more than most bikinis, but Caden’s darkened gaze rests on my cleavage and my bare midriff.
Why did I decide it was a good day for a push-up bra?
He licks his lips, and my panties dampen in response.
“Not going to happen.” Jack leans against the wall opposite me.
I lift my gaze to Caden’s. He’s still blocking me in. “Excuse me.”
He lifts his eyes to mine and quirks an eyebrow, then drops his gaze back to my breasts.
“I can see the appeal.” His voice is low and almost reverent.
I press into the wall behind me as he lifts a hand toward my breast. My breath catches in my throat. I brace myself for his touch. They’re just breasts. It’s no different from Luke touching my ass yesterday. My pulse kicks up a notch at the memory.
“Caden,” Jack says with a hint of reprimand.
Caden’s jaw clenches. He gestures to my breasts and gives Jack a but look.
“Rules.” Jack hands Caden the shirt he picked out.
“Fuck the rules, man.” Caden turns the shirt over in his hands, but I reach out and snatch it from him.
Jack disappears into my bathroom. I quickly pull on the low-cut top. Kenz swore I needed it when we went shopping this summer. I put it on maybe once when I wasn’t going anywhere. It shows a lot of cleavage.
At least it adds another layer between me and the beast in front of me before he gets too grabby.
“Much better.” Caden gives a nod of approval and reaches out to straighten the collar next to my breast. The backs of his fingers brush over the swell, and I inhale sharply at the sensation of sparks lighting under my skin.
His green eyes darken as they capture mine. I can’t breathe. He trails his fingers along the collar and begins to wrap his hand around the back of my neck. My insides churn, but not in an unpleasant way. I’m pretty sure he’s about to kiss me.
Unbidden, my tongue slips out to wet my lips. His attention drops to them.
“Score.” Jack’s voice comes from the bathroom.
Caden takes a step back while letting his hand drop. His intense focus leaves me, and my breath rushes to fill my lungs. I collapse against the wall. Holy crap, would I have stopped him from kissing me? I’m not sure I would have.
Jack comes out of the bathroom holding up my pack of birth control pills. I charge forward to take them, but he holds them up out of my reach.
“Give those back.”
He wraps an arm around my waist and tugs me flush against him. His blue eyes smile down at me. “Hoping to have sex or really bad PMS?”
“Irregular cycles if you must know, and knowing you all, you must know.” I try to pull away, but he lowers his hand to offer me the pills. He smells like apples, crisp and sweet, and for a second, I pause as his warmth filters into me. The hard press of his body against mine.
He shakes the pill packet as a reminder, and I look into his laughing eyes. I snatch them away from him, knowing if he didn’t want to let me go, he could have held me there.
Jack smiles and lifts his phone as I pass him to put them back in the bathroom. No doubt he’s letting the others know of his findings. I’m sure they’ll need to know my cycle next. God knows why.
“Time to go, sweetheart,” Jack calls to me and holds his hand out for mine.
I bypass him and his hand and pass Caden, who’s laughing at Jack. I might be able to get to my car before they come out. The house will lock behind them. I swipe my backpack off the floor where it dropped when Caden picked me up.
Before I reach the door, hands grab my hips, halting my progress. I glare up at Caden, who gives me a knowing smile. Jack walks by, tossing his keys in the air and snatching them quickly.
“You ride with us now.” Jack holds open the door, but I don’t move.
“You have practice after school,” I remind him.
“Yeah, and maybe if you’re a good girl, you’ll get to watch,” Caden says in my ear. Shivers ripple over me. Ugh, these guys.
“This is insane. I’ll drive myself.” I cross my arms over my chest.
Jack comes back until he has me sandwiched between him and Caden. The heat of them together seeps under my skin, making me jittery. “There are so many ways to punish you, sweetheart. You don’t want to use them all up in your first week, do you?”
My cheeks flame, remembering Luke spanking me in the cafeteria. I waited all afternoon for someone to say something or snicker at me, but no one did. Still, I don’t want to do that again.
I draw in a breath and almost go weak in the knees. Apples and cinnamon go together really well. I tip my head back against Caden’s shoulder to look up at Jack. I should be mortified to be caught between these two. I should be, but it kind of feels good.
“Come on. We’re going to be late.” Caden wraps his arm around my waist and lifts me again.
Jack gives me his maniacal smile and turns to open the door.
“I can walk.” It’s feeble, but the attempt needs to be made.
“I enjoy toting you around, untouched.” Caden leans his chin on my shoulder, his body solid against my back. “Maybe I’ll carry you around like this all day.”
I shut my mouth. He’d do it too. At least the cafeteria only had maybe half the student population, since the whole campus is open during lunch.
Word will have spread. By now people are probably saying all the horsemen fucked me in the cafeteria in front of everyone.
Because rumors suck and are rarely accurate.
I don’t need to throw gasoline on the fire with Caden carrying me like a delivery everywhere. I seriously need a plan to deal with these guys. Ignoring them won’t be an option.
When I settle into my art desk for third period, I breathe a sigh of relief. One whole hour without the guys. Yesterday afternoon had been a hellscape of different combinations of horsemen in each of my classes.
This morning, all the guys dropped their gazes to my cleavage every time they saw me like they’d never seen boobs before.
The sweatshirt definitely would have been the better option, but it isn’t like I have a choice anymore.
Before I left AP Statistics this morning, Eli bent down to inform me where to meet them for lunch.
I managed to forgo giving him a double bird salute when I left the room.
Kenz drops into the seat next to me. “How are you holding up?”
“Seriously considering whether giving them my virginity would be worth it if it means they’ll move on from me.
” I put my head down on the desk. It’s an option.
Not a great one. But can I take an entire year of being dressed, stalked in the bathroom, picked up, or surrounded by four hot guys versus one terrible night of losing my hymen?
Kenz puts her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t think it will be that easy, H.”
“Why?” I lift my head. Her pinched face makes me straighten, suddenly alert. “Did you hear something?”
Her lips flatten and she nods.
Oh shit, this isn’t good. “Just tell me.”
“They plan on keeping you to themselves all year. The guys have spread it around that no one is to mess with you or it would be like messing with them.”
My heart jerks in my chest. All year? I have to do this dance all year!
Kenz glances behind us to make sure no one is listening. “They don’t just want to take your virginity. They want to own you.”
“So I’m basically fucked either way.” Hysterical laughter bubbles out of my lips. “Like literally.”
“Maybe it won’t be so bad, Harper.” She flinches. Yeah, she knows it’s bad.
This isn’t just one guy with a goal in mind, but four of them with one singular focus: me. I hadn’t given it much thought, but there are four of them. Do they expect me to fuck all of them? They’re all attractive, but only one of them can take my virginity. Right?
Then again, they did double-team Parker Ford. Unbidden, I remember being caught between Jack and Caden this morning. Was that how it was for her? My insides buzz.
“I’m still in control of my own body.” I say it out loud because I need to hear it. They can humiliate me daily, but they can’t take my body unless I give them permission. “I just won’t give them permission.”
Kenz nods and smiles sadly. “Maybe.” She grabs my hand and squeezes. “I wish I could help you.”
I shake my head. No one can help me without a target being placed on them. This is my battle. Maybe that’s why I avoided them for as long as I could. Maybe I’ve always known it would come down to me against them.
It feels like I’m in a battle for my soul.
“It might not be all bad.” Kenz takes out her sketch pad and glances toward the door, but Ms. Sullivan hasn’t come in yet. “The rumors all say they make it worthwhile. And there are plenty of needy bitches who go back for more, so that has to mean something.”
“It means girls are as stupid as guys when it comes to sex,” I say flatly. I may be a virgin, but I know about sex. What teenager doesn’t? I read steamy romance novels and have seen porn. The porn didn’t do much for me, but it was interesting.
Lack of opportunity and a healthy dose of sex-is-a-scary-fucking-risk-with-STIs made me not really want to travel that road as early as some of my classmates. The lack of opportunity probably had the most to do with it. So sue me for not having sex.
Now I have four guys thinking they deserve my virginity. Well, fuck them, it’s not up for sale. They can keep their dicks to themselves.