Chapter 24
The Knowledge
Harper
After I refused to abide by Caden’s topless policy, we watched a movie sitting in heavenly recliners with surround sound. I picked Zombieland since it would be the least likely to make the guys hornier.
A girl needs a break. Though I did snuggle with the guys during the movie.
Afterward, Caden takes us to the kitchen and pulls out the makings for sandwiches. I make him a peanut butter and jelly. He wolfs it down in three bites before kissing me.
I pick at my sandwich while we sit at the kitchen table. “Swimming?”
“Nude swimming,” Jack suggests.
“I have a bikini I’ve never worn.” I eat a bite of sandwich while five sets of eyes roam over my body. If I don’t want to be on my knees all afternoon, I should at least suggest… “Should we invite others?”
“You have someone in mind, kitten?”
I shrug. The more the merrier. “Kenz and Brandon. Maybe some of your teammates, and there’s this group of girls who—”
“Are only kissing up to you for an invitation like this,” Eli says, shaking his head.
“You aren’t wrong, but seriously what can it hurt.” I could use more girlfriends.
The guys exchange looks around me.
“What am I missing?” I put my sandwich down and drink some of my soda.
“Those people will want something from you, and right now, we don’t want to share you, little nympho.” Caden tugs on my braid.
“Fine, but can we maybe not do sex stuff in the pool?” I glance at their feral smiles. My body warms and softens. They really have ruined me.
“What counts as sex stuff, princess?” Luke reclines and gives me a smoldering look that melts my insides further and makes me want to put all the sex stuff on the table.
Technically, we’re in the kitchen, and that island is sitting there without me naked on it. I shake my head and concentrate on answering Luke.
I have to think about this carefully. They’ll take advantage of any loopholes I leave. “Touching or kissing beneath bathing suits.”
“And if you aren’t wearing one?” Nico asks with his eyebrows raised.
Okay, he hasn’t gotten off since we got back, so I could see him wanting to do a little something to ease the ache. But I’ve been through the wringer already and need a break.
“No taking off my swimsuit or yours.” I stand and take my plate to the sink, saying over my shoulder, “Everyone stays covered, and we just enjoy the sunshine and each other’s company.”
“I always enjoy your company, little nympho.” Caden cages me in from behind. His erection presses against my ass.
“Maybe enjoy it a little less, War.” I arch my brow at him over my shoulder.
He chuckles as he backs off. “Fine. We’ll play it your way. Boring as fuck.”
I smile, and we all head downstairs to change into our swimsuits.
I close myself in the bathroom to change even though they’ve seen and touched everything I have.
If I get naked in front of them, I have a feeling they won’t let me put my swimsuit on, and we’ll spend the afternoon fucking around without actually fucking.
I do enjoy orgasms, but Nico is right. I need to get to know these guys with their clothes on. Spend time with them when they aren’t actively seducing me.
As I leave the bathroom, I hear splashing through the open patio doors. The guys are outside already. I pause in the doorway to watch them for a moment. Luke and Eli have their arms crossed over their bare chests as they watch Nico and Jack wrestle over a beach ball.
I take a breath. While this bikini offers more coverage than most, it still bares a lot. It’s red polka dot with strings holding the bottoms together, and the top is a glorified bra, basically, and barely qualifies. But it covers all the important parts.
“You coming, little nympho?” Caden closes in from behind me. His skin is warm against mine. “Because I’ll be coming picturing you in this bikini later.”
I glance at him over my shoulder. “Want to rub sunscreen on me?”
When I hold up the bottle of lotion, he grins and takes it. His hand lands on my lower back as he guides me outside into the sunshine and over to a lounge chair with a beach towel already spread over it.
He pours some lotion in his hand and caps the sunscreen. I glance over and see Luke heading this way. My breath catches as Caden rubs lotion slowly onto my neck.
“Need some help?” Luke picks up the sunscreen and goes behind me. Soon both men have their hands rubbing sunscreen into my skin, and I can barely breathe. Tingles race below my skin at every touch. Caden’s fingers dip beneath the cups of my bikini top, while Luke’s hands slide beneath the back.
“Sure you want tan lines, princess?” Luke whispers in my ear, while his hands trace down my sides. He tugs on the sides of my bikini bottoms. My breath catches as his hard chest rubs against my back.
“Tan lines are fine.” I swallow the desire welling within me. I’m the one who wants a non-sexual activity. But I also know they’ll do whatever it takes to make me want sex. The problem is, it takes less and less.
I’m not sure if they’ll all want sunscreen too, but I can imagine running my hands over their chests and down their backs.
Luke’s hands slip over my ass beneath my bikini. Caden is doing the same in the front over my hips.
“This would be easier if you took off the suit, little nympho.”
I glare up at Caden. “I don’t need sunscreen on my lady bits, Caden.”
I grab the bottle. “I can get my legs and arms, guys. Your services are no longer required.”
Caden leans in. His lips hover dangerously close to mine. The heat of him overwhelms me. “Fine.”
His lips capture mine, and Luke presses in on me from the back, his hard cock obvious against my ass. I pulse empty.
“We don’t want you to burn, princess.” Luke dips his fingers beneath my top and strokes over my hardened nipples, cupping my breasts.
I whimper into Caden’s mouth. These boys don’t play fair.
They release me as one and back away with smirks. I glare at them for keying me up before I sit on the lounge chair. Ignoring them, I squeeze the sunscreen into my hand. While I work on spreading lotion up my legs, the guys go back to the pool and jump in.
Eli sits next to me.
“Need any help, kitten?” He gestures to the bottle.
“I think the others got me covered.” I blush a little. No sex, find out more about the guys. “Do you know where you’re going to school next year?”
Eli leans back on his hands as he watches me. “I have a few different options. I’m waiting to see where the others land. All of us will get into the right schools. I’d like to stick with my friends if I can.”
Eli trails his fingertip down my back along the string tying my bikini top in place. “How about you?”
“I’m in a good position to get into my first-choice school, but I want to keep my options open.” As his finger trails along the back of my bikini, I swallow. “I waver between wanting to stay close by my mom and getting as far away from here as possible.”
“Away from us?” Eli’s voice is soft and not accusatory.
I straighten and look into his golden-brown eyes. “Honestly, that was one of my primary motivations, but now—” I look at the pool and the guys playing in it. “I don’t know. I don’t know what the future looks like anymore.”
“Do you have an inkling of what you want to be?” Eli takes his hand from me.
“Career wise? Not medical. Maybe engineering or business. I like to be creative, but I also don’t want to sit at a desk for fifty to sixty hours a week.
” I smile when my gaze catches Caden’s. “Of course, if Caden gets his way, I won’t have time for a career because I’ll always be knocked up my entire adult life. ”
Eli sits up, and our shoulders rub against each other. “Do you see a future with us in it, kitten?”
Surprised, I turn to him. “Do you?” I look down at my hands and then up at the sky.
“This isn’t even really a relationship. It’s fun, but how long can it last?
I mean, outside this bubble of our world, there’s judgement and censure waiting to knock us down.
Even within this bubble, girls are already calling me a slut, even though if they had the chance they would line up for you guys. ”
The corner of Eli’s lips quirks up. “The great thing about being us is we don’t care what other people think. The only ones who matter are us. So what do you think, kitten? Could you imagine a future with us in it?”
I glance at him before I take in Jack, Caden, Nico, and Luke. Could I imagine being with them beyond this arrangement? What would that look like?
Eli slips his hand under mine and threads our fingers together. It’s gentle and almost caring. My eyes raise to his, and he brushes some hair off my forehead.
“You belong to us, kitten. We don’t take that lightly.
We care about you and want to keep you safe, but we also want to fill you with so much pleasure.
” Eli raises my hand to his lips and presses a soft, delicate kiss to my knuckles.
He turns my wrist and drags the edge of his teeth against the sensitive skin.
Tingles shiver through me.
“I don’t really have a choice in any of this, and because I was the only one left, neither did you guys.” I squeeze his hand. “The only reason you’re after me is for my virginity, which is slowly being chiseled away.”
“Ah, the virgin sacrifice.” Eli smirks. “You honestly think we give a crap you’re a virgin?”
My eyes go wide. “Uh, yeah, that’s the whole purpose to this. I’m the last virgin in the senior class, therefore I belong to you.”
Eli stands and pulls me to my feet, but he leans down and throws me over his shoulder before I can stop him. His hand grabs my ass to stabilize me.
“What are you doing, Eli?” I smack my hand in the center of his back. “Put me down.”
“Nah, you need a lesson, kitten.” He walks to the edge of the pool. “Guys!”
Oh, what new hell am I in for now?
Eli plants me in front of him and turns me to face the guys. His arm wraps around my waist, holding me against him. The guys move toward us in the pool and look up.
“Who’s only interested in Harper’s virginity?” Eli calls out, loud enough if Caden had neighbors they definitely would have heard.
Heat creeps up my neck and cheeks. I wait while all of them look at me. No one lifts their hands.
“If Harper wasn’t a virgin, who would still want her?”
All of them lift their hand. Something in my heart feels lighter. But what does that even mean?
“Do we want to be the first?” Luke lifts himself onto the edge of the pool at my feet. Water streaks down his cut muscles, and I swallow. Fuck they’re all gorgeous. He pushes to stand directly in front of me. Water drips from his hair onto my nose, but I hold his eyes.
“Isn’t the whole point I’m the last?” I keep my expression neutral.
“The whole point is you’re ours.” Luke cups the side of my face. “Every bit of you. But if you weren’t a virgin, we’d still want you. You aren’t like other girls.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I back into Eli as Luke presses in on me. Even with swimsuits on, so much of our skin touches and stokes the fire burning within.
“Part of what we like about you is your innocence, but not because you’re a virgin. You aren’t jaded by other guys. You aren’t worried about what we’ll think if you make noise.” His hands lower to my hips and draw me against him. “You’re loud and wonderful and soft and so fucking sexy.”
“You also care about us when you should have been running away.” Caden trails his wet fingers along my arm, and I look up at him.
“You don’t always cave to us. You didn’t jump at your chance to be with the horsemen.
You fought against us. Pretended to get grounded to fuck with us.
You give in so fucking sweetly, but you make us work for it too. ”
Jack and Nico join the circle around me.
I don’t even know what to think. They want me now. But I can’t get rid of the voice that says when they get what they want, they won’t want me anymore.
“You guys punish me.” I turn so I can meet all their eyes. “You’ve taken pleasure from me when I didn’t want you to. I never asked you to choose me.”
“But we did, kitten.” Eli brushes his lips on the nape of my neck. “You’re ours to do with what we please, and if it pleases us to keep you, we will.”
Those words should terrify me. They aren’t asking for permission or consent.
If they want me, they’ll have me. But the want doesn’t go one way.
It’s been building in me, but I enjoy being theirs.
I want them to touch me, kiss me, pleasure me, and I want to do the same to them.
I want them to want to keep me, because I want to be kept.
My gaze lifts to Luke’s. His pale blue eyes are beautiful in the sunlight. The same color as the sky. He’s a bright god surrounded by dark demons, but he’s the darkest of them all.
“Keep your virginity as long as you like, princess. We’ll still be here. Waiting. Wanting.” He leans in and kisses me before jumping into the pool.
Jack draws my face his way and kisses me. Then Caden. Then Nico. They all return to the pool. Eli turns me in his arms, and I furrow my brow. This definitely isn’t how I thought they felt.
His fingers smooth the wrinkles on my forehead before his eyes lower to mine.
“Do I want to see you spread out naked before me while I pound into your sweet pussy?” Eli cups my cheek and traces his finger along my lower lip. “Do I want to tie you up and stuff you so full of cocks you scream in pleasure? Do I want to take you until you come so hard you forget your own name?”
Holy shit, he’s making me so wet. I want that. I want him to do those things to me.
Eli drops his mouth to hover over mine. “Do I want to make you mine?”
I almost whisper yes.
His lips capture mine and he sweeps me up into his arms. He tastes me delicately and fights with my tongue for dominance. When he lifts his mouth from mine, I can’t separate him from me.
“Fuck yes, kitten. I want all of you,” he whispers. “Take your time, but know once you let us in, we’ll still want you just as much, if not more.”