Chapter 13
EVERLEE - FFFF FUCK, NOT DDD DUCK.
We’re walking on the field leading down to the lake at six before seven. I feel like a zombie. A zombie who’s been thoroughly fucked the night before, but still a zombie. The air is cool and damp, and the lake has a layer of fog hovering above it, giving it that beautiful, eerie look.
“This is way too early,” I groan.
“Well, if you hadn’t gone on that… run.” Beckett peers over his shoulder at me. “Which one did you… I mean, where all did you run?”
“What?”
He nods, looking at the group of four guys who just walked up, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and oh so fuckable.
I feel bad being at a church function with all the dirty thoughts that are racing through my mind.
They’re all wearing a mixture of khakis, dark blue, or light blue pants with a collared shirt and a light jacket.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m not stupid. Who was it? The one with the beard? He’s dreamy, but the others… the one with the dark hair looks like he’d be a good time.”
Jax. If only he knew…
“Will you stop?”
“Hell, the way they’re looking at you, I’d think it was all four.”
I look around, trying to find Winston. I’ve never wanted to hide eggs so badly before.
Beckett slaps my arm. “You dirty whore.”
“Ow!” I grab my arm. “What was that for?”
“All of them?”
“I didn’t say that. Why would you assume?”
His face drops. “But you don’t deny it either, and you know them! How do you know them?”
I shake my head incredulously.
“I will get it from you or from Lizzy.” He pops his hip out with a boatload of sass.
“Reign the sass in, queen. I already have Lizzy, and she’s more than enough.”
He raises his brows and doesn’t move, so I grab his arm and pull him to the side, and he squeals, garnering several glances from others and especially the guys. I can feel their eyes penetrating me, which is a lot less comfortable than their cocks. “Will you stop?”
“Tell me, tell me. Oh God, it would be a dream come true to have them all.” He’s biting his bottom lip with his hands tucked by his mouth, like a rabbit eating an invisible carrot.
“Stop. We’re at a church function, for God’s sake.”
“I heard once that God’s favorite word was come.”
“Fuck Beckett!” I slap his chest. “You’re going to hell!”
“I’ll save you a spot.” He grabs his stomach, laughing. “So?”
“Yes, I know them. But don’t say anything or make it a big deal, please. They own a nightclub near Lizzy’s house.”
“A nightclub? Like a sexy club?”
“No. A dance club, you perv.”
“Not a perv. Why don’t you want anyone knowing that you all know each other?”
I shrug. “I just feel like it would lead to a lot of questions I can’t and don’t want to answer right now.”
Beckett studies me for a second. “So, which one?”
I stare at him. He’s about as bad as Lizzy.
In fact, he is the male version of her. Wildly inappropriate, but can sniff out bullshit better than anyone.
He’s also my best friend, but in a familial sense.
He and Lizzy are equal. The three of us had gotten into a lot of trouble around the house growing up.
Lizzy and me more than him, because he was the baby, so his little bitch ass used us as scapegoats.
Just a bat of the eye or a quiver of the bottom lip and suddenly we were a horrible influence on that darling angel.
He’s a few years younger than us, so we weren’t in school together a ton.
One year in highschool and that was enough.
That was the year he came out to Lizzy and me. His ninth-grade year. He got a lot of shit for it at school, but we shut it down and I don’t think anyone messed with him again. If they did, he didn’t say. After we graduated, Lizzy would occasionally swing by and have lunch with him, just to be seen.
His foot taps impatiently as I struggle with which one to tell him. My go-to is Callum because that’s what I’m used to, but Emmett’s the one I danced with most yesterday, so that would make the most sense. “Emmett. The one with the beard.”
“Yes, Queen.”
My heart flutters. Lizzy and Beckett rarely call me queen, but since the guys called me queen and took me on the O-Train repeatedly last night, the word does something to me now. Like my body has been conditioned like one of Pavlov’s dogs to orgasm with the word.
I look over Beckett’s shoulder and see the guys walking over to us, and my heart races.
Beckett glances over his shoulder, sees them, and looks at me. “Oh my God, they’re coming over here… how do I look?” he asks in a shrilly voice, sweeping his hand through his hair.
I punch him in the arm. “Please don’t embarrass yourself or me.”
“Everlee,” Callum says, walking up with a hint of a smile curling on his lips and his hand tucked in his pocket.
Wet. Fucking. Dream.
“Hi.” Beckett waves quickly, his cheeks blushing.
“Beckett, this is Jax, Callum, Emmett, and Knox.” I point to each one as I say their name. “Guys, this is my impossible brother, Beckett.”
“Nice to meet you,” they all say softly. I can tell by the looks on their faces they’re wondering how much I told him.
“I told him we all knew each other because of the club you have down the way from Lizzy.”
“And that you took her to pound town last night.”
“Jesus, Beckett.” I slap his arm so hard my hand stings.
“She only admitted to Emmett.”
“Only admitted?” Callum asks curiously.
“He thinks—”
“Everlee! Beckett!” our mother calls out, waving us over to a large bin of eggs.
“We’ve been beckoned,” Beckett says, tipping an invisible hat.
As we start to walk over, I feel a hand on my elbow. Turning, I find Callum. Before he can ask, I tell him, “I didn’t say much. He has a nose like Lizzy, so he knows I slept with Emmett, even though he thinks it was all of you because of the way you look at me.”
“The way we look at you?” He smiles and looks up as we reach the back of the group huddled around the bin of Easter eggs.
Winston speaks, “I want to thank you all for coming out this morning. The kids will be here in about forty-five minutes, so we need to hide all these eggs before then.” He pats the bin, which probably has close to one thousand eggs in it, and chuckles.
“We’ll have varying degrees of difficulty and send the kids out in waves by age.
Kids younger than five will go out first, so those eggs can be on the grass…
then we’ll send out the older kids every couple of minutes later.
Don’t get too close to the lake or too far into the woods. Stay on the green.” He claps.
We all shuffle forward to grab a basket, excitement levels wildly inconsistent, and start scooping up eggs. I try to ignore the brush of Callum’s arm against mine, or Jax’s leg touching mine as we dip our baskets into the bin.
A palpable tension lingers in the air, making every breath feel heavy.
Want, need, desire, lust, fear, all dance around me.
Like everywhere I move or they move, I’m aware.
It’s like bands stretch and pull me all over the field as I naturally gravitate to where one of them is, just wanting to be near them, but knowing I have to keep my distance.
The next two hours pass quickly. We had hidden all the eggs, and the kids stormed the field.
I’m standing on the mulch near the lake, watching the chaos unfold in front of me, while also acting as a guard for the children.
Several times, I catch glimpses of the guys, with their guard down, playing with the kids.
Knox is army crawling on the ground with a little boy and girl, around the age of five or six.
Another little girl has taken a liking to Callum, who is lifting his arm while she dangles, his face full of joy and laughter.
Emmett has a small hoard of older kids around him as they scout the hillside looking for eggs and Jax…
He’s sitting on a log talking to a boy who has tears in his eyes.
My heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest.
These guys, full of their dirty mouths and tatted bodies, are so gentle with these kids.
They genuinely look like they’re having a good time.
Occasionally, they talk to Mrs. Mary Mae, pushing her here or there at her command.
The love and adoration they have for that woman…
it’s like a completely different side to them.
“Fuck.”
“That’s a bad word.”
Nearly jumping out of my skin, I look down to find a little girl looking up at me. She’s probably six or seven years old, wearing a pink gingham dress with a flower sewn on the front.
I must have completely zoned out, watching and thinking about the guys, because I had no idea there was a kid around me.
“Duck? I thought I saw a duck flying by.”
“You said fuck.”
My body does some sort of weird wave-shake thing as I panic and drop to my knees. “No. No. That’s not what I said. I said duck. Like quack, quack.” I flap my arms around.
“You said fuck. Not duck. Ffff not ddd,” she holds out the letter sound of each making the difference very distinguishable.
I pinch my lips into a hard line. “You shouldn’t say the word that starts with an f.”
“Neither should you. You have a potty mouth.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that,” I mumble.
The girl puts her hands on her hips.
“Can I help you with something?”
“No. I just wanted to look at the water.”
“Well, sit on your bottom here. I don’t want you accidentally falling in. And don’t go past the green.”
“The grass?” she asks with a sassy tone.
“Yes. The grass.”
“You ok over here?” Callum walks over.
I smile at him, but before I can say anything, the girl looks up and says, “She has a potty mouth.”
He chuckles and squats down beside the girl. “You know. I say the same thing.”
The girl's eyes grow wide, and she covers her mouth, giggling.
“Har har har.” I smile.
Callum looks at the little girl. “I think they’re about to count up all the Easter eggs to see who won.”
“I didn’t win. I only have three eggs.”