LAILAH
SEVEN
The second I saw Micah walk back in, I knew something was wrong.
I moved to intercept him, but Brayden grabbed my hand and shook his head no.
As much as I wanted to fix what was wrong, I also knew to trust Brayden, who was Micah's best friend and knew him better than anyone else.
Chewing on my lip, I watched Micah head down the hall to the bathroom, wishing that we were bonded so that I could feel what was wrong.
Each of my bonded partners and I had gotten better at controlling what we let through to the other, but I knew if I wanted to know they would show me.
Just like now, Brayden was fully aware how anxious I was about Micah and he sent soothing energy, assuring me that it would be alright.
As much progress as Micah and I made in our odd push and pull dance, I feared him sliding back again if things got too much.
"Give him time, Angel, if you try to talk to him now, he will only shut you out," Brayden whispered into my ear, kissing me on the temple. "Let him cool down a bit and give him the chance to bring it up before you corner him."
I gave him side-eye at his words. "I would never corner him."
Brayden just gave me a cheeky smile and pulled me over to the table where Mom had a few games laid out.
"Oh yes, Twenty Second Showdown!" Kyle exclaimed. "I forgot I got this for my birthday. We have to play this game, there's no better way to get to know people than a game like this. Dylan is Phoebe on her way back over?"
"Yeah, she should be pulling up any second," Dylan answered. "I've never heard of this game, what is it?"
"Basically, you have twenty seconds to do whatever's written on the card. It could be something silly like: listing food that start with C, pretend to meditate for three seconds, or get one of your teammates to do something random," Kyle explained.
"Now this is the kind of game I'm talking about!" Cami shouted, bouncing on her toes.
Knowing how competitive my boys and Cami were, this could be a very interesting game. "Sounds great to me."
"You sure about that, Trouble?" Parker challenged, mischief already shining in his eyes.
Setting my hands on my hips and jutting out my chin, I met his gaze head on. "Bring it on, buddy."
"Oh, now he's done it," Dylan laughed. "She's got that look on her face."
Parker's smile widened as he glanced at my brothers. "Yeah, it's my favorite look on her, means she's gonna give it all she's got."
Grabbing the box, Kyle set things up in the living room. "We're gonna need a lot of space for this to happen. Sis, you want to grab a pen and paper for us?"
Nodding, I headed into the kitchen to the famous junk drawer, where you could pretty much find just about anything if you look hard enough.
I felt someone moving up behind me, causing me to spin around quickly on the defensive, only to see it was Micah.
He didn't say anything, just gave me a moment before he pulled me into his arms and buried his face in my neck, holding me tightly.
Wrapping my arms around him, I stroked up and down his back, whispering into his ear, "you don't have to tell me what's wrong but know I'm here to listen whenever you need me. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out together, I promise."
He seemed to relax the longer I talked him down, until his lips pressed a kiss to my pulse, and he moved up my neck.
Then he kissed along my jaw until our lips met in a heated kiss, like he was worried he wouldn't be able to survive without kissing me.
My hands curled into his hair as I gave back just as much as I was getting from him.
He shifted me so his leg was between mine and pressed it to my apex, making me squirm, as my leggings didn't provide much of a barrier between my clit and his jeans.
I humped him like a dog in heat, desperate to feel this closeness between us, even though I knew it was being used as a distraction from whatever was upsetting him.
A hand slipped under my tank top and bra to grope my breast, flicking my nipple with his finger, making me groan as I ground on him harder.
The need I had for Micah was insane, something about him made me crave his touch and I couldn't get enough of it.
Someone clearing their throat broke us apart rapidly as I tried to readjust my clothes.
Then I saw it was Jay and relaxed, giving him a lazy smile as I was drunk off Micah's touch.
My silent protector had a penchant for exhibitionism and voyeuristic tendencies, which I was quickly finding out I didn't mind one bit.
"As much as I hate to stop what’s happening, your absence has been noticed," Jay warned with a sly grin.
Plucking the pen and notepad from the counter where I'd set them down, I sauntered up to Jay, fisted his shirt and pulled him down for me to kiss.
It was a down and dirty kiss with teeth and tongue, but I knew he loved it from the sounds he was making.
What surprised me was Micah coming up from behind, rubbing his dick against my ass as he held my hips.
"Do you see what you do to us Lailah?" Micah whispered against the shell of my ear. "Even your family being just behind this wall can't stop us from wanting you."
Yup, I was about to come just from his words alone, if he kept talking like that to me with Jay rubbing the outside of my leggings.
Just when I thought I was going to hit the finish line, Jay stopped and pulled away. "Not yet beautiful, we have a game to play with your family first."
I all but whimpered as he took my hand from his shirt and led me back into the living room, where I discovered Phoebe had arrived to join us.
The looks on the other guys' faces told me, without a doubt, my lips were swollen and cheeks flushed, telling them exactly what had been going on in the kitchen.
Great , just great. Now I'm horny as hell and have to act normal around my family and brother's new girlfriend. I hope those two have the worst blue balls ever for this kind of torture.
"Grab someone from your team and slow dance for ten seconds," Phoebe read the card aloud, popped to her feet and grabbed Parker. She wrapped her arms around him and started to sway like you would as a kid trying to slow dance.
"One, two, three, four," Mom counted aloud for them.
What struck me as odd was the look on Parker's face, it was almost as if being touched by her was causing him pain.
When Dylan first introduced her, I'd noticed the weird way he responded to hearing her name and seeing her, his face going pale like he'd seen a ghost. With everything happening and then explaining things to my parents, there wasn't a moment to check in on him.
When we divided the teams, they tried to keep it so it wasn't me and the guys against them.
Since there were twelve of us it worked out perfectly.
"Okay, time! Flip the timer, flip the timer," Kyle yelled, waving his arms.
Phoebe was slow to let Parker go, not getting to the timer in time to flip it and stop the sand from running out, giving us a point.
"Ha, ha, ha, suckers. That's ten points for us, making us the winners!" Cami crowed, leaping out of her seat and doing a jig. "Oh yeah, who’s the best team? We’re the best team."
"You totally cheated on that round where you had to have a thumb war, there’s no way you could win that fast," Kyle argued. "You only had maybe five seconds of sand to work with."
Cami gave him a sly grin. "What can I say, I’m really good with my fingers."
"Oh eww Cami, don't say things like that to my little brother," I said as I faked a gag at her words.
"I don't get it?" Kyle frowned looking at the two of us.
"It's because I'm a les—" Cami did not get to finish that sentence, as Micah chucked a pillow right into her face.
"Enough, tiny-terror, you'll scar the kid for life," Micah muttered.
Cami spluttered and made to retaliate when she got a look from my Mom and sat back down, blushing in embarrassment. It made me wonder what her relationship was with her parents. I knew her sisters, but I'd never really heard her talk about anyone else in the family.
"Now it's about time I get things started for supper, are you and your boys staying, Lailah?" Mom asked once the room settled down.
Glancing at my watch, which I'd forgotten to change to Wisconsin time, I saw it was a little after midnight back at school.
Now that we'd played three rounds of the game and my adrenaline was wearing off, the tiredness was creeping in.
Even though I didn't get much sleep and tried to stay awake as long as possible, waking up at four in the morning made for long days.
Add on the fact of traveling, the stress of talking to my family, and a panic attack—I was beat.
"I think it's best if we get to the house so we can check things out before it's too late," I suggested.
"That's a good idea," Dad agreed. "Right now, you'll have light to see by for another few hours but out by the lake when it gets dark, it's pitch black."
"Dylan, would you mind driving the van with your father to take them all over?" Mom asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.
He smiled at her and patted her hand. "Sure thing, Mom."
"That's my boy, it will give Phoebe and I a chance to talk without you around, so I can tell her all the embarrassing stories I can think of," Mom teased, giving Phoebe a wink who smiled at her.
"I think I like the sound of that," Phoebe said.
Dylan groaned, rolling his eyes. "I knew this was going to happen, try not to tell her anything that would make her dump me."
"Why on earth would that happen, you’re my precious first born who can do no wrong," Mom gasped in mock horror.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dylan mumbled, slipping his shoes on.
The lot of us piled into the van as Dad started up the truck, rolling down his window and waving for me to do the same. "You guys lead and I'll follow."
Giving him a thumbs up, we were off. Like they said, it was an easy twenty minute drive leaving the town behind us and entering into more of the wooded lands near the lakes.
I left the window down, feeling the wind on my face and breathing in the country air that I grew up with, telling me that I was really home.
When we pulled up to the guard shack, a man stepped out wearing a grey and black uniform with a badge from a security company on his chest.
"Name and resident you are coming to see?" the man asked.
Brayden unbuckled and opened the left sliding door getting out to greet the man. "We’re actually new residents here, this is the paperwork we were told to give you so we can receive our car stickers."
"Oh yes, your cars were delivered yesterday, along with the other items I was told about," the guard informed us. "One moment and I'll grab the things you need that your property manager left with me."
Dylan turned to look at me and mouthed—what the fuck—making me snicker.
"Here you are, there are also documents there if you want to add on visitors to the approved list that will get special stickers allowing them access," the guard shared handing Brayden a large envelope and other papers.
"Thank you so much," Brayden said, shaking the man's hand before climbing back into the car. "Oh, and the gentleman in the truck is with us as well."
The guard nodded and waved us along once the gate was open.
"How cool was that?!" Dylan blurted. "You guys had cars delivered?"
The guys all laughed at my brother's amazement. "How else did you think we would get around here?" Parker asked. "We kept it simple and just got two cars, one for everyday use and another for fun."
"Sis, how the hell did you find these guys?"
Turning in my seat to look at them, I smiled. "I didn't, they found me and refused to take no for an answer."
"Now that I think of it, literally half of us found you lost somewhere," Brayden mused.
"Or got sat on while taking a nap," Micah pointed out. "Then I couldn't get rid of her, she kept showing up everywhere I was, so I decided it was easier to just accept it than fight it."
Rolling my eyes I stuck my tongue out at him. "Ever the romantic."
"Whatever, you love it," he shot back.
"You're right, I do," I shared, meeting his gaze so he knew I was talking about something more than his sassy wit.
Understanding flickered in his eyes as he opened his mouth to say something, then didn't. That was alright, I'm not sure this was the right atmosphere to have the conversation we'd both been dancing around for months.
"Ten-thirty circle drive, this is us," Hudson called out.
Dylan pulled onto the brick drive, that seemed to go on for a good mile, until we broke through the trees and there was the house.
"Holy fucking shit," I gasped. "The pictures did not do it justice at all."