Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TEDDIE
The water was freezing when I first jumped in. By the time I reached the end of my first lap and turned around, I was used to it.
With summer rapidly approaching, I could get used to having a pool right outside the house. Pop would say we had the biggest pool in the world a few steps away, but swimming laps in the ocean wasn't the same. For one thing, it was difficult to swim in a straight line when the waves had other ideas.
I touched the wall with my fingertips and turned around again.
The back of my neck tickled, like someone was watching.
I'd had the same feeling the night before, when I was getting myself off with the lipstick vibrator.
I was imagining it then, maybe I was imagining it now.
Some part of me must still be on edge since I was living with a bunch of virtual strangers.
Putting it that way, it made perfect sense.
I ignored the feeling until I hit the other side of the pool, right in front of a pair of feet.
I grabbed hold of the edge and glanced up.
Fade stood on the pool deck in a t-shirt, cargo pants, and bare feet. He was looking down at me with a hint of amusement. "What do you know?" he drawled. "Teddie swims."
I snorted. "Very original." As if I hadn't heard that a thousand times since the singer became more popular. I admit to having more than a few of his songs on my playlist. For the record, he was a much better singer than I was.
"I can't believe someone said that before I did," Fade said sarcastically. "Where's your phone?"
"Why do you want to know?" I tried to avoid glancing over to where it lay on a chair on the pool deck.
"Because I'm putting something on it. You might want to get out and see."
I got the impression he was hoping I was skinny-dipping. He seemed disappointed when I climbed the pool steps in swim shorts and a tankini. As if I was going to be swimming naked at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning. That was definitely a Tuesday afternoon activity.
"You're not putting any dick pics on there, are you?" I asked. Right now, he wasn't pulling down his pants to take a photo with my phone. Yet.
"I wasn't going to, but you were the one who brought up my cock." He scooped up my phone. "What's your passcode?"
"You know the idea of a passcode is to keep someone from snooping in your phone, right?" I picked up my towel and wrapped it around myself.
"You say that like I couldn't break in." He glanced up at me.
"Telling me your passcode would make it easier for everyone.
" Nothing in his expression suggested he was bluffing.
Of course he wasn't. If you looked up the definition of arrogant, you'd see a photo of Fade Mitchell.
It would be the one right beside Oak Bennett and Helmut Egger.
I had to admit, so far, Hel was better at keeping it in check than the other two.
I sighed and told Fade the number.
Skeptical, like he was sure I told him the wrong code, he punched it in. My screen unlocked.
If he had an opinion of my phone background, a photo of my dads in their full drag costumes, I couldn't tell.
Good, because I had no plan to change it.
Their smiling faces were a reminder of why I was doing this in the first place.
Swimming in a private pool right beside the ocean. Okay, it wasn't all bad.
Fade held up his own phone and dropped something from that to mine, and tapped on my screen a few more times. "There you go. No excuses for forgetting."
"Forgetting what?" I took the device when he handed it to me and squinted at the screen.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" I asked. "You made an app with rules for every day I'm living here?"
He seemed to enjoy telling me yesterday's rule, insisting I spend the entire day without wearing panties.
I got the impression it was his idea. Was he hoping to make it easier for me to get myself off while thinking about him?
He had, that was a secret I'd take to my grave, but I wasn't only thinking about him while the vibrator was humming against my clit.
Oak and Hel featured heavily too. Filling all of my holes, grunting and groaning as they thrust into me. Their hands and mouths all over me.
I adjusted my towel, hoping my thoughts weren't written all over my face. No doubt he'd love that.
"Yeah, but here’s the best part.” Fade paused for dramatic effect. "You won't know the day’s rule until they pop up every morning." He smirked. "You're welcome."
I cursed to myself. If I knew what they were going to be in advance, I could prepare mentally, if not physically. Of course, that would have been too easy.
I read today's rule out loud. “‘Wear the red lipstick left in your bathroom’."
"That one's courtesy of Hel," Fade said. "He has a thing about red lips."
There seemed to be a double meaning behind his words. Then again, there always was. There was no way he could know what I'd done last night. No, it was me reading something into it that wasn't there. My fertile imagination strikes again.
"Does he now?" I said, forcing my voice to sound light.
Fuck, now I was noticing Fade’s lips. He had a generous mouth, wide and plush. How would it feel to have his mouth on mine? Our tongues tangling? His stubble rough on my cheeks.
As an added bonus, he wouldn't be able to make any sarcastic comments if his mouth was occupied. The downside to that was, neither would I.
"At the end of the day, one of us will mark off the rule to make sure you followed it. Three hundred and sixty-five ticked boxes, and you're off the hook."
He pointed to where yesterday's rule was already accompanied by a red tick that matched the clit stimulator on my lipstick vibrator.
Of course it did. Was that a coincidence?
I doubted it. Especially not given it was the same shade as the lipstick I'd seen sitting beside the sink.
A lush shade I wouldn't usually dare to wear.
As for the vibrator, I'd never had a toy get me off like that. It wasn't as intense, fun or messy as being fucked by someone else, but it was perfect for when I was alone. It helped take the edge off.
I'd need it around these three guys. Getting too horny would make me vulnerable. If that happened, I might be inclined to make bad choices.
"Let me guess, there's going to be rules from you on here," I said.
A slow smile crept onto his face. "Absolutely, there are. You're going to love them. There's even a few from Oak. Don't worry, I already deleted the one that said you have to blow him. Keeping it consensual and all." He seemed to think he was doing me a favor.
"You should have left it," I said.
He looked surprised until I added, "Blowing can have multiple meanings." I leaned over and blew a puff of air at his cheek.
He grunted a chuckle. "Touché."
Apparently, he liked this kind of blowing too, because the front of his pants tented a little.
Honestly, I liked it too. Being so close to him.
Inhaling his scent. Body wash, I assumed.
It smelled like a combination of citrus and some kind of stone fruit, like plums. Whatever it was, it was dangerous.
A moment later, he was pulling out his own phone, tapping on his screen, then glancing over at mine. A slow smile crept onto his mouth.
Today's rule was updated to 'wear the red lipstick left in your bathroom, on your mouth.'
"Spoilsport." I told him. So much for putting it on my elbow. Or somewhere equally facetious.
“We're going to have to be smart with you, aren't we?" he asked. "If we give you an inch, you're going to twist all the rules around inside out."
"Isn't that what rules are for?" I adjusted my towel. "To be twisted and stretched as far as they can go?”
"I told Hel we should lock you in the basement. That would have made this a fuck-ton easier.”
"I wouldn't have agreed to it," I said.
His sigh was as exaggerated as his eye roll. "Don't I know it."
"Would you really want to lock someone in the basement?" I asked.
"It didn't go so well the last time." He toyed with his phone, turning it around in his hands.
I cocked my head. "The last time? Exactly how many people have you locked in the basement?"
"I lost count after sixty-nine." He shrugged.
"You're so full of shit.” I stepped over to pick up my shoes from beside the chair. "I should get ready. I'm having lunch with Lyra."
A flash of anger crossed his face, but it was gone so quickly I wasn't if sure I imagined it.
"You'll be home for dinner."
Was he asking or telling me?
"I guess so. I have some college work and lesson plans to get caught up with." I took a few steps away.
"You should do that before you go out," he said.
"Is that one of your rules?" I stopped to look back at him. Before he could answer, I added, "I think I should make one of my own. No changing the rules after they've popped up on that app.” In case he was thinking of doing just that.
"Hel said I could come and go as I pleased. That's what I plan to do." Lifting my chin, I turned and headed into the house. If Fade didn't like it, he could go fuck himself. I'd do my best to keep from imagining him doing it.
"What are they like?" Lyra asked, leaning forward eagerly. “Are they all hot? They're hot, aren't they? She fanned herself.
"They're okay," I said flatly.
"Only okay." She looked disappointed. "Are you going to tell me what's really going on here?" She gave me the side eye.
"I can't," I started to say.
Her side eye intensified.
"Come on, Teddie, this is me you're talking to. There's nothing you can't tell me. If you're in some kind of trouble, let me help."
"I'm not in any kind of trouble," I said quickly.
"Then why suddenly move in with these guys?
" She kept her voice down so no one else on the beach could hear, although we were sitting at a distance to the nearest group.
"Did I do something to upset you?" she asked.
Her mouth turned down at the sides, and her eyes drooped, like she was going to cry if I told her she did something wrong.
"No." I put a hand on her arm. "I promise you did nothing to upset me." I let out a soft, shallow breath. "If I tell you what's really going on, you have to swear not to tell anyone else, especially my dads."
"Of course," she said without hesitation. "Whatever this is, I always have your back. You know that, right?"
"I do know," I said with a nod. "I appreciate that." I really did. I trusted her more than almost anyone. She'd never given me any reason not to.
I took a breath in and explained the guys' proposal. Saying it out loud took a weight off my mind, but the whole thing sounded salacious as hell. Probably because, at the end of the day, it was. No amount of pretending would change their agenda. They wanted me and we all knew it.
"I'm not going to fuck any of them," I said. "They made it clear I don't have to.”
"But they want to," she asked. "Are they going to go a whole year hoping you'll fall into their beds and give you the money when you do?"
"We have a contract." I scooped up a handful of sand and let it slip through my fingers. "They have to keep up their end of the deal. I intend to keep up mine."
I'd follow their rules, do what they wanted me to do. Then at the end of this, I'd walk away and not look back. Not even a peek. No glancing in the rearview mirror of my car. My eyes would be firmly forward from that moment on.
Lyra looked skeptical, and honestly, it wasn't without good reason.
I was skeptical myself. Right now, I had more questions than answers.
I still didn't know, why me? There must be a ton of crowdfunding campaigns that could have caught their eye.
Lots of other people they could help without adding strings.
She chewed on her thumbnail. "Are you sure they aren't serial killers?"
"No," I admitted.
Fade joked about keeping people locked in the basement, but what if he wasn't joking?
What if I went down there and the walls were lined with chains, each with a skeleton still attached by their wrists, a jug of water just out of reach?
The words ‘you didn't follow the rules’ etched into their bones.
Okay I should stop imagining monsters where there weren't any. Hel owned a security company, for fuck's sake. Oak and Fade both worked for him. Their job was to keep people safe. To protect them, not lock them away. I needed to stop letting my imagination run off in weird, unrealistic directions.
"Teddie," Lyra started.
"I promise I'm fine. If they start being weird, I'll leave."
An edge of unease started to work its way up my spine. What if it was too late by the time I realized I should run?
On the other hand, what choice did I have but to stay? My dads needed this. I needed this. All I could do was ride this wave out and hope like hell I didn't drown in the process.
Or end up the seventieth person locked in the basement.