I offer up a little wave, waiting until they’ve disappeared into Parrish’s room, and I can hear Tess’ voice mixing with Maxx’s and Chasm’s, before I flick my lights off and climb into bed.
After a few minutes, she leaves, heading into her and Paul’s bedroom but, unfortunately, leaving the door cracked.
“You okay in there, Little Sister?” Chasm calls out cheerfully, his voice just loud enough to carry into my room.
I turn on my side, facing toward the open door and pillowing my head on my hands.
“I’m okay,” I respond, wetting my lips and wondering how much of this Tess can hear. Eh, fuck it. “But I miss you guys. I wish I was in there.”
“I wish you were in here, too,” Parrish says, his voice more strained than usual.
“You two are impossible,” Maxx adds to that, and I can tell he’s trying to be good-natured about it, but really, he’s jealous. Not only has the tension at school been escalating this week, the tension between me and Parrish, but also the tension with the other boys.
A moment passes. Another.
I hear the quiet whisper of footsteps on the floor, and then there Parrish is, looming in my doorway.
“Get up,” he says, his voice rough and low. Please don’t let Tess see this on the camera, I think, but I’m already tossing my blankets aside and climbing out of bed. Parrish takes my hand and drags me across the hall into his room, past the other boys, and into his bathroom.
I don’t quite expect that; I thought he was taking me to bed.
Well, um, I guess he is taking me to bed, but in a different way than I’d thought.
Parrish grabs me around the waist and then guides me to the floor, laying me on the plush white rug in front of the bathtub. His mouth meets mine in the dark, searing me with vibrant heat, bringing me to life in all the best ways. I never expected all of that longing and all of that worry between us to blossom into this, this frantic, wild need that obliterates all rational thought.
Tess might’ve seen us on the camera; she might be coming this way even now.
It doesn’t matter.
Parrish pulls a condom from the pocket of his pajama pants and traces the edge of it along my jaw, making me shiver.
“I can’t fucking wait for this last goddamn exam to be over,” he murmurs, and then he’s dropping down to press his mouth against mine, his warm body settling between my thighs. My hands trace down his back, smoothing over his muscles and worrying about his wounds even as he’s sliding his bandaged chest against mine. “Kiss me, Dakota. Kiss me like you’re mine and you don’t love anybody else. I don’t care if it’s a lie.”
I cling onto him, kissing him deeply, wishing with all my heart that what he’s saying was true.
It’d be a lot easier to love one boy instead of three.
“I love you, Parrish,” I promise as he yanks my pants down my legs and slides his palms over my thighs, worshipping, caressing me. The need between us is too intense to ignore; we have to have this release, even if it’s quick.
“And I love you,” he murmurs, pressing his mouth to mine even as he shoves his own pants down and fumbles to get the condom on while trying to maintain contact with my lips. “I won’t let anything or anyone come between us. That much I can promise you.”
He angles his hips to enter me, and my mind flashes with equal parts excitement and fear. What is he saying? Is he saying that he’ll be with me even if I want to keep seeing Chasm and Maxx? Or is he saying that he’ll fight them off if necessary?
I can’t decide, and there’s no time for it anyway.
Parrish slides into me, and it’s this blissful, perfect feeling of union. There’s no surer way to promise my aching soul that he’s back and that he’s not going anywhere than to feel him inside of me like this.
We move quickly and quietly in the dark, the heat of him seeping into me, warming up all those cold, quiet places. If either of us had thought this was going to ease the tension between us, we were wrong.
It’s amping things up.
I have a feeling this summer is about to get hot.
I snort a laugh, and Parrish goes completely still, letting out a small groan as he buries his face between my neck and shoulder.
“Don’t do that,” he murmurs as I turn my head toward him, running my tongue along the side of his face and tasting the sweetness of his skin. “Laugh like that.”
“It’s because of you,” I promise him, thrusting my hips up and causing him to let out a small growl as he hooks his fingers around my hip bone and tries to hold me in place. “I was thinking we were going to have a real hot summer.”
