“What’s going on?” Spencer asks, leaning back on his hands as Milo eyes my cocktail.
“Not much,” Drix says, bringing her glass to her lips and searching for the straw with her tongue. “We’re just chilling. Soaking up some rays.”
“Mind if we join?” Charlie questions, looking across at Drix and raking his eyes over her toned body. “Fucking around with you girls seems a little more exciting than playing video games in Spencer’s den all day.”
Drix laughs and grins back at him. “Mi casa es su casa.”
“The fuck?” comes Colton’s booming amused grunt from behind us as Casey scoffs. He walks up behind me and places his warm hands over my shoulders, gently squeezing. “When did your bitch ass move in? As far as I’m aware, this casa is still very much mine.”
Drix shrugs her shoulders. “Sorry, big guy. You have the best pool in Bellevue Springs and a butler dude who makes the best cocktails I’ve ever tasted. Good luck getting me out of here. You might as well admit that I live here now. It’ll be easier for us all.”
I tilt my head back and look up at Colton, meeting his warm, loving eyes. “She has a point,” I laugh. “With the way Harrison is practically pouring the cocktails straight down her throat, you can expect her things in one of your many guest bedrooms by the end of the day.”
He dips down low and brushes his lips over mine. “No way in hell. It’s bad enough having your stubborn ass taking over around here. I couldn’t handle two of you.”
“Actually,” I tease with a whisper, seductively running my tongue over my bottom lip. “I think you could handle two of us remarkably.” His brow raises and he gives me a questioning look, making me choke on my cocktail and realize that I’m all talk. “Don’t even think about it,” I laugh. “I don’t share very well.”
A grin cracks across his face. “Good,” he states. “Neither do I.”
Jess finally emerges from the pool, dripping wet with her empty glass. She meets Colton’s eyes. “Sorry, I uh … kinda spilled my cocktail in there. I’m pretty sure there’s a whole fruit platter at the bottom of your pool now.”
Colton shakes his head, more amused by the streaks of mascara making their way down her cheeks and making her look like some kind of drowned rat. “It’s fine,” he laughs. “Enrique will be in tomorrow. He can deal with it then.”
She lets out a sigh of relief before striding over to the sunbed that Charlie is currently laying back on. She reaches down, dripping water all over him, and in one quick pull, tears her pool towel out from under him.
“Woah,” he laughs, throwing himself to his feet and having to adjust everything. “A simple please would have been nice.”
Jess scoffs as the rest of us watch the show. She drops back down on her sunbed, quickly and effectively stealing her spot back. “I’m done using manners with you boys. What does it get us? We all get screwed over in the end.”
Milo cringes and I search out his eyes, knowing damn well that was a stab at him, but he shrugs it off, intent to enjoy the sunny afternoon.
Harrison comes out with more drinks and as Drix and I compete over who can throw it back faster, Charlie fiddles around with his phone and connects his playlist to the sound system. Before we know it, music is pumping through the massive property and we’re all vibing and having a good time.
Charlie walks over to the opposite side of the pool and drags back a few more sunbeds so we’re not all squished on the same ones and as he turns back to face us, I get a proper glimpse at his shirt, but more importantly the letters across his chest.
DYWMTCOAEYPTYCOMF
A grin tears across my face as he catches my eyes, realizing that I know exactly what it means. A booming laugh tears out of him as everyone else just watches us with confused stares.
“What did I miss?” Hendrix questions, looking over Charlie through narrowed eyes. “Is it his shirt? What does it mean?”
I shake my head. “If you don’t know, you’re too innocent.”
“Bullshit,” she says as Colton chuckles to himself behind me, clearly having figured it out. “You know I’m not innocent. Tell me, fuckers.”
Casey laughs beside me, her eyes going wide as she puts her cocktail down, terrified of spilling it all over herself as she laughs hysterically. “Oh shit, I just got it.”
“What?” Colton snaps. “The fuck do you mean you just got it? You’re sixteen. You’re a fucking baby.”
“Fucker, I’m seventeen,” she says. “But don’t stress yourself out worrying about me. The whole innocent ship sailed a loooong time ago.”
His eyes bug out of his head as his hands tighten on my shoulders. “What? How long ago? With who?”