“Now come on,” Abby said, putting a hand on his shoulder, but Sterling rolled it back, detaching.
“Donottouch me.” His voice turned colder than I’d ever heard it as Lincoln narrowed his gaze at Max, the entire space chilling. King seemed completely relaxed now next to me, his fingers still smoothing over my back.
“You should go,” I told Abby.
Abby finally let a sneer take over her face before she turned on her heel and stalked away. Max just offered me an amused smile and followed, as usual saying nothing but being an absolute creep. I breathed out and took a sip of my drink.
“She’s annoying,” I pointed out.
“I wouldn’t use such a nice descriptor,” Lincoln mused.
“I preferred mine from earlier,” Dermot offered. I nudged him in the side, and he flashed a smile at me before looking at King. “She’s right though, King. Dahlia ismygirlfriend.”
King’s chuckle was legitimately amused as his fingers tightened on me, but Dermot didn’t remove his hand from my leg, either. “Is that right?”
Looking between the two of them, I saw something pass that I wanted to question, but then I was distracted by the band starting up behind us. I turned, noticing how much more crowded the space had gotten.
“Can we go sit closer to the fire?” I asked, knowing it would fill up if we didn’t.
“Let’s go.” Yates hopped up, and I followed happily.
On our way towards the bonfire, we made our rounds a bit, saying hello to some of our previous classmates. Everyone seemed in fairly good spirits and we didn’t linger, ignoring Abby and their usual group that of course consisted of the worst of the worst.
Luckily, it didn’t seem the Brooks twins affected my boys all that much, and it gave me the strength to move past them as well, feeling proud of myself for standing up to Abby, even in just a small amount. I could hear the volume rise as the sun disappeared, letting me know that everyone in attendance would probably have a bit of a hangover tomorrow.
After a while, we ended up finding ourselves sitting on a large blanket near the massive fire pit as I sipped on my second drink of the night, nearly finished with it. I didn’t make a huge habit of drinking unless it was celebratory, but I felt like tonight would very much count. Maybe it was the conversation with Stratton, or maybe it was how the boys were acting and consistently touching me, but something about tonight felt different. I just wasn’t positive if that difference was good or bad.
I sat with my legs tucked underneath me, Sterling and Lincoln relaxed on either side of me in a yummy, delicious twin sandwich. My eyes widened at that thought. Well, now… now all I was thinking about was being between them in a different sense.As if you had never thought about that before.
“What are you thinking about, sugar?” Sterling’s voice against my ear had me biting my lip as I turned my head, my nose almost brushing his as my breath caught.
“Who said I’m thinking?” I nearly blurted out in response to his teasing question. “I don’t think.”
Wow. I was so smooth.
Sterling let out a soft hum in amusement, gripping my chin lightly as he searched my expression. “Dahlia, I know exactly what you look like when you’re overthinking, and more so when you’re thinking about shit that’s going to get you in trouble.”
“What type of trouble?” I asked curiously as Sterling released my chin, smirking.
“Linc, any interest in explaining the type of trouble she’s asking for?” he drew out lazily as a chuckle sounded from right behind me. I tilted up my head, finding Lincoln comfortably lounged so that my back was practically against his chest. This was a bad place to be, between them.
“I think she knows,” Lincoln mused, his fingers running over my neck and jaw as my pulse and breath hitched.
I really didn’t know, but I wanted to.
“Linc,” Yates’s voice snapped. I moved my gaze over to where he was pinning the man behind me with a look I didn’t fully understand. King and Yates had been playing a game of catch with some of the guys from our graduating class, who were all watching the twins and I. Oh.Oh snap, we were sort of making a scene, weren’t we?
I shrunk down on myself, blushing as King barked something out at the guys, everyone looking away. I swallowed nervously and focused on Dermot, who laid out on a blanket in front of us, his gaze moving from the fire to my expression.
“Dahlia.” Lincoln kissed my shoulder, his voice concerned. I looked back at him, feeling awkward even though nothing had even happened.
“Why don’t you grab another beer,” Sterling suggested, offering his brother a quick glance before returning his gaze to mine. “Sugar, you want another drink?”
“Sure.” I nodded as Lincoln examined my expression for another moment before he sighed, standing up and taking my drink. Nibbling my lip, I looked back over to Sterling, his eyes on the game of catch still going on as his long fingers gently massaged my scalp. Honestly, it felt really good, because my head was still sore from the incident with Abby… I just had to avoid wincing when he hit a particularly tender spot so that he didn’t realize I was slightly in pain. It wouldn’t be any good if he caught onto that. I’d already had to cover up the nail imprint she’d left on my neck. I didn’t need to stress them out with that mess.
Dermot began to hum along with the music as a woman walking past caught my attention, noticing the bright orange drink she was carrying that had a pineapple sticking out of it. I snapped my head around to see that Linc had yet to make it to the bar.
I jumped up and followed after, deciding to change my drink order. The space quieted slightly as I walked towards the lake. My smile grew, wondering if I could sneak up on Lincoln or not… but before I could do that, I was intercepted by someone.