I want them, too, I think, and my heart skitters with the truth of it. But I don’t tell Micky that.
“I’ll take the dare,” I repeat.
When I sneak back to my room feeling like a thief in the night, I curse how relieved I am that Micky gave me another dare.
Another chance to experience mind-altering sex.
Another opportunity to live out my fantasies, however annoyed I am for having them.
Colby’s next.
And however fearful I am of the risks associate, the only thought that lingers in my mind is: I wonder how he’ll react.
12
COLBY
“Ellie, I want you to go with the triplets to get the things we need for Harry’s barbeque,” Lara says, sounding stressed.
“How come?” Ellie asks.
“Harry was supposed to help me, but he’s got other more important things to do.” The last part is said with dripping disdain. “And let’s just say the triplets have a tendency not to get everything I put on the list.” Lara looks pointedly at Seb, who shrugs and grins. She’s not wrong. My brother always takes the opportunity to buy things that aren’t on the list and charge it to our dad’s card. Maybe Lara thinks Ellie will rein Seb in.
“Sure.” Ellie glances at Micky. As their eyes meet, her cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink, and I immediately narrow my gaze. There’s something different about my brother this morning. I caught him humming on his way down the stairs. And now Ellie is looking at him softly rather than with her usual daggers.
I didn’t see them acting particularly friendly yesterday. If anything, Ellie was her bristling self. But she’s different today.
Interesting.
“I’ll drive,” Ellie says quickly.
“No way,” I object. “There’s no way your trunk will fit everything.”
“Are you seriously going to get into a my-trunk-is-bigger-than-yours is competition with me?” Ellie rests her hands on her hips. I expect to hear the frustration in her voice, and malice, but instead, there’s a smile dancing at the edge of her pretty lips, and amusement in her tone.
Has the world slipped off its axis without me realizing it?
“My trunk is definitely bigger,” I say, smirking.
“My trunk is the same size as his,” Seb murmurs, just quietly enough that Ellie’s mom doesn’t hear. Micky shoots him a warning glare.
Also interesting
“Here’s the card,” Lara says, fishing around in her large designer purse and pulling out a shiny Amex to hand to her daughter. “At least Harry’s going to make some kind of contribution to this get-together…and the list.”
Ellie takes both, watching her mom with one eyebrow raised. It’s not only the frustrated, angry way Lara is talking about dad–it’s been bubbling between them for the last month–but also that Lara is trusting her daughter.
The world really has slipped into another dimension.
“Come on, huge trunk guy.” Ellie nods in my direction and sashays out of the kitchen and towards the front door, flicking her hair over one shoulder.
Seb snickers. “I’ve never heard it called a trunk before.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” I grunt as I follow Ellie, my eyes fixed on her ass and the way it jiggles in her cream sweatpants. The sliver of bare skin between the gathered waist of her pants and the cropped black tee she’s wearing is so tantalizing, I lick my lips. I imagine pressing kisses along that inch of skin, making her shiver. Then I shake my head.
Off limits, I remind myself and then decide that they are my two least favorite words.
I’d like to test Ellie’s limits. I could take her to the edge again and again and hold off giving her a release until she’s begging. I could push her into doing things that make her cheeks flame, knowing that she’d love every minute of giving over her control to me.
She’s sassy as fuck, but I felt how much she reacted to my dominance in the closet. She was like putty in my hands.
Ellie forces her feet into her sneakers, grabbing her purse from the hooks by the front door. I take a little longer to get ready as I search for my Nikes amongst my brothers’ mountain of huge shoes and then sit to tie the laces.
“I thought it’s supposed to be girls who take the longest to get ready,” Ellie snorts, her hand already on the front door.
“These divas don’t count,” Micky says. When I turn, he’s stuffed his big feet into sliders.
“You’re seriously going to the store in socks and sliders?” I ask.
“I’m on trend,” he says. “Ask Ellie.”
“It’s true,” she says. “Not saying I love the trend or anything, but all the celebrities are going out like that these days.”
I make a disapproving sound. “Next, you’ll tell me that mullets are coming back into fashion.”
“Yep,” she says, grinning. “Check on Insta. All the fashion influencers are rocking mullets.”
“No way,” I say, my mouth hanging open. “You’re lying.”