“FUUUUUUUCK! I’ll pay for that! OW! LULU!!”
I bolt out of the pool, running into the house with Jamie hot on my heels. We find Devin on the floor inside the front door with Lulu climbing all over him. His phone has shattered, there’s a hole in my wall, he’s sporting a nasty black eye.
“Oh, hey, man.” He’s got tears in his eyes, but his balled up fists say he’s ready to throw down.
“Hey, what happened? Who the fuck punched you?” I crouch down next to him, trying to get a better look at his eye.
“The guys and I went to a bar. I got in a fucking fight.”
“And you had to take that out on the wall?” Jamie asks, rubbing the back of his neck as he checks the damage.
“I said I’d pay for it!” He throws his arms up. “I didn’t know Xander would be there.”
“Where? At the bar?”
“Yeah! We went to see Dani’s show. We had a few too many and, well, one thing led to another and?—”
“Wait, our Dani?” I ask as my face twists up in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Seriously, Devin? Why don’t you just wear ‘Xander please deck my dumb ass’ on your shirt?” Jamie throws his hands up and shakes his head. I’m so lost.
Devin’s shoulders slump as my head pivots between him and Jamie. “She winked at me, and, fuck, I kind of kissed her and?—”
“You what?!” I yell.
“They hooked up last year.” Lexi shrugs as my jaw hits the floor. “Oh, you didn’t know? Shit, I’ll go get the first aid kit.”
“They’ll trade me if that fight made the news.”
“Dev, you’re the third highest ranking goalie in the league right now.” I try to reason with him. “You’ve been on fire—No, what the fuck does she mean you hooked up with Dani?”
A cold beer comes from out of nowhere, and when I follow the arm to the source, I find Ren, dripping wet. She’s shivering and makeup runs down her face, but fuck, she’s beautiful.
Devin looks up at her with his good eye and scrunches his face up. “Who the fuck are you?” I forgot they haven’t met yet. “What’s with the fancy swimsuit?”
“I’m Ren.” She crouches down next to us with a little wave. “I don’t know why I never put two and two together to realize you’re the Dev she talks about.”
“She talks about me?!”
“Calm down, lover boy.” Ren shrugs and gestures with her hand. “Do yourself a favor, don’t get messed up with a Silva. We’re crazy.”
“Wait… Ren? Dani’s sister? The teacher?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Chase’s teacher? That Ren?”
“Something like that, sure,” she laughs. “Trust me when I say Dani and Xander like to pretend they’re an open relationship. But they suck at it. Both of them are too jealous.” Her voice soothes Devin from a giant mess to his goofy self in no time at all. Dev and I aren’t used to someone being this warm and gentle with us.
He flashes her a lopsided grin. “You’re nice. I’m sorry I swore so much. That’s fucking rude. Did you fall in the pool?”
“Your brother put me through the pool party initiation ceremony,” she giggles and ruffles his hair.
Lulu pushes past Ren, knocking her into me, and we fall to the ground. When I stare up at the perfect woman in my arms, she’s beaming at me again, and my heart skips to a new beat. Hers. I pull her down and kiss her hard as a soaked Lulu smothers my brother in licks and pool water.
* * *
Devin has spent the last hour trying to teach Jamie the guitar while Lulu sleeps beside them, snoring loud enough to wake the dead. Lexi and Ren are talking, and I’m relaxing next to them in the hot tub. Pongo lays behind me, watching a family of bats flit around. We’ve gone through another case of beer and passed around another joint. I’m not sure if it’s the beer, the high, or the hot tub, but I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open. I pull Ren onto my lap and rest my head on her shoulder as I wrap my arms around her.
“Put your fingers here, you’ve got to finger it right or there’s no way you’re—” Devin’s head drops when he hears us all snickering at him.
“I’ve got the fingering down just fine, man,” Jamie teases back while Lexi turns every shade of red going from embarrassed to laughter. Jamie watches her climb out of the hot tub in her bra and underwear, which leaves little to the imagination, especially his. She wraps her steaming body around him and he kisses her cheek and hands her a towel.
