With that decree, she saunters up to the rope, her hips swaying back and forth, mesmerizing us in the process.
Chuckling and looking over at my brother, I ask, “That sounds like a different challenge altogether, right, brother?”
He smirks devilishly. “It most definitely does.”
Ash
“So they think they can seduce her into admitting her feelings?” I ask, incredulous. I’ve just finished telling Hale about my talk with Lana and he’s relaying the twins’ scheme as we finish setting the food out.
He sits down on the ground, looking exasperated yet amused. “Yeah, that about sums up their brilliant plan.”
Joining him on the ground, I lay back and snigger at the twins’ typical antics. Really, we should’ve seen this coming. They find it easier to express their emotions physically, rather than verbally.
We’re similar, I suppose, in that way.
“Well, how do you think that’s going to go?” I ask Hale, just as the twins enact their grand scheme. Leo rushes Lana and she jumps before falling into Leo's fireman's carry.
Giving us a nice view of her ass up in the air.
I’d like her ass up on my bed more though.
“You’d probably know better than me after being with her last night.”
A smack sounds in the air, snapping our attention to the trio.
“Did he just smack her ass?” Hale asks, picking his jaw up off the ground.
“I think so. Lucky motherfucker. Maybe their plan wasn’t such a bad idea.”
Hale snorts in agreement.
For the past few months, my fantasies have been getting wilder and a little more daring. I’ve been dreaming of turning her ass pink until I feel the sting on my palm. Somehow, I just know she’ll love it.
When she submits to me in private—she’ll learn that I’m the real alpha.
My cock jumps and I snap myself out of it, coming to, sitting and picking some food from the feast laid out in front of us.
I can’t push her too quickly.
Last night, holding her as we slept, it meant more to me than I will ever admit to anyone. I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a dull pencil and twist it. But to myself, I can admit that having Lana’s soft curves pressed against me all night is something I could get used to.
A shadow crosses over me and I look up to find Zedd lowering himself to sit cross-legged next to us. “She doesn’t seem to be backing down from their advances.”
Their advances?
I look towards the other half of our group, my eyes widening at what I missed while I was lost in my thoughts.
The twins have Lana tucked up between them, looking more than a little intimate. Her head is leaning back almost imperceptibly, and I bet if I could look into her eyes, her pupils would be dilated in lust.
Well, shit. Maybe I won’t have to wait as long as I thought to turn her ass pink.
Hale huffs in annoyance. “That didn’t take them long.”
I smirk at the envy in his words. “Oh, don’t start with the jealousy, dude. You’re just upset you didn’t have the balls to do that yourself. It could have been you she was tucked up against.”
Hale’s always so calm and collected that it’s refreshing to see him a little flustered.
Our girl definitely has that effect on all of us.
Our girl.
I like the sound of that.
These four—they’re my brothers. The only guys I would trust to treat Lana the way she deserves. I have no hesitations in sharing her with them.
“We’ll all handle this differently. I prefer subtler methods but to each their own.”
There’s a hint of fear in Hale’s words that Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected is trying to hide. He may be more experienced with women than Zedd but I think he’s hesitant to get physical and likely worried she’ll reject him if he doesn’t.
But I also know Lana.
Knowing it’s all in his head, I clap him on the back. “We’ll all be just fine.”
I should be a professional motivational speaker.
“Trust me, I’m probably more nervous than all of you,” Zedd adds. “I haven’t even kissed a girl before. I’m going to look like a total buffoon.”
“I’m not the most experienced either, believe it or not,” Hale supplies.
Really? I look at him in a different light. He’s gone on plenty of dates, so I’d always assumed that he was as experienced as me and the twins.
I grab a turkey sandwich from the spread around us and mutter, “Well, at least you guys can appeal to her emotionally. You’ll both win her heart over faster than the rest of us.”
Before they can respond, I shove the sandwich in my mouth to avoid speaking any further on the matter.
I chew, observing our surroundings and the beautiful, clear, blue sky.
Hale cracks open a water bottle, drawing my attention. “So what are we going to do to make her birthday special tomorrow? Something is different this year. We need to come up with a plan.”
Zedd
After we brainstorm ideas for Lana’s birthday, the guys end up settling on mine. We agree that she’ll love it but it needs to be a surprise or she’ll sabotage, for the sake of sabotaging. Little imp.
That also means that the twins can’t know until the last possible moment because they’re the worst at keeping secrets. Their feelings for Lana—they can keep that to themselves, no problem. But something like this? Not in a million years.
Though in Lana’s head, we all share the same birthday, for us, the day will always be about her. She’s as determined to celebrate us as we are to celebrate her, but to us, nothing is more important than her happiness. Behind the tough, sarcastic façade she wears like an armor, she’s kind, patient, and giving. Always has been.
It’s there in the consideration she shows Ash when he struggles with his words, or when she indulges the twins when they avoid conflict. In the way she defers to Hale when she can see he needs a confidence boost. I see how she appreciates me. How she reminds me that I’m worthy of her love by just existing.
As only a preschooler, she was ready to share the one day of the year that was for her, her day, to ease the sadness that we felt at losing any memory of our identity. Her true character is there for us to see, even if it’s hidden behind a curtain sometimes.
“Boys!” Lana yells over at us. “This pair of sore losers are trying to cheat again. I need impartial judges!”
Hale and Ash share a grin as I agree on our behalf to judge—we all know there will be no impartiality when Lana’s involved.
Over the next hour, the twins and Lana give us a true performance. Across the board, Lana receives perfect tens, while the twins always fall short, of course.
She’d rather die than admit it but of us all, she’s the sore loser. After she lost a foot race when we were ten, she cried like she was mourning a death and went on a hunger strike for twenty-four hours.
What do you know? She hasn’t lost since. Yet somehow, she never made the connection.
None of us could bear causing her pain, even back then.
It also doesn’t hurt her score that her lightly-tanned skin is gleaming in the sunlight and her copper hair looks perfect against her pale blue swimsuit. Or the tantalizing way her body curves when she launches herself into the water.