Queen of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #4) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,203

Kyan laughed lightly. “Quit playing that game, man.”

“I have no idea what it means,” Saint snapped. “And I really think it’s time you told me.”

“It’s what you think it is when you don’t overthink it,” Blake said. “Took me a while, but I got it now.”

“You had better be joking, Bowman. I refuse to be the only one who doesn’t understand it!” Saint balked.

“Saint’s incapable of overthinking it,” Nash tossed in.

My ass was getting seriously toasty and the pinecones were hurting like a bitch, but antagonising Saint was a good distraction. “I think once I have the tattoo it will make more sense to you.”

“If Kyan marks your body with a squid, I will personally escort you to have it removed,” Saint said sharply.

“I think you need to just embrace the squid, bro,” Blake said. “It’s much easier that way.”

A pap sounded as a pinecone hit the ground and Nash groaned. “Fuck.”

“Tatum wins!” Kyan crowed as Monroe shook out his butt crack ungracefully and I reached around, trying to rid myself of the cones with one percent more dignity. “I’ve got you, baby.” Kyan’s rough hands slid over my ass and he took out all the cones carefully. It was weirdly sweet before he leaned down to bite my left ass cheek hard.

“Motherfucker!” I gasped, standing upright and he yanked my panties and jeans up at the same time, grinning at me.

“Just so we remember where to put the squid,” he purred into my ear.

I took hold of his arm, yanking his sleeve up and sinking my teeth into the squid inked on his flesh until he groaned. “Just so we remember where yours is, baby,” I taunted then slipped away from him and kicked my shoes off before crawling into the tent. I had a prize to claim after all.

"Don’t get too excited, siren,” Saint called after me before I could strip off and lay back to await my first prize. “You’re still undergoing your punishment. So you can spend the night dreaming about which of us will make you come the hardest in the morning. Until then, your panties are staying precisely where they are.”

My lips parted in outrage and I was about to argue when Blake leaned down to speak into my ear. “Think about how hot you’ll be for it after all of that anticipation,” he purred. “And how well you’ll sleep tonight knowing you’ll wake up to one of us eating you out for breakfast.”

I bit my lip and shrugged. That did sound like a pretty heavenly way to wake up after all.

My boys piled in after me and though it was made for six people, it was still a bit of a squeeze considering four of those people were built like shit brick houses.

They’d unzipped all of the sleeping bags and laid them out across the roll mats like one large bed and I wriggled out of my clothes down to my underwear before slipping under the covers. With a few grunts, accidental kicks and growls of frustration, the boys managed to strip off too and join me under the covers. Blake made it onto my right first and Kyan made it to my left, pressing close to me so I was pinned between two walls of warm muscle.

It was fucking heaven.

Saint made sure the tent was zipped up before lying down beside Kyan and taking up his Dracula stance on his back, closing his eyes, a crease between his brows.

“Tell us one of Poe’s poems, Saint,” I urged, sure he was still struggling with this situation. “It’s almost midnight.” I had no idea what the time was actually, but it was important he believed that right now.

He took a slow breath and recited a piece of a poem I’d heard him read before which made my heart fill with all the beauty and wonder of the world. “Thou wast all that to me, love, for which my soul did pine. A green isle in the sea, love, a fountain and a shrine. All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers, and all the flowers were mine.”

H iking through the freezing forest between snow-capped peaks and towering pines was somehow liberating after spending so many months trapped in isolation one way or another. We'd had a lot more freedom to move around at Everlake Prep than most people in the world enjoyed, but just knowing I'd been confined within the walls of the school there had felt like being incarcerated.

This out here was pure freedom,