fucking growled at the thought. “If you do, I’m hexing you both,” I warned. Completely reasonable reaction, in my opinion.
He simply laughed again, leaned forward, and kissed me senseless.
“Peony, was this you?” Karsyn asks now, yanking me back to the present. At my confused expression, Karsyn waves his phone in the air erratically. “Was. This. You?”
“He called you?” I ask, as understanding finally dawns. I sit up straighter in my chair, a wide smile blossoming on my face.
“He fucking called me, princess!” Karsyn lunges forward, practically shoving me off the chair in an attempt to stick his tongue as far down my throat as humanly possible. I swear I see stars behind my eyelids as he fucks my mouth with that filthy tongue of his.
“Not that I mind the scene,” Lucas drawls lazily, still glaring indignantly at the hot dog pieces. “But what are you two going on about?”
“In English, dude,” Cassian adds, dropping into the chair beside mine and draping his arm over the back of it.
“State called.” Karsyn’s too breathless to speak coherently, his words sounding airy and jumbled. He takes a deep breath before trying again, that same infectious smile lighting up his face. “The recruiter from State. He called. Apparently, someone delivered footage of me from the first few games of the season and demanded he watch them.”
All eyes are suddenly on me, staring at me with varying degrees of awe.
I shrug sheepishly, nervously brushing at my white hair. “It’s the least I could do.” I glance down at the tabletop, then to the tiles, before finally settling my gaze on the eggshell-colored wall. Anything to avoid the probing gazes I can feel on my scalp. “After what I did…”
Karsyn leans forward to kiss me senseless once more, his tongue tangling with mine before he finally allows me to breathe.
“I haven’t told you guys yet,” Cassian begins with a faux nonchalance, “but I just received my acceptance letter into State too.”
“What?” I screech, whirling on him. His arm drops from around my shoulders as I cup his cheeks in my palms. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Am I mistaken, or does he actually blush?
“There was a lot going on,” he mumbles, embarrassed. “It didn’t seem important.”
“Cassian, you are important,” I stress, squishing his face until his lips protrude like a duck.
“Youimpotant.”
“What?” I ask with a teasing grin, squeezing his face even more. “Can’t understand you.”
“Youapaninmyass,” he tries again.
“Still can’t hear you.”
“Yeah, man, you need to speak up,” Elias adds with a wicked smirk.
When I press down once more, Cassian lunges towards my unprotected stomach and begins to tickle me senseless. I would’ve fallen off the chair if Karsyn wasn’t suddenly there, repositioning me so I’m sitting on his lap.
“Mercy! Mercy!” I squeal, laughing.
“You’re such an ass!” Cassian bellows at me, and Elias growls.
“Hey, watch it,” he warns.
“Nah. My girl knows she’s an ass, doesn’t she?” Cassian turns towards me with a wink.
“Is this where you want me to shake my booty in front of your face and have you throw pennies at it?” I ask seriously. “Because I’ll have you know, my ass is primed and ready for things to be shoved up there.”
At my crude comment, all four of the men groan. Karsyn attempts to reposition me on his lap, eyes closed as if he’s in pain.
“I was going to say—before you interrupted me with thoughts of my cock in your beautiful white ass—that State has an amazing music program. And since I can’t get into Juilliard because of my grades…” He trails off with a shrug. A pang reverberates through me like cymbals clashing together, but I refuse to feel guilty for what I did. I got a pedophile off the streets and hopefully put in prison. The world will be a much better place without her darkness tainting it.
“You know,” Lucas taps his knife to his chin, “I heard that State has one of the best pre-law programs in the country.” Without another word, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and pulls up the website, scrolling until he finds the online application. “I’ll get in, of course, if this is what we want to do.”
“You mean, like, go to college together?” I can barely contain the hope that creeps into my voice. Hope for us. Hope for a future together.
“We’re practically fucking married,” Cassian drawls, causing a blush to rise to my cheeks.
“Don’t be an asshole,” Karsyn admonishes, his own face beet-red. He slaps Cassian over the top of the head, and