my shoes and dug my toes into the sand, burrowing my feet deep in the dark, wet grains.
When I mentioned my conversation with Jacqueline earlier in the day, and the fact that she’d forbidden me from pursuing dancing seriously, Cole scoffed.
“Fuck her.”
I shrugged, blowing out a breath. “I mean, she probably means well. I know shit was weird with my mom before she left, and—”
“No, seriously, Legs.” Finn shook his head. “Fuck her.”
A grin tilted my lips, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I was on my feet, racing impulsively toward the ocean. I sloshed in until the waves met my knees, sucking in a breath as ice raced through my veins.
“You hear that, Jacqueline?” I called across the deep, inky expanse of water. “Fuck youuuuu!”
I heard the guys laughing and cheering behind me, and it made my heart race. I spread my arms wide, as if daring the entire universe to take me on.
“Fuck the Hildebrands! Fuck all your stupid bullshit!”
Whoops sounded as the Princes waded into the water with me. I saw a glint in Mason’s hand out of the corner of my eye and realized he must’ve carried the bottle in with him.
“Yeah, Legs!” Finn howled. “You tell her!”
“It’s your birthday,” Mason called, flashing me a grin. “Get it all off your chest, Princess. You can say whatever you want. Do whatever you want.”
In that moment, it felt like his words were the truest things ever spoken, and I turned back toward the beautiful, vast emptiness in front of me, letting every emotion I’d pent up over the past several months pour out of me.
I screamed at my grandmother for abandoning my mother and then me, at my grandfather for losing himself in a glass of whiskey and forgetting us, at them both for caring more about my reputation than my dreams. I screamed at Adena for being a crazy fucking bitch, for making my life miserable because she was so unsatisfied with hers.
I was breathless and panting when I was done, and the guys had grown quiet around me.
They were waiting, I realized.
Waiting to hear it.
Waiting for me to curse their names too.
“Go on, Legs.” Mason’s voice was quiet. “What else? There has to be more. It’s your birthday, you can do and say whatever you want.”
I turned back to the ocean, swallowing hard. There were more words inside my chest, words bubbling up from a deep place in my stomach. But they weren’t the words I’d expected. Not the feelings I’d expected. So much had changed since last semester.
Opening my mouth, I gazed into the darkness, willing the anger to well back up. It was still there inside me, but now it was… different.
I stayed like that for several minutes, mouth half-open, breathing in the salty spray of the ocean, tasting it on my tongue.
Then I pressed my lips closed. Took a deep inhale.
And turned back to face the Princes.
They were watching me, four sets of eyes glittering like stars as I moved purposefully toward Elijah.
He’d kissed me once—outside of a game, outside of a dare—and now I kissed him back. His lips tasted like the ocean, and the scent of sage teased my nostrils as I rose up on tiptoes and pressed my mouth to his. It wasn’t a long kiss, not as desperate and needy as our kiss in the basement had been, not as slow and deep as the one in my dorm.
But it felt purposeful, like I was giving something and taking something at the same time.
When I pulled away, he blinked down at me, his fingers squeezing the curve of my waist and the swell of my hips.
I stepped back, turning toward Finn next. He had a look on his face that would’ve made me laugh if my heart hadn’t been galloping so fast—like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing and was torn between shock and awe.
But when I moved toward him and kissed him, he didn’t hesitate, welcoming me into his arms like I belonged there.
Cole was next, and his jaw clenched as I approached him, his eyes going blank the way I was starting to think they did when he was trying to avoid feeling too much.
I didn’t let it stop me though. I pressed light kisses to both corners of his mouth, entranced by the full, perfect bow of his lips. He was beautiful, the way an apex predator was beautiful. A piece of living, natural art too wild to