Flock

SO BE IT. IT’S BEEN days since the texts stopped, and I’m still convincing myself I’m fine with it. If Sean can’t deal with me standing my ground about his own shitty behavior, we’re already a lost cause.

I fell for every line his beautiful lips fed me. Only to feel slapped.

I caught myself just in time.

To make shitty matters worse, my plant bully has taken it upon herself to make my days more grueling, taunting me in Spanish—I can’t understand—in the breakroom and all but smashed me into the wall when we punched out last night. She’s got it in for me, and she’s making it known shift by shift. The last thing I need to do is report it to my supervisor, who I’m actively avoiding.

I smooth on more lotion and kick back in the lounger, feeling the tingle of the sun on my skin. A much-needed day off alone is exactly what I need to recharge. I just wished my libido would do me the solid of agreeing.

Sean woke that part of me up again, and now it refuses to be ignored. Day in, day out, I’m constantly in a place where the throb won’t cease and my new craving reminds me of what I’m missing.

I’ll be thankful when I outgrow my teenage hormones, but I have to woman up early because I’m no longer dating boys.

Restless from another uneventful day, I close my eyes after my third attempt to get into a novel, certain it’ll take me more than seven days to break my new bad habit.

A tidal wave of water covers me, and I shriek from where I lay, jerking to sit, and when I do, I see none other than Dominic appear from beneath the rolling surface. Water pours from him as he stands to his full height a second before my view is blocked by the man who I spent the last week ghosting but continues to haunt my every thought.

“You think I’d let you get away that easily?” Hazel eyes glitter down at me, along with the dazzling smile I can’t banish from my thoughts.

“What are you doing here?”

The slap of the closing gate has me peeking around Sean as Tyler comes into view, hauling a cooler. “Hey, beautiful,” he greets, sca

With the salute of my hand, I cover my eyes, peering up at Sean. “What the hell are y’all doing?”

“We shared our spot with you,” he shrugs. “Only fair.”

“That may be, but I assumed you could take a hint.”

His eyes flare and his jaw twitches. “Don’t play bitch. I like you too much.”

He takes a seat next to me and I don’t know whether I want to kiss him or slap him, I decide on neither.

“Kiss,” he says, reading my thoughts all too well. He leans in, and I do my best to hold my breath but fail, inhaling him fully. It’s like coming home.

“Get that asshole out of my pool.”

“Stop it,” Sean snaps.

I rear back. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m the boyfriend you’re pissed at.”

His statement strikes deep, threatening my progress as Tyler sets the cooler between the loungers and pulls off his T-shirt.

“Give us a minute,” Sean asks Tyler who nods, gri

“Hey, Cee.”

I can’t help my return smile, especially when that dimple appears. “Hey, Tyler.”

“I’m jealous,” Sean whispers.

“About what?”

“That smile you just gave him. Did I really fuck up that badly?”

“You hurt me,” I decide on stark honesty. “I thought we had a good thing, and I feel like you threw me to the wolf.”

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid. But you twisted the whole situation into what you expected to happen. You expected me to show my Gemini side, but I’m a Virgo, remember? I had no chance against your imagination. This fight was inevitable. We both knew the minute I pissed you off; this would be your argument.”

I gape at him. “I might have a hard time trusting, but you’re making it impossible.”

He grips me by the neck and leans in, so we’re nose to nose. “Tell me you don’t miss me.”

“Irrelevant. If I can’t trust you to have my back when I need you, then what’s the point?”

“The point is you didn’t need me. You just thought you did, and I wanted you to realize that. Instead, you left my bed and decided to punish me for not handling your business.”

“My business?” I gawk. “You have some nerve.”

He refuses to give me space and grips me tighter. “I call it faith. You are a lot stronger than you think you are, and I wanted you to see that.”

“Why?”

“Because I want you around, and often,” he murmurs. The part of me that wants to fight is growing weak by the sight of him and his logic. My feelings for him scare me. It scares me a lot, and maybe I was looking for a reason to push him away.

“I thought you said it was my decision.”

He threads his fingers through my hair. “I don’t like your decision. At. Fucking. All. But I’ll respect it. If that’s what you really want.”

He’s got his mirrored sunglasses on and I pull them off, sliding them on so he can’t see the emotions I’m sure I’m broadcasting. “I won’t be treated like that.”

“Then don’t allow yourself to be, but your point’s been made with me. I’m sorry, baby,” he murmurs, and I can only hope it’s sincere. “You’d better believe I’m going to have your back when you need it.” He presses my hand to his chest. “Believe that if you don’t believe anything else about me.”

I can’t deny him. I can’t, no matter how much it scares me. I want Sean, I want his words to ring true, and the only way to know is by taking a chance on him, and riding this out.

“I thought I was doing the right thing, but I don’t know what that is when it comes to you.” He looks torn, his eyes losing focus as he says this.

“What do you mean?”

I feel the shift in his posture, all signs of play gone. “It means for both our sakes, I should probably leave you alone, but I’m not fucking going to.” He flattens me to him and kisses the life out of me. I moan, my hands instantly clutching him as he inappropriately deepens our kiss. But that’s Sean, and it’s one of the things I love so much about him. He kisses me and kisses me, and I take it, giving back just as much. When he pulls away, I’m on fire, unable to hide the rapid rise and fall of my chest.

“Fuck, I look good on you.” He lifts the glasses resting on my nose and presses his forehead to mine. “I really wish I hadn’t brought these assholes with me.”

I peek over to see Dominic perched on the shallow end of the pool.

“My father has security cameras set up everywhere, and he’s already threatened me about company. This isn’t going to bode well.”

“We’ll handle it.”

“You’ll…handle it? How?”

He nods toward Dominic and I groan.

Sean turns back to me. “Look, he isn’t easy. But he’s here because he wants to be.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? The guy is a motherfucker.”

Tyler claps his hands together, joining us at the loungers. “Cool, Mom and Dad made up. Time to celebrate.” He grabs a beer from the cooler, shakes it up and sprays us with it.

“You shit,” I smile, just as Sean lifts me honeymoon style into his arms and jumps us into the pool. When we emerge, I’m gri

“You ass, I wasn’t ready!”

“Then I guess you better up your game,” he taunts when I charge him. We frolic in the water as Tyler makes himself comfortable in a lounger, turning up his radio. Sean’s phone rings and he gets out of the pool, holding up a finger to me that it’s important before answering. “Hey, Dad.”