The Lie (Kings of Linwood Academy Book 2)

by Callie Rose

  I draw back to look at him, just like Lincoln did with me. I need to see his face while I do this.

  His gray-blue eyes have darkened like a late twilight sky, his lids half-closed as he stares at me, breathing hard.

  “You sure?” he murmurs, and because my answer is only for him, I don’t even bother to speak aloud.

  I just mouth the word, yes.

  Something shifts in his expression, and he adjusts his grip on me, helping me rise onto my knees enough to line his cock up with my entrance. When I sink down onto him, five voices fill the room with satisfied groans.

  His hands splay across my back, helping me move as I rock against him, sliding up and down his length. My body is so full of pleasure, so full of him, that I think it might burst, and I hold onto his shoulders, my movements speeding up a little as the noises around me increase in tempo too.

  I can guess what those sounds are.

  The other three boys are touching themselves. Jerking themselves off to the sight of me fucking their friend.

  Maybe that ought to make me feel ashamed or embarrassed, and maybe it will later. But right now, it’s making my whole body hum like a live wire. I feel powerful, as if even though I’m not touching the other boys, I’m connected to them somehow through River.

  And that thought is what pushes me over the edge.

  “Fuck! Oh… fuck!”

  The words fall from my lips, but I barely recognize my own voice. It’s desperate and strained, and even as I speak, my whole body tightens up as the most intense orgasm I’ve ever had barrels through me like a hurricane.

  I fight against the wracking pleasure, refusing to close my eyes and let it consume me. I don’t want it to be over. I don’t want it to end.

  River’s hips thrust up against mine as my movements fall out of rhythm, and I glance over my shoulder, needing to see the others.

  Dax’s lips are pressed together as his fist works his cock, his carved stomach muscles clenching and relaxing. Chase is breathing hard, almost grimacing as he fucks his hand in fast strokes. And when I turn my head the other way and meet Lincoln’s amber gaze, the connection between us flares like a bolt of lighting and he comes with a loud grunt, cum spilling over his hand and stomach.

  I whimper breathlessly, wrapping my arms around River’s neck and holding on tight as the second wave of my orgasm hits me hard. I feel him pulse and swell inside me, and then he’s grinding his hips against mine as Dax and Chase each groan out their release.

  The room goes quiet again, filled with just the sound of five people breathing.

  I cling to River a little longer, burying my face in the crook of his neck as my muscles slowly unknot themselves.

  It’s not shame or embarrassment that comes creeping in as my breath finally slows. It’s just the same sense of “what now” that I felt at the beginning, when we all sat naked around the table with possibility and desire hanging in the air.

  I’ve never, ever done anything like this before, and I don’t quite know what happens next.

  “Holy fuck. We just did that.”

  Chase sounds shocked, amused, and turned on all at once, and the tone of his voice makes me chuckle against River’s warm skin. The boy beneath me draws back a little, tilting my head up to meet his gaze, and I can tell he’s checking to make sure I’m okay. That I don’t regret this.

  I kiss him, soft and sweet, feeling him throb once more inside me. Then I crane my neck to look over my shoulder at Chase, biting my lip to contain my giddy grin.

  His cheeks are a little flushed, he’s got a line of cum running up his stomach, and he’s still fisting the base of his cock. We’re all gonna need a towel or something for the mess we made.

  “Yep.” My grin breaks free. I can’t help it. “Guess we did.”

  And the landscape between all of us has shifted.

  Again.

  24

  Lincoln, gracious host that he is, gets up a few moments later and heads to the downstairs bathroom. He comes back with several small hand towels, which he chucks at the other guys.

  The tension that made the air hard to breathe before is dissipating, broken by what happened between us all—by the release of all that pent up energy. Dax and Chase are giving each other shit as I slowly disentangle myself from River. Before I can pull away entirely, he tugs me back toward him for one more kiss, and even though my body is wrung out and pleasantly sated, I feel it down to my toes.

  I escape to the bathroom to clean myself up, and when I return to the rec room, the four boys are slowly picking their discarded clothes up off the floor. I scramble to catch up, not wanting to be the last one left naked. It doesn’t seem fitting for the reigning champion of strip poker.

  “Well, if that didn’t take your mind off things”—Dax chuckles as he slips his shirt back over his head, mussing up his coppery hair—“there’s something very wrong with your mind.”

  “My brain is fucking mush,” Chase says, heat still lingering in his gaze as he winks at me.

  “Your brain’s always been mush,” Dax shoots back.

  “Dick.”

  “Smaller dick.”

  Chase punches his brother in the shoulder, and my heart does a funny squeeze in my chest as I watch them. I’ve always had my mom, but even we’re not as close as these two boys are. It must be nice to go through life like that. With someone who’s always there for you, with you. Like a second part of your soul.

  It’s not that late, and none of us are tired. But the general consensus is that no one has the brain power to resume our search tonight. And the guys were right. An evening off will be good. I don’t want to get sloppy or too exhausted and miss something important.

  If there’s really anything here to find.

  There is. There must be. And we’ll find it.

  We head into the movie theatre and curl up in the large, plush chairs to watch an old action movie. I sit between Dax and Chase, and their hands chart little paths over my arms, my sides, and my legs as we watch the screen. Their bodies tilt toward me like I have my own gravitational pull, and every once in a while, one of them presses a kiss to my hair or nuzzles my neck. It’s distracting and comforting all at once, and by the end of the movie, I’m not really sure what much of the plot was.

  When we make our way upstairs and split up for bed, I’m recklessly tempted to invite all four of them to come back to my room. I keep my lips clamped shut though. What happened downstairs was insane and amazing, but even though my body is ready to go full steam ahead, I feel like my brain and heart need a minute to catch up.

  To fully grasp what this means.

  So we say our goodnights, I kiss each one of them like it’s completely normal, and then we head back to our respective bedrooms. I hop in the shower before crawling beneath the blankets with my hair still damp. There’s still a current of energy buzzing beneath my skin, and it makes me aware of every place the sheets touch my body, every sensation heightened like I’m on ecstasy or something.

  My eyes are just starting to fall shut when I hear a knock at the door. I don’t even have to guess who it is.

  “Come in,” I call out softly, and a second later, Lincoln is inside the room, padding over to the bed.

  He stands by the side of the bed frame for a moment, gazing down at me through the near-darkness. I can only make out the outline of his face in the dim light coming through the window. But when I reach for him, he moves immediately, letting me pull him down to lie beside me as he slips between the sheets.

  He’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and my body soaks up the heat of his like a sponge as he rises up onto his elbow, still gazing at me intently.

  “You okay?” he murmurs.

  “Yeah.” I reach up and trail my fingertips down the side of his face. Even in the dark room, I swear I can make out the burning amber of his eyes. “We okay?”

  “Always.”

  That single word makes my muscles relax completely. It breaks down my barriers and lets me s
ay the words that have been bouncing around in my heart for a while now.

  “Linc… when I asked you about sharing, I knew it was about more than sex.” I pause, pulling my lower lip between my teeth. “I just didn’t realize how much more. How… much.”

  It’s hard to articulate the feelings I’m developing for each of these boys, how important they are to me individually and as a whole.

  But Lincoln seems to understand what I mean without making me fumble around for the words to describe it. He drops his head to kiss me, then pulls back, our noses almost brushing as he asks his next question.

  “Have you ever done this before, Harlow?”

  I try to contain my snort-laugh because our faces are so close together, but I’m not entirely successful. He cocks his head, still waiting for an answer.

  “No,” I tell him honestly. “I didn’t even know it was the kind of thing I’d be into. Until I met you guys.”

  “Good.”

  His voice is a growl, and when he kisses me again, it isn’t a soft kiss like our last one. This is more like the kiss he gave me before he sent me off to crawl into River’s lap downstairs.

  Bruising.

  Demanding.

  Possessive.

  I kiss him back just as hard, and a shiver of something hot and sweet works its way up my spine as it strikes me that this thing between the kings of Linwood Academy and me is a closed loop.

  It’s not a “the more the merrier” type situation.

  There is no open invitation for anyone else to join us. Linc is willing to share me with his three friends because he loves them and trusts them, and I guarantee that’s how they feel too.

  It makes the connection growing between the five of us slightly less terrifying, even though there’s no denying I’m out of my depth here.

  The night Lincoln caught me spying on Dax and Chase with that girl in the upstairs bedroom, back when I still sort of hated them all, he asked me what I wanted—who I wanted. I didn’t dare answer, because even back then, even through all the bullshit between us, a spark of the truth had already lit inside my soul.

  All four of you.

  Linc and I kiss until the bruising intensity of our lips softens to something deep and slow and languid. We kiss until exhaustion steals over us and our eyes fall shut, our limbs twined together and our bodies pressed close.

  And even though I know better than ever now just how dangerous the world is, I feel… safe.

  25

  I wake up early the next morning.

  My brain turns back on at a little after six o’clock, as if someone flipped a switch. I don’t regret anything that happened last night, and I don’t regret taking a few hours off from what has been an exhausting and frustrating search.

  But the break accomplished its purpose. I’m chomping at the bit to get started again, eager to use the last bit of time we have left.

  Besides, as I was drifting off to sleep last night, a thought occurred to me. The bedroom I saw Chase, Dax, and that girl in… that wasn’t the only time I stumbled upon illicit activity in that room. The first night I snuck out to play poker, I heard Mr. Black in that room, heard the sound of his voice from behind the closed door. And I’m pretty damn sure he was having sex with someone.

  Was it Iris?

  Would he have been so bold as to bring her to his fucking house?

  I don’t know. Linc hasn’t found any security footage that she appears in, but River was right. It’d be easy enough for Mr. Black to erase any incriminating footage on his own home security system. He’d be an idiot not to.

  But maybe there’s some hint inside that room as to what went on in there, and who he was with.

  I lie in bed for about half an hour, listening to Lincoln breathing evenly beside me. He’s lying on his stomach, body nestled against mine and one arm draped over me, and as much as I want to get a move on with this search, it takes a little convincing to get myself to slip out of the warm bed.

  After throwing a sweater on over my tank top and pajama bottoms, I pad downstairs and make some coffee, grabbing five mugs from the cabinet and setting them out. It’s weird. I’ve felt more at home in this house in the last four days than I ever did in the weeks I lived here before that.

  I’m staring at the coffee pot, zoning out a little as I wait for it to finish brewing, when I hear two sets of footsteps behind me. I don’t even have to look up to guess who it is. Dax and Chase are both early risers, as if sleep is just an inconvenience they have to deal with to get to the next day. They’re usually up before the rest of us, and I’ve never seen them start the day with anything less than one hundred percent energy—unlike River, who wakes up in stages, from deliriously grumpy to semi-conscious to alert.

  “Hey, Low. You’re up early,” Chase notes, shooting me a look with brows raised. With just a slight shift in the tilt of his lips, his grin turns wicked. “Did River not wear you out enough last night?”

  I blush, pressing my lips together hard, not sure if I want to smile or smack him.

  “Oh, give her a break, she just woke up.”

  Dax nudges Chase out of the way and grabs an empty mug, joining us in our vigil over the coffee maker. His gaze cuts to me out of the corner of his eye, and on my other side, I can feel Chase staring at me too.

  I squirm uncomfortably before finally crossing my arms over my chest and bouncing my gaze between the two of them. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Chase says with a grin, shooting Dax a look over my head that I’m pretty sure contains an entire seventeen-page essay. How the fuck do they do that?

  “Um, bullshit.” I cross my arms over my chest.

  Dax chuckles. His green-blue eyes have heat in them, but something else too. Something I like even more. “It’s just—you’re not what we expected, Harlow. You’re so much more than that. I don’t think any of us saw you coming.”

  A small swarm of butterflies escapes and flaps wildly around my stomach, but I just give him my cockiest smirk. “Yeah. Most people don’t.”

  He tips his head back and laughs, and the way the sound bounces around the quiet, empty kitchen makes me grin harder.

  We grab our coffees and lean against the kitchen island, eating muffins left by Gwen and talking about stupid bullshit. Once he finishes off his second muffin, Chase dusts his hands together.

  “So, what are we thinking for today?”

  “I want to check out that room on the other side of the laundry room from mine. The one near the top of the west wing stairs,” I say immediately.

  The two boys share a look and shrug, then nod.

  “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  Good. If we get an early start like this, there’ll be plenty of time to go through that room inch by inch and still cover other spots in the house by the end of the day.

  We drop our mugs in the sink and head upstairs, lowering our voices as we go. Lincoln and River are still sleeping, and I won’t bug them unless it gets super late and they’re still not up.

  Dax pushes open the door to the large guest bedroom and strides in confidently.

  Of course. He’s been in here before.

  Pushing aside the twinge of jealousy that arises at the thought—I don’t even know who the girl they brought in here was, and that was months ago, but I still hate her a little bit—I stride inside after him, glancing around quickly. I’ve been in here to clean several times, but it usually doesn’t take very long. The room barely gets used, so it’s mostly just upkeep.

  “I think I heard Mr. Black having sex with someone in here,” I murmur softly, my gaze still tracking around the space. “A few months ago. When I snuck out to play poker after my first week at Linwood.”

  Dax pulls a disgusted face, but both boys look around the room with renewed interest.

  “Okay, so what are we looking for?” Chase tilts his head, stepping closer to the large bed set against one wall. “Do we think Iris signed her name on the headboard or something?”

  “I wish.” I
snort. “I’m not sure. Maybe she left a sock behind or something. Or jewelry. I don’t know.”

  We spread out, poking through the dresser drawers and looking through the closet. It’s all mostly empty, although the closet seems to have turned into an overflow storage area for some of Mrs. Black’s clothes. There’s a small notebook stored in the bedside table, but it looks like several pages have been torn out of the spiral rings. There’s a scrap of one missing page still left in the front of the notebook, with looping, curved handwriting cut off by the ragged tear.

  I can’t make out what it says, but it sort of looks like Audrey’s handwriting. Maybe she uses this room as a general storage area, dumping anything she doesn’t want in the master suite in here. Unfortunately, Iris left no damn socks behind—or if she did, it was long enough ago that Mom or the previous housekeeper snatched it up and washed it without realizing whose it was.

  As I’m sliding the drawer back in, I hear a noise downstairs and glance up. Funny. I didn’t even hear Lincoln or River go down there.

  It’s good that they’re up though. We can—

  Before that thought fully renders in my mind, raised voices float through the open bedroom door.

  “Dammit, Audrey, will you just stop?”

  “You stop!”

  My throat clamps shut, and for a second, my body freezes like it’s been suspended in time.

  Fuck.

  No.

  Dax and Chase look at me, and then all three of us move at once, charging toward the door. We reach it at the same time and log-jam briefly before stumbling out into the hallway.

  But we’re too late.

  Mr. and Mrs. Black are already storming up the west-wing stairs. I can hear their heavy footfalls, and I know that as soon as they reach the top, they’ll be able to see us.

  “Back! Back!” I hiss, turning around and shoving at the two boys behind me.

  We scramble back into the room, and my heart beats a frantic rhythm inside my chest as Chase closes the door behind us.

  But the pounding footsteps and angry voices don’t turn right at the top of the stairs, which would take them to the master bedroom. Instead, they turn left.