Page 35 of Filthy Little Pretties

“At least he wants to share it with you. I think you’re looking at it all wrong. Trust me, it could be way fucking worse.”

He jogs up next to me and blows out a long breath of air.

“It’s not what I want, man. Your dad is a dick. The biggest one. But the pressure can be felt in the reverse. My dad is shoving all his plans down my fucking throat, and I’m choking to death. He’s already talking graduation, and we’re only three weeks into the first month of school. I tell him to stop, but he doesn’t fucking listen to anything I say. Every conversation is about legacy and responsibility.”

Fuck if I don’t understand that. The pressure is enough to drive Atlas into the ground. We walk into the boathouse, and I drop the oars down, turning around to go back for the boat.

“What’re you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet, but what I do know is that I need to fucking chill and blow off some steam. Lake house night. We’ll grab everyone and go.”

I nod my head and grip one side of the boat as Liam grabs the other. We hoist it up over our heads and walk back to the boathouse. After hanging and securing it, I turn to Liam and laugh. “Who tells Caroline? Not inviting her would mean all-out war. And we’ve punished her long enough.”

“Punished? She acts like we don’t exist. She won’t even speak to me.”

We stand grinning, before lifting our fists for paper-rock-scissors, but I stop short. “Kai.”

Liam nods, clapping his hands together, and I continue, “He’s the only one of us she likes right now anyway.”

“Hell yes. Clutch, Grey. That little viper is still sour as hell about Donovan. I gotta say though, she’s hot when she’s pissed.”

My head drops forward, before I give him a disgusted expression. “Fuck you. Come on.”

He unzips his bag, pulling his sweats out.

“I’m human.” He shrugs and points to his dick. “It’s his fault, not mine.”

I toss one of his slides at him, and he dodges it, laughing until it skates over the wood decking and smacks the side of a boat, splashing into the water.

“You’re fucking dead.”

Squaring off, I laugh as he charges me with his shoulder, lifting me off the ground. My elbow connects with his shoulder blade, and he grunts his laughter, dropping me. I shove his shoulder, making him jump back on one foot a couple of times, and take a step forward, thinking I might shove his ass in the water to find his shoe, until Liam points behind me, straightening himself and stifling his laughter.

I glance over my shoulder, and an older couple is staring at us like we’re crazy, as they admire the boats inside. I walk back to my bag, giving them a nod, and shake my head at Liam, who’s barely keeping it together.

“Your fault,” he whispers, walking past me as his laughter pushes through.

“Degenerate,” I counter and grab my shit, following him out.

The minute we exit, we both lose it. Liam’s phone begins to ring, and he digs through his bag and pulls it out, answering, “Just who I needed to talk to.” He looks at me and mouths, “Kai,” before walking up the grassy hill next to the boathouse.

I reach inside my bag to grab my phone, overhearing Liam speaking animatedly to Kai. They begin making plans for tonight for who to invite and how they’re going to convince Caroline to come as I zip my duffle.

“Keep it small,” I call out, knowing Kai will try and make it an event.

Swiping my phone open, my fingers quickly type out a message to Donovan.

Me: Lake house tonight. You’ll be picked up by three. Don’t be late. We’ll be back tomorrow.

Cherry: Ooo sleepover camp. At the lake? Didn’t they make a movie about that?

Me: Yeah but you have to pay extra for it at the hotel.

Cherry: I was thinking Friday the 13th…but yours sounds scarier. Who’s picking me up?

Me: The guy you like the most.

Cherry: Yay! Tell Kai I’ll see him soon.