Page 93 of The Saviors: Part One

“We may have lied.”

Her mouth drops open. “You suck, Cole Barnaby Jenkins.”

“Low blow, Ladybug,” Cole warns.

“Wait. Wait. Wait.” I turn to Cole. “Your middle name is… Barnaby?” The look on his face is the only answer I need. I lose it with full body convulsive laughs that make you wheeze. Tears are streaming down my damn face. I suck in a breath and start all over again.

Cole points at Chelsea. “You swore you would never tell anyone that.”

She smiles sweetly at him. “We both lied.”

Nolan high fives her. “You’re awesome.” Nolan and Chelsea have gotten along from the beginning, which seems to be the thing for them. You instantly liked both of them. Trust me. Chelsea had me wrapped around her finger from that first night at the bar.

“We can’t all have cool names,” Cole says, pointing at Axel.

Axel shrugs. “It’s the only good thing my parents gave me.”

“What’s yours?” How the fuck did I not know any of this?

Chelsea laughs. “His middle name is Chuck.”

“Your name is Axel Chuck Norris? Your parents really named you after the actor Chuck Norris?”

“As far as I know. Where else would that come from?”

“I’m getting in the pool,” Nolan announces, standing from his chair. He gets in front of the pool, strips his shirt off, and dives in.

My eyes flash to Axel. “What the hell did you do to that poor boy?” Nolan has more marks on him than just his neck.

“I refuse to be embarrassed, but nice try, asshole,” Axel answers with a chuckle.

“I’m not trying to embarrass you. It looks like you tried to eat him alive.”

Axel barks a laugh. “I did.”

“And that’s my cue,” Chelsea says, getting up and walking toward the pool.

I see the moment present itself and decide to make a move. I’m up and out of my chair before I can rethink myself. I wrap my arms around her waist, hike her up, and take off at a dead sprint, jumping right into the deep end. Chelsea’s shriek is cut off when we hit the water. We both come up, spluttering and laughing, with her arms and legs wrapped around me.

I push Chelsea’s wet hair out her face, and she’s grinning from ear to ear. Swimming to the side of the pool, I grab the side to wade there. Nolan swims up beside us.

“Jesus Christ, Sean,” Kai snaps, standing at the edge and staring down at us.

Chelsea lays her head back to stare at him upside down, and that’s when I notice that her white tank top is completely see-through now, showing off a black lacy bra, and Kai has the perfect view. “Calm down,” she laughs.

“Yeah, Godzilla, calm down.” He narrows his eyes at me, and I grin. Cole walks up to stand beside Kai and shakes his head.

“What if she couldn’t swim?” he asks.

“Why the hell would she have a pool if she couldn’t swim?” Nolan comments.

“All of you are fucking smartasses,” Cole comments.

“DIVE!” Axel yells. I pull Chelsea back under the water about the time Cole comes sailing over our heads right into the water.

We come back up dying laughing at the same time Cole’s pissed off face surfaces. He swims to the edge, holding up his phone, that’s now dripping wet, and tosses it on the patio. “You’re going to pay for that,” Cole warns.

Chelsea looks at Kai. “Are you coming in?”