Page 18 of Intertwined Souls

Ryker nods. “Yeah. But don’t worry about it. All the single guys will just go out to Noah’s nightclub later.” He shrugs.

We approach a few of the guys, along with Axe, Noah, and Grayson where they stand with some kind of tilted boards on the ground multiple feet apart from each other. Each board has a hole in it, and they are tossing bean bags into the opposite one.

“What is this?” I ask, pursing my lips curiously.

Ryker grins. “It’s called cornhole. It’s pretty easy to play, but the guys get really fucking competitive.” He chuckles, which draws Grayson’s eyes to us.

He smiles and starts walking around the board to come stand by us but almost trips over his feet and pauses. His wide eyes lock on me. Ryker watches him and begins to shake with laughter.

He grabs my hand, raising it above my head and has me spin in a circle, grinning widely at Grayson. “Fucking perfection, huh?” he drawls.

Gray blinks a few times before he gulps and comes closer. “You are stunning. Every day you blow my mind away, but right now—” He clears his throat, and a flush works its way up his neck. “There are a lot of things going through my mind that I would like to do to you.”

I suck in a surprised breath at Grayson’s words. Ryker seems to be the one who’s the most open and out there. Just saying whatever he’s thinking and having no shame, but Grayson is more reserved and right now, he is showing me a different side of him. One I would love to see more of.

Taking a few steps forward to bring us chest to chest, I slowly run my hands up his arms and murmur, “Maybe you can tell me those things later.”

Heat hits my back, and my hair is pulled to the side. A pair of lips presses lightly to my neck. “Maybe he can show you those things,” Ryker whispers in my ear, pushing his body against my back. His very noticeably hard erection presses against my ass, causing me to gasp.

Before anything else can be said, or maybe we run back inside because I am now aching to know what was on Grayson’s mind, a loud throat is cleared as a raspy voice comes closer to us. “You better take a step back there, boys. Rage is going to be out here anytime soon, and I really doubt he’s gonna wanna see this.”

Noah cackles from somewhere behind us as we all take a step away from each other. “Damn it, Aggie, I was honestly really excited to see what kind of chaos would ensue from them being idiots.”

The woman, who I now can see standing a few feet away with a little boy on her hip, tsks at Noah, shaking her head. Her medium-length brown hair has touches of gray throughout. Her light green eyes are filled with laughter as she responds, “Shut your mouth, trouble.”

I bite my lip to hold back my smile, but she—Aggie—sees it and smirks at me. She walks up to me and twirls a piece of my hair around her finger.

“My goodness, dear, you have beautiful hair. I’m Agnes. But everyone calls me Aggie or Grams. That tall, bearded man over there is my son, Jackson, or you know him as Axe. And this,”—she bounces the young boy on her hip—“is Jayce. He is Axe and Presley’s little monster.”

He stares at me with his big brown eyes, his little lips pulling into a gentle smile that reminds me a lot of Presley. He doesn’t say anything; he just grips Aggie’s shirt and tucks his head under her chin.

Axe appears next to them and swoops Jayce up, tossing him up in the air and catching him before bringing him down to rest on his forearm against his chest. Jayce grins widely and lets out a little squeal. “I know sometimes new people are scary, but we gotta say hi, right Jay?” Axe teases.

Aggie points next to me at Ryker and says, “This is Ryry’s and Grady’s and K’s girlfriend.” She meets my perplexed gaze. “That’s what he calls the boys when he tries to say their names, so we just go with it.” She chuckles.

My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. My brain is swirling. The names, I get. But—girlfriend? I mean, I know Raven joked about it not that long ago, but it feels wrong. We haven’t talked about it, and dating three guys? Why—how did Aggie just say that so easily?

Jayce points a little finger at me. “No talk,” he says in a fairly clear voice. He then points a finger at himself and looks up at Axe. “No talk.”

Axe chuckles. “Got me there, Jay. Maybe we can try to talk to our new friend later, okay?” Jayce just stares up at his dad, and Axe bops his nose, then glances over his head at Grayson and Ryker. “You might want to figure that out.” He raises a brow, and his lips tilt up into a teasing smile.

Turning, he starts walking back up towards the porch, where Jayce spots his mom and lets out a scream of excitement. The most noise I've heard him make since they came out here.

Aggie pats my shoulder. “We’ll visit later, dear,” she chimes as she walks away from us. I just stand there frozen. I’m not even sure my voice or legs work.

Boyfriends? Three of them? How does that even work? Why would they want that? Why would they want to share? Why would they want to share me? I’m broken. Damaged goods. I’ll probably be the world's worst girlfriend. Fuck, I have never even gone on a date or done anything with a guy until I came here.

They just wormed their way into my soul and have taken root there. I didn’t even really notice that over such a short period of time things have changed and shifted so much.

I’m terrified because I do want them. I don’t want to lose any of them. But we can’t do this. This is—it’s weird. Wrong. But my world gets tipped upside down, literally, as Ryker flings me over his shoulder and starts walking. Grayson talks softly as he walks next to us, but I can’t hear what he is saying; my heart is pounding so hard it’s ringing in my ears.

A few moments later, I am being tossed gently onto a couch. I glance around and recognize Gabriel’s sofa. His house. I furrow my brows and look up at Ryker, who is standing in front of me.

“Why are we in here?” I ask, confused.

“Because this is where Cade usually hides when we have any kind of party to avoid people. Figured it’s the best place to do this.” He shrugs.

Cade sits in the corner of the sectional, his elbows resting on his knees as he stares right at me. “How are you feeling?” I murmur.

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