Page 49 of Pin-up Girl

He pulled out his phone, probably to type his words to her, but he shook his head and tossed it on the bed. It seemed more important to Jules to keep eye contact with her.

I rubbed my hand on Elise’s thigh and continued to be Jules’ voice as he signed.We’re not perfect, and we are going to fuck this up, but if we mean something to you, will you try this on with us? Not until we finish this shit with Infinity, but until whatever this is runs its course?

She looked up at me with something between hope and despair. It was the weirdest expression, but the hope won out. Then she moved her gaze over Milo and Jules. For a minute, it seemed like she was looking for the truth in our eyes, to see if this is what we all wanted.

“You know this isn’t normal, Elise. We mesh way too well. I’m with Jules, I want to give this a shot.” I tucked some of her hair behind her ear, while Jules took her hands in his.

Her pulse was out of control, visibly pounding at the base of her neck.

“Is this what you want, Milo? Seriously? Reverse harem relationships hardly ever last to make the distance, not to mention we’ll, I mean I’ll, be persecuted for being a slut.”

That wiped all the amusement from Milo’s face. “No one will say those things about you, they already know not to. We’re too powerful for anyone to go up against. And who cares what anyone else thinks? We don’t. As long as this is what you want, we’d all like to see where this goes. Hell, I already thought we were.”

A strangled noise fell from Elise’s lips. “You all are fucking mad. Like touched in the head. You three want to put yourselves through hell by trying on your first relationship as a four way? Fine, we’ll see what happens. But just fucking know, I’m not a pushover.”

The three of us exchanged grins while Elise collapsed back on the bed with an arm over her eyes. She was probably seriously considering her life choices, but who cared? She agreed.

Chapter Fourteen

Milo

Three weeks later

“Milo, you have to call your father. He’s blowing my phone up,” Emmett said as soon as he walked into my room, then pulled his fraternity sweatshirt over his head. Elise and Jules were already here, trying to make a decision on what we were going to do for dinner. I voted we go out and get something.

Sighing, I rocked back and forth in my desk chair.

“He’s a fucking pain in my ass. Fine, I’ll call him after dinner. It’s time I give him a few minutes so he backs off. It’s such a tired game, I don’t even know why he plays it anymore. I’ve never hid my palpable hate for the man.” And still, he constantly tried to connect with me, to push me toward the majors he wanted, the jobs he wanted, and the women he wanted. Oh, he was going to love Elise when he met her.

She was everything he hated, and I couldn’t fucking wait. Maybe I’d set up a dinner for the four of us and my father.

Jules pulled one of Elise’s feet in his lap, massaging the arch with his thumb and using his other hand to sign,We all hate our parents, but until we do the damned thing, we have to play to their tune.

That was the unspoken truth wrapped around our necks. We should have been ready to lay all our shit out by now, but our dumb asses were in the honeymoon phase, wanting to make this relationship with Elise stick. When we should have been investigating and leaning on Clownface, we were holing up in my room like it was a love nest.

“Yes, and we’ve all been slacking terribly lately.” I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers. The jobs were few over the last couple of weeks, barely one per week. It was easy to get complacent when we could almost pretend Infinity didn’t own us.

“I don’t want to talk about our daddy issues right now. What’s the plan for tonight?” Emmett leaned against my closed door.

Elise stood and stretched, the hem of her shirt rising up to flash the silky band of skin above her jeans. “We’re going out. The question is, do we feel fancy or like bar food?”

“Bar food, definitely bar food. Wings sound amazing.” Emmett slapped his hands together, his exuberant nature shining through.

“Let’s go. If we leave now, we won’t have to wait too long for a table.”

My father called me two more times on our way over to Roosters, the campus bar. All the frats and sororities frequented the restaurant, the sports players, too. It was the number one place to be seen that wasn’t at a private party. It was also a great place to take Elise. We hadn’t been there this semester, but it was past time to make sure Elise was firmly viewed as the fourth member of the kings—thequeen, as Emmett liked to refer to her.

Jules led the way, hand in hand with Elise. He had changed since she came into our lives. Ever since the accident, he tended to blend in where he could, even though he never really did. But now, he was proudly escorting her every-fucking-where like she was the most beautiful butterfly in the world and he wanted everyone to know she was his. Ours.

People poured through the doors of Roosters, laughing and weaving from side to side. A common sight on and around campus. Hell, if we pretended life was great, there was a good chance we could walk out of there exactly like that.

“Table for four,” Elise said to the hostess behind the wooden stand. Emmett caught her hand at the same time Jules wrapped an arm around her back. The moment the hostess looked up and clocked their little display of PDA, she blanched. She knew exactly who we were, her gaze briefly stopping on the three of us. Recovering quickly, she fell back into her role.

“Of course, right this way. We just had a booth cleaned out.” She grabbed a stack of menus from the stand and pushed through the crowd around the pool tables, doing her best to clear a path.

It was a wasted effort. As soon as people saw we were coming through, they parted for us. Word of who Elise was must have spread, bringing more curious than surprised stares our way. She handled it like a pro, not giving a damn what people thought. Luckily, we hadn’t had any more incidents like the water fountain.

Our table was a circular, corner booth on a raised platform, perfect for the kings to hold court over the nobodies of Wellington. I snickered to myself. There was nothing special about us, other than our money. Still, everyone was so envious and backstabbing, waiting in the wings for their chance to join our inner circle. I for one, would trade lives with any of these fuckers in a heartbeat, but they put us on a pedestal, so we played the part.

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