Page 20 of One Last Memory

“Fuck, really?” Angelo sat up on his knees, his thick cock resting between his thighs, tempting me to do something about it. He looked both adorable and flushed from Mason going to town on his ass, heat building in my lower belly at the look of ecstasy on his face when he had come a second time.

I mulled over my decision again and then nodded. “Yeah, what if I didn’t go back?”

“No way you’re fucking real,” He mumbled before kissing me soundly.

Benji was next, kissing just as sensually as Angelo. “Like a goddamn unicorn.”

“Um…” I struggled to sit up completely, meeting three excited faces in the dim lights. “I… I need to go make plans.” Cold air swirled through the room and moved across my breasts as the blankets slipped, three pairs of eyes dipping to my chest. My face heated as I vainly tried to cover myself the moment Angelo scooted from between my legs.

Mason chuckled and tugged me onto his lap, adding his kiss to the pile. I moaned into it and he pulled away before we extended the night. “Hey, think it over. Sleep on it. Meet us at the tiki bar around 11 alright? Let us know then.” I opened my mouth to protest, to tell them that Ihadthought about it but Mason shook his head. “Sweetheart. Uprooting your life is a big decision. We would know because that’s how we’re all here. I need to know that after the sex haze dies, that trying something new is still on your radar.”

I understood that much, kissing them all again, the heat rising in my belly. Before we could restart, we shoved ourselves into our clothes, giggling like high school idiots as we tossed articles of clothing about and tried to find undergarments and shirts. The high didn’t last long.

It lasted till the moment I swung open our villa door, Malia shoving me against the wall the moment I stepped over the threshold. I lost my smile immediately as she sneered into my face. “I saw you! You little whore! Running around with the DJ too?” I used to cower in moments like this. Then again, there had never been a moment likethis. I had never once taken what I wanted, not since my last incident. Nevertheless, I remained silent. “Igo out. Hell, even our older sister goes out. You don’t. You wallow. You write. You freak out. What are you trying to do slutting your way across the island?”

Elissa appeared in the foyer, slightly inebriated. She waved off my silent concern with a roll of her eyes before addressing Malia. “That’s uncalled for. I took her out to have a little fun last night and by the looks of it, she decided to indulge. It’s her vacation too.”

Malia growled at our older sister, her arm still effectively pinning me against the wall. “She cut the DJ’s set short last night and tonight, he wasn’t even there.”

He was but he was fucking me while his boyfriend fucked him. It was glorious.

“Good for her,” Elissa added a shrug to punctuate her point as I shifted my position to release myself from Malia’s hold.

Malia huffed at me, fists clenched. “No, you don’t understand…”

I took a deep breath and decided to risk my comfort zone. I needed to stand up for myself, especially since I was about to make the biggest decision of my life. “No,youdon’t understand. I’m not your mat to walk all over anymore. Who I choose to spend my time with has nothing to do with you either.”

That’s when Zak filtered in, asking what all the yelling was for. His eyes were bloodshot and he was way drunker than Elissa was. I could only imagine that he had finally caught his fiancé with someone else on the island and had decided to drink his worries away.

I would address that, but not now. I had a point to make, and if I didn’t use the remaining courage that those three beautiful men had given me, I wouldn’t be able to take this step again.

“I am an adult and I make my own decisions regardless of whether or not you approve. But that’s just it, I don’t need your approval. I am not your subordinate, your babysitter, or any of the five hundred other things you keep shoving in my face. It is not my fault that you have made terrible decisions or you try to make our parents feel bad so that they keep supporting your lifestyle. The men you ‘claim’ never actually want you. I found honest to god men who looked at me in the last few days.Me.Not my problems. Not my money. Just me. And I fucking loved it. I went back for more because it’s not a feeling I’m used to.”

I was heated and on a roll now, but one glance at Elissa had me continuing. She was all the encouragement I needed. That and the lingering words of Phoenix hanging out in the back of my mind.

“I also realized I don’t like feeling like shit, like I have to hide every emotion from you guys because you think I’m acting out. I have a voice and I’m ready to fucking use it. And that’s why at the end of the week, when ya’ll board that plane and go back to the real world, I’m not fucking going with you.”

Zak’s gasp of disbelief was the only thing that penetrated the silence between us. And for once, all of my siblings’ attention was on me but not because I was breaking down, but because I was taking charge and standing up for myself. It wasn’t something they were used to, but it was about time I started doing it.

“I’m trying something new. I’m going to followmyheart and do what I want for once. I don’t care if you guys don’t like it or don’t approve. I’m staying.” I punctuated that thought by pushing past Malia, jabbing my elbow into her gut to move her out of the way. Malia and Zak were too stunned to respond but Elissa clapped as she leaned against the wall, stopping me in my tracks.

“It’s about fucking time. Welcome back, baby sis. I’ve been waiting for you for a long fucking time.” She pulled me into a big hug. “That little fire that used to shine so brightly? Today’s the first time I’ve seen it light up.”

ANGELO

11:12am.

I was a nervous wreck. I secretly hated that Mason and Benji had been so goddamn right about thinking it over after the sex haze wore off because I was pretty sure that girls like Bailee Reynolds didn’t stick around on a whim.

She wasn’t going to uproot her life for us. She wasn’t going to be here when her family left. I told myself things like this every time I thought we found the woman of our dreams. But Bailee had seemed different. So… ready, dare I say.

But now that it was a quarter past, I was doubting the little bit of hope that I had stashed away, and by the looks of it, so were the other two.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. My, um, mother was less than understanding.”

My eyes widened as I swiveled around in my seat to see the most fantastic view, Bailee in a baby blue coverup that did little to hide her curves, the black one-piece beneath it hugging every goddamn bit of skin I had explored last night. A groan slipped through my lips as my hands dropped to my lap to hide my new sudden interest. The other two’s heated stares told me they felt the same.

“But you’re here? With us?” I asked, hopefully.

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