Page 18 of All In

Dad’s always been a believer that you should go big or go home, and he went big with this house.

Heading upstairs, I kick my sneakers off and set my bag down on the chair in the corner of my bedroom before dropping down on my bed. My mom went strong with the beach theme when she decorated. My room is done in dark blues and deep reds, with golden anchor accents on the shelves above the dresser and two oars above the bed.

A little stuffy for my taste, but I don’t care.

This beach is my happy place.

Pulling my phone out, I scroll my socials again to see what the girls are doing, but they haven’t updated anything since earlier this afternoon. Deciding that I’m being ridiculous, I head back downstairs.

Murphy is already cracking open a beer as he announces, “Alright, men. Are we hitting the beach or getting something to eat? I’m fucking starving, and the clouds are rolling in, so I vote food first, and then we find ourselves some willing women.”

“Murph, man. There are other things besides fucking and food. I’m not sure that they’re as much fun, though.” Cooper is laughing at Murphy as he says the words, but his eyes haven’t moved from whatever he is looking at from the wall of windows along the back of the house.

I’m betting he’s already checking out a group of girls. What I’m not expecting is what he says next.

“What the fuck, man. Does that lifeguard have his hand on my sister’s ass? Where is the door to get out there?”

Bash and Murphy are laughing at him, but I’m not. The undeniable anger that I have at the idea that someone else is touching Natalie is pissing me off. My mind is screaming,get the fuck off what’s mine,and it’s starting to wear me down.

We head out the door and down the steps to the beach.

Chloe and Natalie are walking toward us. The sight of Natalie in a tiny bikini sears itself into my brain. It’s lime green with white stripes. A thick white strap is tied around her neck and a white bow is sitting between her gorgeous tits, which are pushed up and perfectly on display. Tiny cut off jean shorts are pulled on over her bikini bottoms. The shorts are so short that the inside pockets are hanging longer than the bottom edge. A Notre Dame baseball hat is sitting on her head, and a long, messy braid is thrown over one shoulder. The effect she has on me gets stronger every single time I see her.

Chloe has a cooler in her hands.

Natalie has a beach bag on her shoulder.

And the fucking lifeguard is carrying beach chairs. What the hell.

The girls look happy to see us coming, but the lifeguards look annoyed.

My sister smiles like the creepy Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. “Hey, boys. When did you get here?” I can tell, just from the sound of her voice, she’s up to something. “Meet our new friends Chris and Steve. They were just getting off duty and offered to help us carry our things.”

Cooper is not thrilled. “Looked like you guys were helping yourselves to more than that. Here man. Let me take those chairs from you.” Cooper doesn’t give the guy much choice when he grabs the chairs and pulls them away.

These guys are a decent size, but they are lanky and built like swimmers. It’s obvious they’ve already realized they won’t win if they want to throw down with Cooper and me. “Come on, Nattie. Murphy’s hungry, and we need to feed him before he goes feral. Let’s go.”

My sister laughs. It’s a pretty good description of Murphy.

Natalie is looking at Cooper, her eyes pinched and annoyed.

The shit lifeguard doesn’t know when to give up. “Is Murphy like a dog or something?”

The four of us laugh.

Chloe smiles patronizingly. “We’re not sure what Murphy is. But, he’s ours, and we love him. Thanks for the help, boys. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Both lifeguards look disappointed, but they toss out goodbyes as they walk toward the street while our foursome heads back to the steps.

“You didn’t have to be such a dick, Cooper. They were just being nice.”

“His hand was on your ass, Nat.”

“He said there was a bug.” We all roll our eyes, and Natalie laughs. “Okay, so it wasn’t the smoothest line, but I do hate bugs.” Nat scrunches her nose like she smelled something bad, and the girls laugh, walking away, leaving us trailing behind.

“At some point, I’m going to need you to bail me the fuck out of jail for killing one of these assholes who thinks he’s good enough for my sister.”

“Coop, man, what the hell did you do at your school in Cali? Guys must have noticed her there too. This can’t be a new thing.”

“She wasn’t the new toy there. We moved there in eighth grade. Plus, Nattie was always so busy with dance she never gave anybody the time of day. We didn’t exactly hang in the same circles, so I didn’t have to deal with it. I just don’t want to see her get hurt.”

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