Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 128

I still felt the dark cloud hovering over me, but suddenly, it didn’t feel inevitable. I’d get Psalter or the Hannon people to investigate these possible threads, and if they were busy, I’d get more people. It wasn’t like I couldn’t afford it.

I looked back at my sister and took some time to admire her—her kind eyes, the look of sincere concern. Her love for me had always been unfailing, and she had been the one person to push back and challenge my relationship with Bobbi. She loved me. She was honest with me. And I had to remember that above all else, even if I did lose everything, she would still be there beside me.

In many ways, she was the most important woman in my life. She was my rock.

“Em,” I said. “I could kiss you.”

“Hey,” Em said, suddenly not able to meet my eyes. “Natashya might have something to say about that.”

“Only good things,” I muttered, remembering how Emily’s girlfriend had teased me in Vegas about wanting to see us together.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I said. I got out of my chair, leaned over, and kissed her on the top of the head. “Thanks. You've given me a lot to think about. I have a couple of phone calls to make. Then, I think I’ll get out there and enjoy the rest of the evening.”

“No problem!” Emily said, giving me a bewildered smile as she got up to follow me. “I’m not sure what I did, but happy to help!”

I turned around and continued to walk backward. “You were just being your smart, brilliant self! Seriously, never change!”

“Aw,” she said, giving me a brilliant smile. “You like me!”

I turned around so I could navigate through some of the people as I made my way to the pool. “I do. You might be my favorite sibling,” I called out over my shoulder.

“Hey!” Richie yelled from about twenty feet away. Sitting on the edge of the pool, his legs dangling in the water, he’d clearly heard me over the music’s loud thrumming.

“Favorite girl sibling!” I called out.

“Hey!” This time it was Emily, voicing mock indignation. “I at least outrank Jacob, right?”

I stopped at the pool’s edge, enjoying the way the lights reflected off the water’s surface. Several people had settled around it, enjoying conversation and free booze. Several people were exchanging flirtatious looks—the air positively hummed with drunken, amorous vibes.

Turning back to look at my sister, I grinned.

“I don't know... Jacob’s never stolen a girlfriend from me before.”

Emily tilted her head, one corner of her mouth twitching up as if she were about to start a fight and was ***********ing her next move with care. Her eyes—brilliant silver—seemed to drink in the ambient light and reflect it back out. Mesmerizing.

“You know,” she said, her voice turning low, her face suddenly serious. She reached up and toyed with one of the buttons on my shirt, and my heart kicked a little harder. My gaze dropped to her fingers as they circled the button at my sternum, then rose to meet her stare.

“Natashya’s been talking lately…”

Suddenly, the world went silent. My focus narrowed to a single thread. What the fuck was she about to say?

She held my gaze—and gave me a slow, knowing smile.

Then shoved me.

I felt my stomach lurch into my chest as my arms flailed, and I pancaked into the water behind me. Cold shock wrapped around my limbs, disorienting me until I surfaced again, blinking and shaking water from my eyes.

Laughter rippled around the pool as I glared up at Emily, who looked way too pleased with herself.

“That’s for picking Jacob over me!” she said.

“Well, you’re certainly not doing yourself any favors!”

Natashya stepped up beside her. “What is this? Are you two fighting over me?”

“Not everything’s about you!” Emily snapped, whirling on her girlfriend with mock indignation.

Natashya blinked slowly, then raised one hand and planted it dead center on Emily’s chest. Emily squealed as she suffered the same fate she’d just bestowed on me. I dodged just in time as she crashed into the water.

More laughter erupted.

The next couple of hours went by in a blink. Emily and I wrestled in the pool like we used to when we were little. When we were little, the two years she had on me meant that I was often on the receiving end of waterboarding. Twenty years later, that difference didn’t mean much for her, and I was able to get some well-deserved retribution on her. Natashya eventually joined us in the pool, thanks to Jonah and Kwan, who unceremoniously picked her up and launched her over our heads. She landed headfirst into the water—her bikini top floating to the surface a moment later.

Natashya surfaced, cackling as she hurled the top at Kwan’s head. A three-way wrestling match ensued, and I got more than one handful of the dancer’s full breasts, which I was all but convinced wasn’t an accident.

Twenty minutes later, I was out of the water and had barely caught my breath before Shea dragged me onto the dance floor. She’d displayed her exceptional skills in Europe, and she didn’t disappoint this time, either, making it difficult not to fall in love with her. I spent the next fifteen minutes being passed from girl to girl—Honey, Erin, Tara, Kelly, some auburn-haired girl I hadn’t met yet, and finally ended up between Venus and Shea for a sexy sandwich that had me tempted to touch Venus in places that I was sure Vikram would have taken offense to.

Then came the water gun fight—Erin, Honey, and me versus Kelly, Tara, and Jonah. We ducked behind shrubbery, dodged partygoers, and jumped over furniture trying to snipe each other. Kelly and I cheated by ducking out early and ended up in a half-drunken, ten-minute dry-humping session while our teammates kept fighting. I never found out which team came out victorious, but as far as I was concerned, I won either way.

The night nearly ended early thanks to a round of shots with Dillon, Jonah, and Kwan… just like old times. With no interest in blacking out and missing the end of the party, I tapped out early. Jonah threw in the towel after throwing up, leaving Kwan to take a drunken victory lap before disappearing into a room with the auburn-haired girl—his “prize.”

I spent a little time nursing a soda and chatting with Richie, teasing him about his little crush on Venus—I kept catching him eying the girl like she was a fresh steak. We also talked about the logistics of his moving in. I was more enthusiastic than before, considering Desai’s threats to my family. As we spoke, I secretly wondered what it would take to get my mom and dad to move into the city.

Friends came and went—some saying their goodbyes before leaving… others slipping off to pass out or pair off behind closed doors.

And eventually, as the party began to wind down, I found myself tranquilly floating on my back, staring up at the light-polluted sky in relative quiet. I wasn’t sure how long I stayed like that—floating in a daze with the water gently lapping around me—thinking about how much fun I’d had tonight and how lucky I was.

It could’ve all been so different… so many times. I could still be working at Marduke, spending my Friday night hanging out with Dillon, Jonah, and Kwan. It would’ve been fun—Mostly carefree.

But it wouldn’t have been this.

A light disturbance in the water drew my attention, and I carefully turned my head just enough to glance out of the corner of my eye, trying not to break my fragile buoyancy.

It was Rose.

Her long, languid form descended beneath the surface with each slow, purposeful step. The way she moved... the relative quiet around us... it was like something out of a movie.

She didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything. We simply stared at each other as she crossed the pool, slowly, deliberately, toward me. I stayed floating on my back, curious what she would do once she reached me.

I didn’t have to wait long. In no time, she was beside me, the water just grazing the tops of her breasts. She gingerly placed one hand at the back of my head, careful not to disrupt my float. Her fingers gently threaded through my hair. Her other hand hovered over my bare chest. Long, elegant fingers touched down on my left pectoral, tracing slow, deliberate, teasing lines. Her touch sent chills rippling through me. I had to fight the urge to react—to maintain my buoyancy, to not give up the water to sink into her instead.