Chapter 43

Evangeline

Lucas's words carry with them a sense of foreboding, but alas, I don't have time to react by the time I realise. Another high-pitched squeal escapes my lips as he swiftly swings me over his shoulder and tears off down the stairs, still swaddled like a babe in his stupid blanket and the rest of his brothers on his tail.

"Where are you going?!" I half-screech. My body bounces against his back with the rhythm off his steps. He makes a sharp turn at the end, leading to...the pool?

Lucas throws open the sliding doors, seemingly deaf to the loud bang, and...

Cold water engulfs me. A stream of bubbles escape my lips, shining with iridescence as the light shines through the rippling surface of the water. I try to kick my way up to the surface. In spite of my efforts, I'm unable to break the surface due to a heavy weight dragging me down. Lucas! That dumbass and his dumb blanket. I know how to swim, but with the shock of the water and the fact that I'm barely clothed makes it hard to me to break from my underwater stupor.

Just as I feel like my lungs are about to burst, the water ripples. Through blurry vision, a silhouette approaches me. Strong arms disentangle me from the blanket and yank me up to the surface.

I take in large, greedy gulps of sweet oxygen, and turn to grab onto my saviour. Blue shirt, grey sweats. Chris grins and pulls me to his side, keeping an arm wrapped around my waist to support me. I hook my legs around the side of his torso and gasp in his ear, still slightly out of breath. "Thanks." He smirks and whispers back. "No biggie." I smile sweetly at him, keeping my face out of view from the other boys. As Chris moves toward the poolside, I tell him to play along with my plan and act worried, slapping a stupefied, disoriented look on my face.

Seeing my blank expression, Lucas asks nervously. "A-are you okay?" I let out a (hopefully realistic) whimper and raise my arms, as if I am a child seeking their parent's embrace. From the corner of my eye, Max and Asher are super confused, since I've never acted like this before.

My foolish stepbrother crouches down in front of me. He tugs off his shirt and drops the neck hole over my head to cover my body. Ah, yes. I may have forgotten about the fact that I'm only in a tee and panties, but he hasn't. Chris releases me and Lucas leans closer, preparing to carry me out of the pool, but I grab him around the waist and fall back into the pool, taking him with me.

SPLASH!

Lucas is in the water, thunderstruck as rivulets of water drip from his hair and run down his chest. Not too far away, Asher and Max are doubled over, guffawing at their older brother's misfortune. I grin in delight and plant a kiss of Chris's cheek. "Thanks for your help."

Addressing the ones who are dry, I grin like the very devil. "You're next!"

With that, I pull myself out of the deep end, along with Lucas's blanket. I'm relieved to find that Lucas's shirt is enough that it hits mid-thigh and covers my ass. As long as I don't bend over, I won't be giving anyone a show.

That's when I notice the weirdest expression on my brother's red faces. Huh. Taking advantage of the distraction, I charge toward Asher, since I'll never be able to catch up to Max. He immediately tries to run, but I leap forward and tackle him into the pool as well, ensuring its the shallow end such that he can stand. (See, Lucas. How considerate I am.)

On account of my (unfortunate) height, I tread water and giggle as I watch Asher cough and sputter. A hand grabs me by the collar, and drags me through the water to its owner. "You're such a little brat!" Asher scoffs dramatically, flinging a hand to his forehead while holding me up by Lucas's shirt to keep my head above water. I snicker in response. "Is Chris's behaviour rubbing off on you or something? Please. I don't need two of 'em."

I splash his face with water, and he retaliates. I squeal and dive toward Chris, grabbing onto his waist. Max sniggers from the side. "You look like a baby monkey." Chris smirks. "Oh, yeah. She's my baby monkey sis!" He starts peppering my face with kisses, all the while cooing. "Who's my baby? You are!" I shriek indignantly, hitting his chest.

A wave of water crashes over us. Lucas looms behind Chris, scowling. "You can't bully her, you hooligan!" Chris passes me off to Asher with a "take her," and then proceeds to assault his brother with a torrent of water. Asher grins mischievously. "Hold onto me. Shit's gonna happen." With that, he bravely leaps into the fray with a war cry.

The next few minutes are a frenzy of shouts and water splashing everywhere. I bury my face in the crook of his neck to avoid getting hit in the face with water. Our clamouring is interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. "What the fuck?"

We all look up simultaneously to the source of the voice. Our neighbour, Owen at the window with a pissed expression on his face. "Y'all are like a bunch of birds! Shut up!" He hollers, before disappearing from sight. There is silence for a moment. Then we all burst into laughter. Max is in the pool, too. I assume that he jumped in to join the fight somewhere along the way.

After calming down, they all wade out, and we go our separate ways to clean up. As I drag the dripping duvet with me, I smile to myself. What a great way to start the day.