“Can’t I just torture you in this one?”

“If I say please, how hard will you go?” I nip her nose with my teeth and kiss her again. The water floats up by our ears as I try to keep us pinned against the wall.

“Please,” I growl with another kiss. “Please… please…”

A loud clap startles us apart. At first, I think my mom’s home and she’s about to bury our bodies by the first tree she finds. Instead, it’s Quinn, looking away from us but pointing at the house. “You might want to turn off the Wi-Fi to the cameras or something… your mom can see all that shit when she comes home.”

I almost snort, yeah when, yeah right.

“Yeah, she’s gonna bury you under the Oak tree.” It’s like he can read my mind.

Best friends never forget, I guess.

The mood’s broken. Quinn’s clearly trying to look anywhere but at a naked MB, and I’m suddenly thrust back into the reality of sleeping with my technical foster sister in my family’s pool where neighbors can easily see if they fly a drone over, not to mention the cameras that could be hacked.

I shouldn’t care, but I suddenly do.

What would my dad say? That I’m with this girl, the one who saw him last?

It’s a conflicted feeling, one I hate because when she’s in my arms, I don’t think about the pain of losing him or the betrayal in her eyes that day when she said she was trying to save me only to kill him.

Heart attack.

I still don’t know the words she said to him, I don’t want to know, but I do know that when cornered, she’s not one to back down, which means it must have been harsh, it must have been bad, and I can’t handle thinking of my dad in his last moments slapping me or being anything but strict with good intentions.

“Hellooooo.” Quinn waves a hand at me.

“Yeah, um…” I swim back, leaving MB just floating there by the wall, hurt etched in her eyes. “Quinn, can you get us some towels?”

“Sure.” He jogs away.

I look at MB and just sadly shake my head.

She nods like she understands, but neither of us wants it to end like this. I want hallway kisses, pool sex, and someone to laugh with.

I just want someone like her, someone that won’t destroy me or anyone around me.

I can trust her, I think.

She cares for me, I know.

But what happens when everyone finds out? It was bad enough we made out at school, and I know I can’t stop from pushing the limits every time we’re together. What’s worse, what happens if Tessa releases anything, and now everyone sees me and MB hanging out with Quinn.

They’ll assume the worst.

Everyone will.

Our secret would come out.

My past could permanently hurt the family name.

And MB would be destroyed in the process.