Page 179 of Tell Me I'm Enough

She laughs as she bumps shoulders with me. “You’re no fun.”

I lean in next to her ear so Lani can’t hear. “That’s not what your lips were saying this morning in my room.”

I enjoy watching her try to hide the shiver that runs through her. She turns her head to glare at me, and we’re less than an inch apart. I lick my bottom lip and smile at her until she puts the space back between us, playing it off.

Tank walks up and slings an arm around Lani, making some of his drink splash onto her top.

“Tank!” she half-squeals, half-scolds.

“Shit, sorry, babe.”

She shoulders him off of her. “I am not your babe.”

He smiles at her and winks. “You’re just a babe in general.”

Her eyes roll, and she throws off her soaked shirt, leaving her in just a bikini top and jean shorts. I watch Tank check her out and can’t help but laugh. I nudge Simone, and she laughs too, watching the barbaric man be his classic caveman self.

“Let’s have some fun,” Tank says, pointing at the pool.

He looks at me, shooting me a look that tells me he wants to stir up some trouble together.

“We just got here,” Simone tells him in a pout. “I’m not trying to sit around soaked for the rest of the night.”

I can’t help myself when I scoot behind her, pretending to try to get by and whisper, “That sounds like the perfect night to me.”

Her eyes widen, and she whips her head toward me. I can’t help but smirk a little, loving how easy she is to rile up, loving whatever wall has been let down between us, taking my filters away.

I grab her hand and pull her to come with me.

“Come on, Tank,” I yell behind us.

All four of us make it up to the second-story balcony, and Tank and I start stripping off our clothes as the girls stand behind us, confused.

I see it the second it clicks in Simone’s head.

“No,” she says in disbelief. “Absolutely not! You’re not jumping from up here. Are you crazy?”

I grin because I can’t help it. She acts like she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with here. It’s cute.

Tank kicks off his shoes. “Relax, Mom.”

“I am not your mom,” Simone says, deadpanning at him.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

She steps forward, pointing between us. “You’re going to break something. Or die. Or both.”

I shrug, peeling my shirt off. “If I die, tell my brothers I love them, and I went out doing something pretty epic.”

I hear Tank laugh from the corner of the balcony where he’s taking his socks off at, leaning against the wall.

“Mason!”

Lani pinches the bridge of her nose. “I swear, if either of you ends up in the hospital—”

Tank hops up onto the railing, holding on to the wall and ignoring her. “YO, everybody watch this!”

“Get down!” Simone yells, pulling at my arm. “Mason, I’m serious. This is a terrible idea.”