All of My Soul (29 page)

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.
“Oh my God, baby. Are you okay? I’m so sorry!”

He let out a sharp breath. “It’s fine. It’s
fine. It didn’t hurt that much.”

I pouted up at him and felt like crying.
Well, that was probably the alcohol talking, but still. I had hurt
my man. I felt terrible.

“Hey. Don’t frown. It’s fine, Princess.” He
leaned down and kissed me, sucking my pouty bottom lip into his
mouth. My hands immediately went to his hair, weaving my fingers
through it, and I melted into him. He groaned at my intensity and
grabbed my ass again with his good hand, squeezing hard.

Jesus, that feels good.

“Lincoln! You don’t need to fucking molest
her in the middle of the goddamn kitchen!”

I smiled against Lincoln’s lips as Kennedy
protested from the other side of the kitchen. Lincoln broke our
kiss and turned his head to glare at his sister, but didn’t let go
of my ass.

“It’s my goddamn kitchen. I’ll molest my
girlfriend wherever I like.”

I giggled, and he turned to look at me.

“Only because you’re so good at it,” I told
him quietly so only he would hear.

He growled softly and kissed me again. The
hand on my ass moved farther south. His fingers were incredibly
close to being in an extremely inappropriate place since we weren’t
alone.

I heard Kennedy make a fake retching noise,
and I knew I had to stop Lincoln soon, but it made me happy that he
wasn’t ashamed to show affection toward me in public.

“JILLIAN! WE NEED SHOTS!” Emily screeched
from the other side of the living room.

I pulled away from Lincoln and steadied
myself against the counter. Lincoln looked at me with a smug grin
but stepped back and took a long pull from his beer bottle.

“What are we drinking, Em?” Rebecca asked as
she hooked her arm over Emily’s shoulders and approached the
kitchen’s breakfast bar.

Emily began setting up shot glasses, and I
made my way around the island to the other side to see what she was
doing.

“You can have whatever you want, Bec, but
Jillian is doing a Tropical Vacation.”

I clapped my hands and did a little happy
dance. “Yay! That sounds amazing! What is it?”

Kennedy joined us as Deacon and Lincoln
watched from the other side of the island. Carter stood nearby,
watching but not participating.

“This is a tradition with my friends from
college. At every graduation party, the guest of honor has to do a
Tropical Vacation.” She scrunched up her nose and looked like she
was thinking hard. “You know, I can’t even remember how we started
doing this in the first place.”

“Imagine that,” Carter mumbled, but everyone
ignored him. If he was dead set on being a stick-in-the-mud then I
wasn’t going to let him ruin my night.

“So anyway,” Emily continued. “It’s a
good-luck thing. We wish you so much success in your future that
you are able to take many tropical vacations.”

“Well, shit,” Rebecca said. “She’s got
Lincoln to take her to exotic destinations. I should be the one
wishing for a vacation.”

“I’ll take you anywhere you want to go, sweet
cheeks,” Deacon said to my sister, surprising me. “You just name
the time and place.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right,” she
said in a huff, but she didn’t elaborate, and Deacon didn’t push
it.

After a second of awkwardness, Kennedy broke
the silence that had fallen over our little group. “So what’s in
it, Emily?”

Emily grabbed for several bottles and
unscrewed the cap of one of them. “It’s a shot of Parrot Bay
coconut rum,” she said as she filled the first shot glass to the
top with a creamy white liquid. “A shot of peach UV vodka.” She
filled the second glass with an orange liquid and reached for
another bottle. “A shot of Jamaican rum.” She poured a clear liquid
into the third glass. “And a shot of curaçao.” The final glass was
filled with blue liquor. “Get it?” she asked as she set down the
last bottle. “They’re all tropical! And it looks so pretty!”

My eyes went wide. “I have to drink all four
of them?”

“Yeah!” Emily said with excitement at the
same time Carter and Lincoln said “No.”

I looked at Lincoln with confusion. He didn’t
usually tell me I couldn’t do something. He wasn’t controlling like
that.

He smiled at me. “You don’t have to drink
anything you’re not comfortable with.”

I smile back at him and turned to Carter,
wondering what his objection was. It’s not like we had asked
him
to drink the shots.

“Four shots seems a little excessive, don’t
you think?”

Emily huffed. “Have you ever even done
one
shot?”

Carter looked away and shifted his feet.

“That’s what I thought,” she said to him and
turned back to me. “You don’t have to drink them all, but I would
start with the rum if I were you.”

I looked up at Lincoln again, and he just
smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll tell you what, Carter. Why don’t you
help me? I’ll do three of them if you drink one of them. I’ll even
give you the easiest one. Do you like coconut?”

He didn’t look happy. “Three shots is still
excessive, Jillian.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll do one
too.”

“And I’ll take the vodka,” Lincoln said.

“You like peach?” I asked as I handed him the
vodka shot.

“I do,” he answered with a wink. “It tastes
like you.”

Kennedy made her retching noise again causing
the rest of us to laugh.

“All right, Carter? One shot apiece. Is that
acceptable?” Emily asked.

Carter shifted his feet again but finally
broke. “Fine. But if I’m going to do this, I get that blue
one.”

I laughed and handed it to him.

“All right!” Emily exclaimed and grabbed the
final glass. “Here we go! May there be many tropical vacations in
your future, Jillian! Cheers!”

Glasses clinked, and I tipped my head back
and let the liquid pour down my throat. It burned and didn’t remind
me of anything tropical, but I swallowed and managed not to cough
too badly. For as much shit as Emily had given Carter, I didn’t
want to admit that that had been my first shot ever as well.

Emily and Lincoln slammed their glasses down
on the counter, and we all turned to see how Carter had handled his
shot. I almost burst out laughing at the sight of him. He was
holding the glass delicately as if it were a cup of hot tea, and he
was taking dainty little sips.

“Oh my God! That is not how you do a shot,
Carter!” Emily marched up to Carter and took the glass from his
hand. “This is how you do a shot.” She leaned forward, made a seal
around the rim of the glass with her mouth and tipped her head back
while keeping her arms at her side. The glass balanced precariously
on her lips as she sucked down the liquid.

Behind me, Deacon let out a lustful groan. I
could understand what had caused that reaction in him. Emily was a
beautiful girl, and right now with her head tipped back, you could
see the muscles in her throat move as she swallowed the alcohol.
Her low-cut shirt revealed more cleavage than I would be
comfortable with, and her soft blond hair spilled down her back.
She looked hot, and Deacon wasn’t the only male who noticed. Carter
stood in front of her with his mouth dropped open slightly and his
eyes full of lust. It was obvious he was trying hard not to stare
at her chest but was failing miserably.

Emily tipped her head forward and let the
glass fall into her hand before raising her arms up over her head
and letting out a happy cheer. She was all smiles—so proud of
herself for stealing Carter’s shot.

She stood in front of him now, licking her
lips, silently goading him to say something.

“Ken,” Carter said with an eerie calmness.
“Pour another.”

His sister bounced with excitement and
quickly set up another round of drinks. Guess I was doing another
shot after all.

“You going to drink it like a man this time?”
Emily asked Carter. I laughed in disbelief that she was not only
teasing him like this, but that he seemed to like it! She was
slowly getting him to participate. Maybe there was hope for him
yet!

Carter cocked an eyebrow. “Bring. It.
On.”

Emily grinned from ear to ear and grabbed the
now-full shot glass off the counter. She carefully held it up for
him, but when he reached for it, she playfully pulled it away.

He grabbed for it again, and she took a step
back and brought the drink up to her lips. Carter’s eyebrows flew
up with astonishment.

Emily giggled, and we all gasped as she
suddenly wedged the shot glass into her cleavage, balancing it
precariously between her two breasts. I couldn’t believe she had
done that. She wasn’t usually so… risqué.

“Oh my God,” Rebecca uttered with a mix of
shock and amusement as Carter stared transfixed at Emily’s
chest.

Silence fell over those of us in the kitchen
as we waited to see what Carter would do next. My gaze bounced back
and forth between the two of them. Emily crossed her arms under her
breasts, enhancing the temptation in front of Carter. He took a
step forward and gently grabbed her elbow. His breathing had sped
up, and there was no doubt from the heat in his eyes that he was
turned on, but instead of falling to temptation, he abruptly let go
of her and stepped back.

“I—I can’t,” he stammered, clearly
embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

Emily deflated as Carter turned around and
walked away from her. He crossed the living room and out onto
Lincoln’s deck before he was swallowed up by the darkness.

I cringed as Emily watched him disappear out
of sight. The silence turned to awkwardness, as those of us left in
the kitchen didn’t know what to say.

Deacon broke the shocked silence that had
fallen over us. “Well, I’ll do it!” he said and moved toward Emily
but she was faster than him. She retrieved the drink from between
her breasts and pushed Deacon away from her as he tried to grab
her. She knocked back the shot, slammed the glass down, and walked
away in the opposite direction Carter had gone.

The next thing I knew, Deacon was yelling in
protest as Rebecca dumped her beer over his head.

“That’s my sister, you dumb fuck!”

Deacon wiped the beer out of his eyes in time
to see Rebecca hurrying after Emily.

“Dude.” Lincoln shook his head at his
friend.

“What? What’d I do?” Deacon asked as droplets
of beer rolled down his face.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Eventually Kennedy went after Carter, but
Lincoln and I decided to stay out of whatever was going on with our
siblings and Deacon. My man and I mingled around the room, jumping
from group to group and joining in on conversations. It was nice to
talk with some of Lincoln’s teammates, but I was pretty sure their
dates were all looking at me with curiosity. Some of them had been
in the suite when I collapsed, and I’m sure most of them had seen
the gossip about me being in therapy, so I think they weren’t sure
what to think of me. But I didn’t want to worry about that
tonight.

By the time Emily, Rebecca, Carter, and
Kennedy rejoined the party, I was feeling wonderful courtesy of the
peach sunrises Brian’s brother-in-law had made for me, and I was in
no mood for our siblings’ drama.

I had been chatting with Matt’s new
girlfriend, Cece, who I liked much better than his ex, when
Pitbull’s “Timber” featuring Kesha filled the room. I screamed and
threw my arms up, my hips already moving to the beat of the
song.

“I love this song!” I announced to the
room.

“Me too!” Cece exclaimed, grabbing my arm as
we started an impromptu dance party in the middle of the living
room. Her hips popped left and right as she shook her ass to the
beat. Clearly, she either had some dance training or she went
clubbing a lot. Either way, she was laughing and singing along
while she grabbed my hips, encouraging me to let loose. Raising my
arms over my head, I let the music take me, not caring who was
watching.

Normally, there would have been no way I
would have ever danced like that in the middle of a crowd of
people, but the large amount of alcohol and the cheers from whoever
was watching us made me forget my inhibitions. Plus, I knew I was
surrounded by people who loved me and wanted me to have fun.

Eventually the song ended and another one
began, but Cece and I kept dancing. Whatever my sisters’ problems
were, they seemed to have forgotten about them as they joined us,
and we danced late into the night.

I lost track of how many songs I danced to
before I finally collapsed on Lincoln’s couch, slightly sweaty and
breathing hard. Our dancefest had burned off some of the alcohol in
my system, and I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to end up
with my head in the toilet, especially since it seemed like Lincoln
might.

I knew he had been watching me dance for a
long time, but now when I went to the kitchen to pour myself a big
glass of water I didn’t see him anywhere. I quickly filled my glass
and wandered downstairs.

I found him leaning on a pool stick, watching
Carter, Brian, and Deacon play pool in his man cave, looking like
he was about to pass out. But when he noticed me approaching, his
face broke out in a wide grin.

“There’s my sexy girl.” His words were
slurred, making me even more relieved that I had quit drinking a
while ago.

The other three guys greeted me before
Lincoln surprised me by pinning me against the pool table with his
body. He was uncoordinated and wobbly, but his hands began to grope
at me in a way that was definitely not appropriate given his
injuries and the fact that we weren’t alone.

“Hey! Come on, man!” Brian complained, but
Lincoln didn’t stop. He gyrated his hips against mine and tried to
kiss me.