Free All of My Soul by Jenni Wilder

I said stubbornly. “I won’t let her
ruin my weekend again. I was having fun. I don’t want to go home.”
I hated how childish I sounded, but it was the truth. I never got
to have fun like this, and I didn’t want our evening to be
over.
    “Okay. Wait,” Kennedy said. “How about this?
Should we move this party to our house? Emily and the kids are
already there. I don’t know about Tabitha, but I’m sure Ben and
Madison are asleep already. We can all go there and drink, and we
won’t have to worry about driving. We have plenty of beds for
everyone.”
    “Do you want to do that, Princess?” Lincoln
asked me quietly.
    “Can we order pizza?”
    He chuckled into my ear. “We can do whatever
you want,” he said and placed a kiss on my cheek.

Chapter Six

    “Carter! You made it!” I screeched as
Lincoln’s brother walked into the rec room of Kennedy and Brian’s
house. I ran over to him and hugged him while everyone else shouted
their greetings. “I’m so glad you came. Do you want something to
drink?”
    Lincoln’s brother was only a year younger
than me, but you’d never know it by the way he acted. He tended to
be extremely reserved and quiet. He didn’t often join us for
parties, and when he did, he usually left early and didn’t
drink.
    “No. Thank you, Jillian. It’s good to see you
too, though.”
    I pointed my half-empty beer bottle at the
couple sitting on the loveseat. “You know Matt and Kailey,
right?”
    “Hmm?” he replied, seeming distracted. “Oh,
yeah. I know them.” He waved.
    Carter had met Rebecca previously but not my
other sister. “And that’s Emily—” I started to say while pointing
at my sister, who was talking to Deacon.
    “You know, I think I will have that beer,” he
said abruptly, interrupting me.
    “Oh. Okay. I’ll get us both one.” I chugged
the rest of my foamy drink and tossed the bottle into the recycling
can once I got to the kitchen.
    I had lost some of my buzz on the car ride to
Kennedy’s house, and the pizza we ordered had helped too, but now
the beers were going down fast. I hadn’t planned on getting drunk,
but as Lincoln kept reminding me, this weekend was for celebrating
and relaxing.
    I returned to the rec room with two bottles
and a bottle opener. After my fourth failed attempt with the bottle
opener, I gave up and made a pouty face at Lincoln. He smiled at me
with amusement and took one of the unopened bottles and the opener
from me.
    “You know, if you can’t open your own drink,
maybe you should be cut off.”
    “S’not my drink. It’s for Carter.”
    “Uh-huh,” he said dubiously. “Then who is
that other beer for?”
    “Maybe I was getting it for my boyfriend,
although he doesn’t seem too appreciative of it now.”
    “Uh-huh.” Lincoln clearly didn’t believe me,
but he opened the bottles and handed one of them back to me.
    I took a long drink from it before I licked
my lips and smiled at Lincoln, daring him to comment.
    “I thought you said that one was for
Carter.”
    “No,” I replied and pointed to the one
Lincoln was holding. “That one is Carter’s.”
    “Well, then that one is mine.” He pointed to
the bottle I had just drank from.
    I took a drink and shook my head. “I said
maybe. I decided I wanted it after all.” I gave him a big toothy
grin, knowing he wouldn’t let that fly.
    He shook his head. “Unacceptable,” he said
with humor. “That’s mine.” He handed the beer he was holding to his
brother and took a step toward me.
    I giggled and took a step backward away from
him. “Oh? And just what are you going to do about it?”
    His eyes twinkled with excitement. “Hmm… I
could throw you in the pool.”
    Kennedy and Brian had a pool? I had no idea.
They had a huge property, and I hadn’t ever seen a pool, but I
hadn’t explored a lot of the grounds.
    I looked around our group of friends and
found everyone watching the interaction between Lincoln and me. No
backing down now.
    “It’s a