Free All of My Soul by Jenni Wilder Page A

little cold outside for swimming,
don’t you agree?” I stepped backward again and took another long
drink from the illicit bottle.
    Lincoln smirked at me and stepped forward.
“Keep it up, and you’ll find out.”
    I stepped back again and guzzled half the
remaining liquid. There was only one swallow left in the
bottle.
    “Give me the bottle, Jillian,” Lincoln
demanded while trying to hide his smile.
    “No,” I said firmly and chugged the last
gulp, finishing the bottle in record time. Ugh, I would pay for
that later, but it was well worth it to tease Lincoln. A bubble
rose up from my stomach, and before I could contain it, a large
burped escaped loudly from my mouth in a very unladylike way.
    I slapped my hand over my mouth and giggled
as Lincoln’s eyebrows flew up in surprise, and everyone around us
broke out in laughter.
    “You’re going to pay for that,” he
threatened.
    “Not if you can’t catch me!” I threw the
empty bottle at him and took off running out of the rec room. I
knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would catch me. He was
simply taller and stronger than I was, and he had also had way less
to drink than I had.
    I only made it halfway down the hallway to
the kitchen before Lincoln’s strong arms wrapped around my waist
and pulled me against his chest, lifting me off the floor.
    I screamed loudly and laughed as I tried to
twist out of his hold. I somehow ended up flopped over his
shoulder, his arm wrapped around my knees with my head dangling
down, my ass in the air. I slapped his butt through his jeans and
screamed again.
    “Put me down!” I kicked my legs but he only
held me tighter.
    He smacked my butt in reply. “Keep it down.
You’ll wake the kids.”
    I looked up and saw everyone following us
down the hallway, laughing and egging Lincoln on.
    “Put me down!” I demanded again, this time
quieter. “Where are you taking me?”
    “I told you I was going to throw you in the
pool if you didn’t give me my beer.”
    He couldn’t be serious. Now that the sun had
set, the temperature had dropped and it was freezing outside.
    “No! Lincoln! It’s too cold!”
    He smacked my butt again. “Well, you should
have thought of that before.”
    I tried to stretch my head up to see where we
were at in the house. I hadn’t been in this part of Kennedy and
Brian’s home before, but I could tell we were getting closer to the
back, which meant we were close to being outside at any minute.
    “No!” I cried as I struggled in his arms.
“I’ll get you another beer, baby!”
    Lincoln laughed loudly and held me tighter.
“Too late for that now!”
    I heard a metal door clang as he carried me
through a doorway, and the air temperature changed drastically. But
instead of being the cold blast of air I expected, it was suddenly
warm and humid. I looked around as best I could from my awkward
angle and saw we were in a small atrium. There were windows all
around, and brown cloth lounge chairs were stacked next to the
doorway we had just come through.
    “Where’s your phone?” Lincoln asked.
    “What?” I gasped.
    “Where’s your phone? Is it in your
pocket?”
    He didn’t want to throw me in the pool if I
had my phone on me. “Yes! Yes! My phone is in my pocket!”
    “She’s lying!” I heard Rebecca yell. “It’s in
her purse!” I looked up and saw her smirking at us from the
doorway, so I raised one hand and flipped her off.
    “All right! Are you ready?” Lincoln
asked.
    “What?” I was confused. We were still in the
atrium.
    Lincoln pivoted slightly, and a medium-sized
pool came into view. Oh, thank God. He wasn’t taking me
outside.
    He walked up to the edge of the pool. “Are
you ready? One!” he cried and shifted me in his arms. “Two!” Our
group joined in the countdown, and Lincoln moved his hands to my
hips readying to toss me into the pool. “THREE!” everyone cried,
and I clamped my legs around his chest. If I was going in, he was
going with me. But he surprised