THE LAST GUY STANDING PART 1

Marcus came back from the gym just after midnight, shirt stuck to his chest, earbuds still in, the burn in his shoulders still fresh. The shared house was quiet on the surface, but the second he stepped into the hallway he heard it.

A low, wet moan.

It was coming from Leah’s room. Door cracked open just enough.

He should have walked past. He didn’t.

Marcus stopped, pulled one earbud out, and leaned closer. The bed was creaking in a steady, filthy rhythm. Another moan slipped out—higher this time, almost broken. He pushed the door open another inch with two fingers.

Leah was on her hands and knees in the middle of the mattress, ass up, face pressed into a pillow. Some guy Marcus had never seen before was behind her, hands locked on her waist, slamming into her hard enough that her whole body jerked forward with every thrust. Her dark hair was stuck to her cheek with sweat. Her tits swung under her. The wet sound of skin on skin filled the room.

Marcus’s cock went hard so fast it almost hurt.

He stayed in the doorway and watched. The stranger’s hips slapped against Leah’s ass over and over. She was taking every inch, moaning into the pillow like she couldn’t help it. Marcus reached down, shoved his hand into his shorts, and wrapped his fingers around himself. He stroked slow at first, matching the rhythm of the guy fucking her. When the stranger grabbed a fistful of Leah’s hair and yanked her head back, Marcus tightened his grip and pumped faster.

Leah’s eyes were half-open, mouth slack. She didn’t see him. The guy behind her was too busy chasing his own orgasm. He suddenly pulled out, flipped her onto her back, shoved her legs open, and drove back in. Leah cried out. Marcus bit down on his own lip and came hard into his fist, thick ropes spilling over his knuckles while he watched the stranger bury himself deep and finish inside her.

Marcus backed away before either of them noticed. He went to his own room, cleaned up, and lay there staring at the ceiling with his cock still twitching.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the way her body had moved.

Two days later Leah hung a pair of black lace panties on the line outside to dry. Marcus saw them when he came back from a run. The house was empty. He didn’t even hesitate. He unclipped them, shoved them into the pocket of his shorts, and took them straight to his room.

That night he locked the door, stripped, and sat on the edge of the bed with the panties in one hand and his cock in the other. He pressed the lace to his face first, breathing in the faint scent of her. Then he wrapped the soft fabric around his shaft and started stroking. Slow at first. Then harder. He imagined it was her cunt instead of cloth. He came in under three minutes, shooting across his stomach while he held the panties tight against the head of his cock.

He didn’t wash them. He hid them in the back of his drawer.

Leah found out the next afternoon.

Marcus was in the kitchen making a protein shake when she walked in holding the empty clothesline clip in one hand. She didn’t look angry. She looked amused.

“You took them,” she said.

He didn’t deny it.

Leah stepped closer, close enough that he could smell her shampoo. She reached past him, opened the fridge like she was looking for something, then turned and leaned her hip against the counter so her tank top rode up just enough to show the waistband of a new pair of panties—white this time.

“I want them back,” she said. “But not yet.”

She didn’t ask him to return them. She just smiled, slow and mean, and walked out. That night she left another pair on the line. Black again. Marcus took those too. The night after that she hung a red thong. He took that one as well.

Every time she caught his eye in the hallway she would tug the edge of whatever she was wearing just enough to flash lace, then keep walking. She never let him touch her. She never came to his room. She just kept feeding him pieces of herself and watching him starve.

The day he caught her watching him, Marcus had just finished a shower and walked outside in nothing but a towel to hang a load of laundry. The sun was hot. He dropped the towel over the railing and stood there bare-ass naked while he pinned shirts to the line. When he turned to grab another shirt he felt it—eyes on him.

He looked up.

Leah was at her bedroom window on the second floor. The curtain was half-pulled. She was standing there in a sports bra and nothing else, staring straight at his cock. The second their eyes met she jerked the curtain closed.

Marcus stayed outside longer than he needed to, half-hard in the open air, waiting to see if she would look again. She didn’t.

Saturday night the other four girls went to a party across campus. Leah stayed behind. Marcus found her by the small pool in the backyard, sitting on the edge with her feet in the water, wearing an oversized hoodie and nothing that he could see underneath.

He sat down beside her without asking.

For a while neither of them spoke. The only sound was the soft lap of water against the tiles.

Then Marcus said, voice flat, “Who was the guy fucking you the other night?”

Leah’s head snapped toward him. She stared like she couldn’t believe the question had actually come out of his mouth. A short, disbelieving laugh escaped her.

“You watched?”

“Yeah.”

She looked away, toes curling in the water. “Just some guy from my class. He doesn’t matter.”

“You came hard on his dick.”

Leah’s cheeks went pink, but her voice stayed steady. “I come hard on any dick that knows what it’s doing.”

Marcus turned so he was facing her fully. “Show me.”

She didn’t move for three full seconds. Then she stood up, pulled the hoodie over her head, and dropped it on the concrete. She was completely naked underneath. Full tits, dark nipples already tight, smooth stomach, and a neat patch of hair above her pussy that was already glistening.

Marcus stood too. He pushed his shorts down. His cock sprang free, thick and heavy, the head already wet. Leah’s eyes dropped to it and stayed there.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

He stepped in, grabbed her by the waist, and walked her backward until her calves hit a lounge chair. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him. The head of his cock kissed her entrance. She was soaked. He didn’t ease in. He gripped her hips and dropped her onto him in one long, brutal stroke.

Leah’s mouth fell open. A broken sound came out of her throat. She was tighter than he expected, hotter, clenching hard around every inch as he filled her to the base.

Marcus didn’t give her time to adjust. He planted his feet, held her still, and started thrusting up into her—deep, hard, relentless. Every upward snap of his hips made her tits bounce. Wet sounds filled the night air. Leah braced her hands on his shoulders and tried to ride him, but he was the one setting the pace. He fucked her like he’d been thinking about it for days, because he had.

“You stole my panties,” she gasped between thrusts.

“You left them for me.”

“I—ah—fuck—I wanted you to get caught.”

Marcus growled, stood up without pulling out, and carried her two steps to the low wall at the edge of the pool. He set her ass on the cool stone, pushed her knees wide, and drove back in. The new angle let him go even deeper. Leah’s head fell back. Her nails dug into his forearms.

He fucked her harder. The wet slap of his hips against her thighs echoed off the water. Her pussy was making those filthy, squelching sounds that only happen when a girl is dripping. Marcus reached down and rubbed her clit with his thumb in tight circles while he pounded her.

Leah came first. Her whole body locked up, thighs shaking, a high broken moan tearing out of her as her cunt clamped down on him in hard pulses. He didn’t stop. He kept thrusting through it, dragging the orgasm out until she was whimpering and trying to push him away because it was too much.

He pulled out, flipped her over so her chest was against the wall and her ass was in the air, and slammed back in from behind. One hand in her hair, the other on her hip, he fucked her like he was trying to leave bruises. Leah pushed back to meet every thrust, greedy for it now.

“Harder,” she demanded.

Marcus gave it to her. The head of his cock battered her deepest point over and over. Sweat ran down his chest and dripped onto her back. He could feel his orgasm building, heavy and low in his gut.

He reached around and found her clit again. Two more hard strokes and she came a second time, louder, almost screaming into the night. The way her pussy squeezed him pushed him over. Marcus buried himself to the hilt and came hard, flooding her in thick pulses. He kept grinding through it, forcing every drop as deep as it would go.

They stayed locked together, breathing hard. His cock was still twitching inside her when he finally pulled out. Cum immediately spilled down the inside of her thigh.

Leah turned around, eyes glassy, lips parted. She looked at the mess between her legs, then up at him, and gave a small, ruined smile.

“Next time,” she said, voice rough, “you don’t just watch.”

Marcus wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm and already felt himself starting to get hard again.

“Next time,” he answered, “I won’t.”The next morning felt almost normal.

Marcus woke up to sunlight cutting across his bed and the low sound of someone moving around in the kitchen. His body still carried the ache from the night before—hips, shoulders, the deep pull in his lower back from how hard he’d fucked Leah against the pool wall. He pulled on a black t-shirt and gray shorts and walked out.

Leah was at the counter pouring coffee like nothing had happened. She wore a cropped hoodie and tiny sleep shorts that barely covered her ass. When she turned and saw him, her eyes flicked down to his crotch for half a second, then back up. A small, private smirk touched her mouth.

“Morning,” she said, voice casual.

“Morning.”

The other girls started filtering in. Sofia first—quiet, dark hair in a messy bun, oversized sweater. Then Jade, black eyeliner already on, looking like she hadn’t slept. Maya came last, soft smile, soft voice, asking if anyone wanted eggs. Raven was still in her room.

No one mentioned the pool. No one acted like the air in the house had changed. But Marcus felt it. Leah moved differently around him—closer when she passed, her shoulder brushing his arm when she reached for the milk. Once, when no one was looking, she slid her hand across the front of his shorts and gave his cock a slow squeeze before walking away.

Campus was only a fifteen-minute walk. Marcus had two morning classes—stats and intro to psych. He sat in the back of the lecture hall, half-listening, half-replaying the way Leah had clenched around him when she came the second time. His phone buzzed once during the second class.

Leah: still sore

Leah: worth it

He didn’t answer. He just adjusted himself under the desk and waited for the hour to end.

Between classes the quad was full. Students on the grass, someone playing music from a portable speaker, the smell of coffee and cut grass. Marcus was walking toward the student center when he saw Leah again. She was with two other girls from the house—Sofia and Maya—sitting on a low wall. Leah’s eyes found him immediately. She didn’t wave. She just watched him pass, legs crossed, one foot bouncing like she was restless.

Sofia followed her gaze. Her cheeks went a little pink when she realized who Leah was looking at. Maya just smiled politely and looked away.

Marcus kept walking.

Afternoon was the gym again. He needed the burn. Squats, bench, pull-ups until his arms shook. In the locker room he caught himself thinking about the black lace panties still hidden in his drawer. He thought about Leah on her knees by the pool, cum running down her thigh. He got hard under the hot spray of the shower and had to wait it out, forehead against the tile, breathing slow.

When he got back to the house around six the place smelled like garlic and tomato. Maya was cooking. Jade was on the couch with headphones on. Raven was nowhere in sight. Leah’s door was closed.

Marcus dropped his bag and went to his room to change. He was pulling a clean shirt over his head when someone knocked.

Sofia stood in the hallway, hands tucked into the sleeves of her sweater.

“Hey,” she said. Quiet. “Leah said… she left something in your room? A hoodie?”

Marcus stepped aside. Sofia walked in, eyes moving around the space like she was cataloguing it. The bed was unmade. His gym bag was open on the floor. She didn’t see any hoodie.

“She didn’t leave anything,” he said.

Sofia nodded once, but she didn’t leave. She lingered near the desk, fingers brushing the edge. Then she turned and looked at him properly for the first time—really looked. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, then lower, then back up. Her throat moved when she swallowed.

“I heard you last night,” she said, almost too soft to catch. “By the pool.”

Marcus closed the door behind her with a quiet click.

Sofia’s breath hitched.

He didn’t speak. He just walked toward her until she had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact. She smelled like clean laundry and something faintly sweet. When he reached out and traced the waistband of her leggings with two fingers, she didn’t pull away.

“You listened?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Did it turn you on?”

Another nod, smaller.

Marcus hooked his fingers into the fabric and tugged her forward until her chest met his. She was trembling—just a little. He slid one hand under the back of her sweater, palm flat against the warm skin of her lower back, and kissed her. Soft at first. Then deeper when her lips parted for him.

Sofia made a small sound into his mouth. Her hands came up and rested on his chest like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to touch. He guided one of them lower, over the front of his shorts, and let her feel how hard he already was. Her fingers curled around the shape of him through the fabric and squeezed once, tentative.

He walked her backward to the bed. She sat when the backs of her knees hit the mattress. Marcus pulled his shirt off. Sofia’s eyes tracked the movement of his muscles. He pushed her sweater up and off. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Small, soft tits, pale pink nipples already tight. He leaned down and took one into his mouth, sucking slow while his hand worked her leggings and panties down her legs.

She was already wet. When he slid two fingers between her thighs they came away shiny. Sofia’s head dropped back and a quiet moan slipped out.

Marcus knelt between her legs, pushed her knees wider, and put his mouth on her. She gasped like she’d been holding the sound in. He licked slow, then faster, circling her clit with the flat of his tongue while two fingers worked inside her. Sofia’s hips started moving against his face. One of her hands found his hair and held on.

He kept going until her thighs were shaking and she was whispering please under her breath. Then he stood, shoved his shorts down, and stroked his cock once while he looked at her—flushed, spread open, lips parted.

“You want it?”

Sofia nodded, eyes glassy.

He hooked her knees over his elbows, lined up, and pushed in. She was tighter than Leah, hotter, the kind of tight that made his jaw clench. He gave her time to take it—slow inches until he was buried. Then he started moving.

Deep, steady strokes. The bed creaked. Sofia’s hands gripped the sheets. Every time he bottomed out she made a soft, broken sound. He leaned down and kissed her while he fucked her, swallowing the noises. Her legs wrapped around his waist. He could feel her getting closer—the way her cunt started fluttering around him, the way her breath turned ragged.

“Come on,” he murmured against her mouth. “Let me feel it.”

Sofia came with a quiet cry, body locking up, pussy squeezing him in waves. Marcus kept thrusting through it, chasing his own. When he got close he pulled out, stroked himself twice, and came across her stomach and the soft underside of her tits in thick ropes.

They stayed like that for a minute—him kneeling between her legs, both of them breathing hard. Sofia looked down at the mess on her skin, then up at him, and gave the smallest, dazed smile.

Outside in the hallway a door closed. Footsteps passed. Neither of them moved.

Marcus reached for a towel and cleaned her up gently. Sofia sat up, pulled her sweater back on, and lingered at the edge of the bed like she wasn’t sure what came next.

“Leah knows,” she said finally. “She told me you’d be… like this.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow.

Sofia’s cheeks went pink again. “She said if I wanted a turn I should just come get it.”

He almost laughed. Almost.

Sofia stood, smoothed her leggings, and walked to the door. Before she opened it she looked back once.

“I’m going to want another turn,” she said, quiet but clear.

Then she left.

Marcus sat on the edge of the bed, still half-hard, and listened to her footsteps fade down the hall. Somewhere in the house music started playing. Someone laughed. The normal sounds of a normal evening.

He looked at the closed door and already knew the house was shifting around him—one girl at a time.

Two down.

Three to go.Monday moved like any other Monday.

Marcus woke up alone. The house was already stirring—someone running the shower, the smell of toast drifting down the hall, Jade’s music leaking under her door. He pulled on clothes, grabbed his bag, and left without speaking to anyone.

Campus felt louder than usual. He sat through a two-hour lecture on research methods, took half-hearted notes, and watched the clock. Between classes he bought a coffee and stood under one of the big trees near the library, scrolling his phone without really seeing it. Leah walked past once with a group of friends. She didn’t stop, but her eyes caught his for a second and the corner of her mouth lifted like she knew exactly what he was thinking about.

Sofia was in his afternoon seminar. She sat two rows ahead and never turned around, but every time she shifted in her seat he remembered the quiet sounds she made when she came on his cock. His phone stayed dark. No messages. No invitations.

He went to the gym after class and pushed harder than usual—extra sets, longer rest periods, the kind of heavy lifting that left his arms shaking. In the locker room he kept his eyes forward and his thoughts locked down. He didn’t want to get hard in public again.

By the time he got home the sun was low. Maya was in the kitchen chopping vegetables. She gave him a soft smile and asked if he wanted to eat with them later. He said maybe. Raven was stretched out on the couch in a sports bra and shorts, scrolling her phone. She glanced up, looked him over once, slow, then went back to her screen like he was nothing special. Jade’s door was closed. Leah’s was open a crack, but the room was empty.

Marcus went straight to his room and shut the door.

He dropped his bag, pulled his shirt off, and sat on the edge of the bed. The house sounds filtered in—muffled conversation, a laugh, the clink of dishes. Normal. Ordinary. Like nothing had changed.

He leaned back on one hand and let the other settle on the front of his shorts. He was already half-hard just from the quiet and the memory of the last few days. He pushed the waistband down and wrapped his fingers around his cock, stroking once from base to tip. The skin was warm, the head already slick.

He thought about Leah first—how she had looked bent over that random guy’s bed, then how she had looked riding him by the pool, mouth open, eyes glassy. He stroked slower, thumbing the underside on every upward pass. Then Sofia: the way her voice had gone soft when she said she wanted another turn, the way her small tits had bounced when he finally started fucking her properly.

His grip tightened. He spit into his palm and kept going, longer strokes now, hips shifting slightly off the mattress. The room was warm. A thin sheen of sweat started on his chest. He closed his eyes and let the pictures run—Leah’s panties wrapped around his cock the first night he stole them, Sofia’s thighs shaking against his ears, the idea of Jade’s sarcastic mouth finally shutting when he pushed inside her, Maya’s soft “please,” Raven watching everything with that calm, hungry look she already wore.

He was fully hard, thick and heavy in his fist. Every downstroke made a quiet wet sound. He planted his feet on the floor and worked himself faster, jaw tight, breathing through his nose. The tension in his stomach coiled tighter. He thought about all five of them in the house right now—walking around, cooking, laughing—while he sat alone in his room with his cock in his hand and their names in his head.

Marcus came with a low, controlled exhale. Thick ropes spilled over his knuckles and onto his stomach. He kept stroking through it until the last pulse faded, then just sat there, chest rising and falling, staring at the ceiling.

Outside his door someone walked past. Footsteps paused for half a second, then continued.

He cleaned up with a discarded t-shirt, pulled his shorts back into place, and lay down on the bed without turning off the light. The house kept making its ordinary evening noises. Somewhere down the hall a girl laughed again.

Marcus closed his eyes and waited for the next day to start.

Nothing had happened tonight.

But the air in the house still felt different.Marcus woke up to the sound of rain against the window.

It was the kind of light, steady rain that made the whole campus smell like wet concrete and cut grass. He lay in bed for a few extra minutes listening to it, then forced himself up. The house was already moving. Someone was in the shower. Someone else was opening and closing the fridge. He pulled on a plain black t-shirt that was soft from too many washes and a pair of dark jeans, grabbed his bag, and headed out without eating.

The walk to campus took longer because of the rain. He kept his hood up and his headphones in, replaying nothing in particular. Classes dragged. In the first lecture he sat near the back and took notes that he knew he would never look at again. The professor’s voice blurred into the sound of rain on the high windows. Between classes he bought a coffee he didn’t really want and stood under the overhang outside the student center, watching people hurry past with their bags held over their heads.

Avery found him there the way she always did—without warning, dropping her bag at his feet and stealing the coffee from his hand for a long sip before handing it back.

“You look like you slept in a washing machine,” she said.

“Rain,” he answered.

She snorted. “Sure. Rain.”

They walked together toward the next building. Avery talked the way she always talked—easy, sideways, about nothing and everything. Her roommate had eaten the last of her cereal again. The guy in her morning class kept trying to sit next to her and breathe too loud. She had found a playlist that was all slow songs and rain sounds and it was making her feel dramatic for no reason. Marcus listened, answered when he needed to, and let the ordinary rhythm of their friendship settle over him like a coat he had worn for years.

They sat through a shared elective in a half-dark lecture hall. Avery drew tiny cartoons in the margin of her notebook the entire time—stick figures with umbrellas, a cat that looked judgmental, a version of their professor with exaggerated eyebrows. When the class ended she tore the page out and folded it into a paper airplane that she flew at his chest.

“You’re buying me lunch,” she decided.

They ate in the cheap campus café that always smelled like burnt coffee and fried potatoes. Avery stole fries off his plate without asking. He stole a bite of her sandwich. They talked about summer plans that neither of them had, about a movie they both wanted to see and would probably never watch, about the way the rain made the whole city feel smaller. It was comfortable. It was the same as it had always been. Marcus almost forgot the way the house had started to feel different, the way Leah looked at him now, the quiet sounds Sofia had made in his bed. Almost.

Afternoon classes passed. The rain slowed to a drizzle and then stopped. The sky stayed gray. Avery texted him at four-thirty.

Avery: ice rink at 6

Avery: jake and emma are coming

Avery: don’t be boring

Marcus stared at the message for a longer time than it deserved. Jake and Emma were a couple from their wider friend group—always touching, always half in their own world. He typed back a simple okay and went back to the house to change into a dry shirt. The thin gray one this time, soft cotton that clung a little when he moved.

The ice rink sat on the edge of campus, a low building with fogged windows and the constant low hum of the cooling system. Marcus met them outside. Avery was already there, hands in the pockets of her jacket, bouncing slightly on her heels the way she did when she was cold or restless. Jake and Emma arrived a minute later, fingers laced together, Emma’s head resting against Jake’s shoulder for a second while they walked.

Inside it was colder than the evening air. The ice shone under the lights. A few other skaters moved in slow circles. They rented skates, laced them up on the hard benches, and stepped out onto the ice one by one. Marcus was steady enough. Avery was better than she looked like she should be—quick, balanced, laughing when she almost clipped the wall. Jake and Emma stayed close to each other, skating slow, hands linked most of the time.

It started small. Emma would lean in and kiss the corner of Jake’s mouth while they moved. Jake would pull her closer and kiss her properly, the kind of slow, lingering kiss that made other people look away. They did it again near the center of the rink. Then again when they stopped by the boards. Each time the kiss lasted longer. Emma’s hand slid up into Jake’s hair. Jake’s hand settled low on her back.

Marcus felt the discomfort settle in his chest like a weight. He kept skating, eyes forward. Avery skated beside him, unusually quiet. When Jake and Emma stopped again and started kissing in a way that was clearly no longer casual, Avery made a small sound under her breath.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m done watching that.”

They stepped off the ice without announcing it. Jake and Emma didn’t notice. Marcus and Avery returned their skates, pulled their regular shoes back on, and walked out into the evening without looking back.

The air outside was cooler now. Streetlights had come on. They walked without a destination at first, just putting distance between themselves and the rink. Avery’s shoulder brushed his every few steps. She was talking again, but the words came faster, lighter, almost giddy—about how weird it was to watch people make out in public, about how Jake always looked like he was trying too hard, about how Emma’s perfume was too strong. She laughed at her own comments. The sound was brighter than usual.

They turned down a quieter path that cut between the science buildings and the old parking lot. The lights were farther apart here. Shadows stretched long between them. Avery’s hand found the sleeve of his shirt and held on for a second, then slid down to his wrist.

“You’re quiet,” she said.

“Just thinking.”

“About them?”

“No.”

She stopped walking. Marcus took one more step before he realized and turned back. Avery stood under a pool of yellow light from a single lamp, looking at him with an expression he had never seen on her face before—open, nervous, determined all at once.

She stepped closer. Her fingers brushed the front of his jeans, light, testing. Marcus caught her wrist on instinct.

“Avery.”

“What?”

“Don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re my best friend.”

She didn’t pull her hand away. She just looked at him, eyes steady. “I know what I am. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks. Every time you look tired. Every time you adjust yourself when you think no one’s watching. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Then don’t make it messy.” Her voice was soft but firm. “Just let me.”

She stepped in until her chest almost touched his. Her free hand came up and rested on his stomach, over the thin gray shirt. She could feel the heat of his skin through the fabric. Slowly, deliberately, she slid that hand lower until her palm rested over the growing shape of his cock. Marcus’s breath left him in a short, controlled exhale. He still held her other wrist, but his grip had loosened.

Avery leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, barely there. Then she sank to her knees on the damp path like it was the most natural decision she had ever made.

“Avery—”

“Shh.”

She pressed her mouth to the front of his jeans first, breathing warm air through the denim. Then she mouthed along the length of him, slow, deliberate, until the fabric was damp and his cock was fully hard underneath. Marcus’s hand settled on the lamp post beside them for balance. His other hand hovered near her hair and didn’t quite touch.

Avery looked up at him once, eyes dark, and then she focused on the thin gray shirt. She pushed the hem up just enough to expose the lower part of his stomach, the trail of hair that disappeared into his jeans. She kissed the skin there, soft, then lower. When she reached the waistband she didn’t open it right away. Instead she pressed her mouth to the outline of his cock through the soft cotton of the shirt where it had ridden down, kissing the thick shape of him through the fabric.

The heat of her mouth soaked through instantly. Marcus shivered hard, a full-body reaction he couldn’t stop. The sensation was muffled and intense at the same time—wet heat, pressure, the knowledge of exactly whose mouth it was. Avery did it again, slower, dragging her open lips along the length of him through the thin material until the shirt was damp and clinging. She kissed the head through the cloth, then the shaft, then lower, nuzzling against him while her hands worked the button and zipper open.

When she finally freed his cock it sprang out heavy and already leaking. Avery made a small, hungry sound and wrapped both hands around him. She stroked once, twice, spreading the wetness, then leaned in and kissed the tip properly—soft, closed-mouth, almost reverent. Marcus’s hips twitched. She looked up at him, held his gaze, and took him into her mouth.

The first slide of her lips was slow and deep. She took as much as she could on the first pass, cheeks hollowing, tongue pressing firm against the underside. Spit slicked him immediately. She pulled back with a wet sound, stroked him with one hand, and went down again, deeper this time. Marcus’s head tipped back against the lamp post. His hand finally settled in her hair, not pushing, just holding.

Avery sucked him like she had been thinking about the exact way she wanted to do it. She varied the pace—long, slow strokes where she took him almost to the root and held him there, throat working, then faster, shallower ones that made wet, filthy sounds in the quiet path. Her free hand cupped his balls, rolling them gently, then slid further back to press behind them in a way that made his knees threaten to buckle. Spit ran down her chin and dripped onto the ground. She didn’t wipe it away.

Marcus watched her through half-lidded eyes. The yellow light caught the wet shine on her lips every time she pulled off. She looked up at him often, eyes watering slightly when she took him deep, but she never stopped. When she felt him get closer she only went harder—faster bobbing, tighter suction, one hand twisting around the base while her mouth worked the head. The wet sounds grew louder. Marcus’s breathing turned rough.

“Avery—I’m gonna—”

She moaned around him in answer and took him as deep as she could, nose pressed to his stomach, throat fluttering. Marcus came hard with a low, broken sound, pulsing thick ropes straight down her throat. Avery stayed locked there, swallowing around him, milking every spurt with slow, deliberate pulls of her mouth until he was finished and oversensitive. Only then did she pull off, gasping softly, lips swollen and shiny, a thin string of spit and cum connecting her lower lip to the head of his cock for a second before it broke.

She sat back on her heels, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and looked up at him with a small, dazed smile that was almost shy.

Marcus stared down at her, chest rising and falling hard, the thin gray shirt still pushed up, his cock still half-hard and wet in the open air.

Avery stood slowly, fixed his jeans with careful hands, and smoothed the front of his shirt like she was putting something back the way it belonged. She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she reached up and touched the edge of his jaw with two fingers.

“Still friends,” she said quietly. “Just… more.”

She started walking again like the last ten minutes hadn’t rewritten the air between them. Marcus fixed his clothes the rest of the way, pushed off the lamp post, and followed her down the path. The campus lights stretched ahead of them. Somewhere in the distance music played from an open dorm window.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Neither of them needed to.

The night felt different now.

And Marcus already knew it was only going to keep changing.They walked in silence for a while.

The path between the science buildings stayed quiet. Avery kept her hands in her jacket pockets. Marcus kept his eyes ahead. The taste of what had just happened still sat in the air between them—warm, wet, unfinished in a way that had nothing to do with the orgasm she had just swallowed.

Avery spoke first, voice low.

“You’re not gonna get weird now, right?”

“No.”

“Good. Because I meant what I said. Still friends. Just… more when we feel like it.”

Marcus nodded once. He didn’t trust his voice yet. His cock was still sensitive inside his jeans, the thin gray shirt still carrying the faint damp spot where she had kissed him through the fabric. Every step reminded him.

They reached the edge of campus and turned onto the street that led toward the shared house. Streetlights stretched long yellow pools across the sidewalk. A few cars passed. Somewhere a dog barked once and went quiet again.

Avery bumped her shoulder into his.

“You’re quiet again.”

“Just processing.”

She huffed a small laugh. “Yeah. Me too. My knees are dirty and my jaw’s a little sore. Worth it though.”

The honesty in her voice made something tight in Marcus’s chest loosen. He glanced at her. Avery was looking straight ahead, but the corner of her mouth was curved up like she was replaying the last ten minutes and liking every second of it.

They reached the corner where their paths usually split—Avery’s place was three blocks further, the shared house was to the left. She stopped under the last streetlight and turned to face him fully.

“I’m gonna head home,” she said. “Text me tomorrow. Or don’t. I’ll find you either way.”

Marcus opened his mouth, closed it, then just said, “Okay.”

Avery stepped in, rose onto her toes, and kissed him once—soft, closed-mouth, almost polite after everything she had just done on her knees. Then she turned and walked away without looking back. Her figure got smaller under the next lights until she disappeared around the corner.

Marcus stood there for a few extra seconds, then started walking toward the house.

The front porch light was on. He could hear muffled music from inside. He unlocked the door and stepped into the warm, lived-in smell of the place—cooking oil, someone’s perfume, the faint detergent scent that always hung in the hallway.

Leah was in the living room, stretched sideways on the couch with her phone. She looked up the second the door closed. Her eyes moved over him—damp shirt, slightly messy hair, the way he was standing—and a slow, knowing smile pulled at her mouth.

“You look like you just got your soul sucked out,” she said.

Marcus dropped his keys on the side table. “Something like that.”

Leah sat up, interest sharp in her face. “Who?”

He didn’t answer. He just walked past her toward the kitchen for water. Leah followed, bare feet quiet on the floor. She leaned against the counter while he drank, watching him the whole time.

“You’re not gonna tell me?”

“Not tonight.”

She made a small disappointed sound, but her eyes stayed bright. “Fine. Keep your secrets. Just know the rest of us can smell it on you.”

Marcus set the glass down. From the hallway he heard another door open. Sofia appeared, hair in a loose bun, wearing an oversized t-shirt that reached mid-thigh. She froze when she saw him, cheeks going pink almost instantly. Her eyes flicked to Leah, then back to Marcus, then down to the floor.

Jade’s music was still playing behind her closed door. Maya’s light was on under her doorframe. Raven’s room was dark.

Leah pushed off the counter and walked past him, deliberately brushing her chest against his arm. She paused long enough to murmur, “Whoever she was, she left you looking wrecked. Come find me if you still have anything left tonight.”

Then she disappeared down the hall.

Sofia lingered another few seconds, like she wanted to say something, then whispered a soft “night” and slipped back toward her room.

Marcus stood alone in the kitchen under the soft yellow light. The house felt awake around him—aware, waiting. He could still feel Avery’s mouth, the way her throat had worked when she swallowed him. He could still see Leah’s knowing smile. He could still picture Sofia’s pink cheeks.

He went to his room, closed the door, and sat on the edge of the bed without turning on the light. The thin gray shirt came off. He dropped it on the floor and lay back, staring at the dark ceiling.

Outside his door the house kept breathing. Footsteps. A quiet laugh. The click of another door.

Marcus closed his eyes.

The night wasn’t over.

But for the first time since he moved in, he wasn’t the one deciding when the next part started.Marcus didn’t turn the light on.

He lay on his back in the dark, shirtless, one arm behind his head, listening to the house settle. Somewhere down the hall a faucet ran and stopped. Jade’s music finally clicked off. A door closed softly. Then the hallway went quiet.

He almost drifted.

The knock was light—two short taps.

Marcus sat up. “Yeah.”

The door opened and Leah slipped in, closing it behind her without a sound. She was still in the same clothes from earlier—tiny sleep shorts and a thin tank top, no bra. The hallway light cut across her for a second before the door shut and the dark took over again.

She didn’t speak at first. She just walked to the edge of the bed and stood there, looking down at him.

“You didn’t come find me,” she said.

“Was about to.”

Leah’s mouth curved. She climbed onto the bed, straddled his thighs, and sat down like she belonged there. Her hands rested on his bare stomach. He could feel the heat of her through the thin fabric of her shorts.

“Whoever she was,” Leah murmured, “she got you first tonight. That pissed me off a little.”

Marcus’s hands settled on her hips. “Jealous?”

“Curious.” She leaned down until her mouth was close to his. “And greedy.”

She kissed him slow and deep, the kind of kiss that already knew what it wanted. Marcus kissed her back, one hand sliding up under her tank top to cup her tit, thumb brushing the nipple until it tightened. Leah made a small sound into his mouth and rolled her hips once, grinding against the growing hard-on in his jeans.

She pulled back just enough to yank her tank top off and toss it aside. Then she shifted lower, undid his jeans, and freed his cock. It was already thick, already wet at the tip. Leah wrapped her fingers around it and stroked once, watching his face.

“Still sensitive from earlier?” she asked.

“A little.”

She smiled like that was exactly what she wanted to hear. Then she lowered her head and took him into her mouth.

It wasn’t the same as Avery. Avery had been hungry and almost frantic. Leah was deliberate. She sucked him slow and deep, tongue working the underside, one hand stroking the base while the other rested on his thigh. Every time she took him to the back of her throat she held him there for a second longer than necessary, eyes locked on his in the dark.

Marcus’s hand found her hair. He didn’t push. He just held on while she worked him.

Leah pulled off with a wet sound, stroked him a few times, then climbed back up and shoved her shorts and panties down in one motion. She kicked them away, straddled him again, and sank down onto his cock in one long, smooth slide.

Both of them exhaled hard.

She was soaked. Hot. Tight around him. Leah planted her hands on his chest and started riding—slow at first, rolling her hips so he felt every inch, then faster when she found the angle she wanted. Her tits moved with every bounce. Marcus gripped her waist and thrust up to meet her, the wet sound of their bodies filling the quiet room.

Leah leaned down, mouth against his ear.

“You’re gonna fuck all of us before summer’s over,” she whispered. “You know that, right?”

Marcus answered by flipping her onto her back in one hard motion. He hooked her knees over his elbows, drove back in deep, and started pounding her. Leah’s mouth fell open. A broken moan slipped out before she could stop it. He covered her mouth with one hand and kept going—hard, steady, relentless strokes that made the bed frame tap against the wall.

She came first, thighs shaking, pussy clenching hard around him while she moaned into his palm. Marcus fucked her through it, then chased his own. When he got close he pulled out, stroked himself twice, and came across her stomach and the underside of her tits in thick ropes.

They stayed like that for a minute, breathing hard. Leah reached down, dragged two fingers through the mess on her skin, and licked them clean while she looked at him.

“Next time,” she said, voice rough, “bring whoever she was. Or don’t. I’ll take my turn either way.”

She got up, found her clothes in the dark, and slipped back out into the hallway without another word.

Marcus lay there, cock still twitching, the smell of sex thick in the room.

Down the hall a door opened and closed softly.

Someone else had been listening.Marcus didn’t move after Leah left.

He stayed on his back in the dark, one arm thrown over his eyes, listening to the quiet that followed the soft click of his door. His cock was still half-hard, sticky against his stomach. The sheets under him were a mess. The air in the room smelled like sex and Leah’s skin and the faint leftover rain that still clung to the open window.

He thought about Avery’s mouth on the path.

He thought about Leah riding him like she already owned a piece of the summer.

He thought about the way the house had gone silent the second Leah’s footsteps faded.

Someone had been in the hallway. He was sure of it.

Marcus sat up, dragged a hand through his hair, and reached for the discarded gray shirt on the floor. He didn’t put it on. He just held it for a second, then dropped it again. The clock on his desk glowed 1:47 a.m. Too late for anything normal. Too early for the night to be finished.

He almost stood to lock the door.

The knock came before he could.

Three short taps this time. Harder than Leah’s.

Marcus stayed quiet for two full seconds, then said, “It’s open.”

The door pushed inward. Jade stepped in and closed it behind her with her foot. She didn’t turn on the light. The only illumination came from the streetlamp outside, a thin yellow stripe across the floor that cut her into pieces—black hair, pale skin, the sharp line of her collarbone under an oversized black band shirt that reached mid-thigh. She wasn’t wearing pants. Her legs were bare. Her eyeliner was slightly smudged like she had been rubbing her eyes or lying in bed thinking too hard.

She leaned back against the door and looked at him.

“You’re loud,” she said. Her voice was flat, the usual dry edge still there, but lower than normal. “Leah doesn’t even try to keep it down. Neither do you.”

Marcus stayed sitting on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees. “You listened.”

“Hard not to. Thin walls. Thin doors. Thin everything in this place.” Jade’s eyes dropped to his lap, then climbed slowly back up his bare chest. “She’s been different since you moved in. Softer. Needier. It’s disgusting.”

“Jealous?”

Jade laughed once, short and sharp. “Please. I just think it’s pathetic how fast everyone folds.”

She pushed off the door and walked closer. The band shirt shifted with every step, the hem brushing the tops of her thighs. Marcus could see she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. When she stopped in front of him, the streetlight caught the faint sheen on her inner thighs.

“You gonna tell me to leave?” she asked.

“No.”

“You gonna ask why I’m here?”

“I already know.”

Jade’s mouth twitched like she wanted to sneer and couldn’t quite manage it. She reached down, grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and pulled it over her head in one motion. She dropped it on the floor. Small, firm tits. Dark nipples already tight. A thin silver barbell through the left one. Her stomach was flat, a small black ink tattoo of something half-hidden under the curve of her ribs. Between her legs she was smooth except for a neat strip of dark hair.

She stood there and let him look.

“I hate that I want this,” she said, almost conversational. “I hate that I’ve been thinking about it since the first time I heard Leah moaning your name. I hate that Sofia already got a turn and walked around the next day looking like someone rewired her brain. I hate all of it.”

Marcus reached out and hooked two fingers into the waistband of nothing, just the soft skin of her hip, and tugged her forward. Jade came without resistance. She climbed onto the bed, straddled his thighs, and sat down so the bare heat of her pussy rested against the hard length of his cock through the open jeans he still hadn’t bothered to fix properly.

She was already wet. He felt it immediately.

Jade rolled her hips once, slow, dragging herself along him. Her hands settled on his shoulders. Her eyes stayed locked on his, challenging even now.

“If you tell anyone I came in here first, I’ll deny it,” she said.

Marcus answered by sliding both hands up her back, pulling her closer, and kissing her. Jade made a small, surprised sound against his mouth—like she hadn’t expected him to take instead of wait—then kissed him back harder. Her teeth scraped his bottom lip. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. She kept grinding against him, coating the underside of his cock with how wet she already was.

He broke the kiss long enough to shove his jeans further down. His cock sprang free, thick and heavy between them. Jade looked down at it, exhaled through her nose, and wrapped one hand around the base like she was measuring it.

“Of course it’s big,” she muttered. “Of course.”

She lifted up, guided the head to her entrance, and sank down in one long, controlled motion. The stretch pulled a low sound out of her throat that she tried to swallow. Marcus felt every inch of her—hot, tight, gripping him like she was angry about how good it felt. When her ass met his thighs she stayed there, breathing hard, forehead against his.

“Fuck,” she whispered.

Marcus gripped her hips and rolled his own upward, grinding deep. Jade’s eyes fluttered. She started moving—short, mean little rolls of her hips at first, then longer strokes as she got used to the size. Her hands braced on his chest. Her tits moved with every bounce. The wet sound of her cunt taking him filled the room, soft and filthy in the dark.

She tried to keep control. She tried to set a pace that stayed sarcastic, almost clinical. It lasted maybe two minutes. Then Marcus planted his feet, held her still, and started thrusting up into her hard. Jade’s mouth fell open. A real moan slipped out before she could stop it. She slapped a hand over her own mouth and glared at him, but her pussy clenched hard around every stroke.

“Don’t,” she managed between thrusts. “Don’t make me sound like them.”

Marcus flipped her onto her back without pulling out. He hooked one of her knees over his elbow, drove back in deeper, and set a steady, punishing rhythm. The bed frame started tapping the wall again. Jade’s head tipped back into the pillow. Her hands gripped the sheets hard enough to turn her knuckles white. Every time he bottomed out she made a small, broken sound she clearly hated.

He leaned down and bit the side of her neck—not hard enough to mark, just enough to make her shudder. Jade’s free leg wrapped around his waist and pulled him in tighter. Her sarcasm was cracking in real time. He could feel it in the way her cunt kept fluttering around him, in the way her breath kept hitching, in the way her nails started digging into his back instead of the sheets.

“Harder,” she finally gritted out. “If you’re gonna fuck me, at least do it properly.”

Marcus gave it to her.

He pulled almost all the way out and slammed back in, over and over, the wet slap of skin on skin loud in the quiet room. Jade stopped trying to stay silent. Soft, helpless moans spilled out of her with every thrust. Her small tits bounced. The piercing caught the thin light from the window. Marcus reached down and rubbed her clit with his thumb in tight circles while he pounded her. Jade’s back arched. Her mouth opened on a silent cry.

She came hard—legs shaking, pussy clamping down on him in strong pulses, a long broken moan that she buried against his shoulder. Marcus kept thrusting through it, dragging the orgasm out until she was twitching and trying to push at his chest because it was too much.

He didn’t stop.

He pulled out, flipped her onto her hands and knees, and shoved back in from behind in one stroke. Jade’s arms almost gave out. He gripped her hips hard enough to leave marks and fucked her like he was trying to erase every sarcastic comment she had ever thrown at him. The new angle let him go deeper. Jade’s face dropped into the pillow. Her fingers twisted in the sheets. Every thrust punched a wet, filthy sound out of her cunt.

“Fuck—fuck—Marcus—”

Hearing her say his name like that, stripped of the usual edge, sent a hot surge down his spine. He reached under her, found her clit again, and rubbed while he kept pounding. Jade came a second time almost immediately, thighs trembling, a muffled cry against the pillow. Her pussy squeezed him so tight he had to grit his teeth to keep from following her over.

He held on.

He fucked her through the aftershocks until her arms finally gave out and she was face-down, ass up, taking every stroke. Only when he felt his own orgasm barreling in did he pull out, stroke himself twice, and come across the small of her back and the curve of her ass in thick, heavy ropes.

Jade stayed like that for a long moment, breathing hard, cum slowly sliding down the side of her hip. Marcus sat back on his heels, chest rising and falling, watching it.

She eventually pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked at him over her shoulder. Her eyeliner was more smudged now. Her cheeks were flushed. Her voice, when it came, was hoarse and missing most of its usual armor.

“If you tell Leah I came twice I’m going to set your clothes on fire.”

Marcus almost smiled. “Your secret’s safe.”

Jade rolled onto her side, then sat up. She looked down at the mess on her skin, made a face, and grabbed the gray shirt he had discarded earlier. She cleaned herself off with it without asking, then tossed it back at him.

“I’m not sleeping here,” she said.

“Didn’t ask you to.”

She stood, found her band shirt on the floor, and pulled it back on. It settled over her like armor again. She walked to the door, paused with her hand on the handle, and spoke without turning around.

“I’m going to want that again. Not tonight. But soon. And next time I’m on top the whole time. I don’t like how quiet you made me.”

Marcus didn’t answer. He just watched her.

Jade opened the door, checked the hallway, and slipped out. The door clicked shut behind her.

Marcus lay back down in the wrecked sheets. His cock twitched once against his thigh, spent but still interested. The room smelled like sex and Jade’s skin and the faint metallic scent of her piercing. Outside, the house stayed silent for a long time.

Then, somewhere down the hall, another door opened and closed very softly.

Marcus stared at the ceiling and counted the girls who had already crossed the line.

Leah.

Sofia.

Avery.

Jade.

Two left inside the house.

He closed his eyes.

The summer was only getting started.The morning after Jade left his room, the house felt like it was holding its breath.

Marcus woke up late. Sunlight cut across the bed in a hard white line. The sheets still smelled like her—something sharp and clean under the heavier scent of sex. He sat up, rubbed a hand over his face, and listened. Someone was moving in the kitchen. A cabinet closed. Water ran. Normal sounds. Too normal.

He pulled on shorts and a clean shirt and walked out.

Leah was at the counter with a mug of coffee, hair in a loose knot, wearing one of his old t-shirts that she must have taken at some point. She looked up when he entered, eyes moving over him in a slow, deliberate sweep. A small, private smile touched her mouth.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

“Well enough.”

Jade’s door was still closed. Sofia was already gone—her shoes missing from the rack by the door. Maya stood at the stove scrambling eggs, soft voice humming something under her breath. Raven sat at the table in a sports bra and shorts, scrolling her phone, one foot tucked under her. She glanced up once, met Marcus’s eyes for a long second, then looked back down like she had all the time in the world.

No one mentioned the night before.

No one needed to.

Marcus poured coffee and leaned against the counter. Leah shifted closer until her hip brushed his. Under the table, Raven’s bare foot stretched out and lightly nudged his ankle, then stayed there. Maya kept cooking, cheeks a little pink, as if she could feel the current running through the room even if she didn’t fully understand it yet.

The day moved forward like that—small touches, longer looks, the quiet knowledge that something had shifted again.

Campus felt the same and completely different.

Marcus sat through morning classes with half his mind still in the dark of his room. In the lecture hall he caught himself replaying the way Jade’s voice had cracked when she came the second time, the way she had tried so hard to stay sharp and failed. Between classes he stood under the same tree near the library where Avery had found him days earlier. She didn’t appear. He texted her a simple you good? and got back a selfie of her in class looking bored, tongue out, with the caption still thinking about the path. don’t get weird.

He didn’t get weird.

He just adjusted his bag and kept walking.

At lunch he ended up at a table with Jake and Emma—the same couple from the ice rink. They were still in their own bubble, Emma’s hand on Jake’s thigh under the table, Jake feeding her fries. Marcus ate without saying much. When Emma asked how the house was treating him, he shrugged and said it was fine. Jake laughed and said living with five girls sounded like a dream or a nightmare depending on the day. Emma swatted his arm and told him he wouldn’t last a week. Marcus just drank his water and let them talk.

Afternoon was the gym again. He pushed heavier than usual—extra sets on bench, longer holds on pull-ups, the kind of work that left his arms shaking and his mind quieter. In the shower he stood under the hot water longer than necessary, forehead against the tile, letting the heat work the tension out of his shoulders. He got hard thinking about nothing specific and everything at once—Leah’s mouth, Sofia’s quiet please, Avery on her knees under the streetlight, Jade’s sarcastic moan when she finally broke. He didn’t stroke himself. He just waited it out, breathing slow, then shut the water off and dressed.

By the time he got back to the house the sun was low and gold.

The idea of the party started small.

It began with Raven, of all people.

She was in the living room that evening with her legs draped over the arm of the couch, phone in one hand, a half-eaten bowl of cereal in the other. Leah was painting her toenails on the floor. Sofia sat cross-legged on the other end of the couch with a textbook open but unread. Maya was folding laundry in the corner like it was a meditation. Jade hadn’t come out of her room since morning.

Raven spoke without looking up from her screen.

“We should have people over this weekend.”

Leah glanced up. “What kind of people?”

“Friends. People from class. Avery. Maybe a couple others. Nothing huge. Just… something. This house is starting to feel like a pressure cooker.”

Sofia’s eyes flicked toward the hallway that led to Marcus’s room, then away. Maya’s hands paused on a towel. Leah smiled to herself and went back to her toenails.

“I’m down,” Leah said. “As long as no one brings that weird guy from the third floor who keeps trying to talk about crypto.”

Raven snorted. “Deal. I’ll make a group chat. Friday night. We can get drinks, play some stupid games, see what happens.”

Marcus was in the kitchen doorway listening. Raven’s eyes lifted and found his across the room. She held the look for a beat longer than necessary, then dropped her gaze back to her phone and started typing.

Just like that, the party existed.

The next three days stretched like warm taffy.

Tuesday moved slow. Marcus had an early class and a long lab that ran past lunch. When he got back to the house in the late afternoon the front door was unlocked and music was playing low from the living room. He found Maya on the couch with a blanket over her legs, scrolling through recipes on her laptop. She looked up and gave him that soft smile she always gave him—the one that stayed a second too long.

“There’s leftover pasta in the fridge if you’re hungry,” she said.

“Thanks.”

He heated some and sat at the table. Maya stayed on the couch, but every time he looked over she was already looking at him. Once she caught herself and blushed and went back to her screen. The air between them felt charged in a quiet, unfinished way. Marcus finished eating, rinsed his plate, and went to his room before either of them said something that would tip the balance too early.

Wednesday was worse in the best way.

Leah started the morning by walking into the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth, wearing nothing but a towel that she didn’t bother securing very well. She stood behind him, reached around for her own toothbrush, and let the towel slip just enough that the side of her bare tit pressed against his arm. She met his eyes in the mirror, smiled, and said nothing. When she left, the towel was even looser.

Sofia found him later on the back steps where he sometimes sat to lace his shoes. She sat down beside him without asking, close enough that their shoulders touched. She didn’t speak for a long time. Then she said, very quietly, “Jade’s been different today. Quieter. I think she… you know.”

Marcus didn’t confirm or deny. Sofia nodded like she hadn’t expected him to. She rested her head against his shoulder for three full seconds, breathed in, then stood and went back inside like nothing had happened.

Jade herself stayed scarce. When she finally appeared that evening she was in full armor again—black jeans, black shirt, eyeliner sharp, expression sharper. She walked past Marcus in the hallway, paused just long enough to murmur, “Still thinking about it,” and kept going without waiting for a response.

Raven was the most open about the shift. She started finding reasons to be in the same room as him. If he was in the kitchen, she appeared. If he was on the couch, she dropped into the opposite corner and stretched her legs out until her foot brushed his. Once, when no one else was looking, she reached over, took his hand, and placed it high on her bare thigh for five long seconds before letting go and going back to her phone like she had only been adjusting her position.

Thursday night Avery texted him.

Avery: heard there’s a party at your place friday

Avery: i’m coming

Avery: try not to look too wrecked when i get there

Avery: or do. i like the look on you

Marcus stared at the messages for a while, then locked his phone and set it face-down on the desk.

Friday arrived with the kind of clear, warm weather that made everything feel possible.

Marcus woke early. The house was already restless. Leah was blasting music while she cleaned the living room. Maya was making a grocery list for snacks and mixers. Raven was texting people. Sofia was quietly rearranging the furniture so there would be more floor space. Jade stayed in her room until noon, then emerged in a black crop top and ripped jeans, looking like she had decided to survive the night by sheer attitude alone.

Marcus spent most of the day on small tasks—taking the trash out, helping Maya carry bags in from the car, fixing a speaker that kept cutting out. Every time he passed one of the girls the air changed. Leah would find a reason to touch his arm. Sofia would go pink and look away. Raven would hold his gaze until he was the one who broke it. Even Jade, when she walked past him in the hallway with a stack of red cups, let her shoulder brush his and muttered, “Try not to start anything before people even get here.”

Avery showed up at six-thirty, early on purpose. She walked in like she owned a piece of the place, hugged Maya, nodded at Leah, and found Marcus in the kitchen.

“You look tense,” she said, stealing a chip from the bowl on the counter.

“I’m fine.”

“Liar.” She stepped closer, voice dropping. “I’ve been thinking about the path every day. Just so you know.”

Before he could answer she was already walking away to help Sofia with the lights.

By seven the first guests started arriving.

A couple of girls from Leah’s seminar. A guy from Raven’s chemistry class who somehow already had a drink in his hand. Jake and Emma showed up together, fingers linked, Emma already a little flushed from pre-drinks. Two more people from Avery’s dorm. The house filled slowly—voices, laughter, the smell of someone’s too-sweet perfume, the low thump of the playlist Raven had made.

Marcus moved through it like he was both inside the night and watching it from a slight distance. He talked when people talked to him. He laughed when something was funny. He accepted a beer he didn’t really want and let it sweat in his hand. Every few minutes his eyes found one of the house girls across the room.

Leah, already dancing a little in the middle of the living room, catching his gaze and biting her lip.

Sofia, perched on the arm of the couch, nursing a drink, watching him over the rim.

Jade, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looking bored on purpose, but her eyes tracked him every time he moved.

Maya, in the kitchen making sure no one was too drunk too fast, smiling whenever their eyes met.

Raven, holding court near the speaker, one hand on a girl’s shoulder, the other gesturing while she talked—but she always knew exactly where Marcus was standing.

Avery stayed close without clinging. She would appear at his side, make a dry comment about Jake and Emma already making out in the corner, then drift away again. Once she leaned in while reaching past him for a bottle and murmured, “Later,” against the shell of his ear so only he could hear it.

The night thickened.

Music got louder. Someone turned the main lights down and left only the warmer lamps and the string lights Maya had hung earlier. Bodies moved closer. Conversations got looser. Leah ended up on the couch with her legs across Sofia’s lap. Raven pulled a girl Marcus didn’t know into a slow dance that was mostly just swaying and talking too close. Jade accepted a second drink and let her usual scowl soften by degrees.

Marcus stood near the kitchen doorway with his half-finished beer and felt the pressure in the house climbing like heat under a lid.

Raven’s voice cut through the noise around ten-thirty.

“Okay, we’re doing something less boring than standing around.” She held up a mostly empty bottle of vodka. “Truth or dare. Classic. No chickens. House rules—if you’re in the circle, you play.”

A small cheer went up. People started dragging floor cushions and chairs into a rough circle in the middle of the living room. Leah clapped her hands once and dropped onto a cushion immediately. Sofia hesitated, then sat beside her. Maya wiped her hands on a towel and joined, cheeks already pink. Jade rolled her eyes but pushed off the wall and took a place opposite Marcus. Raven sat cross-legged like a queen. Avery claimed the spot to Marcus’s right without asking. Jake and Emma and three other guests filled the remaining spaces.

The bottle landed in the center of the circle with a soft glass-on-wood sound.

Raven looked around at all of them, eyes bright, smile sharp.

“Who’s spinning first?”

Marcus felt Avery’s knee press lightly against his. Across the circle Leah was already watching him like she knew exactly where the night was headed. Sofia’s fingers were twisted in the hem of her shirt. Jade’s expression was unreadable but her foot was tapping. Maya looked like she was trying very hard not to look at anyone’s mouth. Raven’s gaze swept the circle and landed on him last, holding.

The music still played, lower now.

The house felt small and hot and full of held breath.

The bottle sat in the middle of them, waiting.

Marcus reached forward, set his beer down, and put his hand on the bottle.

The night had arrived.Marcus spun the bottle.

It clinked against the wood floor and turned in slow, uneven circles under the string lights. The living room had gone quiet in that particular way parties do when a game starts and everyone suddenly remembers they can be seen. Jake had his arm around Emma. Two girls from Leah’s seminar sat cross-legged beside Avery. A tall guy from Raven’s chem lab—Marcus thought his name was Theo—leaned back on his hands. Another guy, shorter, curly hair, sat between Maya and the arm of the couch. Three more people filled the remaining gaps. The circle was bigger than it had looked from the kitchen doorway.

The bottle stopped on Leah.

Raven’s voice cut through the low music. “Truth or dare.”

“Dare,” Leah said, already smiling.

Raven tilted her head. “Go sit on Theo’s lap for the next two rounds and let him put his hand under your shirt. No further than that.”

A couple of people laughed. Theo looked surprised but not unhappy. Leah stood, walked over, and dropped onto his lap like she belonged there. Theo’s hand slid up the back of her top after a second of hesitation. Leah glanced at Marcus once, eyes bright, then settled in.

The bottle went to Jake next.

“Truth,” he said.

Leah didn’t miss a beat. “Have you ever thought about anyone in this room while you were fucking Emma?”

Emma’s mouth opened. Jake’s ears went red. He looked at the ceiling, then at Emma, then muttered, “Yeah. Once or twice.”

“Who?” Leah pressed.

Jake’s eyes flicked to Raven for half a second and then away. “Not saying.”

Raven only smiled and spun the bottle again.

It landed on one of the girls from Leah’s class—small, blonde, name tag still stuck to her shirt from some club event earlier. She chose dare. Sofia, voice soft but clear, told her to kiss the person on her left for fifteen seconds. The girl leaned over and kissed the curly-haired guy. It started polite and got less polite before the time was up.

The game loosened.

Marcus watched it happen the way he watched most things—quiet, present, cataloguing. Avery’s knee stayed pressed against his. Jade sat with her arms crossed, expression unreadable, but she hadn’t left the circle. Maya kept twisting the hem of her shirt. Raven looked like she was conducting an orchestra only she could hear.

The bottle pointed at Avery.

“Dare,” she said.

Theo spoke up before Raven could. “Show us what your bra looks like. Leave it on, just the shirt off for thirty seconds.”

Avery snorted, pulled her hoodie and the shirt underneath over her head in one motion, and sat there in a simple black bra while someone counted out loud. She didn’t cover herself. When the thirty seconds ended she put the shirt back on like the whole thing had been mildly boring.

Next was the curly-haired guy. He picked truth and got asked the last time he had gotten head. He answered with a date that made two people whistle. Then the bottle landed on Emma.

“Dare,” Emma said, already glancing at Jake.

Raven’s turn to give it. “Make out with Jake for one full minute. Hands under clothes allowed. Everyone watches.”

They did. Jake’s hand disappeared under Emma’s shirt. Emma’s fingers tangled in his hair. The kiss was wet and obvious and went on long enough that someone started a slow clap when they finally broke apart. Emma’s lips were swollen. Jake looked a little dazed.

The bottle kept turning.

It landed on Jade.

She stared at it like it had personally offended her. “Dare.”

One of the girls from Leah’s seminar—clearly a little drunk—grinned. “Sit on Marcus’s lap facing him and grind until the next three people have finished their turns. Clothes stay on.”

Jade’s jaw flexed. She looked at Marcus, then at the girl, then stood. She walked over, straddled his thighs, and settled her weight on him without a word. The heat of her through two layers of denim was immediate. She didn’t grind at first. She just sat there, eyes locked on his, almost challenging him to react. After ten seconds she rolled her hips once, slow, and the pressure made his cock twitch against her. Jade’s breath left her in a short, quiet rush through her nose. She did it again.

The game continued around them.

Sofia got a truth and admitted she had touched herself thinking about someone in the house more than once this week. She didn’t name names, but her eyes flicked to Marcus and then away so fast it was almost funny. Maya got a dare to let the person on her right—Theo—suck a mark onto her neck. She went pink but tilted her head. Theo leaned in. Maya’s hand tightened on her own knee while he did it.

The bottle landed on Marcus for the first time.

“Truth or dare,” Raven said, and her voice had a different weight now.

“Dare.”

Raven leaned forward. “Avery takes your cock out and strokes it for one minute while Jade stays on your lap. Everyone can watch. You don’t get to come.”

The circle went still in a new way.

Avery didn’t ask again. She shifted onto her knees, unzipped him, and pulled his cock out into the open air of the living room. It was already hard from Jade’s slow grinding. Avery wrapped her fingers around him and started stroking—steady, tight, the same focused rhythm she had used on the path. Jade stayed exactly where she was, looking down between their bodies, watching Avery’s hand move. Marcus’s hands settled on Jade’s thighs. He didn’t thrust up. He just breathed and let it happen.

Sixty seconds had never felt so long.

When Avery let go, Marcus’s cock stayed out, wet at the tip, resting against the front of Jade’s jeans. No one told him to put it away. No one looked away either.

The bottle spun again.

It pointed at Raven.

“Dare,” she said, almost lazy.

Leah’s smile was sharp. “Take your shorts and underwear off. Stay that way for the rest of the game.”

Raven stood, pushed both down, stepped out of them, and sat back down naked from the waist down like she had only taken off a jacket. Her bare pussy was smooth and already a little shiny under the string lights. She spread her knees slightly and rested her elbows on them.

“Next.”

The dares climbed.

Theo got told to let Emma sit on his lap and make out with him for thirty seconds while Jake watched. He did. Jake’s jaw worked the whole time. The blonde girl from Leah’s class got dared to put her hand down the curly-haired guy’s pants and leave it there for two rounds. She did, face pink, wrist flexing occasionally. Sofia was dared to kiss Raven’s bare inner thigh. She leaned over, hesitated, then pressed her mouth to the soft skin and stayed there for a full five seconds.

Jade was still on Marcus’s lap. She had started rolling her hips in a slow, continuous rhythm, grinding the hard length of him against the seam of her jeans. Her hands were on his shoulders now. Her breath was coming shorter.

The bottle landed on Leah again.

“Dare.”

Raven didn’t even pause. “Take Marcus’s cock out of Jade’s way and sit on it for one minute. No bouncing. Just stay full. Jade can stay on his lap behind you if she wants.”

Leah crawled over. Jade shifted back just enough. Leah swung a leg over Marcus’s thighs, pulled her underwear to the side, and sank down onto him in one long, controlled slide. She was soaked. The circle watched her take every inch until her ass rested against his legs. Leah’s hands braced on his chest. She didn’t move. She just sat there, breathing hard, eyes half-lidded, while the bottle continued around the circle.

Someone dared Maya to lean in and lick the place where Leah and Marcus were joined. Maya did it on her knees, tongue carefully tracing the stretched rim of Leah’s pussy and the base of his cock. Leah’s thighs trembled. Marcus’s hands flexed on her hips.

The next dare went to Avery: keep Marcus’s mouth busy for the next two turns. She climbed up, straddled his face facing Leah, and lowered herself onto his tongue. Marcus licked into her without hesitation. Avery’s hand settled in his hair. She didn’t stay quiet.

The game had stopped being a game in the usual sense. It was still technically Truth or Dare—people still spun, still chose, still gave tasks—but the tasks had become open doors. Theo ended up with the blonde girl’s hand fully wrapped around his cock inside his pants. Jake and Emma had stopped pretending they weren’t touching each other under the low light. The curly-haired guy had his face between the other seminar girl’s thighs while she bit her lip and tried not to make noise.

But the center of the circle never moved.

Every few turns the bottle or the dare found its way back to Marcus.

Jade was told to turn around, take Leah’s place, and ride him properly until she came. She did it with a muttered “I hate this” that turned into a broken moan halfway through. Sofia was dared to sit on his face after Avery. She lasted less than a minute before she was shaking and coming with both hands over her mouth. Raven eventually stood, walked over, and without waiting for a dare sank down onto his cock the second Jade lifted off. She rode him slow and deep while Leah and Avery took turns kissing him and kissing each other over his shoulder.

The other guests were still there—still playing, still touching, still watching—but the gravity in the room had shifted completely. Every time someone looked up, their eyes went to the tangle of the house girls around Marcus. Theo ended up fucking the blonde girl from behind on the couch while staring at Raven’s bare back moving on Marcus’s lap. Jake had Emma in his lap, both of them half-undressed, but Emma kept looking over at the circle like she couldn’t help it.

Raven finally reached out, stopped the bottle with one hand, and set it aside.

“Game’s over,” she said, voice rough. “Anyone who wants to leave can leave. Anyone who wants to stay and keep going stays. No more turns. No more rules.”

Three people left quietly—the curly-haired guy, one of the seminar girls, and Theo after he finished and cleaned up. Jake and Emma stayed, but they moved to the far end of the couch and became their own private show. The rest of the circle collapsed inward.

Leah, Sofia, Jade, Maya, Raven, and Avery closed around Marcus like they had been waiting for the permission all night.

Hands. Mouths. Wet heat. The wet slap of skin. Soft curses and softer moans. Someone’s tongue on his balls while someone else sank down onto his cock. Avery’s voice in his ear. Raven’s hand in his hair. Jade’s nails on his chest. Sofia’s quiet, overwhelmed sounds. Maya’s soft “please” when it was her turn to take him.

The other people in the room became background. The music became background. The house itself seemed to shrink until the only thing left was the pile of bodies on the living-room floor and the one cock at the center of it.

Marcus let them take what they wanted.

And for the first time since the bottle had started spinning, no one was pretending it was still just a game.The living room floor had become a single, shifting tangle.

Marcus was on his back against a pile of cushions, Raven still seated on his cock, rolling her hips in slow, deep circles. Leah was behind Raven, arms wrapped around her, hands cupping Raven’s tits while she kissed the side of her neck. Avery had moved lower, tongue tracing the place where Raven and Marcus were joined, licking both of them with long, wet strokes. Sofia knelt beside his head, soft tits near his face, letting him suck one nipple and then the other while she watched everything with glassy eyes. Jade sat on his right thigh, two fingers working between her own legs, her free hand occasionally reaching over to stroke whatever part of him she could reach. Maya was on his left, quieter, pressing open-mouthed kisses to his chest and stomach, occasionally leaning down to lick the base of his cock when Raven lifted high enough.

No one was giving orders anymore.

No one needed to.

Raven came first in this new configuration—thighs clamping around his hips, a low, broken sound leaving her throat as her pussy pulsed hard around him. She stayed on him through it, grinding until the sensitivity made her flinch, then lifted off with a wet sound. Leah immediately took her place, sinking down in one smooth motion and starting up a faster, needier rhythm. Avery shifted her mouth to Leah’s clit while Leah rode him. Sofia’s hand found Marcus’s and guided it between her own legs so he could feel how soaked she was.

Time stopped mattering.

He fucked Leah until she came with her forehead against his, breath hitching, then Jade pushed her aside and took him in reverse, hands braced on his thighs, ass bouncing with every downward stroke. Maya crawled up and sat on his face without being asked, soft and hesitant at first, then bolder when his tongue pushed inside her. Avery stayed near his cock the whole time—licking, sucking, stroking, sharing the taste of whoever had just climbed off him with whoever was about to climb on.

Jake and Emma were still on the far couch, but they had stopped being a separate show. Emma was on her knees between Jake’s legs, but her eyes kept drifting to the pile on the floor. At one point she whispered something to Jake, and a minute later she was closer, kneeling at the edge of the cushions, watching Raven push Sofia down onto Marcus’s cock and then sit on Sofia’s face. No one invited Emma in. No one stopped her from watching either.

Marcus came the first time that hour inside Sofia, buried deep while she trembled and clung to his shoulders. He barely got a chance to catch his breath before Avery was stroking him back to full hardness with her mouth, slow and patient, while the others touched each other and waited their turn again. The second time he came across Jade’s tits and Leah’s waiting tongue. The third time Raven made him finish in her mouth and then kissed the taste into Maya’s mouth while the others watched.

Somewhere in the blur someone brought water. Someone else turned the music even lower. The string lights stayed on, warm and dim. Bodies shifted, rested, then reached for him again. Marcus lost track of whose mouth was whose, whose cunt he was inside, whose hands were stroking his chest or his face or his cock. He only knew the constant heat, the wet sounds, the soft and not-so-soft moans, and the way every single one of them kept coming back for more.

By the time the sky outside the windows had started to lighten from black to deep blue, the pile had slowed.

Leah was curled against his left side, half-asleep, one leg still thrown over his. Raven lay on his right, fingers tracing idle patterns on his stomach. Sofia’s head was on his thigh, her breath warm against his skin. Jade sat a little apart, back against the couch, smoking a cigarette she had found somewhere, watching them with an expression that was no longer sarcastic. Maya had gone to the kitchen and come back with a glass of water she made him drink. Avery was stretched out near his feet, chin on her hands, looking at him like she was already thinking about the next time.

Emma and Jake had left at some point without saying goodbye. The other remaining guests were gone too. The house belonged to them again—Marcus and the six women who had decided, one by one and then all at once, that they weren’t done with him.

No one spoke for a long time.

Then Raven’s voice, rough from the night: “We’re not pretending this was a one-time thing.”

Leah made a soft sound of agreement against his shoulder.

Sofia nodded without lifting her head.

Jade exhaled smoke and said, “Obviously.”

Maya’s quiet “yeah” came from somewhere near his ribs.

Avery just smiled, small and private, and rested her cheek against his calf.

Marcus looked at the ceiling, at the string lights still glowing, at the wreckage of clothes and cushions and empty cups around them. His body ached in the best way. His cock twitched once, spent but still interested, against Sofia’s cheek.

The summer had only just started.

And the house was finally, completely, his.The morning light came in soft and gray through the living-room windows.

Marcus woke first.

He was still on the floor, back against the cushions, bodies pressed against him on both sides. Leah’s leg was thrown over his. Raven’s arm lay heavy across his stomach. Sofia’s head rested on his thigh, her breath warm and even. Somewhere near his feet Avery was curled on her side. Jade sat against the couch with her eyes open, watching the room like she had been awake for a while. Maya was missing—he could hear soft movement in the kitchen.

No one had bothered to cover up. Clothes were scattered across the floor like the aftermath of a storm. The air still smelled like sex and sweat and the faint sweetness of spilled mixers.

Marcus shifted carefully. Leah made a small sound and tightened her leg around him. Raven’s fingers flexed against his stomach and then stilled. Sofia didn’t wake. Avery’s eyes opened slowly, found his face, and a small, private smile touched her mouth before she closed them again.

Jade spoke first, voice rough from the night.

“You’re staring.”

“Just checking who’s still breathing.”

She almost smiled. Almost. Then she stood, naked, and walked toward the hallway without another word. A moment later the shower turned on.

Maya appeared in the kitchen doorway with a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers. She looked softer in the morning light, hair messy, an oversized shirt thrown on but not buttoned. She walked over, knelt beside Marcus, and held the glass out.

“Drink,” she said quietly.

He did. She watched his throat move, then set the glass down and rested her hand on his chest for a second longer than necessary before standing again.

One by one the others stirred.

Leah stretched like a cat, sat up, and looked around at the wreckage with a satisfied expression. “We’re going to need to clean this place before it starts to smell.”

Raven pushed herself up on one elbow. “Later. Coffee first.”

Sofia blinked awake, realized where her head was, and went pink all the way to her ears. She sat up quickly, pulling her knees to her chest. Avery laughed under her breath and reached over to squeeze Sofia’s ankle once, gentle.

The morning moved slow.

They cleaned in stages—picking up cups, opening windows, throwing cushions back onto the couch. No one talked about the night in direct sentences. They didn’t need to. Every look carried it. Every accidental brush of skin carried it. When Leah walked past Marcus in the hallway she dragged her fingers across his stomach under his shirt. When Sofia handed him a mug of coffee their fingers stayed touching a second too long. When Raven came back from the shower in only a towel she let it hang open while she poured cereal, eyes on him the whole time.

Avery left around ten with a quiet “text me” and a kiss to the corner of his mouth that lingered. Jade stayed in her room with music on. Maya cooked eggs for whoever wanted them. Leah eventually pulled Marcus into the bathroom under the excuse of needing help with something and sucked him off against the sink until his knees almost gave out, swallowing everything and then wiping her mouth like she had only borrowed a toothbrush.

The house had changed overnight.

It wasn’t subtle anymore.

The next week settled into a new rhythm.

Marcus still went to class. He still went to the gym. He still bought coffee between lectures and sat under the same tree near the library. But everything around those ordinary hours had shifted.

Leah started showing up at his lectures sometimes, sliding into the seat beside him without explanation and resting her hand high on his thigh under the desk. Once she got him hard halfway through a two-hour class and left him there like that when she stood to leave, whispering “later” against his ear.

Sofia began waiting for him after one of his afternoon seminars. She never said much. She would fall into step beside him, walk him halfway back toward the house, and then peel off toward her own class with a small, secret smile. One rainy afternoon she pulled him into an empty study room, locked the door, and rode him in a chair with her hand over her own mouth to stay quiet.

Jade kept her distance in public and dropped it the second they were alone. She appeared in his doorway two nights after the party, already naked under her band shirt, and told him to fuck her face-down and hard enough that she wouldn’t be able to talk shit the next day. He did. She came twice and left bite marks on his forearm.

Maya was the softest and the most constant. She started bringing him food without asking—plates left on his desk, a sandwich wrapped in paper when he came back from the gym. One evening she found him in the laundry room and let him lift her onto the folding table and eat her out until her thighs shook and she had to bite the collar of her own shirt. Afterward she held his head against her stomach for a long time and said nothing.

Raven treated the whole arrangement like something she had already accepted as permanent. She walked around the house half-dressed more often than not. She sat on Marcus’s lap in the living room even when other people were around, scrolling her phone like his cock wasn’t hardening under her. Twice that week she pulled him into her room in the middle of the afternoon and fucked him slow and deep while the rest of the house moved around outside her locked door.

Avery remained the wild card. She didn’t live there, but she started appearing more often—sometimes with coffee, sometimes with no excuse at all. She would stay for dinner, stay for the movie someone put on, stay until the others drifted to bed, and then follow Marcus to his room without asking. One night she tied his wrists loosely to the headboard with one of his own ties and edged him for almost an hour before she finally let him come down her throat. The next morning she was gone before he woke up, leaving only a note on the pillow that said still friends.

The house itself became something else.

Doors stayed unlocked. Showers became shared without discussion. It stopped being surprising to walk into the kitchen and find Leah on her knees in front of Marcus while Maya cooked breakfast behind them, or to come home from class and hear Sofia’s soft moans coming from Raven’s room where the two of them were using a toy on each other while they waited for him.

Group moments started happening without the excuse of a party.

One Thursday night Marcus came back from the gym to find Leah, Jade, and Raven already on the living-room floor in various states of undress. Leah pointed at the space in the middle of them and said, “Clothes off. Now.” He stripped. They took him apart slowly—Leah riding his face, Jade on his cock, Raven directing and occasionally leaning in to kiss whoever was closest. When he came the first time it was down Jade’s throat. When he came the second time it was across Leah’s tits while Raven licked it off. Afterward the three of them lay in a sweaty pile and argued lazily about whose turn it was to do laundry.

Another night Sofia and Maya knocked on his door together, both in oversized shirts, both looking nervous and determined at the same time. They ended up on either side of him in his bed, taking turns kissing him and stroking him and eventually taking turns riding him while the other watched and touched. Maya came quietly with her face buried in his neck. Sofia came harder, almost crying with it, and then immediately apologized like she had done something wrong. Marcus pulled her down and kissed her until the apology stopped.

Avery showed up that same weekend with a bottle of something expensive and a look that said she already knew what the house had become. She walked in, surveyed the living room where Leah was half-asleep on Marcus’s chest and Raven was painting her toenails using his shin as a footrest, and said, “Yeah. This tracks.” Then she crossed the room, straddled him right there in front of the others, and kissed him slow and deep until Leah laughed and made room.

Campus started to notice in small ways.

People in lectures glanced longer when Leah sat beside him. Someone in the gym asked if he was “the guy from that house on West,” and then laughed it off like it was a joke. Jake ran into him outside the student center one afternoon and looked like he wanted to ask a dozen questions he didn’t have the courage for. Emma just gave Marcus a long, considering look and then walked away without speaking.

None of it mattered.

The only thing that mattered was the house—the way it felt when he unlocked the door at the end of the day, the way one or more of them would already be waiting, the way the nights stretched into tangled limbs and low voices and the wet sound of skin on skin.

One late night near the end of the second week, all six of them ended up in the living room again without planning it. Someone had put on a movie no one watched. Someone else had opened wine. Clothes started coming off the way they had the night of the party—slowly at first, then all at once. Marcus found himself on his back on the couch with Raven in his lap, Leah’s mouth on one of his nipples, Sofia’s fingers laced through his, Jade’s hand wrapped around the base of his cock where Raven wasn’t taking him, Maya kissing his throat, and Avery watching from the armchair with her hand between her own legs until she finally stood up and joined.

They took their time.

No one counted orgasms. No one kept score. The movie played out to a black screen and the only light left was the lamp in the corner and the occasional glow of a phone no one answered. Marcus came inside Raven, then in Avery’s mouth, then across Leah’s stomach while Sofia and Maya licked it up between them. Jade eventually climbed on and rode him with her hands on his chest and her eyes half-closed, the sarcastic edge completely gone from her face.

When it finally slowed, the sky outside was starting to lighten again.

Raven spoke into the quiet, her head on his shoulder.

“Summer’s not even halfway over.”

Leah made a soft sound of agreement.

Sofia’s fingers tightened around his.

Jade exhaled and said, “We’re going to ruin you.”

Maya’s quiet laugh was almost shy.

Avery, stretched out across the arm of the couch, smiled with her eyes closed and said, “Pretty sure it’s the other way around.”

Marcus looked at all of them—the tangled hair, the marked skin, the lazy, satisfied bodies pressed against his—and felt the truth of it settle in his chest.

The house was his.

They were his.

And there were still weeks left to take everything they were offering.

Outside, the first birds had started singing.

Inside, no one moved to get up.

The night, once again, had become morning.

And none of them were done.