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Ezra lies half across me. Theo stretches out behind me, one large hand finding my ankle as if even now he cannot stop checking it.
I nudge him. “It survived.”
“I’m verifying.”
Ezra lifts his head from my stomach. “Valid.”
“You’re both biased.”
Theo kisses the inside of my knee.
I sigh. “Fine. Continue.”
Later, after we have eaten the remaining cakes directly from the tray and Theo has made each of us drink water, Ezra stands and looks toward the spring.
“Skinny-dipping.”
Theo raises one eyebrow.
“That wasn’t a question,” Ezra says.
“No.”
“My ankle,” I remind them.
“We’ll carry you,” Ezra says.
Theo is already standing.
“I can walk.”
“You can,” Theo agrees, lifting me anyway.
I squeal. Ezra grabs the towels and runs ahead.
“You two are insufferable,” I say.
“Pack trait,” Ezra calls.
Theo carries me to the edge of the spring. The water gleams dark and silver beneath the stars. He lowers me carefully until my feet touch the shallow shelf. Cool water climbs my calves.
I gasp. “It’s freezing.”
Ezra dives in. Water explodes over both of us.
Theo goes still.
Ezra surfaces several yards away, grinning. “Worth it.”
Theo hands me off just enough to enter beside me, never letting my ankle twist. Then he disappears beneath the surface.
Ezra’s grin vanishes. “Theo?”
A large hand closes around Ezra’s ankle, and he yelps as Theo pulls him under. I laugh so hard my stomach hurts.
They surface, wrestling. Theo catches Ezra around the waist. Ezra splashes him directly in the face. I slap water toward both of them. They turn. Two pairs of eyes lock onto me.
“Oh, no.”