Page 1 of Steadfast

CHAPTER 1

Aoife

My life has been defined by two things,

the love I have for my siblings and my ability to survive.

“Don’t stop,” Imumbled, gripping the edge of my desk. I tipped my ass up further, groaning, and dropped my forehead against the wood as I came. A chuckle came from behind me as I gasped for air, and a few moments later, I felt a kiss between my shoulder blades and a light breeze against me as we separated.

Downstairs the house filled with noise as the front door was thrown open and slammed shut again.

“Shit,” I grumbled, straightening.

I twisted and reached for the jeans I’d dropped on the floor. Kicking my underwear toward the dirty clothes pile in the corner, I hopped sideways, pulling the pants up my legs without them. My shirt and bra had been tossed onto my nightstand and as soon as I found them, I yanked them both over my head, barely pulling them into place before I was gently tackled onto the bed.

“You think they know we’re here?” Richie murmured, grinning against my lips. Bracing an arm beside me, he rolled us so his back was to the door, and I was partially hidden.

“It’s cute that you think they’d assume we weren’t,” I replied dryly, still a little breathless as I adjusted my shirt. I looked him over. “You’re getting better at throwing your clothes back on.”

“They do seem to have a strange type of homing beacon when it comes to you.” He grinned, completely unbothered by thenoise coming from downstairs. “I’ve had some practice getting my clothes back on in a hurry. Once I realized any shirts with buttons were a terrible idea, I think we turned a corner.”

I laughed. “Are you going to that party tonight?” I asked, reaching over the edge of the bed as I heard feet pounding up the stairs.

“Without you?” Richie scoffed. “No.”

“You could go.”

“It isn’t any fun without you there,” he replied easily, leaning his head on his hand.

Jesus, he was beautiful. Between the Italian genetics from his dad’s side and the Indian ones from his mom’s, my boyfriend was almost startlingly attractive. Sometimes, when I looked at him, I couldn’t believe that someone in real life actually looked like that. The weirdest thing about him, though, especially since he looked the way he did? He was kind. Genuinely. It was baffling. I’d spent my entire sophomore year of high school wondering how in the hell I’d caught the eye of the nicest guy in school, but after almost three years together, I didn’t question it anymore. Somehow, Richie Lewis and I fit.

“Bed check!” my younger brother Cian yelled as he threw open my door. “Show me your hands,Dick, or I may have to rip them off.”

Tightening my hand around the shoe I’d snatched off the floor in preparation for that exact moment, I chucked it. Cian didn’t even see it coming before it hit his chest.

He let out a hilarious grunt of surprise.

“Fuck off, Cian,” I sang, shooing him away with my hand.

“Can’t,” Cian said, leaning casually against my doorframe.

Richie’s body shook with silent laughter, and I jabbed him in the side with my thumb. While I loved that Richie got along with my siblings and never got annoyed when they interrupted us athousand times a day, I would’ve appreciated a little help from his end.

“What?” I said through my teeth when Cian didn’t elaborate.

“Some little bitch called Aisling a jack-o’-lantern at school today—”

I dropped my head back onto the bed. “She was wearing that bright-ass shirt today, wasn’t she?”

“The orange one?” Cian replied. “Correct. That, along with the—” He gestured toward his perfectly straight teeth and shrugged.

“Fuck,” I muttered, rolling uncoordinatedly off the side of the bed.

“I tried to tell her that she’s just gotta wait a fuckin’ minute, and she’ll have perfect teeth like the rest of us,” he said, looking past me to grin at Richie, who’d had braces when we first started dating. “Good genes, you know?”

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered, pushing past him. “You looked ten times worse before your canines grew back in.”

“I did not,” he argued.

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