Chapter 1222
The water was cool and clean. Susan climbed onto his back with a laugh, soaking him completely, and he grabbed her thighs to lift her higher. Emma was humming some melody none of them recognized but all of them felt. Layla and Rose were dancing chest-deep in the current, spinning in slow circles with their fingers laced. Natalie floated on her back, her breasts glinting in the light, hair fanning around her like a crown.
Sophie kissed Lucy in front of him, not out of possession but out of sheer joy. Jude watched their mouths move together, Lucy’s fingers sliding along Sophie’s hip. The river had become a temple, their bodies offerings, every laugh and sigh a prayer.
Zoey wrapped her arms around Jude from behind, her lips brushing his shoulder. "We should build something here," she said. "A place for the water to meet the fire. A home at the edge."
He turned to look at her. "You really want to stay in this spot?"
She nodded. "This place... it saw us break. And now it’s seeing us heal."
He kissed her, slow and deep, and the river pulsed around them as if responding.
They stayed in the water for hours. Touching. Holding. Making love beneath trees whose leaves trembled with golden wind. Each union was a remembering - Susan straddling him on a sun-warmed rock while the others bathed nearby; Emma pulling Sophie close beneath the shallows, hands roaming gently; Layla and Rose tangled in the long grass, legs wrapped tight and gasps muffled in each other’s mouths.
By sunset, they were sprawled in drowsy piles. The air smelled like wildflowers and skin. Their bodies pressed against one another without urgency, only connection. Jude lay in the center, Susan curled under one arm, Rose under the other. Sophie had her head on his thigh, tracing invisible lines on his knee. Zoey was half-draped over Lucy and Emma, her smile lazy and soft. Natalie and Stella lay beside Layla, fingers interlocked.
It was Susan who whispered first. "We should build it here. A new shelter. Something permanent."
"A lodge," Rose murmured, voice thick with contentment. "With a long table, and open walls to see the water."
"And a platform above the trees," Sophie added, "for watching the stars."