My whole face burned, and I was absolutely positive that I was the brightest shade of red.This was definitely not a good look for me—not for my job or whatever it was that was going on between me and Remi.He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head once.Elijah rubbed a hand across Hazel’s shoulders, and she settled into him as if realizing what she’d just said—how she’d laid our past out for other’s consumption.
She turned her face down to her feet.The whole interaction felt very different from the quiet girl I used to know, but then we all changed.I had, but she didn’t know that.
I didn’t feel like playing anymore, but I couldn’t remove myself without it being noticed, so I stayed waiting for the attention to shift away from me.
The silence that followed only lasted for a few seconds before Olivia’s too bright voice called out, “Never have I ever ...dated two people at once.”
Nora drank, but at least three different people said, “Define dating.”
“Dating,” Olivia repeated.
To my surprise it was Emmett who spoke up to clarify.“No, but is it non-exclusive relationships or is it two people who think that you’re monogamous and you’re actually cheating?”
“Let’s go with open relationships.Cheating is just depressing,” Nora confirmed, but I caught her fleeting accusatory glare cast toward Anton.If she killed him tonight, I’d help her bury the body.
“Never have I ever ...”Nora began, “had a threesome.”
Remi drank.
Despite my mood, I was wildly curious.
“Brooks?!”Olivia gasped.
His shoulders remained relaxed, one finger hooked in his belt loop.“Hm?”
“Youhave?”
He nodded.
“Shit, Brooks,” a guy to my right said appreciatively.
“Was it you, a guy, and a girl?Or you and two girls?”Olivia’s dark brown eyes were huge.
He tilted his head toward his shoulder.“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“God, Liv, both.He’s had more than one,” Nora explained.
Olivia’s lips formed into a circle, before she swallowed.I could have thanked her for shifting the attention from me so efficiently.
“Brooks, do you fuck?”asked a bald man.
Using her cup, Nora gestured toward a quiet Brooks.“He’s drank more than anyone else in this room”—she jerked her chin toward Sterling—“sorry, I forgot you were in here.”
He smiled.“Nothing wrong with a little experience.”
The broad-shouldered man with red hair standing next to Sterling rolled his eyes.
“Never have I ever had sex outside,” Seb said.
Remi’s eyes pinned me—a memory hot and bright in his midnight blue depths.Cold rain falling heavy on our rain-soaked clothes, as we kissed and moved together.My shorts and underwear in a pile on the ground, his around his thighs.Neither of us lifted our drinks.We both knew.And it was ours.Only ours.
Just us.
A reminder that we had been good together, so good.And that we were good now.It didn’t matter what anyone else thought of whatever we were, or of me.It was us that mattered.
Even with how sloppy and careless we had been with each other’s hearts I’d go back there now, even if it meant living through everything that would come later.I’d take the pain to have the good.
