“I think she fainted.”
“Why’s she still on the floor? Put her on the bed.”
Laurel pushes my hands away. “No, no.” She struggles to sit up, and I help her despite her resistance to it.
Her skin’s clammy, and my eyes drop again to her stomach and the yoga pants. Nothing’s changed in the five seconds since I last looked.
“Question for you, Trick.” Her voice is faint.
Leaning forward, I nod. “Yeah, what, babe?”
“If I do something that you consider really wrong, are you planning to give me to Connor to punish? And then to have sex with?”
“What? No. Why would I?”
Laurel puts a hand to her forehead. “I think you should.”
“What now?” C demands.
Then what she’s talking about hits me. “Fuck.” I look over my shoulder to find Zoe wringing her hands in the bedroom doorway. My voice is low and frustrated. “Damn it, Zoe. Why would you—?”
Her agitated voice explodes into the room. “C said to be honest! And she asked me outright! If you wanted me to lie why didn’t you tell me? I wasn’t trying to hurt her. Or you. I swear! I’m so sorry.” Tears well in Zoe’s eyes.
Shit.The pain on her face brings me to my feet, and I regret questioning her. “No, Zoe, look—”
C cuts me off, and his words are sharp and grim. “Man, get your fucking head together. I mean it. You reap what you fucking sow. Now own that fucking shit.” He turns and stalks to Zoe. “No, no, no,” he whispers, hugging her against him. “Hey, c’mon, don’t cry.”
I sit down on the floor next to Laurelyn, angry at myself for not thinking through all the things that could come out in a conversation between Laurelyn and Zoe. Laurel’s always gotten jealous when she hears about my being with women she knows. I should’ve managed the way certain things were told to her.
I rest my arm on my knee. “Listen, I did a lot of wild things in the past. A lot. Because if anything intense is happening, drugs, sex, violence, parties, I want to be in the middle of it. I work hard to get myself there.” Rubbing my thumb on my jeans, I shrug. “I don’t know how normal people live. And honestly, I don’t care. But I’m sorry that hearing about my past hurts you. I know how that goes. Jealousy eats me alive every time I have to hear about someone else who’s been with you. ‘Cause I always wish that was me.” I rest a hand on the carpet, palm up, fingers open and waiting. “I fell in love with you last decade, and from then on, no one’s ever mattered the way you do. But while we weren’t together, I was playing games and killing time. I wasn’t alone because I don’t like being alone.”
“Your life is insane,” she whispers.
“Yeah, that’s the consensus.”
C walks Zoe over to us. I put my arms up. When Laurel starts to move, I drop my hand on her thigh to keep her in place, but I also keep my left arm up for Zoe.
Z drops down to sit on the floor on my left side, and I put my arm around her and squeeze her against my side.
“I’m sorry, Zoe. That was some hypocritical bullshit. It will not happen again.”
Zoe reaches across me and grabs Laurelyn’s hand and holds it in both of hers. “I knew I should lie. I’m so sorry.”
“No, Zoe,” Laurel says quickly and gently. It makes me so damned proud of her. Laurel knows who to blame and who not to. “You can tell me the truth. It stings and shocks me at first, but lies are worse.”
Zoe crawls over us to sit on Laurel’s other side. Then Zoe wraps her arms around Laurelyn. “Thank God you’re okay physically. That was terrifying.”
C goes into the master bathroom and turns on the shower and the tub. When he comes back to the doorway, he looks down at us. “Come on. Everyone in here.”
Laurel freezes and shakes her head as C disappears back into the bathroom.
Seeing her concern, Zoe jumps in instantly. “You know what. I’ll take a shower with C. You take a bath with Trick. That’ll work.” Zoe nods, standing up. “I’ll put some bath stuff in, so you won’t feel too exposed. Give me a minute.” She goes into the bathroom.
“What do you want to do?”
My answering tone’s neutral. “You know.”
“And if I say no?”
