Grayson:I'll be there.
The nerves hit all at once. Right. Dinner. With all three of them. Tonight.
After I let one of them?—
I shove that thought away and stare at my phone. I should respond. Should say something normal and casual like "sounds good!" or "see you then!"
Instead, my thumbs hover uselessly over the keyboard while my brain screams increasingly unhelpful things.
You let him go down on you and now you're supposed to sit at dinner with him AND the other two like that's totally normal?
What if River can smell Grayson on you?
What if Seth notices the hickey on your collarbone?
What if they all KNOW and they're just being polite?
I type: Can we maybe reschedule?
Then delete it.
Then type: Actually I'm not feeling well.
Delete.
Maybe I died in my sleep and this is hell. That would explain a lot.
Me:See you at 7!
I hit send before I can overthink it further and immediately regret every life choice that led to this moment.
My phone buzzes immediately—a separate text, not in the group chat.
Grayson:Wear something you can move in. Might want to skip the couch tonight.
Heat floods through me so fast I actually gasp. My scent spikes—cinnamon and apple going thick and sweet with want—and I have to press my thighs together against the sudden ache.
That bastard. He sent that privately, which somehow makes it worse.
I stare at the message for a full ten seconds while my brain tries and fails to form coherent thoughts. Because now I'm not just remembering yesterday. I'm thinking about tonight. About what "skip the couch" means. About whether he plans to?—
Stop it. Stop.
Me:That's very presumptuous of you.
Grayson:Is it?
Me:Extremely.
Grayson:We'll see.
I throw my phone across the bed and flop back against my pillows, heat radiating from every inch of my skin.
This is fine. Everything's fine. I just need to get through today without combusting from mortification, avoid all three alphas until dinner, and then somehow sit through a meal pretending I'm a functional adult who makes reasonable life choices.
Easy.
There's a knock on my door.
