“You’d get something different… something private… one-on-one.”
His words dangled there like bait… and I hated how much of me wanted to bite.
I gave him a sidelong glance. “You always did talk in circles when you were trying to be slick.”
He chuckled, sexily. “Ain’t nothing slick about telling the truth.”
I wanted nothing more than to slide right over, climb into his lap, and ride that truth into the steam-filled night. But we couldn’t go there… not yet… not until we had that conversation; the well-overdue one.
“Bryce—” I started, voice barely above the bubbles. But before I could get another syllable out, the door swung open with a force that felt like karma had crusty boots and no boundaries.
“Oh my God, it ishotin here!” Isis exclaimed, stepping in like the damn main attraction. Her bikini looked two sizes too small, like it had hopes and dreams it could never fulfill. I could’ve sworn one of her breasts blinked twice for help.
Bryce looked away out of respect—I didn’t.
Somebody had to stay aware in case a strap gave up.
I sipped my wine slowly, casting a side-eyed glance her way.
“Good… that means you won’t stay long,” I muttered, thinking it was low enough to slip past her ears.
Apparently not… not that I really gave a damn.
Isis sniggered. “Oh, I’m sure you’dlovethat,” she said, voice sugary with a dash of spite. “But I just couldn’t leave y’all looking all cozy without me.”
So much for my alone time—well, I wouldn’t have minded if it was just me and Bryce.
Isis dipped one toe into the hot tub, then immediately snatched it back like the water had whispered,“Welcome to Hell”. That girl’s life seemed to flash before her eyes, but unfortunately, the lesson didn’t stick.
With a deep breath and a dramatic flip of her hair, she stepped over the edge with forced grace and shoved more cleavage than the Lord ever allotted into the bubbling water. The hot tub groaned like it was tired of her drama, too. If it could roll its eyes, I’m sure it would've.
Before I could clap back, Adrian’s voice rang out, dragging my mood by the ankle.
“I guess this where the party at?!”
I rolled my eyes internally.
Not you too!
Adrian stepped into the room, already cracking open a beer. With his Bluetooth speaker in one hand, and a sense of disrespect in the other, he took a seat in a nearby chair, legs splayed wide and music low, as if we were all about to launch into a freestyle session amidst the thick steam.
Adrian clocked Isis immediately. “Nah, now.Black Arielin the house,” he joked. “Where Flounder at?”
Isis flipped her wet hair like she was in a shampoo commercial. “He drowned.”
Adrian shook his head. “Damn. R.I.P.”
Isis’s body shifted closer to Bryce like she was trying to heat him up in the name of science. She rested her arms along the tub’s edge, and her lips puckered into something that was supposed to be seductive but looked more like she sucked on a lemon.
“Oh, Bryce, I forgot to show you our matching sweaters!”
Bryce stiffened just slightly; a subtle shift that didn’t go unnoticed.
My jaw didn’t drop, and my eyebrows didn’t rise, but Bryce caught the twitch at the corner of my lip—an all-too-revealing sign of my surprise.
“Matching sweaters? Cute.” My voice carried a playful lilt, masking my true amusement.
Isis beamed. “Yup. Reindeer with little bells! Mine says ‘Nice-ish.’ His says ‘Naughty but Worth It.” She giggled.
