Flint rolls his eyes. “Especially then.”
I snort out a laugh, and then my mouth betrays me again. “So, have y’all shared partners?” I ask, because I’m a curious idiot.Why can’t my brain catch up with my damn mouth and shut it down before it digs us a bigger hole?In my experience, these kinds of rehashin’ talks never end well. I should end this and stop blurtin’ out stupid questions.
“Well...orgies are a thing in Hell. You don’t know that, since you haven’t been down there yet, but there’s a very free attitude when it comes to pleasure. So when we were younger, we participated in festivals and things, but no, we’ve never shared a partner between us. Not until you,” Alder tells me.
I’m a little surprised by that. They seem so comfortable around each other and me. I just assumed maybe there had been others before me to scratch all their itches.
“Alright, well, thanks for sharin’,” I tell them, hopin’ it shuts down the roster talk once and for all.
Alder and Flint look at me expectantly, and I find myself really interested in the corner of my towel.
“Anythingyouwant to share?” Alder asks me casually, his butterscotch gaze takin’ in my fidgetin’.
Crap.
“Nope, I’m good, that was a nice talk. Are you guys gettin’ hungry?” I ask, tryin’ not to panic at the way they’re both now starin’ at me.
“Why are you suddenly so nervous?” Alder asks, leanin’ toward me.
“Who? Me? Nervous? Why would I be nervous?” I rapid fire at them, pretty much confirmin’ their suspicions with each squeaky question.
Why do I suck so bad at lyin’?
My mama always said I lie so bad I couldn’t get wood to believe it could burn. I guess she was right.
“What are you hiding, Peaches?” Flint asks, a predatory glint in his eyes.
“Hidin’? Why would I be hidin’ anythin’?”
Seriously, Medley, stop answerin’ a question with more questions.
The room goes quiet. I swear, I can hear myself sweatin’.
I peek a look at the two of them, but they’re lookin’ at each other as if they’re havin’ some silent conversation.
“Have you by chance...participated in any human orgies?” Alder asks me smoothly, but I don’t miss the curiosity in his eyes.
“What? No. I don’t even know if that’s a common thing here. Definitely not in Sweetgreen, anyway. Maybe in Colletville,” I tell them, tryin’ and failin’ to relax.
Flint and Alder share another look, and I can see that they’re workin’ to piece together what I’m bein’ so cagey about.
They both seem lost in thought for a moment, and then Flint’s eyes light up. “Have you been shared before?” he asks out of the blue, and I can’t help but sorta stop breathin’ for a second.How the hell did he guess that?He blanches at the look on my face. “Wait. Youhave?” he asks me, a little shocked.
“Fine,” I relent. If they really wanna go there, who am I to get in the way? “I’ve had a couple threesomes in college. Two guy friends were into it—sharin’, I mean,” I blurt awkwardly. “Not that I wasn’t into it too. I’m just sayin’, they started the discussion, and then naturally I was on board and—”
Flint’s finger presses over my lips in the universalshhgesture. “Okay, okay. We heard you, Peaches. We’re just trying not to picture you with other males who aren’t us, and having a very hard time not getting pissed and wanting to go kill those fuckheads in their sleep.”
See, these kinds of conversations never go anywhere good.
Alder glowers. “Let’s not talk about this anymore.”
I shake my head. “You two are the ones who brought it up. I tried really hard to tell you that I didn’t want to know because it didn’t matter.”
“I blame Flint,” Alder declares, and a giggle escapes my lips. I can’t help it, he looks so damn angry it’s adorable.
“Yeah, let’s move on. Just the thought of some demon hussy all over you, or worse, a wholepileof them, makes me wanna go all full Tribulation Medley mode, anyway,” I confess as I stand up and grab the nozzle near the shelf.
I quickly use it to add more water over the stones, and a plan to get our minds off this forms in my head. I need us to refocus on what’s really important...each other. “None of that is important,” I tell them.
