Boone shakes his long blond hair out of his face and feigns hurt, bringing a hand to his heart. “I wouldnever.”
I drop the branch I picked up off the ground and run up to him, playfully locking my arm around his head. “You, especially, are a little shit.” He laughs and lightly elbows me.
“Are you two still sleeping together?” Garrett asks and my heart drops. I knew I shouldn’t have broken the rule and told these two, but I needed to confide in someone before I lost my mind.
“Not recently,” I mumble, shaking my head. Since the branches are in the pit and ready for the fire, I focus on setting up a few hammocks and chairs next. “And you absolutely can’t bring that up. We had a rule to not tell anyone about the agreement.”
“Right, but how does this agreement work, exactly?” Garrett presses and I roll my eyes.
“Well you see, there’s this story about the birds and the bees—” Boone says and is abruptly caught off by Garrett chucking a pillow at his head. “Ow. It’s not my fault you’re not getting any,” Boone continues.
“Guys, can we stay on track?” I chide, picking up the pillow off the ground and adding it to the large wicker chair we dragged from the porch in front of the fire pit.
“And to answer your question—” I sigh, running a hand through my hair that’s getting longer and blonder now that we’re approaching the end of summer. “We had this list of rules that we followed to only hook up. We haven’t though, not since I moved to Florida and she moved back home.”
“And since then? Have you been seeing anyone else?” Garrett asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
I narrow my eyes back at him and say, “Not really, why?”
“Hm,” he says and before I can ask why he’s pushing the topic, my phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Hey Ro, I just landed,” Maggie says, a hint of a smile in her voice.
I grin, even though she can’t see me and say, “Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No, I got a rental car and I’ll be there soon. Just figured I’d give you a heads up.”
“I definitely needed it. I’m very sweaty, I should probably shower before you get here,” I say, making my way inside the house and leaving the guys behind to finish setting up.
“I’m missing out on sweaty Rowan? Damn.” She laughs.
“Oh I can think of a few ways to get sweaty again,” I tease, liking this flirty side of her. We’ve kept up in the last year, texting and calling and seeing each other at some tournaments, but we haven’t had the chance to be around one another like we used to.
“Rowan, you can’t say stuff like that when I’m in public.”
“Am I flustering you? Also, get your mind out of the gutter, I meant yard work,” I say, holding the phone up with my shoulder and peeling off the rest of my clothes in the bathroom.
“Sure you did,” Maggie chides and I can almost picture her shaking her head at me. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Can’t wait,” I say, smiling. I grin like a fool through my entire shower and feel a flutter in my stomach at the thought of seeing her again.
By the time Maggie arrives,I’m clean and dressed in my nicest green polo and khaki shorts. Garrett raises a darkbrown eyebrow at my outfit choice but doesn’t say anything. Boone on the other hand, rips into me.
“Why are you dressed like a rich country club boy?”
“You look like you’re gonna passive-aggressively tell me what I should do with my finances.”
“Is your name Brayden or Hayden?”
And my personal favorite: “You look like your dad’s a lawyer.”
“Okay, that’s enough Boone,” Garrett says, shooting him a glare. This has always been our dynamic. Boone jokes about anything and everything, not having a care in the world, while Garrett perpetually worries about what others think of him. They’re both loyal friends and fiercely protective of each other, and me.
I laugh, unbothered, and pull them both in a quick group hug. “Go shower, both of you. Come back later for the fire.”
“You have thirty minutes alone with her, make it count,” Boone yells back and Garrett smacks the back of his head.
