I shoot him a look, heat crawling up my neck. “Jon David.”
“What?” He laughs, eyes wide as though he’s the innocent one. “It’s true.”
Callum moves to an armchair and sinks into it. “You two have been together a while.”
“Four years,” Jon David says before I can respond.
“Damn.” Callum whistles low, shaking his head. “What you two have is rare.”
His gaze lingers on me. “This kind of trust is something to envy. Takes a hell of a lot of guts to share what’s yours. And even more to watch it happen.”
My mouth is dry. “Yeah… something like that.”
Jon David’s hand finds my knee, and gives it a squeeze. “She’s going to loveit.”
He’s flushed, grinning, lit up like Christmas came early. And two thoughts hit me hard enough to knock the air right out of me:
This isn’t for me.
This has never been for me.
Callum’s eyes flick to Jon David and linger too long. They share a laugh, and I have no clue what’s funny.
Cold slides down my spine, and I wonder what the hell I’ve agreed to.
Callum shifts in the armchair, one leg crossed over the other, a whiskey glass resting easily in his hand. “So, Laurette… Jon David tells me you made him wait six months before you agreed to let him take you out.”
It’s not a secret, but Callum’s familiarity with my past with Jon David catches me off guard. How many conversations have they had? How much of me has Jon David already handed over?
It seems like more than I realized.
Jon David laughs. “She was stubborn as hell, man. Wouldn’t give me the time of day at first.”
I force a small laugh, tucking my hair behind my ear. “To be fair, I had my reasons.”
Callum’s eyes spark with something. Interest, perhaps. Or amusement. “You enjoy playing hard to get, don’t you? Bet you know exactly how far to take it.”
He leans back in the armchair, wrist draped over the armrest, eyes on me. Then his gaze shifts and lingers on Jon David.
“Smart, gorgeous, loyal as fuck. I hit the jackpot with this one.” He grins and bumps his knee into mine. “Best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Lucky man,” Callum says, but his eyes stay on Jon David, a little smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
“It seems you know each other.”
Jon David cuts in. “I told you, babe. We met on the app, the one for people who are into this.”
“We hit it off.” Callum finishes for Jon David. “Been talkin’ a while now, haven’t we?”
Jon David laughs. “We figured out pretty quickly we’d be a good match. It took a little while to get you on board. But hey, here we are.”
My pulse flickers. “I didn’t realize you two had been talking this whole time.”
Without me.
Jon David waves it off, smiling too big. “Don’t make that face, baby. I told you this. We talked about it, remember?”
He told me the safe version. The version where none of this was real yet. And I’m only now seeing how long I’ve been out of the loop.
