“It’s sad you never open up to me, but that’s okay. I get it—you wanna keep things professional. I respect that.”
It’s total bull, since we’ve now had sex twice. But it’s my way of trying to tease her into cracking up. She starts gnawing on her lip, her brow furrowed, gazing at me with a mix of wariness and curiosity, and just when I’m about to give up, she speaks.
“I’ll give you the short version, and you better listen up, because I won’t tell you again,” she warns.
“As warm and engaging as ever…”
She flips me the finger, and my heart melts a little.
“Charlotte is my stepsister-in-law. Basically, her dad is my mom’s new husband. Raven was seventeen when we met Charlotte, and they fell in love like that.” She snaps her fingers. “You can imagine the complete shit show that caused, right? My sister was really messed up. She didn’t even know she liked girls, and there she is, crushing hard on ourstepsister.” Amy pauses. “She tried to bury it all deep inside—fucking the pain away with all these random guys, which made Charlotte super sad. My parents were totally oblivious to what was going on, but I got it the very first day. Eventually, Raven realized that she was a hot mess and that really she was madly in love with Charlotte, so they had this secret relationship until our parents walked in on them getting it on.” She shoots me a look.“That’s when all hell broke loose. My mom lost her shit, and Charlotte’s dad… You’ve never met a bigger asshole. And then, as if that weren’t enough, Raven suddenly realized she was pregnant from that one last hookup she’d had. They got kicked out of the house overnight. And that’s pretty much all there is to it.”
She isn’t used to spilling that hard, and she’s practically panting from the effort. I take a moment to let it all soak in.
“Damn, girl. That’s one hell of a story.” I shake my head. “That was really brave of both of them.”
Amy looks surprised. “That’s sweet of you to say.”
“So, what’s the situation with you? Why do you live with them?”
“That’s enough intel for one day, Conley—I told you only so you would crawl out of my ass.”
I hold up my hands. “Crawling out as we speak. I need to get to practice, anyhow. But I’ll be back for episode two.”
“A guy can dream.”
I slip behind the wheel and get the engine warming. “One day, you’re gonna wake up and realize we don’t have any secrets between us anymore, Hitman.”
“Sure.” She nods. “For now, I just wake up and realize you’re having coffee with my sister—I don’t know which is worse. Oh, and by the way… You spilling the whole Campus Drivers thing? I’d say that cancels out me being fired last night.”
“Speaking of last night…” I start, revving my engine.
“Please, God, not another post-sex lecture…”
“I was about to say that I was serious—about letting off steam,” I add. “No more alleyways, okay? If you feel like you’re spiraling, you call me.”
“What, like you’re my shrink now?”
“No. But I can definitely keep a secret.”
I throw her a quick salute and hit the gas. And as I head for the gym, I’m suddenly feeling a whole lot lighter.
20AMY
I have no idea what just happened. On the plus side, I didn’t get another “This can’t happen again” talk. That doesn’t make anything clearer, though. He wants me to call him whenever I feel like I’m about to lose my shit? Is that what he just said?
Jesus. You can expect multiple calls a day, then.
Once he’s disappeared out of sight, I head back up to the apartment, expecting to find Raven and Charlotte hovering in the doorway with their arms folded. If I’d remembered to take my key, I could’ve slipped around the back and avoided them. As it is, I’m going to have to face the music.
“You aresopredictable,” I sigh when I find them exactly as expected.
“A basketball player, huh?” Raven grins.
“?‘Campus Drivers’?” Charlotte’s eyes are shining.
“And he spent the night…”
“You thinking what I’m thinking, Ravy?”
