About five minutes in, the door opened, and Boone came striding in. He paused, glanced between Gabe and me, and then said, “Oh shit.” He covered his mouth, a huge fucking grin on his face as the narrator continued to describe how the main character slid inside her… “What are you two listening to?”
Gabe and I glanced at each other, then Gabe pointed at me. “It was his idea.”
Traitor.
“Is this Meghan Hart?” Boone asked, leaning against the wall.
I whipped my attention to him. “You know her?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I slept with this girl once who was a huge fan. She asked me to act out one of the scenes from the book.”
I arched an eyebrow. Gabe started laughing. “You pretended to be trapped in a cave in the middle of a snowstorm?” He laughed some more.
“No, fucker. Just wait until later in the book.” Boone winked. “She asked me to tie her up and blindfold her.”
“Damn,” Gabe said just as my timer went off, and the narrator ceased talking. “That sounds hot.”
Boone smirked. “It was. So did you guys start a book club or something?”
I laughed, climbing out of the tub. “No. Though I guess we do a lot of buddy reads.”
“Buddy reads?” Gabe asked, toweling off.
“Bryn told me that’s what it’s called when you read a book with a friend at the same time. Like we do with our audiobooks.”
“Aw.” Boone batted his eyes. “Aren’t you two too cute.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Should I tell the guys we need to start workshopping your couple’s moniker?”
I gave his shoulder a playful shove. “You going to take your ice bath or just stand there and pretend?”
Boone crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you even still here?”
“Bryn’s out of town,” Gabe offered.
“Oh. That explains it,” Boone said, tilting his chin up.
I frowned. “Explains what?”
“Why you’ve been such a grumpy bastard lately.” He pushed off the wall, following us to the sauna.
“I am not—” I looked to Gabe for confirmation, but he scrunched up his face. “Fine.” I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. “I am.”
Because I didn’t understand what was going on. Because I didn’t understand Bryn’s hesitation when it came to our future.
Gabe opened the door to the sauna, and the three of us filed in before taking a seat. “What’s going on? You’ve been distracted and playing like shit all week.”
Boone nodded.
Fuck.
“I’m worried about her,” I admitted.
“Because she fainted?” Gabe asked. “Because, fuck. That was scary.”
Gabe had followed me to the bathroom after it had happened. I hadn’t known it at the time, hadn’t realized he was waiting in the hallway until I’d carried Bryn to the back exit of the restaurant.
“That, and I feel like she’s pulling away from me,” I admitted.
“Why do you feel like she’s pulling away from you?” Boone asked.
