“Silas,” she gasps, arching into me.
There’s laughter and moaning and her soft skin giving between my teeth as I nip her.Bailey’s hands find the hem of my shirt, lifting up, and our hands knock into my cabinets as we untangle me from my shirt.I toss it somewhere behind me?—
And then there’s an actual knock on the door.
Bailey chuckles underneath me, breathless.“Who’s visiting you at”—she checks the clock—“ten thirty on a Sunday?”
“No idea,” I say between kisses, not bothering to stop.“If it’s those goddamn solar panel scammers again, I swear to god?—”
“Silas?”
The voice is muffled through the door, but unmistakable.
We both freeze.
Bailey’s eyes go wide, her face draining of color.“Is that?—”
“Hunter,” I finish, my heart dropping into my stomach.
Bailey looks down at herself—shirtless, syrup on her chest, sprawled on my kitchen floor.Then at me, equally shirtless, hovering over her.
“Oh my god,” she whispers.“Oh my god, he’s going to kill you.”
“Yeah,” I agree, my brain scrambling.“That’s definitely happening.”
Silas
Bailey grabs for my shirt,thrusting it at me.“He can’t see me from the door, so I’ll just stay hidden.”
“Shit, shit, shit.”I pull my shirt on just as Hunter knocks again.Echo is meowing at the door, desperate to see her second favorite person on earth.“I’m coming!”
Despite the gravity of the situation, Bailey snorts a laugh.
“Not funny,” I toss back as I rise to my feet, but I am smiling.I pause and straighten my shirt, flatten my hair, and rub my face.Then I take a deep breath and open the door, sticking my foot out to keep Echo inside.I wrestle like a soccer player with a ball until I manage to maneuver myself outside while keeping my cat inside.She lets out a very loud yowl when the door clicks closed.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”I’m breathing hard and have to straighten my shirt again from shimmying through the door.
Hunter gives me a once-over, his eyes narrowing.“Do you have company?”He sounds incredulous, which—rude.I have company sometimes.
“Uh...”My brain scrambles for literally anything resembling a coherent thought.
He jerks a thumb over his shoulder at Bailey’s rental car in the driveway.“I saw the strange car, but my god, man, it’s ten thirty in the morning.Who is it?I don’t recognize the car so it can’t be a Herevian.”
“She doesn’t live here.”Truth.Technically.
He squints at me, then drops his voice conspiratorially.“Was it the blond forty-two-year-old accountant from Hinge?Because I swiped right on her too?—”
“Yes!”I snap my fingers, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.“Her.Definitely her.”
Hunter’s eyebrows climb toward his hairline.“Really?Damn, you work fast.I thought she was in Albany.”
Shit.“She...drove down.Last night.For...reasons.”
“Reasons.”Hunter’s mouth twitches like he’s trying not to laugh at me.“At ten p.m.on a Saturday night.To Here.Population: two thousand.”
“She really likes...small towns?”I’m the worst liar in the history of lying.“And pizza.We got pizza.”
Pro tip: When your best friend shows up unexpectedly and his sister is half naked in your kitchen, “she likes pizza” is NOT a convincing cover story.But it’s all I’ve got, so here we are.
