Benson leans in, and the captain comes out in his voice. “The truth. Right now. When did it start?”
I look at Benson. I look at Blue, hands behind his head. I look at Percy, statue-still in the corner. I look at Rowan, eating cereal like a man who has nowhere to be.
It’s Monday, and I have a class. I know I’m not winning this.
I fold.
“Saturday.”
The room goes very quiet.
“Saturday,” Benson says.
“Yeah.”
“The party.”
“Yeah.”
“You started seeing Aspen Linwood Saturday night. At the party.”
“More or less.”
Blue puts both hands behind his head and tips his chair back. “Oh my god.”
“Define more or less,” Benson demands.
I take a breath. I look at the ceiling, because the ceiling, unlike everyone else in this room, isn’t looking at me like that.
“It’s fake.”
The kitchen detonates without anyone raising their voice.
“It’s what?” Blue scoffs.
Rowan looks up, and milk dribbles off his lip. “Oh. That’s better than what I thought.”
Percy laughs once, soft, surprised at himself.
Benson is not laughing. Benson has gone full captain. “You let her call you babe in front of Gavin. You walked her out on your arm. You slept at her house. You brought her here. And all of it is fake.”
“Cap—”
“What is going on?”
I run a hand through my hair, which is a stalling move, and everyone at this table knows my stalling moves. “Gavin.”
The room goes still in a brand new way.
“What about Gavin?”
“He came at her in the kitchen Saturday night. She panicked, she grabbed me, and I rolled with it, because she’d already said it out loud, and I’m not going to leave a woman hanging in a kitchen.”
Benson nods slowly, processing. “Okay. I track that.”
“And we agreed to keep it running through the weekend, because Gavin was crashing here, and we had to sell it while hewas under the roof. The plan was airtight. He flies out, the thing quietly fizzles, the credits roll, nobody gets hurt.” I scratch my jaw and let out a little laugh. “And then it got away from us.”
“Away from you?” Blue says.
