"And Brooke?"
"Brooke is Brooke. She's been Solana's best friend since they were kids. She's the most fun person alive, and she will absolutely be the last one standing tonight." Kelly paused and looked at Ellie for a few moments, her expression softening. "I'm really glad you came. Both of you."
"Me too," Ellie said, and meant it.
"And later...?" Kelly left it hanging, her eyes asking the question her mouth didn't.
"Later," Ellie confirmed. "Definitely later. If you’d like that?”
Kelly's smile could have powered the stage lights. “I’d like that a lot.”
***
It turned into one of those evenings that unfolded organically, as great evenings often do. The gig ended so they got a taxi to a bar, then walked to another, and before long the five of them were deep into an easy, not to mention cocktail-fuelled, conversation that felt like it had been going on for years rather than hours.
Becca and Solana had clicked, Ellie noticed. Not in any way that would trigger the jealousy-arousal response, there was no flirtation, no sexual charge between them, but rather in a genuine, intellectual way. They were discussing psychology, talking about Becca's work and Solana's experience building her fragrance brand, about the emotional intelligence it required. Becca was engaged, fascinated, asking questions that made Solana open up about things she clearly didn't discuss casually with most people.
Brooke, meanwhile, was making Ellie laugh harder than she'd laughed in weeks, telling a story about a Tinder date that involving a man, his horse, and traditional Texan expectations about a man’s priorities. Ellie genuinely hoped that she was exaggerating, but she suspected not.
At one point, while Brooke was at the bar and Solana and Becca were absorbed in their own conversation, Kelly moved her stool closer to Ellie and said quietly, "They know, by the way. About us. About what the three of us did."
"I figured."
"Does that bother you?"
"I thought it would. It doesn't." And it genuinely didn't. There was something liberating about being in the company of people who knew and who treated it as perfectly normal, who didn't need it explained or justified or defended. Solana and Brooke knew that Kelly slept with other women, knew that Colt was cool with it, knew about Ellie and Becca, and their response to that knowledge was simply to buy another round and tell a funnier story. It was the most relaxed Ellie had felt about any of this since it had started.
"Good," Kelly said. "Because Brooke will definitely bring it up if she has one more drink, and I wanted to make sure you were prepared."
Brooke did bring it up, approximately one drink later, leaning across the table to Becca and saying with zero preamble, "So Kelly says you're an absolute demon in bed and did things to her she keeps dreaming about and Ellie watches and it's hot as fuck. Is that accurate?"
Becca went scarlet. Not pink. Scarlet. Ellie choked on her drink. Solana closed her eyes in a way that suggested this was not the first time that Brooke had done something like this. Kelly put her face in her hands.
"Brooke," Solana said calmly. "Boundaries."
"What? I said it was hot as fuck. That's a compliment."
"It's fine," Becca said, recovering faster than Ellie. "And yes, that's roughly accurate." She laughed. “Well, I can’t vouch for what she dreams about…”
That drew a laugh from Brooke. “See?" she said to Solana triumphantly. "She's fine with it. Ellie, you fine with it?"
"I'm fine with it," Ellie managed, wiping her drink from her chin.
"Great. Can I ask one question?"
"Brooke…” Kelly started to say.
"One question. How do you sit there and watch and not join in? Because I could not do that. I would last about forty-five seconds."
Ellie thought about the question, which was actually a good one underneath the delivery. "Because watching is the thing," she said. "It's not about restraint or holding myself back. It's about seeing Becca being so deeply desired through someone else's eyes. The watchingisthe joining in."
Brooke looked at her for a long moment, then said, "That is the hottest thing anyone has ever said to me, and a man once told me he'd buy me a horse."
The table dissolved into laughter, and after that the atmosphere became even easier, the last barrier of formality dissolved by Brooke's complete lack of one.
Chapter 17
Around midnight people started making leaving noises. “I'm going to head back," Solana said. "I need to be up sometime before midday tomorrow for the big launch." She hugged each of them in turn, and when she got to Becca she held on for an extra second and said, "It was really lovely meeting you. I meant what I said about that book… I'll send you the details."
