"Shhh. It's okay, baby. We're all friends here."
With his brows raised, Carey stares directly at how Austin is holding Anaise up by gripping her ass. "You sure about that?"
Anaise links both hands back behind Austin's neck. "Very sure. We're all happy, close, friends."
"Well, youfriendsgo have some fun." Opening the door, Carey ushers the pair out onto the front porch, but not before Anaise gets one last word in.
"You too." She winks at him, exaggerated, and obvious, and I think I'm gonna die.
Austin's gaze meets mine briefly before Carey shuts the door on them, and dread settles in the pit of my stomach where it battles for dominance with the anxiety caught behind my ribs.
"They are definitely fucking," Carey chuckles as he walks past me and back into my parent's house.
"Obviously, but… the hell was all that?"
In the kitchen, he turns back to me. "They're fucking," he repeats with a shrug.
"Not that. I mean—fuck.Do you think she knows?"
Carey cups my cheeks with both hands. "Oh, Oppa. She definitely knows."
My face goes blank and my heart freezes in my chest.
I feel Carey's lips against mine, then his tongue in my mouth.
I know I'm kissing him back, but everything is numb.
"What if she tellshim?"I murmur against Carey's mouth.
"Austin's not that stupid," he dismisses, his hand moving up to grip my jaw.
"I'm not talking about Austi—"
Carey's nails dig into my skin and I huff out.
I can feel again. I'm grounded, but I'm still spiraling.
"Do you really think she'd do that?" Carey asks, his fingers hooking into my mouth and pressing into the soft flesh beneath my tongue.
"No, but…"
"But what?"
I moan at the feeling of his teeth nipping my ear lobe.
"Anaise doesn't strike me as the kind of person to fuck shit up for the fun of it. But if she slips with a drunken text, take it as a win. Eden can't do anything from where he is. He's trapped by his own design. Who's he gonna tell? The people who already know?"
"M-my parents," I stutter around his fingers.
"True." Carey dips his head to the side like he's agreeing that his brother could be that spiteful. "Though, where's the downside there? You're only prolonging the inevitable. We've been inseparable all week. I'm not even hiding my affections at this point. They need to find out sooner or later."
I take Carey's wrist and remove his hand from my mouth to stare him down.
"I won't be hidden, Tek."
"I don't want to hide you." My eye contact falls away, and he takes his hand back to press against my chest.
"I know it's your story to tell, but I'm a main character, too."
