Page 47 of Filthy Rich Ex's Brothers

I tell her more about the trip up the side of the mountain with Graham. How protective he was, and how he comforted me through the storm. I get so distracted by describing the feeling of being in the grotto that I don’t see the expression on Bianca’s face change slowly.

“Wait,” she says, shifting away from me, brows drawing together. “So are you… Graham, as in Alex’s brother? Right?”

I shrug, give her a chagrined smile before returning my attention to the M&M hunt. I feel like a younger sister admitting her shenanigans to the older one. “I mean, we didn’t do anything. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him to touch me. God—it was torture, being stuck in a tent with him all night.”

When I glance at Bianca, she’s staring at me, mouth pinched.

“What?” I ask, pulling my head back and dropping a piece of popcorn back into the bowl, confused.

“I just,” she pauses, swallows, and gestures at me with an upturned hand. “Don’t you think it’s kind of… a bad idea? To be involved withall threebrothers?”

I laugh, shrug one shoulder, feeling uncharacteristically loose about the whole thing. Maybe it’s endorphins from the hike. Maybe it’s finally being around the one person who makes me relaxed. Maybe it’s the fact that for the first time in a long time, I’m getting a taste of sexual satisfaction. “Well, I’m not exactlyinvolvedwith Alex anymore, am I?”

Bianca sucks her teeth, then looks at the laptop, where Kiera Knightly is dancing. For a moment, we watch the movie together, but it’s tense. Awkward. I’d thought she would give me some shit, but this is a bigger reaction than I expected.

Finally, like she’s been holding it in, Bianca blurts, “Don’t you think it’s going to be kind of…messy? With Alex? If you’re fucking both his brothers?”

I’ve never really liked the word, and now, it comes out of Bianca’s mouth with a particular venom. She might as well have asked me if I like being a whore.

Pushing away from her, I turn on the mattress and press my back against the cool wall. “Why should I care about Alex’s feelings? He obviously didn’t give a fuck about mine.”

Bianca frowns and picks at the fringe of her blanket. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea. Sleeping with three guys at once. Especiallybothof Alex’s brothers. It just seems a little petty. That’s all.”

An angry laugh bubbles out of me, “And, what? You don’t think I have a right to be petty? He ruined my Nana’s record player. I haven’t even heard from him since he decided to be done with me and dump my shit on the lawn. He’s a coward and an asshole. I’d sleep with hismomjust to get back at him, if it’s something I was into.”

I’m breathing hard now, anger bubbling up inside me, and Bianca is looking at me like I’m a child who just doesn’t know any better.

“I get that you want to hurt him, but I just don’t think you always have to go with the nuclear option, Ser,” Bianca spits, frowning harder and ripping more threads from the blanket. “Like, you don’thaveto act out just because things didn’t go your way.”

I jolt, awkwardly, out from under the blankets and to the end of the bed, heart racing. I stand up by Bianca’s feet, glowering at her.

“Didn’t go my way? That’s a fucked-up thing to say to me, Bianca.” Now, the anger is starting to boil, and my voice comes out loud, clipped. Harsh. She knows my history, knows about the dumpster fire. How I was tossed from home to home, how I struggled to be perfect. To earn love. At best, it was a careless thing to say, and at worst, it was a targeted attack.

“Hey,” Lillie says, knocking and poking her head in the open door, like a concerned parent. “We just got back. Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Bianca grits, crossing her arms and glaring at me.

“I don’t think it is, actually.” I glare right back at her. “Bianca is calling me a slut for having some fun, even with everything I’ve been through.”

“Ineversaid that!” she stands, too, pointing at me, “You’re putting words in my mouth!”

“Or reading between the lines,” I hiss back, “trust me, after all this time, I’ve gotten used to all the passive-aggressive WASP-y comments.”

“Fuck you, Serena.”

That makes me blink and stumble backward into Lillie, who puts her arm around me. Georgia edges into the room as well, while Sid and Grayson hover in the doorway.

“Let’s all take a breather,” Georgia says, holding her hands out like a mediator.

“Yeah, get out of my room,” Bianca spits.

“Oh, gladly!” I reach over, ripping my blankets off the bed, which happens to send the popcorn bucket crashing to the ground. Bianca says something about me alwayscausing a mess, but Lillie is guiding me out, and Georgia is murmuring something low and fast to Bianca.

I don’t turn back. I barely make it into my bedroom before bursting into tears.

“Oh, hey,” Lillie says, pulling me into her arms, rubbing her hand over my back soothingly. “It’s okay. All friends fight sometimes. Honestly, I’m shocked you guys have never had a fight here before.”

I’m too upset to respond, but if I could, I might tell her that Bianca has never looked at me like that before. I might tell her that I feel like I don’t even know her anymore.