I ran my hands through my hair, fighting back tears. June rubbed my back, glancing around us.
“I don't think Austin would've done that,” she said softly. “I really don't. I'm sure it was an accident. I know what it looked like, but I think that guy was just causing a scene. We know Austin.”
“I just . . . The two of us had just had a conversation,” I whispered. “And we agreed to be friends. And then I hear screaming and I run out and I see that Nick is on the ground and Austin's up on the roof and I don't even know what to think. Those two fight, they hate each other. Maybe they started fighting and he fell off.”
“No,” she said again. “No, there's no way. There's absolutely no way. We'll find out, but regardless, Austin looked like he was about to have a fucking heart attack.”
I’d never seen Austin’s expression look like that. The moment I said the words to him, I ripped my own heart out. I was so scared, and I lashed out at him. He didn’t deserve it. I was so mad at myself on top of everything else.
“I fucked up,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have asked him that. I’ve never seen Austin react like that.”
June squeezed my hand again. “He’ll be okay. Mateo’s got him, I’m sure. I’ll stay here with you until we find out what's going on with Nick. I'm sure Matthew will take care of him, he's a good doctor.”
He was agreatdoctor. More than that, he was a great person.
“June, I had a threesome with them last night,” I whispered. “And Sunday night.”
Her mouth dropped and she spun in her seat, grabbing my shoulders. “What?Oh my god, oh my god. It’s happening. With NickandMatthew?”
All I could do was nod. “But now I'm worried that keeping him up so late may have caused problems. I don't know. Am I to blame for this? Is this my fault? What if this whole situation is my fault?”
June shook my shoulders. “Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t your fault.”
“But what if it is?”
She snorted and sank back in her chair. “If they were fighting on a roof, then that's their own damn fault. And honestly, I wouldn't even be surprised. But I know Austin would not have done this on purpose, I know Nick would not have fallen off a roof on purpose, and I know that if they were arguing about you, it was probably just an excuse to bicker with each other.” She gave a slow nod, narrowing her eyes. “I grilled Dallas the other night about Nick and Austin.”
“Really? Anything?”
“I mean, the two of them foughtsomuch in school. I think they used to be friends? Dallas is convinced Austin doesn’t like Nick because Nick liked to fuck with his ego, which . . . having met Nick, it checks out. I don’t remember him too well from when we were in school.”
“I remember him a little,” I said.
I frowned, trying to shuffle through memories of that time. I remembered my mom was friends with the school counselor and overheard gossip about Nick. But I couldn’t for the life of me place what it’d been about.
“Who knows what their beef is. But again, it's not your fault.”
“I friend-zoned Austin,” I said. “I didn't want to. I don’t want to just be friends with him.”
“Of course not.”
“But I didn't know what to do. Everything is happening so fast with Nick and Matthew, and I don’t even know what the three of us are looking for? It feels serious but also maybe it’s just sex to them . . . What if I’m misreading everything?” I leaned forward and pressed my face into my hands. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
I didn’t want all of this to just be great sex. I wanted it to be falling inloveand great sex. I wanted to feel seen. Wanted. Cared for. And I wanted to do that for them too.
God, I was really diving off the fucking deep end with all of this.
“You're going to wait for news about Nick, and then you're going to play nurse to your really hot sexy boyfriend who apparently has cock piercings? Did I hear that right?”
A smile feathered my lips. “Yes, you did.”
“What does that even feel like?”
Despite the horror of everything, I laughed. I laughed until tears sprung to my eyes, and I blinked them back. “It's really, really good,” I choked out.
The doors to the back swung open and a nurse appeared. I recognized her as one of the women in a wine and book club with my mom. She walked over to us with a big smile and a clipboard in hand.
“Hi Evie,” she chimed. “Hi June. Sorry to see you both here.”
