Page 94 of Vegas with my Ex’s Best Friends

Connor doesn't move. He doesn't press. He just waits, patient and exhausted, completely certain that the answer isn't simple.

“Riley.”

My name, quieter this time. Not a demand. Not even a question.

A warning.

I swallow against a dry throat, my hands still locked on the railing, fingers stiff against the glass like if I let go I might tip forward and not stop.

He waits me out.

He's always been better at that than I am.

I open my mouth but nothing comes out.

There isn't one answer. There isn't a version of this that fits into a single word, a single name, something clean he can understand and react to and move on from.

I watch the moment it clicks: the shift in his eyes, how something tightens along his jaw, how his attention sharpens instead of breaking.

Not confusion. Understanding. Not the full picture yet, but enough.

His gaze flicks, just briefly, past me toward the sliding door, toward the penthouse behind me. Then back.

“Riley,” he says again, and there's something new in his voice now. Not anger. Not even disbelief. “Don't make me guess.”

The words land harder than anything he's said so far.

Connor doesn't guess. He knows.

And if he starts putting it together himself, I won't get to control how he hears it.

The silence stretches again, thinner now. I feel it closing in.

And I still don't say anything.

Chapter thirty-four

Chapter Thirty-Four—Riley

“Come inside.”

Connor says it without looking at me, both hands still on the railing. Then he straightens and heads through the glass door like it was never a question.

I follow him in.

The three of them are already there.

Liam stands at the kitchen island, arms crossed, feet planted. He’s not pretending ease. Just set, like he chose that spot ahead of time.

Andrew is near the sink, turned toward the door, hands loose at his sides.

Ethan is at the table, laptop closed, palms flat on the surface, chair pushed back just enough. He’s the only one not watching Connor.

He’s watching me.

No one looks surprised. Of course they don’t.

They knew what was happening on that balcony. I’ve been holding this together for weeks, and so have they, each in their own way. And now we’re all here, arranged in this kitchen, while my brother walks in and starts putting it together.