That gets my attention.
I roll onto my side, then push myself upright, letting my feet hit the floor. “Wow. Serious voice. Should I be worried?”
Gabe glances up briefly, then back to his screen. “Probably.”
“Great,” I say.
Xander’s standing by the window, hands in his pockets, staring out into the dark as if the trees are about to give him advice.
They won’t. They’re notoriously unhelpful.
He turns.
And there it is, that look. The one that means he’s already made a decision and now the rest of us just have to catch up.
“I slept with her,” he says.
I’m stunned into silence as he throws me into the deep end.
I blink once.
Gabe doesn’t look up, which is how I know he heard every word.
I expect more. Tension. Friction. Maybe even anger. Because that’s how this shit usually goes.
Except, it doesn’t.
I lean back, exhaling through my nose.
“Well,” I say. “That explains the mood.”
Xander watches me carefully, waiting for the reaction he’s used to getting.
I don’t give it to him.
Gabe finally closes his laptop with a click and looks up. “When did that happen?”
Xander shrugs one shoulder. “Yesterday, when we hung out at the lake.”
I huff a laugh. “Of course it was yesterday. Because I hung out with her first.”
Neither of them reacts, which is how I know this isn’t just a casual mention.
I sit forward, elbows on my knees, guitar pick still rolling between my fingers. “Okay. And?”
Xander’s jaw tightens. “And nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
Xander exhales. “It’s not like before.”
The room shifts, because we all know what “before” means.
Tours. Backstage. Nights that blurred into each other. Women who wanted something from us or thought they did. Moments that felt intense in the dark and meaningless in the morning.
We’ve shared before.
It was easy then. Detached. No one got hurt because no one expected anything real.