her. Donovan’s been silent since we all woke up this morning. She’s looking between us over the rim of her coffee mug, those ocean eyes getting occasionally hidden by steam.
“Okay. Listen up,” she delivers like a drill sergeant, stopping Liam midbite.
We look at each other and then back to her, waiting for what she’s about to say.
“Here’s the deal.” Her bangs swish as she shakes her head, then glares at the both of us. “We’re all adults. Or practically adults. And there’s no way I would ever believe that was your first double-fuck rodeo.”
“Is that a compliment, Cherry?” I toss out, taking a bite out of my bagel.
Liam looks at me and shrugs. “Maybe just an overall rating for our skill level. Five double fucking stars.”
She lets out a groan, but it’s accompanied by her knockout smile, as we both laugh.
“Can we just agree that we got that out of our systems, with the help of some bad ideas, like—skinny-dipping, crazy adrenaline from the fight, and some Jack Daniels? It was a perfect storm that led to…well, you know, but now we’re going to move on.”
Liam clinks the spoon gently against the bowl as he crosses his arms over his chest. She’s looking between us, but I’m not sure what she wants us to say. There’s no way I can move on after last night. I didn’t flush her from my system—she just invaded it, filling in all the cracks and crevices. I could no more forget about last night than I could my own name. But I want her for myself, and that’s not what she’s asking.
She places her mug on the counter, looking between us. “Can we just be us again?”
“Yes.” Liam nods, and I one hundred percent know he’s thinking my same thoughts.
“Grey?” she breathes out, nervously.
“We’re always just us, Cherry. It doesn’t happen again.” My face shifts to Liam’s. “Guaranteed.”
He looks back at his cereal, jaw tensed, but she doesn’t notice.
“Thank you. Okay. So friends again, no overthinking things. Just back to us.”
Her shoulders relax as she says it, and I smile tightly. This feels like foreshadowing, the moment that I will look back on and be able to say, “That’s when the destruction was set in motion.”
She comes around the counter and kisses Liam on the cheek, then mine. “I’m going to change, and then can we get out of here and stop for burgers?”
“Absolutely.”
The moment she’s out of sight, Liam looks at me. “Can we just be good and figure this shit out later?”
I nod. “Yeah. Brothers, always. Nothing changes.”
Liam agrees, tapping the counter as a smile grows on his face. “Watch this,” he says quietly to me, before yelling up toward the stairs, “Hey, Van.”
Her “Yes?” is faint but heard before Liam adds, “Since we’re just friends again, you wanna make out?”
I laugh loudly as she screams his name with venom, and I push his shoulder. He’s such an asshole, but it’s the exact kind of icebreaker that’s needed.
“This might be more fun than we’re giving it credit,” he laughs.
We’re both grinning as we continue eating our breakfast and let last night become a distant memory. At least that’s the hope. Except one of us is comparing every bite to the taste of Donovan, and it’s not Liam.
Donovan
THE PHONE INSIDE MY BAG hasn’t stopped vibrating all through my art studies class, and it’s made the smile grow on my face until it’s impossible to hide anymore. I know it’s them—God, they’re impossible. But what do I expect? It’s Grey and Liam—overbearing insistence is par for the course.
My fingers smudge the edges around the oranges I’ve drawn, tilting my head to look at the bowl of still art, appropriately called oranges in a bowl. The earthy, kind-eyed teacher who’s always in some kind of corduroy pant walks behind me, watching as I deepen the contrast in my sketch by rubbing my finger against the pencil.
“Really nice use of shadow, Donovan. You have a great eye for detail.”
I look up from my easel and smile. “Thank you.”
He raises an eyebrow before speaking. “But I don’t know how you concentrate with all the incessant cell phone interruptions. Perhaps next class you turn the problematic thing off?”
Shit. My nose wrinkles as I stare at my paper. Busted.
I’m going to kill them. Grey and Liam manage to get me in trouble even when they aren’t with me. But in the last few weeks I’ve been more forgiving, just wanting us to fall back into our rhythm. For the