“I told you,” I bit out. “We’re just friends.”
“And Caroline’s my best friend,” Ten said, placing a kiss on the top of Teagan’s head. “But I still fuck her every chance I get.”
Noel and I winced together. “Eww.”
But then Aspen entered the kitchen, carrying a still sleepy-eyed Beau, and Noel snagged her around the waist to draw her to his side. “But he’s right. This is my best friend, right here.” After pressing his mouth to the side of Aspen’s head, he sent me a telling look, arching his eyebrows.
I threw my hands in the air in defeat. “Well congratulations to you. I guess I’m just not as secure in my friendship as you two assholes are.”
Stalking from the kitchen, I started back for my room, deciding I’d just change into some clothes and eat out for lunch.
“Hey, where are you going?” Noel called after me.
“The gym,” I yelled back. Once I filled my empty stomach, I really needed to hit something.
SARAH
I owed my best friend the biggest apology ever.
I’d written him about twenty different texts throughout the day. Hadn’t sent any of them. I knew I needed to speak to him face-to-face, but I was scared.
He’d warned me, over and over, that we couldn’t sleep together, but I’d refused to listen. And I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to him last night, but I knew it had hurt him.
Hurting him had never been my intention. But in my defense, I hadn’t even known it would be possible.
I still couldn’t believe Brandt had a secret, something he’d never told me, something that haunted him.
That stung. I thought I knew everything, every deep, dark corner of his being. But then I realized the only part of him he’d ever kept from me was his sex life, and this obviously had something to do with that, so...I guess it made sense.
Still. I couldn’t figure out what his secret was. He’d flipped out when he’d gagged me, so the only idea I came up with was he’d choked some poor girl to death with his dick and had to hide the body, and...yeah, that was beyond far-fetched, even for me to believe, so...I was back to being confused.
But still sorry.
I was definitely going to apologize. And bake cookies, which I did first, as a form of apology-procrastination, because I was afraid he wouldn’t forgive me no matter how I apologized.
With a plate full of still-warm chocolate chip drops in the passenger seat, I pulled my SUV to a stop in front of his house late in the afternoon.
He hadn’t called all day, which I was kind of worried about. And he may have asked me for some space, but dang it, I needed to ease his mind and let him know I was done trying to seduce him. His friendship was too important to me to lose him over this. If he could forgive me for pushing him to his limit, I would immediately desist any and all attempts to get kinky.
So here I was. I climbed from my car and made my way to the back before lowering my chair to the ground and sliding into the seat. The driveway was a smooth ride for me because Brandt made sure I could roll down it without any problems. And the ramp waiting in the back reminded me even more how much he’d done over the years to make room for me in his life.
He’d gone above and beyond, time after time. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever properly thanked him for even half of it. I hoped I hadn’t ruined our relationship. I didn’t know what I’d do without him.
Scared, nervous, but resolved, I reached the back entrance and knocked gently as I opened the door. Ten stood at the counter, pouring milk into two sippy cups. On the stove, something was simmering under a closed lid.
Glancing over his shoulder, Ten grinned when he saw me. “Hey, Hot Wheels. Heard you crashed and burned last night. Them’s the breaks, huh, kid?” After a sympathetic wince, he announced, “I was so sure he’d fall for it, too. I lost twenty bucks from the whole ordeal.”
“Twenty...?” My body went cold with dread as I set the cookies on the table.
Oh no. What if Brandt thought I’d started out last night purposely attempting to seduce him? He’d feel so betrayed. He’d...I couldn’t even stomach the worst-case scenario. Abdomen swirling with an acidic regret and deep humiliation, I asked, “Is he here?”
“Nah.” Ten screwed the cap onto each cup and put the milk away. “He ran off to the gym, but he’s been gone a while so he should return any minute. Come on into the living room and hang with us until he gets back.”
I blew out a breath as he stole a cookie before he left the kitchen, but then I decided I couldn’t back out of this, so I followed.
Stretched in the La-Z-Boy with the feet kicked up, Noel watched some political discussion on an all-news channel while Aspen sat on the floor with the two kids, helping them build a Lego...thing. Caroline was curled on the couch asleep.