“I’m not your little sister,” Layla protested right away, as she’d done possibly a thousand times over the years. At least this was familiar territory that would put our eavesdroppingparentsat ease.
“You were born after me. That makes me the big brother. Or did you need me to help you figure out that math? Not simple enough for you?”
“Fuck you, Brade. You’re only like five minutes older than me.”
“Still older.”
“Def not more mature though. Just means I’ll get to call you an old fart.”
“At your own peril,” Brady threatened. His tone was convincing, as was Layla’s, but their body language wasn’t behind it. They were putting on a show to buy us time—but time for what? Wehadto have a way to communicate or we were never going to make real progress.
I was foreseeinga lotof running in our futures.
Hunt pulled his iPhone from his back pocket, tapped and swiped at the screen. “I’ve already shown Brade and Lay, but I wanna get your opinions too. I’m not sure what to answer. I don’t want to mess up my chances here, but I also don’t wanna just say yes.”
“Dude,” Brady said, “like I told you, she’s already putty in your hands. Just keep playing it smooth and you’re all good.” But again, Brady’s eyes weren’t into it.
Hunt passed the phone to Griffin, and I huddled next to him.
Zoe Wills was in Hunt’s contacts as “Zozo,” a nickname I doubted he’d give her himself in a hundred years. Layla, sure—probably even. I might even go there if the girl and I became super close friends. But Hunt? Nope.
Now that we knew to look for signs of artifice, I suspected we’d find them everywhere.
Zozo: Hey babe, wanna hang tonight???
Me: Sounds great, babe. Pick you up at 7?
Zozo: Can’t wait!????
I glanced up at Hunt, whose lips were pursed. Those text messages were supposed to have been from a couple of days ago. Griffin scrolled to reveal a whole long line of them going back an entire month before he stopped, brows raised in Hunt’s direction.
“Not sure what to respond to her latest one,” Hunt steered. “I’m obviously super into her.” Which had to suck so badly for Hunt, because I didn’t think he really was. He’d liked her well enough, but if she was part of their master ruse, then how could he? And she had to be at this point, right? Or were our psycho pretend-parents hypnotizing other people too?
What a fucking quagmire.
Griffin scrolled back down to the bottom of the message thread. One came in from Zoe this morning.
Zozo: I think I’m finally ready to go all the way, babe. I want you to be my first more than I want to keep waiting. Date night tonight???????????????????????
Griffin and I glanced up at Hunt.
Layla scowled. “She’s really laying it on thick there, right? No doubt about what she’s gettin’ after.” Then, as if she all at once realized this wouldn’t be her usual response, she added, “But hey, gotta give kudos to a bitch. She knows what she wants, and she’s going after it. Lucky for Hunt, it’s his sweet ass. What’s even your hesitation, man? She’s cute.”
“She is cute, and I really like her, obviously.” Since the phony-ass text messages on his phone were apparently proof of that. “But I kinda wanted to wait a bit more. You know, have it bereallyspecial.”
What else was the poor bastard supposed to do but play the born-again virgin card? The faux parents were going to have him fucking a girl he didn’t even love. That might’ve worked for someone like Brady, who was fond of chasing tail, but Hunt was different. He didn’t want to just have sex, he wanted to make love. Which was why he’d only had sex a few times.
I’d purposefully not been vocal about how few times I’d actually done the deed myself. It was challenging to really get into some other guy when all I wanted was the one standing next to me. The one who, for so many years, had been off limits.
If Magnum or theparentshad manipulated Griffin and me apart more than this one time, I was going to deliver an ass-kicking on a platter for that reason alone. I would have much preferred to share my first time with him than the dufus I had,shit.
Griffin wasthe onefor me.
Griffin handed the phone to Hunt. “Then that’s what you should do, dude. The right time with the right person really matters.”
My skin buzzed as I couldn’t help but feel he was also talking about us.
“Tell Zoe how you really feel, man,” Griff went on. “Tell her you really like her, and you maybe will eventually want to share something so special with her. But you’re not ready yet, and you don’t know how long it’ll take for you to be ready. If she’s really into you, she’ll wait however long you want and need. If she’s not”—Griffin shrugged—“then she’s not the right girl for you anyway, and fuck her.”
