“What?” Lola leaned forward between the seats. “You’re telling me none of you are even a little curious?”
I kept my eyes on the window, watching sunlight flicker between trees as the car moved. I could lie to these women, but I just needed to stay quiet. I wasn’t going to comment on the size of my… Connor’s dick. I wasn’t going to tell them it was pierced and he was an expert at using it. That he was the best sex of my life. I also wasn’t going to tell them that I knew exactly how to get to his house because I’d been here before, a few times, now.
Was it hot in here? I adjusted the AC, Micah giving me a side-glance as she drove. “Are you feeling okay? You never usually crank up the AC.”
“Fine,” I said quickly. “It’s hot today.”
“It’s seventy degrees,” she said, slowing as she turned onto a familiar street, his street. The fancy manicured lawns and big driveways stretched out either side of the street.
I’d grown up on army bases, or on the move, never anywhere like this.
“I hope you’re not getting sick,” Micah added.
“I’m fine,” I said, firmer this time.
“She’s probably nervous about going to Connor’s house,” Evie said, and my head spun around to scold her with a look.
“What are you talking about? I’m not nervous. I don’t get nervous around him.”
She snorted a laugh. “Sure, Cap. The last time you guys went to that dinner, you were freaking.”
“And the school visit,” Micah added.
Traitors. All of them.
I crossed my arms and looked back out the window. “I don’t get rattled by Connor O’Riley.”
Micah hummed as she slowed the car. “Good. Because we’re here.”
My stomach dipped. Who was I kidding? I was rattled like a rattlesnake.
I also didn’t want to ask how Micah knew where he lived. Had she been here before? I guess Bobby was on Connor’s team, and there was the connection for Micah to be here, but the idea bothered me more than I thought it would. I was being ridiculous.
The house came into view as Micah slowed, set back from the street behind a short driveway and a low fence. That light stucco, clean lines, two stories that was exactly him. A small front yard filled with gravel and succulents instead of grass, palms rising at the edge of the sidewalk I’d walked up holding his hand last week. Wide windows caught the daylight, and the ocean sparkled in the distance.
Music drifted from somewhere ahead, laughter carrying in the air. Lola leaned forward again, peering through the windshield.
“Well,” she said, pleased. “At least the house lives up to the hype.”
“Hey, Teddy, you’re the single one here. Wanna see if his dick lives up to the hype as well?” Lola cackled.
I reached for the door handle and muttered, “Get out of the car.”
I very much knew that it did.
My steps slowed, my body lagging a half-beat behind my thoughts, like it needed a moment longer to commit. I became aware of the grass beneath my shoes, the set of my shoulders, of the strange exposure that came with arriving here with others around us and trying incredibly hard to look like I didn’t know where I was going when I got inside. My eyes roamed, not looking for him and somehow only looking for him.
Connor stood near the fence with a few of his teammates, tending the grill, head tipped back in laughter. And the realization that we hadn’t seen each other in a few days struck me like a lightning bolt. The last time we talked was different.
Here, there was nowhere to hide. This wasn’t FaceTime.
There was no screen between us.
I’d let him see too much the last time we talked. I’d been tired and raw and stupid enough to forget how much he paid attention.
Standing here now, with his house full of people and noise and movement, it felt like walking straight into something unfinished. Like he knew things about me that no one else in this room did, and that knowledge sat between us, whether I wanted it to or not.
I wasn’t used to feeling exposed. I wasn’t used to my control slipping without noticing it happen. And the worst part was that, around him, it didn’t feel accidental anymore. It felt inevitable.
