“I’ve stuck around this long,” Asch says, exhaling slowly as he starts to straighten up. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Neither of you are.”
“I go where Pandora goes,” River says. “Into insanity and beyond, apparently.”
I hiccup and shake my head. “How can I trust it?” I ask. “I wanted to. You were… you were supposed to be perfect. And then it all went to shit.”
“We fucked up,” Asch says, only to let out a bitter bark of a laugh. It still sounds breathless, but maybe I didn’t get his balls as hard as I wanted to if he can still talk. “Understatement of the century. I know regret can’t take it back, but all three of us would if we could.”
Blaze rests his chin on top of my head. “It was fucking shit that we tricked you like that. I don’t even care about any of the other stuff you did, Pandora. You make me laugh. You excite me. I would rather get pulled down into hell with you than stick with any of the boring women here on campus.”
I giggle softly. “That’s mean. They’re fine. They aren’t boring.”
They probably are. But it’s still mean.
“But they also aren’tyou.” Blaze loosens his hold on me and guides me closer to Asch. “Seriously, do you know how many chicks tried to get me to stop hanging out with Asch? ‘The threesomes are fun, but can we go on a date just the two of us?’”
Asch reaches out and touches my shoulder. “Neither of us are going to make you stop fucking River, either.” His eyes narrow. “Now if you try to go for Reaper, or any other guy, we will have a problem, Pandora.”
River nods, stepping in close so the three of them are surrounding me again. “The three of us will have to be enough for you.”
I blink a few times, trying to get rid of the water. “I wanted to. I tried. But I kept not going through with it.” I glance down at my hands. “They were all wrong, all the time. They weren’t you.”
“I haven’t even looked at anyone else since you,” Asch tells me, squeezing my shoulder before leaning in to kiss the skin. “Even after everything. I don’t want anyone else.”
River brushes his lips against my cheek, just shy of touching my lips. “I should hate you. So much. But I don’t. I can’t.”
I don’t know what happens.
My eyes break.
A fucking rush of water pours out, and it doesn’t make any sense at all.
But I nod, too.
“I always wanted you,” I whisper to River. “Even before we fucked that first time. I didn’t want to ruin it though. Then I did anyway.”
“I never apologized to you,” River says, tucking hair behind my ear. “For what I said that day. I’m sorry. I was going to apologize when I got home, but then… everything happened, and I never told you I’m sorry. So… I am. I never should’ve said what I did.”
I laugh through the waterfall in my eyes. “I don’t know. You gave me a finger. That’s… more extreme. All because you came too fast.”
“Uh, wait, what?” Blaze leans closer. “Is this what you were talking about during that first night at the frat? Your first time was with Pandora?”
“And I lost my finger for it,” River says, but he doesn’t sound like he hates me anymore. “It was the day we found out about…” He trails off, then kisses me full on the lips. “It’ll be okay, Pandora. We’ve got you.”
Blaze lets out a long sigh. “Okay. Are we… well, not okay. But a bit more chill? Can we all get under the covers? Standing around naked is getting kind of cold.”
I tilt my head in his direction. “You just said you wanted to bemorechill, Blaze. That sounds like you should let your balls freeze some more.”
Blaze covers his mouth to stifle a laugh. “Fuck. That’s what I mean! Why are your stupid jokes so funny?”
“They’re not,” Asch says. “You just have a really horrible sense of humor.”
River shakes his head, but he also takes my hand and draws me toward the bed. “Let’s rest, Pandora. Blaze will order food for us.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Blaze goes for his phone. “And we’ll talk about… a lot of stuff later.”
Can I trust this?
Can I trustthem?
