Page 40 of Her Crew

I pull out of her and zip up my pants. Tye has already dressed. He looks down at the floor, and I can’t tell if he feels bad about what just happened.

The ramifications of this moment will make themselves known eventually. We’ve either forged a new, stronger bond . . . or we’ve completely destroyed each relationship entirely. For now, we need rest and time to process everything that occurred tonight.

Chapter 22

Tegan

I’m sore, but in the best kind of way. I’ve never had two guys at once before. I was scared at first. Being with two men goes against norms, and I assumed I’d get in trouble after, that Alec would be mad at me, even though he’d asked for it. Even as he came around to kiss me, I feared I’d feel the bite of admonishment.

But that isn’t what happened at all. Alec held me as if another man’s touch brought us closer, and despite the fear, I felt closer to him. I felt comforted. Safe. And for the first time in a long time, I slept like a fucking baby.

There’s a knock on the door, and I get out of bed and look through the peephole. It’s Tye. Will things be weird between us? I take a breath and open the door so that I can find out.

“Alec went to meet with Stacks,” I say.

“That’s okay. I’ll wait for him.”

Tye breezes into the room and plops down on the messy bed. He glances at the crumpled sheet where he hovered over me last night. I sit beside him, and his hand hooks around my waist and pulls me closer to him. I freeze before relaxing into his touch. My face rests against his neck. I expected this to be less okay—extra weird, even—but it isn’t. This feels completely normal. But we don’t kiss. I don’t want to betray Alec, and it’s clear he doesn’t want to either.

“I like you, princess,” he whispers after a long silence.

“I don’t know why either of you do.”

He lifts my face to make me look into his eyes. “Because you’re beautifully broken like me and Ace.”

My heart flutters in my chest. “What happened to you, Tye?”

“I wasn’t the abused one like Alec. I had to witness it. In technicolor fucking detail.”

I grip his arm and turn it toward the light. “Is that why you cut?”

His cheeks flame red. “It’s the only control I had. And I deserved to feel a fraction of the pain my little sister felt. I didn’t do enough to stop it.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died.”

“Oh god, Tye. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. Whatever’s in the afterlife has to be better than the hell on this earth.”

Our foreheads touch as we feel the unbearable pain between us.

The door whips open, and Ace walks in. Tye and I rip away from each other, but Alec doesn’t look twice. This is going to take getting used to. For both of us.

Ace turns toward us and smirks, lifting the piercing below his eye. “God, just kiss each other already.”

Is the tension that thick that he knows just by looking at us? Tye doesn’t hesitate the way he did before. He just hooks his hand behind my neck and drags me into him for a kiss. My lips spread on his, and soon there’s a hand brushing back my hair.

“You look so fucking beautiful when he kisses you, pup,” Alec whispers as he strokes my hair. His hand forms a fist and drags me away from Tye so that he can kiss me too. He possessively kisses me until I taste his jealousy and the sexually charged push-and-pull. And I like how it feels on my tongue.

Tye pulls me into him for his turn, and I’ve never felt so wanted. So attractive.

Tye eases back and brushes his hand through his long hair. He’s panting, feeling as frustrated as I am, it seems. “What did Stacks say?” he asks, trying to get back to the reason he came by in the first place.

“Rolo won’t be a problem anymore,” Alec says. “He’s gone.”

“Gone as in left, or gone as in—” Tye pulls two fingers across his throat.