Page 271 of End Game

“No.”

I smile. “What?”

“We just had filthy hotel sex. You do not get to make me cry now. That's emotionally manipulative.”

Micah leans across him. “You were really fucking good.”

Dex glares. “Traitor.”

Micah kisses him.

That keeps him quiet for a while.

When they separate, Dex exhales and reaches for both of us.

I tuck myself into one side.

Micah settles against the other, one arm stretching across Dex and me.

Outside the windows, Chicago glows below us.

Dex finds my hand beneath the blanket.

Micah's arm tightens around us.

For the first time since we landed, Dex is completely still.

“I love you guys,” he says quietly.

Everything in me stops.

Dex seems to realize what he said at almost the exact same time I do.

His fingers tighten around mine.

For once, he doesn't immediately fill the silence.

Doesn't make a joke.

He just looks at me.

And suddenly I'm back on our date months ago, listening to him stop himself before he could say something I already knew was sitting there.

Except he didn't stop this time.

“Dex.”

His eyes flick away. “Sorry. That just kind of—”

“Don't.”

He looks back at me.

I squeeze his hand. “Don't take it back.”

Something in his face breaks open. “I wasn't going to.”

His voice is smaller than I've ever heard it.