AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, you know.” I shrug merrily. “My usual max. Four-ish months?”
“Why’d you break up?” BJ asks, face daring, spinning the gold-plated bracelet from Bottega Veneta around his wrist mindlessly.
I stare over at him, suck in on my bottom lip.
Because he told me he loves me and even then I knew I wouldn’t love anyone else ever again.
It’s BJ or bust.
But instead I find myself shrugging. “He was too much for me in the sack.”
BJ sniffs, annoyed. Shakes his head, looks away from me.
“Alright.” Jonah nods. “So give us a breakdown of your time in New York then—”
“Okay, well I arrived last December. My family flew over just before Christmas and we went to Whistler with Tom. Then he and I spent New Years in Hawaii with the Foster sisters, and then in January I—”
“—I meant sexually,” Jonah interrupts.
Henry gives him a look as Taura glances at him.
“Bit pervy,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “No, it’s just — you and casual sex? It’s like watching a dog walk on its hind legs... like, I cannot fathom it.”
Christian gestures at me. “It’s pretty confusing, your timeline over there.”
“No, it’s not.” I shake my head as I cuff the jacket of his black Dante Nubuck trucker jacket from Nudie Jeans. “I mean, after you and I hooked up then I—”
BJ’s cutlery clatters and he looks over at me with threadbare eyes at the same time Christian yells, “Parks!” and slinks back into his seat. “What the f—?! Why the fuck would you—”
Jonah presses his hands into his eyes.
“Thought we decided to keep that one under our hats.” Henry gives me a look.
Beej has gone dead still.
“Listen, drama queens.” I hold up a hand to silence them both. “Baxter James Ballentine had P in V sex in a bathtub at the height of our relationship with the girl who used to be my best friend.”
“No way.” Taura gives me a sarcastic smile. “This is brand new information.”
“Yeah — but—” Christian holds his own forehead, distressed. “He’s gonna fucking fr—”
“It’s fine,” BJ tells him, but the words are empty. I seize the opportunity regardless.
“Thank you, Ballentine.” I clear my throat. “I really do feel like BJ fucking Paili and then lying about it for three years gives Christian and I a little bit of leeway to have nearly had sex one night in a lift in New York.”
I give BJ my politest, meanest smile.
“So why’d you two only almost fuck, then?” BJ asks, nodding his chin at me from across the table. “What stopped you?”
Christian sighs and looks away, shaking his head.
He was sad about Daisy, I was fucked up about Beej. Drunk.
I don’t know how or when throughout the night we started touching each other, it was hands brushing at first then holding, his hands on my legs, then my waist, and then we were in the lift on the way up to my apartment and he pinned me against the wall, hands everywhere, big kisses like we used to, hands under clothes. I pushed the lift stop button and got to the buckle of his belt when he grabbed my hand. “I still love her,” he told me.
I nodded. “I still love him.”
