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Once Maddox gets to the last one—me—I decide to make it harder on him. “Peach margarita on the rocks with top-shelf tequila, sugar rim, a splash of lime, and a jalapeño slice in it.”
With his jaw hanging open, he stares at me. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“Nope.” I shake my head. “Now go on. Repeat all the orders, starting with Levi.” I point to the other end of the table.
Maddox looks down there and surprisingly gets the first drink right. He misses Jules’s and Mateo’s orders but gets Camden’s and Blaire’s right.
He looks at Trazia. “Liquor-free strawberry daiquiri for the virgin.”
This time Camden hears what he says. “What the fuck, dude?”
Maddox shrugs. “Just messing, man.”
Camden glares but lets it go. Trazia shrinks back into her seat.
Since we’ve gotten here and been able to get to know Camden’s sister, I have noticed she is usually snappy and sarcastic, but when Maddox is around, she is quieter than shy Blaire.
Maddox gets Conrad’s order wrong and curses. When he looks at me, there is clear frustration all over his face. His eyebrows pull together and he points a finger at me. “You know what, fuck you. You’ve been doing it for a long time.”
We all laugh as Maddox mumbles, annoyed.
“Just admit what they do is hard. You’ve seen how busy that place gets on game days,” Mateo tells him.
“Fine,” Maddox reluctantly admits. He crosses his arms over his chest and sinks into his seat.
Warm lips touch my cold neck as everyone breaks off into hushed conversations. Our food has long been eaten and we have all been lounging around under the stars.
“You are so sexy when you’re putting Mad in his place,” Conrad whispers against my neck. I lean to the side, giving him better access as his lips explore.
“Hmm, it felt pretty good. He’s always such a smart-ass and needed to be humbled.”
Conrad nibbles on my earlobe, causing me to moan. “Let’s go to our room.”
The temptation is strong, especially when he’s being sweet like this. “It’s our last night here. Blaire and I got stuff to make s’mores. Why don’t we hang out with our friends first and then I’m yours all night?”
He groans and drops his head onto my shoulder. “Fine, but I’m holding you to that ‘all night’ statement.”
I laugh and push him off my shoulder. “S’mores time, ladies and gentlemen.”
Blaire claps her hands together. “Oh yay, I’ve been waiting for this. My first s’more.”
“Did you grow up under a rock, Blaire baby? Who’s never had a s’more?” Maddox asks, shocked.
She rolls her eyes as she gets up and goes to get the s’mores supplies. “Shut up.”
I help Levi and Jules clear the table as everyone else goes to claim chairs around the firepit. Conrad grabs a beer from the cooler and drops into one of the seats. With my hands filled with paper plates, I watch him as he takes a long pull from the neck of the bottle. Now without anyone around and with him thinking no one is watching, I can see the tension in his body. Something is going on with him and he hasn’t talked to me about it at all. I’m afraid if I push him to tell me what is going on, he is going to close up.
After dumping the last of the plates and other trash into the bin outside, I head over to Conrad and join him in the seat next to his. Without looking, Conrad reaches over and links our fingers together. He squeezes my hand and rests it on my armrest. As he takes another sip of his beer, I study his face. His jaw is tense, eyes slightly squinted as he is deep in thought, not paying attention to our friends’ conversations around us.
Asking him what’s wrong is on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t want to push Conrad. If he wanted me to know or my help, he would have asked. Conrad has never been an open individual and is more closed off than I would like. While I try to respect his need to keep things to himself, I’m someone who needs more communication. I want Conrad and me to have what my best friend and Camden have found. Never have I seen a couple more in love and open with each other.
After going through a hard part in their relationship last year when Blaire walked in on Camden in bed with another woman, only for it to not be what it looked like, the two of them have made it a point to always tell each other everything. Blaire had ended up leaving and none of us knew where she was for three days, and that entire time Camden was going insane with her out there thinking he cheated on her.
While I don’t want Conrad and I to go through something as horrible as that in our relationship, I would like to have him be more open with me. Not that I need to know his deepest, darkest secrets, but I would like for him to feel like I am someone he could come to when he has something sitting heavy on his mind like I can tell he does now.
Blaire comes around, passing out sticks and marshmallows. Everyone is smiling around the fire as they roast their marshmallows. Conrad stares at his burning white pillow of sugar at the end of the stick. I bump my shoulder into his.
“Hey, handsome,” I say with a smile.
