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“I can totally see the outline of your… in those,” Ivy says, looking at my crotch.
“Nooo,” I argue, leaning over to look. “You guys are having me on, they’re just pants.”
“Sexy boyfriend pants that you should not be walking around the house in,” she replies with a little chuckle, linking her arm through mine. “What are you doing down here anyway?”
“Oh, I needed a shower,” I reply. “It just seemed easier to leave the other guys to it, with all my stuff being down here anyway.”
“You could change that, you know?”
“I will.”
“No pressure.”
She says it, but I’m not sure she feels it, probably still too raw from losing her best friend and wanting to cling to everyone she can. Even us.
“What did you watch?” I ask, changing the subject as we head up the stairs together and back to the suite.
“Dirty dancing.”
“Well, at least you didn’t carry on our film festival without us,” I reply, attempting to be light-hearted, despite the stone in the pit of my stomach.
“Well, if you’re all back, we could carry it on now?” she offers.
“Sounds good to me.”
And as we get in, the guys are already joking about on the sofas, but they light up the second she walks in, and I know exactly what has to be done.
TWENTY-FOUR
LEO
“He’s been acting strange, don’t you think?” Jacob asks, taking a huge bite from his avocado on toast.
“It’s a big change, just give him the opportunity to adjust properly, he’s perfectly fine.”
“It’s not that,” he argues. “Something feels off with him.”
“Is this a twin thing?” Ivy asks, coming into the kitchen and filling up her travel mug, the silk shorts that barely cover her sumptuous ass a complete crime.
She leans against the counter as he ponders the question.
“Yes and no. He hasn’t moved his things into the suite, he’s been working away on something in the office that he won’t talk about, and he hasn’t suggested a gym session, a run, or anything weights-related in like four days.”
“And that’s unusual?”
“Yes,” we both reply.
I hate to admit it, but Nick and I have more than one thing in common. Not least our need to work out daily, our inability to deal with other people’s crap, and our care for Jacob, Ivy and Wyatt. It’s not much on paper, but we’ve been getting on better, and it shows.
“I think he’s feeling left out.”
“I’ve requested a band,” Ivy admits. “It was a spur-of-the-moment thing while I was still in the blur of losing Tamsin, but it arrived yesterday. Charlotte brought it over for me.”
“Well, that’s not what I thought you were going to say,” I admit.
“I’m not going to tell you who to pick, that’s down to you, but Penelope has been trying it on with Nick again, and it would be great if we could make it clear to everyone that he’s with us and to leave him alone.”
“Again?”
