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“Hey that’s not fair. I did the right thing—” he protests.
Jasper holds his hands up. “I don’t know, Leo. The bottom line is that Ava is hurting right now, and she wouldn’t be if you’d kept your mouth shut.”
Leo presses his lips together, his face getting red. “That’s bullshit. I like her, and I’m not being dishonest with her from the start.”
We’re silent for a moment. Leo got right to the crux of the matter. If we’d let Ava know we were in on her secret, but didn’t give a damn about her, we wouldn’t care how she’s feeling today. We wouldn’t care that she probably wishes a hole in the ground would open up and swallow us whole.
But wedocare, and it’s high time we had a conversation about it.
I get it. I do. Ava’s humiliated, pissed, and exposed. Maybe even deceived. If I were her, I might feel the same. But what she doesn’t know is that we acted out of genuine concern. And speaking for myself, genuine interest, as well.
How do you communicate that to someone who looks at you like they want to stab you in the eye?
* * *
29
ETHAN
“Hey, Ava,”Jasper says, rapping his knuckles on her bedroom door, “Ethan, Leo, and I would like to talk to you.”
Nothing.
I step up to the closed door, but Leo pushes me aside.
Damn.
“Ava,” he says quietly, “I know I hurt you with what I told you the other night. I’m sorry. We all are and would like to talk to you about it.”
Still no response.
And then I lose it. I slam my open palm on Ava’s door. “Goddammit, Ava, open the door so we can have a conversation like grownups!” I yell.
Leo’s eyes are wide, and Jasper’s looking down at his feet, shaking his head like I really just messed up.
But I haven’t. Look, I’m in sales, and am damn good at what I do. I know people, I understand them, and I know how to handle them.
A few seconds later, in the silence, I hear bare feet padding toward the other side of the door. The lock clicks and Ava eases it open just enough to see a sliver of her face.
“What, Ethan?” she snaps.
“We need to talk,” I say, tempted to wedge my foot into the door opening.
She closes her eyes and sighs. “Why can’t you guys just leave me alone. I had my orgasm, which I’m sure Leo here told you all about. His big conquest. So, I’m good. Don’t need you anymore.”
Holy crap. What an asshole I am. It never occurred to me thatshewas usingus.
I respect that.
Jasper inserts himself. “Please come talk to us. Look, we’re roommates, for cripe’s sake. We gotta clear the air. I don’t want to be afraid to come home because you’re going to stab me to death in my sleep. You know?”
Okay, that got her. The tiniest sliver of a smile crooks up one corner of her mouth, revealing that damn adorable dimple. She pulls the door open all the way.
“Just so you know, talking about this does not mean I won’t stab you in your sleep,” she says, chin up.
We follow her to the living room, and damn if she doesn’t take the same chair she was in the other night when Jasper and I kissed her.
And now it’s hard to think, goddammit.
