AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Either way, she got on the phone immediately and started spouting out numbers and dates at such a fast clip I had full confidence Dev would end up in this house. While she spoke on the phone, we ventured back toward the car, stopping for a moment under the changing leaves of the cherry tree. The light reflected off the brick of the house, making it almost glow orange in the setting sun. It was like an omen, a sign that this was the right decision.
“Why a house? Why now?” Dev already owned a townhouse near the city. It was well-designed and decorated but basic, and I’d joked that I would buy him a couple throw pillows for his birthday. I’d been there a couple times before but never for long, considering Dev seemed to spend most of his time - both for work and his free time - at Alex and Ames’s house.
Dev kept his eyes on the house, eyebrows furrowing as he frowned, lost in thought for a moment. “I have a feeling I’m going to need it soon.”
After Dev dropped me off, I walked into the apartment with my head held high, both so I could physically meet Bex’s eyes and to show as little heartbreak as possible when Bex told me what a mistake I was. How we had to end what had barely started between us the night before.
Except she didn’t end it. I spent half of the next few days avoiding Bex to avoid the conversation and the other half walking on eggshells, trying to act like I wasn’t affected but still flinching every time she walked into the room, waiting for the inevitable rejection. The “what we did was fun, but…” or “I got caught up in the moment…”
Bex attempted casual conversation, as if trying to backtrack into a friendship, and I knew she could see the unease growing on my face with each question she asked.
It wasn’t the questions that made me uncomfortable. I’d always been an over-sharer, my mouth moving faster than my brain, and I tended to ramble when I got nervous. But Bex had been immune to my constant questions and attempts to bond, ignoring me completely or answering in single words to shut me down. Now we’d almost switched places, with Bex reaching out while I attempted to protect myself. Not from the questions, but from the small flare of hope that kept re-lighting every time she spoke to me.
Each time Bex would smile at me or talk to me, I’d start to second-guess myself, wondering if she was interested. But my brain would quickly remind me that Bex would’ve come after me and taken what she wanted. If she wanted it. But days went by without Bex touching me or even referencing our tryst in the haunted house. She didn’t bully me, intimidate me, or try to play the games I’d admitted to enjoying.
So when Ames invited us over for dinner a few days after the haunted house, I jumped at the chance to get a change of scenery. To stop spending my weak moments avoiding Bex and my stronger moments preparing myself to be rejected, even if the reprieve only lasted a few hours.
Ames and Dev plied me with apple pie shots and homemade spiked apple cider, sensing my mood as soon as I walked in the door. Ames had clearly committed to cooking and juicing her way through the excessive amount of apples we had each ended up with, while I’d taken the hide-them-in-Dev’s-car-and-gym-bag approach.
As a result of their attention, I was pleasantly buzzed by the time we finished dinner and another round of apple-themed desserts. My cheeks felt flushed, but I could still think clearly, with just enough of a haze to keep me from wallowing.
That is, until Ames asked, “By the way, how was the haunted house?”
I hadn’t had a chance to catch her up with how everything went, since she and Alex had been out of town for their long weekend in the mountains. While we had texted occasionally, I didn’t want to ruin her mini vacation. Plus, that conversation wasn’t meant to be had over a phone. It was a lay-on-the-couch-and-get-wine-drunk conversation. Apparently, Bex felt the same, clearly not filling her sister in on the date and the awkwardness that had come afterward.
I watched as Ames frowned slightly when Bex caught her eye, the two of them silently communicating back and forth. The sister telepathy act - which I usually found cute - grated on my nerves, knowing I was the one they were talking about. Ames’s grin felt a little more forced when she brought her eyes back to mine, waiting for an answer.
“Fantastic,” I answered, tipping my second spiked cider back and gulping down the last of it. I held up the empty glass in a poor attempt to cover my escape, and then slipped out the patio doors and into the cool night air.
I laid by the side of the pool, letting my hand trail in the warm water - silently thanking Alex for having the foresight to have a heater installed - as I looked up at the stars and mulled over what happened at the haunted house for the thousandth time.
I knew Bex was attracted to me, small moments between us confirming what I’d been hoping for months. Bex staking her claim on me in front of Paige. The heat in her eyes after she pushed me in the pool. When she stood and watched as I touched myself, commanding me in a hoarse voice to say her name.
The haunted house was the culmination of every tense moment between us for the last few weeks. Hell, the last few months.
I’d told Ames that Bex was an itch that needed to be scratched. That I’d be able to sate my curiosity and walk away, but it’d been three days and my skin felt tight, my very being calling out for Bex’s touch, for her lips to meet mine rather than just the column of my throat. Every day that went by without her touching me, I grew more desperate.
The last few days had me doubting myself, but now, with the alcohol blurring my self-conscious thoughts, I realized Bex still wanted me. Despite having no proof, I felt the evidence in my bones, the knowledge that one night wouldn’t have been enough to sate the hunger I’d seen plainly in her eyes. Even if she wouldn’t act on it, if she was convinced we were better as friends, she still wanted me. Funny how that was all I wanted weeks ago, and now every part of me recoiled at the word.
So I determined, in a moment of clarity - and unfounded bravery - brought on by the alcohol, that I’d simply break Bex again. I’d done it before, by flirting and playing her games, forcing her to confront the attraction and the way I made her feel.
I’d play my hand before she could end it between us, if only to satisfy the need that coursed through my body every time it was in close proximity to hers. If she didn’t have the balls to break up with me aloud, if she thought a stack of pancakes would do the job for her, I’d be the one to break the strange silence between us. I’d make her admit what she wanted in the haunted house. What she still wanted.
Chapter18
Bex
I foundWren floating in the pool. After she disappeared, Dev made his exit, unable to leave his post for too long. Ames pulled Alex upstairs shortly after, telling me with a look to fix whatever had gone down between Wren and me.
Too bad I didn’t fucking know what I’d done wrong. Most of the time, I could very clearly see my mistakes after I made them, easily pointing to the moment where I’d misstepped. Where that off-balance feeling had reared its head to push me to do something reckless. It was usually too late to fix anything at that point, but at least Iknew.
But this time it was the opposite. I tried my hardest to keep a cool head these past few days. Playing nicely with Wren, keeping my hands to myself, getting to know her outside of the games we’d been playing. And yet she still escaped the moment anyone alluded to our time together. To take a midnight swim, apparently.
Steam rose from where the heated pool water hit the cool night air. Her hair was a black cloud floating around her face, and I licked my lips at the sight of her. I’d seen her in a bathing suit dozens of times this summer, all of the suits sweet and girly and covering a similar amount of skin to what she wore now. But the pink bralette and panties she wore now were sheer, allowing me to see everything I’d felt at the haunted house. I saw the dark brown of her nipples through the pink mesh of her bra, the water making the material cling to the peaks.
“I know you want me.” Her eyes were closed as she slowly paddled her hands through the water to keep herself afloat. She sounded indignant, as if she thought I planned to argue with her.
“Have I done something to indicate otherwise?” I asked, my eyebrow raised. I kept it raised, waiting a few beats until she jerked her torso upward, her feet barely touching the bottom of the pool.
