I leaned down and grabbed the phone with the freshly cracked screen, my eyes staying on Jack. “What are you saying—you’re cool with this?”
“Gross. Fuck. I don’t know.” He made a face like something smelled bad and said, “I know you’re a good guy, so if you really like her and don’t plan on screwing her over, I’m not going to end our friendship over this.”
I was honestly shocked to hear that.
“But I’m gonna need a brain scrub after what I read. Like, the sight of you two together is probably going to make me projectile vomit. Take this as a warning.”
That made me laugh, which made him laugh, too.
“Noted,” I said, feeling so damned relieved that I kind of wanted to hug Jack.
“Vomit fucking everywhere.” He walked out to the living room but kept talking. “A bloodbath, only it’s puke instead of blood.”
“Got it.”
“The Exorcist level of split pea ralphing.”
“It’s puke.” I followed him out of the office and said, “I get it.”
“Did you ever see that scene in Carrie, with the bucket of pig’s blood? It’ll be like that, only instead of pig’s blood—”
“Holy shit, Jack,” I said, laughing. “Will you shut up about the puke already?”
Olivia
My heart was in my throat when I heard the knock. I’d never been intimidated by Colin, but for some reason I was super nervous to apologize.
Probably because he’d waited an hour to respond, and then all he’d texted was K.
I cleared my throat and pulled open the door.
And there he was. His face was serious, hard, unreadable, and so handsome that I was torn between fear and excitement. His hair was kind of a mess, though, and he had a couple red marks on his face.
I said, “Hey. Come on in.”
He walked right at me, making me shuffle backward. He let the door slam behind us as he towered just over me and said, “I’ve got good news and bad news.”
I opened my mouth—what were words?—and closed it again. I hadn’t expected him to say that.
Or to be right up in my personal space.
I managed, “Um. What’s the good news?”
His face softened a little and he gave me a smirk before he said, “I’ve decided to forgive you.”
“Oh. Good.” His smile went hot—and dirty—and made me nervous again but in a different way. I cleared my throat and asked, “Well, what’s the bad news?”
His smile slipped and his blue eyes moved all over my face before he said, “Your brother knows about us.”
“What? Oh, my God!” My mouth dropped open and I couldn’t stop it. “How? How do you know? What did he say?”
He turned away from me and went into my kitchen. “So what’d you do tonight, Marshall? You look nice.”
What?
“Um, thank you. Went on a date.” I stared at his back and begged, “For the love of God, tell me about my brother.”
He grabbed two beers from the fridge and passed one to me, giving me a half smile. “Relax. Tell me about your date first.”
I took the beer but instead of responding, I rolled my eyes and left the kitchen.
“I’m going outside,” I said, going through the living room and out onto the dark deck, needing a little space for a split second. I had no idea what was happening, and I didn’t like it.
He didn’t seem fazed at all by Jack’s knowledge of what happened between us, which was bizarre. And not only that, but he was seemingly not upset with me at all over my bitchery.
It felt like he was messing with me. Like the old-school Colin of my childhood, the one who toyed with me but ultimately made me feel like shit.
I turned around and waited for him so my backside was resting against the railing, and when he came through the sliding door I said, “It was just a blind date.”
“And . . . ?” He dropped into my deck chair, stretching out his legs while opening his beer.
“And . . . nice guy but no chemistry.” I cracked open my own can and said, “Now tell me what the hell happened with Jack.”
“Well,” he said, looking at me like I was some sort of a rambunctious child, “after you dragged me out into the hallway, yelled at us and then just took off, your brother beat me to my phone and read your text messages.”
“Seriously?” I knew I’d texted the words Sex Night, so it wouldn’t have been hard for him to do the math. And Jack had always been an overprotective brother, so his reaction wasn’t a surprise, either. “Oh, my God, I am so sorry. What did you do? What did you say? Did you tell him it was just a onetime mistake?”