Chapter 12
TWELVE
Shane
Rhett and I ended up seeing an action movie that was new to both of us. It had some big actors in it with lots of explosions and deaths. It was perfect and kept our minds off of each other.
When the movie was over, he drove me home. Once we pulled up in front of the apartment building I lived in, he killed the engine and gripped the steering wheel tight.
“I’m giving you an out.”
My head whipped around. “What?”
“I’m giving you an out,” he repeated, keeping his gaze straight ahead. “If this is too weird because of Brady, I get it. It’s weird for me too. But...”
“It’s not. Not for me anyway. But if it is for you.
..” I was really regretting my life choices at the moment.
Brady and I never should have fucked but we had been bored.
One thing led to another, and we began sleeping together for months.
At one point I thought he was the one, but I learned quickly that it was just sex.
No matter how much I wished at the time that it wasn’t.
“It’s not,” Rhett muttered but he still wouldn’t look at me.
I nodded, opening the passenger door. “Thank you for the movie and for driving me home. See you later, Rhett.” Before he could say anything, I left his vehicle and closed the door.
Making my way to the apartment building, I didn’t bother looking behind me to see if Rhett was following me.
The sound of his engine starting was an answer enough all on its own.
Once I was in the foyer, I let out a long breath. My chest was tight. I wished Rhett would have come after me. I even waited a minute, thinking that he decided to just park and would come into the building after. He didn’t.
Instead, I headed up to the tenth floor. I lived by myself, but I would often come home to Noah or Presley being there. It was like we still lived together. I never minded. Especially tonight. I needed the company, so I hoped that at least one of them was there.
The four of us used to live together but after a few too many beers, I confessed that I wanted to try living by myself for a while. The guys were understanding but demanded that I still give them a key.
The guys understood why I needed the change and never asked about it. Noah and I often talked about it privately because he was going through an odd situation with Presley’s brother. At the time, I had been fucking my best friend.
“We just like keeping things interesting,” he had told me with a wink.
Keeping things interesting was an understatement.
When I finally reached my apartment, I walked in to Presley and Noah sitting on the couch in the living room. They were playing a video game and eating from a large bowl of popcorn they shared between them.
“You know that you guys don’t actually live here, right?” I teased.
“You have video games, food, and beer,” Presley said, like that explained everything.
I laughed, shaking my head, appreciating that they were there when I really didn’t want to be alone.
“Night off?” It wasn’t unusual for them to play video games and pig out on junk food at my place but it was early. It was also Saturday night, which meant the bar would be easier.
“We were sent home,” Noah explained, turning to me. “But we didn’t want to actually go home because that’s boring.”
“Brady told us to take the night off and that he would help the staff,” Presley added.
“Oh.” I sat on the love seat opposite them. “Was it slow?”
“Not really,” Noah answered. “But we weren’t really needed. Jasmine kept saying that we were getting in the way.”
Jasmine was one of our original waitresses. She was good at her job and the customers loved her. She also hardly ever called in sick and picked up shifts when we needed her to without any complaints.
“How was your date?” Noah grinned, waggling his eyebrows.
“I didn’t have a date.” My cheeks heated.
He chuckled, pointing at me. “Yeah, you did.”
“Dad said you left with someone,” Presley pointed out. “It was probably Rhett.”
“Unlikely.” Noah’s laugh deepened. “Could you imagine? Your dad said that Rhett had some business to take care of or something.”
“True. It wasn’t like Rhett would do anything stupid like sleep with his son’s ex-boy...” He paused. “Whatever that was.”
While they joked amongst themselves, my face heated even more. They may have been joking but everything they were saying was the truth.
When they noticed that I hadn’t laughed or wasn’t joking along with them, they looked between each other.
Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it.
“It’s you,” Noah said, a wide grin spreading on his face. “Isn’t it?”
Presley glanced at him. “Him? Who? What?”
“It is.” Noah laughed, sitting back in the chair. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
I only shrugged because what the hell was I going to say? There was no way I could deny it because clearly it was written all over my face. I was a shitty liar anyway and I sure as hell couldn’t lie to them.
“Wait.” Presley’s eyes widened, finally putting the pieces together. “You’re fucking Rhett?”
I winced at the vulgar way he put it. “I’d say he’s fucking me but...” I shrugged again.
“How did this start?” Noah asked. “Does Brady know? Are you dating his dad? I need to know everything.”
I laughed that time. “We’re supposed to be working together on this project to help both of our businesses.
One thing led to another and...he took me on a date tonight.
” And I wanted it to happen again and again.
The fact that Rhett was Brady’s dad, didn’t bother me so much.
Not anymore. It was how Brady was going to feel about it, that bugged me.
I didn’t know how he would react. I thought I knew him but there was an unwritten rule that clearly, I broke.
“How do you think Brady will react?” Presley asked, taking the question out of my head.
“I don’t know. How did you react when you found out your brother was sleeping with Noah?” I didn’t mean to put Noah on the spot like that, but I had to know I wasn’t alone.
“Uh...” Presley looked at Noah before glancing back at me.
Noah seemed to cower in his seat. I bet if he could, he would let the couch swallow him up or punch me in the face.
“I didn’t take it well,” Presley said softly. “But it wasn’t because Noah was...is sleeping with my brother. It’s because I don’t want him—” He jutted his chin in Noah’s direction. “—to get hurt. My brother is an ass and refuses to settle down.”
“I’m fine with what we’re doing,” Noah muttered but a sense of longing practically seeped from his pores. It didn’t need to be written on his face or for him to even voice those words. He wanted more with Nicky.
“Yeah.” Presley snorted, rolling his eyes. “Sure.”
“Okay, so you obviously got over it. How?” I tried to take the pressure off of Noah but clearly Presley was having none of it.
“I didn’t.” Presley stood from the couch and went to the kitchen.
“I’m sorry,” I told Noah.
“It’s fine. I made my bed.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what Nicky’s deal is, but I think he was hurt by someone or maybe he’s just bored. I don’t know. He won’t tell me. I even tried asking his dad.”
“Did that help?”
“Not really.” Noah paused. “I guess my only piece of advice is...do what you want and follow your heart, but you do have to tell Brady.”
“That’s not overly helpful,” I muttered.
“Well...” He shrugged. “I never said it was good advice.”