* * *
Not a care in the world.
* * *
Then started asking questions of Elsie.
* * *
Try again.
Fine.
Fine.
I was jealous.
Oh I know.
But if I can’t have you, no one can.
He didn’t reply for a few seconds, and I wondered if I’d gone too far. We’d both agreed we could date other people. Saying no one else could have him wasn’t at all what we’d agreed on at any point.
I started to type out another reply, telling him I was kidding…or find a way to backtrack from my response when he said:
Fair.
My insides squirmed at the answer.
It didn’t matter.
I couldn’t have him right now. It was all so fucking complicated. But I wanted him to be mine and no one else’s.
“Well,” Eve said, interrupting my thoughts as she slid into the seat next to me, “that was close.”
“What was?”
“Whitt almost realized that you and Chase were into each other.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m not going to tell him.”
“Uh…there’s…nothing going on with me and Chase.”
“Please. I saw y’all kiss at Jensen’s election party forever ago. I thought it was way over by now, but I was clearly wrong. I had to get Whitt out of there before he realized it, too.”
My mouth hung open, and not a single coherent thought came out of it. Finally, I gasped out, “No one else knows.”
“It’s fine.” She patted my hand. “I’m a good secret keeper.”
“Um…well…thanks?”
“No problem. Just be careful.”
“Because he’s ten years older than me?” I asked softly.
She shrugged. “I suppose that is a factor, but obviously, I dated his dad. So, I can’t talk.”