Page 125 of Something So Strong

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my first adult relationship.

“Well, isn’t this the golden fucking ticket? "Romeo splutters.

Trying to make myself as small as possible, I bring my legs to my chest and curl into the arm of the sofa.

I’m not ashamed. I don’t care who knows, with the caveat that Romeo didn’t find out in this exact way. If I were the one to tell him, fine, but when our shared love language is a constant battle of one-upmanship, this is not the kind of ammunition I need him to have.

“Don’t worry, Pretty Baby.” Kai’s hand grips my shoulder. “Everyone here knows I’m irresistible. It’s not your fault. It’s my insatiable animal magnetism.”

“He does have a point,” Cleo chimes in. Uninvited. As always.

Always.

Always.

She’s always fucking there.

Ever since Nate took over from Andy as head bartender and Romeo permanently tethered himself to Kendall’s hip, Cleo’s constant shit-stirring has taken the term grating to dizzying new heights.

Weakened but not deterred, I spin and nuzzle into Kai’s side. “I’m hungry.”

With a sigh, Kai holds his hand out to Cleo. “Where’s the other bag?”

“I’m not your slave,” she scoffs, but hands him a reusable shopping bag, anyway.

“You used to be.” The words roll off Kai’s tongue like having fucked half of your friend group is completely normal. “Here, Pretty. I’m always thinking of you.”

Taking the bag from him, I shift position and rummage through it. “Crisps and nuts? You’re kidding, right? This isn’t sustenance.”

“It’s all you’re gonna get,” he sasses me. “Eating is cheating.”

“Eating is cheating,” Romeo and Cleo emphatically repeat.

Kendall looks between them. “What?”

“Oh, I love you so much,” Cleo says in condescending adjacent baby-talk, and makes her way to sit on Kendall’s lap. Pinching her cheeks, she screws up her nose and blows a kiss against her smooshed lips. “It means eating weakens the alcohol’s effect. Sure, responsible adults would make sure they consumed a hearty meal before a night of drinking, but since when have you ever known us to be responsible?”

“Oh yeah, of course.” Kendall shakes her head out of Cleo’s hands and acts as best as she knows how to bluff her way out of another embarrassing situation.

“It’s fine, Ken.” Romeo pushes Cleo’s shoulder—not violently, but hard enough to send her toppling backwards onto the empty sofa cushion beside Kendall.

Cackling to herself like a crazy woman, Cleo straightens her legs up into the air before letting them fall sideways—the perpetual motion forcing her body to tumble to the ground. Then, all class, she crawls towards the remaining beers and tears herself another bottle.

“If you wanna eat something, you should.” Romeo takes a bag of crisps and opens them. “I know you’ve not—”

“I’m not hungry.” Kendall pushes the crisps away with the back of her hand. “I’m not ten. I know what I’m doing.”

With a snicker in my ear, Kai’s endlessly needy hands tug me back to his side as my eyes remain latched on Romeo’s and how they track from Kendall’s mostly finished beer to her defiantly crossed arms. Gulping down the remaining mouthful of his own drink, instead of seeking another, Romeo sinks back into the Chesterfield, crosses one leg squarely over the other, and begins eating the crisps himself.

“So much for eating is cheating,” Kai’s low voice slinks into my ear as his nose traces from its upper curve and across to my temple.

On second thought, is a night out really that good of an idea?

A few beers have proved enough to send our minds into an acceptable realm of forgetfulness of events recently passed. Maybe the pair of us should just call it a night, retire to one of our rooms, and do that thing we’d been talking about almost non-stop until all hell broke loose and our family was torn the fuck apart.

Yes, I nod my head to myself.

Now seems like the perfect time to admit ninety-five percent of my inhibitions don’t exist anymore—

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