Page 68 of Reckless With You

Because I knew I needed to be truthful.

But I didn’t know where to start.

“Was it really the same with Tobey, though?” Erin asked, bringing me out of my reverie.

I frowned.

“What do you mean by that?”

“We all thought you had something with Tobey, but it was as if you were waiting. Like something wasn’t truly there,” Erin continued.

“You know, she’s right. You’re happier with Tucker. At least there’s nowill they, won’t they. You guys just are. And I know you slept together. I can see it on your face,” Zoey said, pointing at me.

I rubbed at my cheek, wincing.

“You can tell?”

“Well, it’s not like you actually have it on your face,” Erin said. Zoey and I both froze, looking over at her.

“Did you just make a semen joke?” I asked, shaking my head.

“Not a very good one. I really hope it’s not on your face. I mean…shower much?”

I winced, shaking my head even as I held back laughter.

“Okay, yes, Tucker and I had sex. There. Don’t tell my brother.”

Erin held up her hands, looking completely innocent.

“I am not going to tell your brother that you had sex with his best friend. I’m pretty sure he already knows, though.”

My eyes widened. “He can’t know. He hasn’t seen Tucker yet.”

I’d made sure of that. Because the two of us needed to come clean to my brother as soon as we saw him next. There would be no more lying, no more making Tucker feel like a horrible person. I was still a horrible person, but Tucker did not deserve that. So, we planned to tell my brother. Not that we knew exactly what to say or what we were to each other. But shady label totally worked for us. We didn’t have to know exactly who we were with one another, as long as everyone else knew that what we were was our business.

I had actually gone through and tried to write out exactly what I was going to say a few times but came up with nothing.

“Okay, let’s go back to what we were talking about,” I said quickly.

Erin frowned. “Okay, what were we talking about?”

“You can’t get out of it that quickly,” Zoey said, exasperated. “Tell us what’s on your mind. Did Beth come back again?”

I’d told them about what had happened with Beth and then Tobey when they first showed up, and none of us could really figure out what to say about it. “You mean in the ten seconds that you’ve been here?” I asked, snorting.

“I should have said is there anythingelseto do with Beth and Tobey. I cannot believe she showed up like that.”

“As someone who’s almost been the other woman, or the original woman, I can understand being all territorial. It’s just that I don’t quite understand where she’s coming from,” Erin said, frowning.

“The difference is that your husband was actually cheating on you,” I snapped and then went still. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh. He was totally cheating on me. And that’s fine. He and that woman are going to be happily married or doing whatever they want. And that’s fine with me, too. I’m much happier now. As for Beth? It sounds like she’s intimidated by you. Hell, I would be intimidated by you.”

“Ouch.” I rubbed my chest over my heart, and she just smiled at me.

“That’s not what I meant. I know Tobey told Tucker something stupid in the parking lot, but what I said had nothing to do with that. All I mean is that, on the outside, you and Tobey had this amazing connection, and that could intimidate anyone. Maybe she saw that and reacted poorly because of it.”

“That doesn’t justify her behavior or the way Tobey’s acting.”

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