Page 10 of My Ex-Best Friends

9

***Logan***

Isettled in my chair in the living room with Colt and Noah taking the couch across from me. They looked as exhausted as I felt. Thankfully Brooke had disappeared upstairs as soon as we got home. I didn’t have a clue where she was going or if one of us would find her passed out in our bed but I didn’t care. I needed a fucking break from her. After watching her long legs strut around the bar for hours I was nearing a breaking point.

Not wanting to be sober yet, I took a long pull of my beer and sighed. “Shit.”

Noah rubbed his face and let out a humorless laugh. “Yep. We’re fucked.”

Just when I thought we were going to get a break, the sound of Brooke’s bare feet padding down the stairs made my body tighten. I glanced up and watched as she came into the living room, dressed in Colt’s clothes again, and sat on the couch between Noah and Colt.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She looked melancholy but when she opened her mouth, she shocked me again. “Do you think roaches have families? I can’t stop thinking about it. Is there a roach breadwinner who goes out and works? Or do you think their economy is shitty, too, and they can’t afford to have a singular breadwinner? What about roach school?”

Noah reached over and put his hand over her mouth. “Stop talking about roaches, Brooke.”

She sighed and pushed his hand away. “Okay. That’s fair.”

“So tonight was a bust.” I wanted to change the subject but when her face fell, I wanted to take the words back. “It’s fine. It was just one night.”

“We all know it’s not just one night. It’s my entire life. I’ve only ever known three good men and look what I did there… Maybe I just need to start over.”

A wave of panic left me feeling unmoored at the idea of her leaving already. “What do you mean?”

“I mean maybe I go back to the beginning of my dating life and do it all over again, but with the things I know now. I wouldn’t give my first kiss to AJ Commack behind a dumpster just to have him push me down right after.. I wouldn’t give Mike Colvin a handjob behind that same dumpster just to have him pretend he didn’t know me the next day. I’d relearn everything. I think somewhere along the way, my brain got all mixed up.”

“And losing your virginity? Would you change that?” Noah had grown more serious than I’d seen him in a long time. The look on his face made me think Brooke’s answer would determine how we all moved forward.

Her face lifted in a soft smile. “Never. You guys are the only good thing I’ve ever done.”

The air in the room grew thicker and I avoided looking at Colt or Noah, terrified of what I’d see in their faces. Hearing thosesoft words from her mouth felt like I’d been holding my breath, waiting on them for a decade.

“Okay, you think starting over will reprogram your brain to find good men?” Noah cleared his throat. “Explain your logic for me.”

“I can’t explain my logic, Noah. I’m a little drunk and it’s my wedding day.” She smirked up at him. “That means I don’t need to use logic.”

“Are we still your coaches?” I almost didn’t recognize my own voice. What was I doing?

“I don’t know. You guys weren’t very good at it.” She laughed and then shrugged. “Sure. Do you think I need coaches for starting over? I mean, how does that work? My logic and my planning aren’t up to par tonight. I need to redo my first kiss with a good man, I think. None of us know how to find a good man, though.”

Noah grunted. “We’re good men.”

Something embarrassingly close to butterflies erupted in my stomach. I sat forward. “Noah.”

Brooke rolled her eyes and patted his leg. “You guys don’t want to kiss me.”

“No one said anything about wanting to or not wanting to. You want to redo your first kiss with a good man and you just said yourself that we’re good men.” He flexed his fingers and leaned closer to her. “I’m just drunk enough to think this is a good idea, Brooke.”

“But… But…you don’t want-”

“Fuck it.” Colt grabbed her and tugged her into his lap so he could lower his mouth to hers. Brooke was limp in his arms for a few seconds and then she erupted like a fucking volcano. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she tilted her mouth to kiss him deeper. She came to life in his arms and I watched Colt struggle to keep his hands still on her hips.

It ended as soon as it started with Colt putting her back down on the couch next to him. Brooke sank back in the cushions and touched her lips. She looked shocked.

“Now we don’t have to talk about it for the next two hours.” Colt stood up and stomped off, leaving the three of us to sit in silence.

Brooke finally looked from Noah to me and then she giggled. “Well, that was something.”

Noah growled, his frustration clear. “I’d already made up my mind that I was going to kiss you. That ass.”

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