Page 62 of True Blue

I nod again, knowing he can’t see. “I love you, Axel.”

He laughs, sounding breathless. “Ditto is the best I can do right now, babe. But just wait until you’re standing in front of me.”

I laugh, smiling for the first time since I touched down in Georgia. “See you in a few hours, Axe.”

“See you soon, Blue.”

29

Ihang up the phone, staring at it in my hand for a minute, heart thumping. Then, without thinking much about it, I’m calling Bentley, continuing to pace my bedroom and running a hand through my hair. It rings several times before the generic voicemail audio starts playing. I glance at a clock and realize he won’t be touching down in Zurich for at least another two hours.

The record tone goes off in my ear and I take a breath. “Hi, Bent. Hope your flight was good. Also wish you were here right now. Janette’s on her way to Maine. Her mom fucking ambushed her with Christopher and then belittled her when Janette tried to stand up for herself.” I stop pacing, pressing my nails into my shaking palm. “I’m so fucking pissed right now, Bent. If Blue didn’t need me to be here, I would be on the first plane down there and banging down Aunt Sandy’s door.” I release my fist and run my hand through my hair, pulling it a bit and gritting my teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I let go of all the built-up tension on the long exhale. “But I can’t. You would tell me; I need to be here for Blue.” I close my eyes. “I really wish you were here. You’d be able to calm both of us down so much better than I can. I’mtoo mad right now.” I stare at the photo of Mom with Dad, Aunt Sandy, and Uncle Levi on the wall. My eyes get stuck on Mom’s smiling face. “I’m sorry about what I said before you left. That wasn’t fair. I know you want to tell Mira when it’s the best time to do so. I shouldn’t have ruined that moment.”

I bite my lip. “I love you too, Bentley. I should have just said that back in the suite, but I’m not going to make you wait to hear it since you actually waited for my reaction.” I chuckle, remembering Janette just walking out of the suite while I tried to restart my brain. “I love you.” A smile stretches across my face. “I’m going to tell Blue when she gets here too. I know I sort of said it in my voicemail, but I'm going to say it for real to her face.” I sigh. “I still can’t believe Aunt Sandy invited that prick over to try to force Blue to talk to him again. You need to call her when you touch down. I don’t know what time her flight will touch down here, but I’ll text you the details when I have them. I love you. Call me when you get this.”

I hang up, checking my messages to see if there’s anything from Janette yet.

“You suck at leaving voicemails,” Layla says, and my head snaps up to find her standing in my doorway.

My blood starts to race, realizing what she’s just overheard. “How much of that did you hear?”

She walks into the room, closing the door behind her and then facing me again. “You need to learn to shut your door if you don’t want to be overheard. I’ve been standing there since about the start of that voicemail. But I heard you talking to Janette before that. My room’s right across the hall, remember?” She folds her arms over her chest and leans back against the door. “Are you dating my best friend?”

I drop down to sit on the edge of my bed, looking up at her. “Yes.” I flip my phone in my hands. “And I’m dating my roommate.” Tension starts to creep into her shoulders, and shepurses her lips. I cut in again quickly. “And they’re also dating each other.”

All the tension leaves her body, arms and shoulders sagging and eyebrows furrowing. “Wait, what?”

I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. “We’re all together. I’m with Bentley and Janette and they’re with me. And vice versa…in all directions.”

Layla stares at me and I can practically see her brain working to process the information. “She’s actually dating both of you?” She laughs a little at the end, swiping her hand across her forehead as she starts to pace the same route I just did. “She told me she was attracted to both of you at the beginning of the semester, but she was so dead set on not ruining your friendship that I assumed she would never act on any of it.”

I chuckle. “She kind of didn’t. The two of us slipped up and kissed her and both times she reacted by backing off. So, we ended up in this weird limbo for a while where we all knew we liked each other, but not acting on it because we didn’t know how the other relationships were going.”

She stops, looking back at me. “So how did we get here if you all ended up in a stalemate?”

I smile, feeling a knot unwind in my chest the more I tell Layla about us. “Bentley skipped class and forced me to talk to him. We realized we both wanted to be together, and we both wanted to be with Janette. And both of us were pretty sure she wanted to be with each of us. So, we took a chance, and it ended up working. We’ve been together since the night we went to that bar Plankton’s.” I flip my phone in my hand again. “You can ask Blue if you want any more details about it. She’s wanted to tell you, but we were all waiting to tell anyone.”

Layla comes over and sits down on the bed next to me, shoulder to shoulder. “So, you’re dating my best friend andBentley Marshall. And my best friend is dating my brother and Bentley Marshall.”

“Why do you keep calling himBentley Marshall?” I mimic her voice as I say his name.

She throws her hands up. “Because apparently, I’m the only one around here who knows who he is! Who his parents are! His grandfather’s a freaking judge for fuck’s sake! And you and Janette act like he’s just some guy you both happened to have a crush on.”

“Oh god.” I fall back on the bed, hands falling on my stomach still clutching my phone. “Do you have a crush on my boyfriend?”

Layla laughs, settling down beside me. “No, I just can’t get over that three months ago we were just hanging out here, living our random lives, and now you’re dating a freaking godandgoddess.” She shakes her head, staring up at the ceiling while I look over at her with skepticism.

“You sure you don’t have a crush on my boyfriend? I already know you’re in love with my girlfriend, but I feel slightly less threatened by that since I know girls aren’t your thing.”

She grins, closing her eyes. “Oh, please. I could steal J from you in a second.” She snaps her finger in the air. “You do one thing wrong, and I'll be in there like that.”

I laugh, settling back to look at the ceiling again. “I don’t doubt it. But I'm going to try really fucking hard not to do anything to fuck this up.” I pause, drumming my fingers on the top of my phone. “I love them.”

Layla’s head swivels over to look at me. “Aw, Axe.” She wiggles in closer to me, hooking our arms together and resting her cheek on my shoulder. “I can’t wait to plan the wedding. Can you even legally marry two people?”

I snort. “Slow down, Lay. I still have to tell them.”

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