Page 134 of Neighbors With Benefits

“The Pickleball courts over by Wawa have a year-long league,” Aiden said. “There’s one that’s strictly mixed-doubles. One man and one woman.”

“A year long?” I asked.

“Don’t worry—the courts are heated,” Bash said.

“Oh, okay,” I said, although that’s not what I was worried about.

They were already planning out the next year with me.

A level of commitment that should have excited and reassured me, but had the opposite effect thanks to my concerns.

We started another game, but my head wasn’t in it. I kept making unforced errors, and had to chase down several bad shots that rolled onto the other courts.

“You all right?” Aiden asked.

“I’m fine,” I said.

Aiden wrapped an arm around me and kissed my hair. “It’s okay. We all have bad nights.”

“Not me!” Bash exclaimed, jogging over to us from the other side. “I always bring my A-game.”

“That’s not even remotely true,” Aiden said.

“Sometimes my A-game sucks,” Bash admitted. “But I always bring it. Should we mix the teams up a bit? I don’t mind playing by myself some more. Unless Jazz wants to take us on.”

“Two on one,” Aiden said, raising an eyebrow.

Bash winked at me. “She definitely likes it that way.”

His joke did make me smile, but then he wrappedhisarm around me and gave me a quick kiss. It was the smallest amount of public affection, not unusual by itself. But Aiden had just kissed me moments before.

I glanced at the group playing on the next court. Two of the women quickly looked away. Had they been watching? Did they hear their joke, and see them taking turns touching and kissing me?

We can never be public with this kind of relationship.

Shame flooded into my body, turning my stomach into a knot. I had nothing to be ashamed about, but it’s not like I could help the way I felt. It was involuntary.

And I knew it would go away. Especially as one of the women whispered something to the other, and then they both glanced in our direction and giggled.

They know.

“Actually… I’m not feeling great,” I said. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

“No worries,” Bash said, resting a hand on my back. “We can close out early.”

“No! You two keep playing. You have the court for the rest of the hour.”

“But if you’re feeling bad…” Aiden said, concern pinching his handsome face. “We should walk you home.”

“I’m fine,” I snapped more forcefully than I intended. That only heightened my embarrassment. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

I grabbed my phone from the fence bin and practically fled from the Pickleball courts. I thought that getting away from them would calm me down, but my heart still felt like it was trying to pound its way out of my chest. It felt like I was having a panic attack.

I had waited too long. A breakup was going to suck. There was no way we could all go back to being just friendly neighbors. Not now.

If things ended, it would probably destroyeverything.

But that wasn’t necessarily true. It would destroy everything I had with my neighbors, but there was their friendship with each other that was still intact.

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