Page 46 of The Play

He nods. “Yeah, one for the road might be nice. Actually, make that two.”

“You want two omelets.”

“I’m hungry.”

“I’ll start with one and then we’ll see if there’s time left. Coach will be pissed if I’m late.” I slide a cutting board and a knife across the counter. “Get dicing.”

Hollis chops mushrooms and green peppers while I prep the eggs. As we cook, the rest of the house remains eerily quiet and the sky’s still dark beyond the kitchen window. The darkness makes it feel like nighttime, and my brain is unwittingly transported back to Saturday night.

Fuck.

Nico absolutely slept with that chick I saw him exiting the bedroom with.

Or at the very least, he had his pants off with her.

And when you have a serious girlfriend, your pants should never come off in the presence of another woman.

The thing is… I didn’t actually catch him red-handed. I caught the potential aftermath. And I’m not about to stir up trouble in the relationship of someone I barely know. Demi doesn’t trust me enough yet to take my word for it. If I went up to a friend, like Dean, for example, and said, “Hey, Allie’s cheating,” he would believe me. Because Dean knows I’d have no reason to lie or play games. But Demi doesn’t know that. She would question my motivations, maybe even suspect me of trying to sabotage Nico so I could have her for myself, which isn’t the case.

“Hey Mike,” I say as I pour the first omelet mixture into the hot pan.

“Mmmm?” He’s busy chopping up a red pepper now.

“I’ve got a hypothetical for you.”

“All right. Hypothetical me.”

“What?”

“You know, likehit me, only with the word hypothetical instead of—whatever, just fucking say it.”

“All right. Let’s pretend someone you know is in a long-term, committed relationship, and you caught their boyfriend or girlfriend cheating on them. Well,possiblycheating. You’re not a hundred percent certain, but the circumstances were very suspicious and…” I set down the spatula on the counter. “You know what? Screw it. Iama hundred percent certain. I know when a dude just got sucked off. I literally saw Conor ejaculating three seconds before that.”

“Davenport.” Hollis speaks in a voice so ominous that I’m almost nervous to turn to face him.

“Yeah?”

“Are you trying to tell me that you saw Rupi sucking Conor Edwards’ dick?” Hollis rumbles like an angry bear, his face redder than the pepper on his cutting board. “When thefuckdid it happen? Was it at the party? Was it when she went to fix her hair—”

“Relax,” I interrupt. “I’m not talking about Rupi. Are you insane? That girl would never cheat on you. She’s obsessed with you, Hollis. She’s your stalker. You’re dating your stalker.”

“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“I’m talking about a friend from class, okay? I’m pretty sure her boyfriend cheated on her. The question is, do I tell her?”

“Nope.” Zero hesitation from Hollis.

“Why not?” I use the spatula to transfer the first omelet from the pan to Mike’s plate, then get to work on my own breakfast.

“Because you don’t want to stick your nose in other people’s biz. Trust me.”

“But he’s cheating on her.”

“So? That’s his biz, not yours.”

“It’s also her business,” I point out.

“It can’t be her business when she doesn’t know about it,” Hollis counters.

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