Page 51 of Never Kiss Your Neighbors

“We’re serious about you, Stella. Actually, I thought we did make that clear when you said you wanted to stop seeing us.”

That wasn’t what I got out of that conversation in the yard. “Aren’t you dating other women?” I blurt.

They’d better not have one set of rules for themselves and another for me, and I’m prepared to tell them that, when Wyatt says, “Not since we met you.”

CHAPTER34

STELLA

Iopen my mouth to respond, but close it, then eventually just say, “Oh.” Because I don’t know what to say.

Is it a coincidence that they haven’t seen anyone else? Did they set aside their entourage for me? They told me I was special, but I didn’t put much weight in that word, since men can throw it around like confetti to get what they want.

“What’s he like, Jessie’s father?” Wyatt asks.

“He’s … he’s …fine.” I don’t know what to tell them about him, and I’m still surprised that they even care. Why are they suddenly being so serious?

Wyatt snorts. “Fine? Sounds like a promising start to a relationship.”

I squint at him. There’s a strong undercurrent of possessiveness in his mockery, and I’m not sure if I’m irritated or flattered, or some odd mixture of both. “Wait a minute, though. Let’s back this up. Are you saying neither of you have been out with anyone else since we went on our first date?”

“Not since before we met you, actually,” Cam says. “I haven’t. I don’t think you have either, have you, Wy?”

Wyatt shakes his head. “It had been a while.”

I try to square this with what I thought I knew, but something’s not adding up. “Trish told me you both liked to have a lot of fun with your female fans. To be honest, I had the distinct impression there was a steady line of women going through revolving doors in and out of your bedrooms.”

Their surprised expressions seem sincere.

“That’s not the case at all,” Cam says.

“Then why would Trish say that?”

He looks convincingly clueless. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s basing that on things our followers say.”

Wyatt shakes his head, looking disgusted. “Our followers say a lot of shit.”

“Right, and Trish helps with our social media, so she sees all that stuff.”

It doesn’t make sense that Trish would warn me about the men based on comments their followers were making—unless the commenters were implying that they’d had sex with Cam or Wyatt? But why would she believe that?

I don’t know what to make of it all, but I can’t think of a reason the men would lie to me.

“You’re special, Stella—” There’s that word again, though as Cam gently strokes my arm, I’m starting to think he isn’t using it lightly. “And we think the three of us could be something special together, but we don’t want to get in the way of you and Jessie’s dad, if you think there’s something there.”

“I don’t know if there’s anything there, but I think I should see.”

Wyatt takes my hand and starts to walk again. “What went on between the two of you? Why aren’t you together anymore?”

Cam takes my other hand, and we’re all connected.

“We were never actually together. He was in a couple of my classes at college, and I had a crush on him for nearly a year. One night, at a party at the end of my sophomore year, he finally noticed me.”

I take a deep breath. There’s a highly edited version of this story that I usually tell, one in which I don’t look quite so naive. But I decide to give Cam and Wyatt the full picture.

“We danced and talked, and he seemed so into me. Our lecture classes were huge, and I figured he’d just never noticed me, but at the party, he was looking at me like I was something special.

After we talked for a while, I confessed that I’d had a thing for him, and he seemed really flattered. He asked me if I’d go out with him. He even named a specific restaurant, and talked about what we’d do on the date. He talked about fun things we could do together over the summer. It was all like a dream come true, actually.”

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