Page 6 of Our Secret to Keep

“You have a problem, Nate. Why can’t you see that? It’s not normal to invite nine women to your penthouse suite to share them with your best friend.”

“Oh, no?” Nate lets out a sinister chuckle. “So, it’s okay when celebrities and pro athletes do it but not when it’s you and me? Yeah, that makes a lot of fucking sense.”

Addicts never think they have a problem. It’s all inyourhead. They live in the moment and only care about the next high.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“What?” Nate tightens his grip on the leather steering wheel. “No, you can’t do this to me. We have a deal.”

“And you broke it. You said all of the women signed NDAs.”

“We were both fucked up at that party. And it’s pretty clear she didn’t film the video. It was probably one of those douchey frat bros.”

“You don’t remember her at all?”

He shakes his head. “I was on the verge of a blackout that night.”

“My dad has her name. Does Layla Hightower ring a bell?”

Nate clenches his jaw.

“You know who she is, don’t you?”

“The president of Delta Sig’s girlfriend.”

“You fucking idiot,” I shoot back at him. “You told me she was on the tennis team.”

“What do you want from me? I couldn’t tell her apart from Riley Steele. So, fuck off. They look like doppelgangers.”

“I’m guessing her boyfriend caught us—or more like entrapped us—into having sex with his girlfriend for a payout.”

He rolls his broad shoulders against the seat. “Hey, it could be worse.”

“This is your old money entitlement talking. You grew up with a silver spoon shoved up your ass and your dad telling you money makes everything better. But that’s not true, Nate. Some things moneycan’tbuy.”

“In this case, it does. How many sex tapes of my mother have people tried to leak? He will make it go away.”

Nate’s parents are the sole source of his addiction. For most of his life, they have thrown sex parties at his house. They’re swingers with an open marriage and questionable morals. I’m not judging their sex life. Not like I have any room to talk. It’s just they really are shitty parents.

“No more group sex,” I tell him as he exits the highway, getting closer to a small town on the water called Devil’s Creek. “I’m done with that shit. And no more random women.”

His gaze snaps to me. “Are you bailing on me?”

“No, I’m saying things need to change.”

“How so?”

Until my best friend asked me to have a threesome, my life was perfect. Now, my head is all fucked up. I think about him during practice and in the locker room shower. Even in class and when I’m in bed at night. Our lives start and end with each other.

There’s no escapinghim.

No matter how hard I try, my thoughts drift back to Nate. He consumes me, chipping away at the pieces of my damaged soul. Ten years ago, I was lost. But so was Nate.

We stitched each other back together, only to discover there was more than familial love.

So, I dothisfor him.

Fuck women I don’t like.

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