Page 70 of Rules of Association

Buckling down, I pressed my feet down hard, I focused on not giving into the featherlight sensation of Ceci’s torture. It was hard, but eventually I stopped laughing. Ceci seemed hellbent on embarrassing the shit out of me, though. So when her tickle torture stopped working, she moved on.

Two hands landed onto the tops of my feet, patting me down like she was trying to find something. She moved them up my ankles, over my knees, squeezing my thighs which were dangerously close to my—

“Woah!” I pivoted my hips and kneed Ceci’s hands away on reflex. I had no idea what she was looking for but I was pretty sure it wasn’t my dick. Or at least it better not be. Taken totally off guard, I hissed, “What do you want?”

Tiney, thinking I was talking to them, took immediate offense. “We just wanted to check on you!”

Ceci pinched me. Grabbing a finger full of skin and twisting so hard that it felt like my nerves were splitting. She was being such a menace, and she had to be looking for something. So I gave her the only thing I had if only it would get her hands away from my sensitive regions.

Yanking my phone out of my pants pocket I handed it to her. This must have been what she wanted, because she grabbed it and retreated into the cabinet completely, allowing me to lean my knee against it and lock her in so she couldn’t pull anymore shit.

Finally, I was able to return my attention back to my family, who all stood across the island looking at me like I had completely lost my mind. I powered past it, feigning ignorance.

“I thought I gave you guys that key to use in emergencies.” I breathed, feeling suddenly winded.

“You don’t count storming out of a meeting with a murderous look on your face an emergency?” Clay asked.

“You’re being dramatic,” I said.

“No,” Clint interjected. “He’s not. Not to mention the fact that you haven’t told us who you were even talking to. We got worried that it was Tine, but when we called to check on her she was totally fine. Something doesn’t add up. Are you in some type of trouble?”

“No,” I grumbled. “I wasn’t aware that I had to run everything I do by the three of you.”

“You don’t,” Tine hesitated, looking up at me through her eyelashes as if she were guilty. Her shoulders bowed as dejection covered her features. “We’re sorry.”

I let out a gust of air, instantly feeling like shit. I was gaslighting them to cover my own ass. They were exactly right. Things were not okay. And if Ceci didn’t want me to keep this a secret from both our families, I would have told them about it immediately. Who knows, Tine might have been able to comfort Ceci in a way that I couldn’t. And my brothers might have known something about reporting petty crimes that I didn’t. But I was leaving it up to Ceci to determine when, where, and why we told our families about our friendship and I was not about to go back on my word now.

“Guys, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be rude—”

“Well, you’re doing a pretty damn good job of it,” Clay said.

I groaned. “I’msorry. I just—”

I’m not entirely sure what my apology was going to be. All thoughts went out of my head the second the sound of the virtual assistant on my stereo system booted to life. Filling the living area with the sound of a robotic voice.

“Text message from *blueberry emoji* *blue heart emoji* *blue jay emoji*:Hey Conny baby, when are you coming back to bed?”

Blood drained from my face before it all came rushing back up in hot, heavy currents. I went cold. Then hot. Hotter than I’ve ever been. I’d never been more embarrassed.

So embarrassed that the only thing—literallythe only thing—I was able to choke out in a horrified mumble as I covered my face was, “Oh my fucking God.”

“What the fuck?” Clay asked.

“Oh Connor,” Tine said, somehow sounding embarrassed for both me and herself.

Clint could only echo me with a stupefied, “Oh my fucking God.”

No one knew what to do or say. We all sat there staring at each other, stunned. I didn’t think things could get any worse, but as Ceci liked to prove; where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The virtual assistant booted up again with a ding.

“Text message from, *eggplant emoji* *eggplant emoji* *eggplant emoji*:We miss you in here, big guy. Can’t wait to finish what we started.”

I choked.

Across the room, three pairs of eyes bugged out of their sockets. Tine took a noticeable step backward as if even being near me would rub something contagious off on her. Clint crossed his arms over himself, looking around as if he was suddenly in an unclean environment. And Clay took a step toward the hallway, looking between it and me while holding up two fingers.

“Two Connor? Really?” Clay asked in a whisper.

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