Page 63 of Scandalous

Just thinking about her gets me hard. Who the fuck knew that was actually possible outside of Drake?

“I could make out her silhouette.” He shrugs. “Anyway, she was a good kind of nervous. I think she wants this as much as we do.”

“Two things,” Drake says, holding up two fingers. “One.” He points to Santi. “You need to take her out on a date. One on one is important. It’s not that big of a deal where Liam and I are concerned, but she knows we’re a package deal,” he says, nodding to me. “And two,” he says, putting down his hand. “We really have to have an actual sit-down conversation with her about this.”

“I mean, we kind of talked about it the other night.” I shrug.

Drake gives me a pointed look. “Yeah, but Santi and E should be present. This isn’t only about her and us anymore. It includes them.” He tips his head toward Santi.

“There’s one other thing we never considered because you guys made your move,” Santi says, making us look at him.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“E and I had talked about it before without you two, but the reason we were holding off on making a move was because she’s young.” He holds up a hand, cutting off our protests. “I’m not trying to sound like an asshole, but her life is here in New York. She can’t leave, not yet. She has another full year of school left.”

I sit down on the couch, body deflating.

I never thought about that.

“She can’t come with us.” I let my sadness seep into my words.

Santi shakes his head and looks at me with sympathy. “Not yet. The only option I can work out is if we spend more time here or if we can talk her into doing a study abroad for her senior year in London.”

“Fuck me,” Drake says, rubbing a hand over his face.

I laugh, shaking my head. “Fucking first world problems. We all have so much money we will never be able to spend it all in our lifetimes, yet we’re pouting because our girlfriend lives in a different country.”

Drake chuckles, following my line of thought, and teases. “It’s not like we can’t fly her out or fly in whenever we want.”

“I mean shit, one year isn’t that long, right?” I look between them. “If we have to suck it up, we can. Then when she graduates, move her fine ass to wherever we are.”

“Yeah, several problems.” Santi winces. “One, she might not want to leave New York, let alone the States. That’s something she will have to decide if she’s willing to do. We can’t make decisions for her and without her. Pretty sure she would skin us alive.”

“Facts,” Drake mutters.

“What’s the second problem?” I ask, knowing whatever he says is going to fucking suck.

“Second… what if she wants to move back home to be close to her family?” Santi says thoughtfully.

“Is she even close to her family?” I frown.

How have I never thought to ask her about her family?

“Where is she even from?” I murmur.

“I know her favorite food and that she got caught streaking down Main Street her senior year of high school, which was her first ticket, but I never asked about her family,” Drake says, rubbing his jaw.

“Lucky for us, I asked the important questions over the last two years.” Santi smirks.

I roll my eyes. “Hit us, oh wise one.”

“She’s not really close to her family, but she is close to an uncle who she talks to every Monday night. She’s from a farming town in Iowa. Goes home once a year for a week or so then comes right back to New York.”

I want to know more about the streaking, but I’ll hold off and ask her myself.

“So we have a chance as long as E doesn’t fuck it up,” I muse.

Santi nods. “We have a chance. We just need to convince her that we are worth it.”

---