Page 191 of The Casualty of Us
“So come on.” I wave my fork at him, digging it into the cake for a bite before scooting up higher until my head is on Hayes’s stomach. “Out with it.” Ollie’s lips lift again as I plop the bite into my mouth and Hayes exhales another short laugh underneath me. Something about it apparently funny enough to them both to have me snapping, “Now.”
Hayes’s almost laugh turns into a low chuckle at that, and he steals the fork back. “Give him a second, Freckles.”
“Fuck,” Ollie curses, taking a deep breath. “Fine.” His face tenses as he starts slowly. “So you know how I stayed to check on Bethany after everything happened on Halloween?”
“Yeah,” I mumble while chewing, already not liking where this is going but trying my best to remain neutral considering what he’s put up with from me.
“Well, I wrapped that up pretty quickly—”
“Oh, shit.” The curse leaves Hayes on a sharp scoff that’s somewhere between amused and terrified and has me quickly looking between them. Something about the instant understanding in Hayes’s eyes along with the dread in Ollie’s giving me everything I need to put two and two together.
But that would mean—
“Ollie.”
“Hold on.” He holds up a hand while pushing himself up quickly. “Just let me explain how it happen—”
“C’est le bordel!” I steal my mother’s curse from this morning, hissing it with narrowed eyes because it’s the only thing that seems appropriate. “Tell me you didn’t—”
“I didn’t do anything bad!” he shouts suddenly, hands going to the sides of his head and face falling to pieces. “I mean, not really, I don’t know—” A sharp breath leaves him. “Marley thinks I did.”
“Then chances are you did,” I snap quickly, the instant remorse that fills his face making me take a long breath before sighing. “Tell me what happened.”
“You going to let him this time, Freckles?”
I turn my head to meet the dimples flashing behind me long enough to send a scowl his way before looking back as Ollie starts again.
“I wanted to check on you, so I went to look at your dorm and ran into Marley there.” He darts his eyes down quickly with guilt starting to take over his face again. “She had snagged a bottle ofrum from the party on her way back to the dorm and asked if I wanted a drink.” I purse my lips, barely resisting the urge to snap at him while he continues quietly. “I was still pretty worked up from everything that had happened, so I said yes and—” He takes a quick breath. “It was amazing, honestly.” The lost look in his eyes when he brings them back to mine takes the edge off some of my frustration. “We drank and talked for a couple of hours, and it was like I finally had her full attention. Like she was finally right there with me and everything was falling into place.”
His words have my heart clenching tight, a frown immediately taking over my face because I understand what he means about it all seeming to fit perfectly.
“That’s why you were so late.” Hayes’s quiet observation comes as he wraps an arm around my middle, fingers tapping against my waist absentmindedly. “Coming back later.”
“Yeah.” Ollie darts his eyes to him, brows crashing down before looking back at the cake and quickly muttering. “One thing led to another, and we ended up hooking up.”
“Fuck,” I curse. “Is Bethany actually pissed too because—”
“No.” He shakes his head quickly, fresh panic in his eyes as they lift back to mine. “No, really, Bethany and I were very clear from the start that we were casual. Nothing exclusive.”
I frown. “So then why—”
“He didn’t tell Marley,” Hayes guesses quietly, fingers tightening around me.
Ollie rolls his eyes with another long sigh. “Not exactly, but after we were, uh, done.” He shifts a little, dropping his hands. “I asked if she thoughtwewere exclusive or not.”
“Gosh.” A scowl pops up before I can stop it, but seriously. “Poor wording, big brother.” Something that’s not usually an issue for him but has always seemed to be with her. “What’d she say?”
He pauses, face starting to fall back to pieces while clearing his throat. “She asked why I was asking, and I was honest, which was apparently not the right thing to do.”
I squint at him thoughtfully. “Yeah, but like, how honest?” Knowing our definitions of the term can vary depending on the situation. “Like Marley, I’ve been pining after you for over a year, and I want to lock this down, or I’ve suddenly felt the need to become a manwhore this year, and now I’ve gotten myself into a mess?”
“More along the lines of the second, unfortunately,” he mumbles, making me lift a brow at him in true judgment this time, and he tosses his hands into the air. “I just wanted to know what it meant!”
“Man.” Hayes laughs fully with the word. “Can I just say I’m so happy I’m not you right now?”
“Thanks,” Ollie immediately snaps.
I shoot a glare over my shoulder. “Only helpful commentary.”
