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I blink, realizing the evidence he’s presenting me, but I also know Nora. Maybe not in the sense that I know everything about her, but I’ve gotten to know her over the last year through the veil of being Brett’s girlfriend, and I know there’s no way in a million years she would cheat on Brett. God, the way she used to look at him…

Shelovedhim.

I asked her myself, and she didn’t shy away from the truth.

And the fact of the matter is, you don’t cheat on people youlove.I don’t care what anyone says.

“She did not cheat on Brett.”

“Maybe—”

I shake my head. “No. Not a possibility,” I say solidly. “She was drunk, and I’m pretty sure he was too, so I think it was an accident.”

Zack eases up, and suddenly I feel flush with heat.

I look out the window, watch as the streetlights pass, and tense, not wanting to admit what happened after that, but…I also feel like I need to confess my damn sin, and maybe if I do I’ll be able to forget about Nora Brighton.

About the way she makes me feel.

“I sort of um…heard them. Woke up with this massive hard-on and was on my way to the bathroom when…”

“Shit,” Zack says. “I bet you were pretty freaked out.”

I shift in my seat. “I mean…it’s just k-kissing,” I say with a blush. “It isn’t like I found them having sex.”

My voice cracks on that last word, and my stomach does a little flip, and because I don’t know when tonotpush the envelope, that’s the moment my brain decides to think of Nora and Rush, naked on the couch.

Having sex.

I close my eyes, trying to push the thought out. I’ve seen Rush naked and shirtless enough times Icanenvision it. Him on top of her, his round ass glinting with refracted light from the television screen.

And I’ve heard him enough times with women, so I know exactly what he sounds like when he comes, which makes me feel super weird and on edge. Some things you justdon’tneed to know, but living in a house with my brothers, some things are also impossiblenotto know.

I can sort of picture Nora, beneath him. Her long, fiery red hair spilling over her pale, freckled shoulders. I only know she has freckles there because of the sleeveless shirts and dresses she’s worn, so in my imagination I can form the image.

My cock stirs in my pants, and I groan, absentmindedly adjusting myself because I don’t need to deal withthatright now.

I probably should have taken care of myself earlier, but between school, lunch, and working with my bio partner on our labproject after class, not to mention, practice…I haven’t exactly had the time to jack off today.

“Wait…are you—” Zack’s voice lifts with interest. “Are you fucking hard right now?”

“No,” I lie. “I just have to pee.”

“Bullshit,” Zack says, and I can hear the interest in his voice. “You got turned on, didn’t you? When you saw them?”

“No!” I say too loudly.

Zack chuckles. “It’s okay, man, seriously.”

“No, it’s not like that, it’s?—”

But it is. Hearing him say the words out loud—that I got aroused when I saw them—it hits me hard in the chest, because he’s right. And admitting that makes me feel like a damn creeper, on so many levels.

“Mhmm. Is that what’s bothering you, then? You feel like a grade-A sinner because you watched your brother and your other brother’s ex-girlfriend make out?”

“I mean…maybe…”

More or less, I’m freaked out because I came from watching them, and then when I was alone with Nora, I wanted to talk to her and tell her everything and?—