Page 86 of Tell Me When It's Over

Don’t sleep with any type of reporter.

Harry taught me that much.

When I walk toward the dressing room, I hear the laughter first. Leaning against the open door, I see Zayne and Garrick doing handstands against the wall while Leighton smiles from the couch.

“What the hell are they doing?” I ask, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder. There’s a stopwatch app on her phone counting the seconds.

“Zayne said he could hold a handstand longer than Garrick, but Garrick doesn’t agree.”

“We’re making Little Bishop keep count,” Garrick says, his arms shaking from where they hold him up.

I cock my head. “Does it count if you’re both using the wall for support? Seems like that’s cheating.”

“I’d like to see you try, asshole!” protests Zayne, cursing when he drops out of it and falls flat onto his back in a heavy thump. His foot catches Garrick and makes him tumble too, causing me and the rest of the VW crew to laugh.

“I win!” Garrick announces, sitting up on his elbows and grinning.

Zayne grumbles something under his breath and stands, brushing off his pants.

Len exits out of the app and looks up at me with a smile on her face. Her cheeks are no longer red, but flushed, and I wonder what’s going through her mind. She’s happy, and that’s what I focus on.

When I glance up at Garrick, he’s holding a half-empty bottle of beer. “Can’t you put a shirt on or something?”

He swipes a palm down his abdominal muscles, which he’s known to flaunt a time or a hundred, before lowering the beer from his lips. “Am I turning you on too much?”

Leighton giggles, but it sounds choked.

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, that’s it,” I reply sarcastically, squeezing Lele’s shoulder. “Are you ready to head out? I told Harry we’d be back at a decent time since you’ve got school in the morning.”

“Mom said I could skip.”

Why doesn’t that surprise me? “Not happening, kid. Come on.”

She frowns but obeys, standing and looking at all the guys. Zayne is talking with Grayson, paying us no attention, but Garrick and Manning are both leaning back in their spots with eyes on us. “It was nice meeting you.” She hiccups, blushes, and kicks at the ground with her sandaled foot. It’s the same pair that Mia bought her for her last birthday, even though she got at least two new pairs this yea

r.

Garrick pushes himself up and prowls over, his arms stretched wide. Len yelps when she’s swept up and wrapped in his sweaty ass arms, being swung around until she giggles. If she wasn’t blushing profusely before, she is now. As soon as her feet touch the ground again, she’s redder than the lipstick stain on the Australian’s neck from who the fuck knows when.

“I’m sure we’ll see each other again real soon, Little Bishop,” he tells her.

She gapes.

I laugh to myself and drop an arm around her shoulder again, leading her toward the door and calling over my shoulder, “I’d say it was nice seeing all of you assholes, but I’d be lying.”

Some of them laugh, others throw things, and there’s one, “you know you love me, motherfucker,” from who I assume is Zayne since there’s a slight Bostonian accent.

When we’re outside in the cool air, I huddle Leighton closer to me when she shivers. I’m opening the passenger door to my car when she looks up and asks, “Did you mean what you said to that woman earlier? Am I really your best friend?”

“You are.”

Her eyes light up. “You’re mine too.”

I grin. “I know.”

She laughs, shoves my shoulder, and climbs into the car. When I’m seated behind the steering wheel, she says, “My life is way better with you in it, too.”

Like me, I know she’s not lying.

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