Page 37 of Convergence

“Say it,” Nate demanded in his low voice. He leaned forward in his seat towards me, keeping heated eye contact.

“I want you both,” I whispered and licked my lips.

“Good,” Everett said, and gave me a rare, full smile.

“But we’re not telling Daisy,” Nate said with a shiver. “She would have a fit.”

I thought back to the pictures she’d been sending Nate and her bitchy texts to me. “Did you tell Daisy that Nate and I were hooking up?”

“No, I don’t gossip. Besides, I haven’t spoken to her more than a few words in weeks,” Everett said, and something flashed over his eyes, but I couldn’t make out what he was feeling.

“Then how did she know?” Nate asked, his eyes locked on mine where we were both sharing a confused and worried look.

“What do you mean?” Everett asked, looking wary.

I showed him the texts I had exchanged with Daisy a few nights ago. He was shaking his head in anger when he finished reading them. “She’s truly chaotic,” he said gruffly. “You should see the kinds of things she sends me, despite me asking her not to.”

“Oh-ho-ho, I bet I do fuckin’ know,” Nate said loudly, his eyes wide. “She sends them to me, too.”

I cringed, feeling bad for her despite our argument and falling out. “Well, if you didn’t tell her, then how did she find out?”

“Did she see us in that parking lot?” Nate wondered.

Everett raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

“There were some people around, I guess. But there’s no way she wouldn’t have interrupted us,” I said with a shake of my head.

“Yeah, she was desperate for a piece of you, too,” Nate chuckled, and cleaned up our lunch. “She would have joined us or something.”

Everett’s eyebrows raised even further, and I rolled my eyes with a blush. “Okay, so we’re definitely not telling her,” I muttered.

We cleaned up our lunch and were about to go back into the lab when Nate’s phone chimed. He checked it as Everett and I ‌put on our protective gear. “Oh, mygod!” Nate exclaimed. “What thefuck?”

Everett and I rushed to Nate, where he held out his phone for us to see. It was a picture of Daisy in front of a full-length mirror, wearing a pale pink and lacy thong and nothing else. Glossy lips puckered around a red lollipop and her makeup and hair perfectly styled and her perky boobs exposed. Below it was a text.

Daisy: Me and Everett broke up. I could use some company…

“I need to talk to her,” I blurted out angrily. I was seeing red and ready for a fight. I’d never felt like this before, having opted to choose the “high road” when people had wronged me in the past. I cracked my knuckles reflexively.

“And say what?” Everett asked as he watched Nate pocket his phone.

I didn’t answer him, just looked up at him and Nate with the rage fire burning within me.

“Oh shit, yeah, let’s go. I gotta see this,” Nate said, and turned to grab our coats to leave the lab.

We dressed in our coats and hats to leave. The picture of Daisy was seared into my mind’s eye, and it filled me more and more with an indignant rage as the seconds passed. She knew me and Nate were together. And whether or not she liked it; he was not interested in her. She had to know doing this ruined all chances to repair our friendship. I stomped to the car and waited a few more seconds for the guys to come out. It felt like she was personally attacking me when I had done nothing to upset her. I tugged on the car door; I was on a mission to throw my very first punch.

13

We were technically in a restricted contact stage, so we could see Daisy. We weren’t supposed to be anywhere public or on campus, though. Everett drove us to a part of campus that I had never been to in order to find Daisy’s dorm.

“Do you know where she lives?” Nate asked from the passenger seat.

“I’ve dropped her off outside her building a couple times,” Everett said as he navigated us into a parking spot. “But I never walked her in.”

“Gasp! A Southern Gentleman didn’t walk his lady friend to the door?” Nate exclaimed in false horror and accent. Ev shot him a Look before pulling into the parking lot. I was too angry to laugh.

As soon as the car stopped, I jumped out. I looked back once to see if the guys were following my angry walk towards the dorm building and saw them exchanging hesitant glances as they jogged to catch up.

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