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I laugh, turning to look at him. “Don’t use that analogy to his face. He’ll give you a black eye.”

Lane grins. “He can try. I’ve got his number.”

“I still can’t believe you had sex with Doug.” The very idea makes my brain short circuit. They’re both so dominant, I can’t even fathom how it would work. I kind of want to ask who fucked who but I’m not sure whether I’m allowed to.

Lane reaches over and lightly touches my leg. “Are you angry?”

“About what?”

He winces. “At me. For not telling you about Doug.”

“I don’t think so.” I frown. “I mean, I didn’t tell you either, so I guess we’re even. Are you angry with me?”

Lane shakes his head and laughs softly. “JoyJoy, there’s not a single thing you could do or say that would stop me from loving you.”

My heart drops into my stomach. Swallowing hard, I look away from him and stare at the gray waves soaking the sand. Did he seriously just drop the ‘l’ word like that? What the actual fuck?

“Don’t act surprised, JoyJoy,” he says. “I’ve been in love with you since I was eleven years old. I couldn’t stop if I tried. And I know that for a fact. Because I did try. I tried for four years. Spoiler alert. I failed.”

When I turn my head to look at him, he’s staring straight ahead, a slight frown on his face. I honestly have no idea what to say. We never said those words to each other back when we were seventeen and eighteen. I felt them. I felt them with every fiber of my being. But they never once left my lips. And now, Lane’s just put them out there like it’s no big deal. We’ve just begun to build some sort of bridge over the hurt between us, and I’m not sure whether his confession has strengthened those foundations or set things back.

We sit in silence until Lane pokes me with the open bottle of rum and I accept it gratefully. Passing it between us, neither of us speaks another word until Doug and Aldo make their way back.

Lane looks up at them and grins. “Glad to see you two kissed and made up.”

Doug flips him off and snatches the bottle of rum from him. “Come on, fuckwits. Is this little bonding session done with? Because I’m freezing my tits off.”

I sigh and push to my feet, passing him the cap for the rum. “You’re more British since going back to England. It’s weird.”

“Agreed,” Aldo says, taking the bottle from him and putting it in the cooler.

Doug immediately opens the lid and pulls the bottle back out. “Not so fast. This is keeping me company on the drive back.”

“Whatever.” Aldo rolls his eyes and moves the cooler so Lane can roll up the blanket.

It hasn’t been quite the trip I imagined, but as we make our way back to the parking lot, things feel a little more normal. Having Lane and Aldo know about me and Doug has lifted a weight that I hadn’t realized was weighing so heavily on my chest.

Aldo gently bumps me with his shoulder, and I smile up at him, happy to see his mood from earlier has shifted. There’s still a shadow to his eyes, however, that tells me he’s still not quite back to normal.

“So,” Doug says as we reach the car. “We should totally just have an orgy and call it a day, right?”

I choke on my intake of breath, Aldo freezes, and when I look at Lane, I find him hiding his grin as he puts the cooler in the back of the Jeep.

“What?” Doug says, settling into the front seat. “Too soon? Fucking hell. Whatever.”

Aldo mutters something under his breath as he turns the ignition and cranks the heating up. Lane fastens his seatbelt then reaches over and takes hold of my hand, and I smile.

“Are you two back together, then?” Doug asks, turning around in his seat and looking pointedly at our joined hands.

I glance at Aldo then back at Lane.Fuck.How do you even start to explain what we’re doing? Other than the car ride over to Doug’s place, we haven’t been alone together since last weekend. Both Aldo and Lane have kissed me in front of each other, but only briefly. Is Aldo back with Doug after what happened on the beach? As much as I’m happy for them, it also makes me sad. I really like Aldo and the thought of losing him hurts.

Lane reaches over and smooths between my brows. “Look what you did to poor JoyJoy.”

Doug snorts. “It was a simple question.”

“Yeah, well it doesn’t have a simple answer,” Aldo says. He meets my eye in the rearview mirror and I give him a reassuring smile. “Joy and Lane are seeing each other,” he continues. “But I’m also seeing Joy. And Lane.”

Doug stares at Aldo, then looks at me. He doesn’t bother turning to look at Lane, instead choosing to take another swig of rum before sitting back against his seat.

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