Page 18 of Wrecked Rose

Ha-ha. Such a funny guy.

That’s when I make a decision. For the sake of my sanity, when I get a second alone with Max, I have to tell him how the kiss on New Year’s Eve was all in good fun, but I’m not interested—if that’s what he was going for. If it was all just a joke, he’ll set me straight pretty quickly.Ha.Set mestraight.

Man.I am fucking hilarious today.

Chapter 12

Max

I’m in the middle of the best dream ever when my phone alarm goes off at six-thirty Monday morning. I groan as I tear my eyes open. A second later, I realize my hand is inside my boxers, firmly stroking my cock. So much for trying to put Griff out of my head. He’s all I see when I close my eyes, so it makes sense that I’d be dreaming of him, too. I can’t stop thinking about him. I never should have kissed him.

And what the fuck had been up with him taking off the second I showed up yesterday? Granted, he’d come back for pizza, but he’d done a pretty good job of making sure he spoke to everyone but me. I wonder if anyone else noticed it.

I roll out of bed and stumble to the shower, turning that sucker on cold, full blast. I step in and let the freezing water rain down on me like icy little pinpricks. There’s a good possibility this isn’t going to help. I’m way too keyed up from that dream.

Several minutes later, I exit the shower frozen solid and without feeling much relief. Shaking my head at myself, I pull on underwear and then my school uniform. Deftly adjusting the tie, I give myself one last look in the mirror.Max, you’re a nice, good-looking guy. Someday you’ll find someone. Therightsomeone.

Upon entering Rosehaven Academy, I realize what a crappy day it’s going to be. There is no greater loneliness than being in your head about something you can’t discuss with your friends. Because I’m back with everyone after the long break. Back to school. Back to seeing each other practically all day, every day. But I feel very isolated about this whole situation. No one else will understand. And, yeah, I could maybe talk to someone on OUTspoken, but I’m so well-known on there at this point, I don’t want to. I fully admit that’s hypocritical. I always tell anyone seeking advice that it's better to talk things through. Better to express those feelings than keep them all bottled up. But here I am, doing precisely that.

Daphne lights up when she sees me and rushes over. “Hey!” Her face falls a little bit. “Why do you look exhausted?”

“I didn’t sleep well last night.” I shrug it off like it’s nothing.

“Aw. I bet you are going to crash hard after school.” Her gaze roams over my face, and I know she’s looking for something more. I don’t let her see it, though, so she grabs my hand and tugs me along behind her to join everyone gathered by the lockers outside of Ms. Murphy’s precalculus class. Several of us have that class this morning—including me and Griff.

Daph pulls me into the circle, and I wind up standing next to Griff, putting me into direct contact with the reason for my lack of sleep. Beau regales us with the latest gossip—stuff that happened at the party that none of us had seen firsthand—and I attempt to block out the effect his brother has on me. I take a deep breath, but only wind up inhaling pure Griff. I groan quietly. I can’t win. And what am I supposed to do, say“Excuse me? You smell delicious, but could you maybe move another six feet away from me?”I chuckle internally at that. Kinda funny. Only not.

Compounding my problems, I’ll be with Griff in two more classes today—newspaper and French IV—and lunch on top of that. I don’t get a break from trying to pretend like my feelings aren’t being crushed until the last period of the day when I work in the guidance office during my study hall.

It’s seriously going to be hell.

I let everyone chatter around me, stuck in my head. That is, until Beau gives a boisterous laugh, grabbing my attention, and starts in with another tale from New Year’s Eve.

“You aren’t going to believe what went on upstairs with the group that stayed over while we were in the basement that night.”

“I didn’t realize anyone else was still in the house.” Xander’s brow furrows as he glances around our circle. “We were preoccupied, I guess.”

Micah rolls his eyes. “You mean drunk.”

“Exactly.”

Beau grins. “So, while we were downstairs, a bunch of people must have gone up to the bedroom just off the stairwell—the one with more than one bed.”

Aria snorts. “I don’t know what your parents were thinking with that—it’s practically begging for an orgy.”

“Yeah, Mom keeps saying it’s for families that visit but”—he rolls his eyes—“anyway, I didn’t think anything about it at first because people end up in the spare bedrooms all the time. But when Lyla and I passed by it on the way to bed later that night, it sounded like a three-ring circus in there, complete with roaring lions and a trampoline act.” He stops to laugh. “And apparently, that wasn’t too far from the truth. From what I heard, Jack Stone has been telling a bunch of people they started off kind of all screwing in the same room, which is interesting enough, but then they were swapping partners like it was no big deal.” He wriggles his eyebrows. “It sounded like a scene straight out of some kinky TV show.”

Lyla holds up her finger in front of his face moving it back and forth, and presses her lips together. “Don’t get any ideas, Beau.”

He ducks his head, mildly chagrined. That doesn’t stop him from grabbing her and smacking a kiss on her cheek. “I don’t need anyone else. Only you, Seven.”

“You’ve already got him whipped. Good job.” Scarlett holds up a hand for a high five, and Lyla winks as she returns it.

From the twitch on Xander’s lips, I know he’s about to mess with her. “Sounds like it was a real fuckfest, though, Scar. Do you feel like we missed out?”

Scarlett huffs, her eyes going wide. “No. We had plenty of fun that night.” Her twinkling gaze connects with his as she gives him a sassy look. He immediately looks like he’s remembering fondly whatever they did that night. I’m guessing he didn’t miss out on a goddamn thing. Scarlett takes care of her man.

“Maybe we should join in on the next one. Whaddaya think, Daph? Could be fun.” Micah wraps his arms around her from behind, his chest already shaking with laughter.

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