Page 21 of Bleeding Hearts

“Yes,” Theo shouts after us. “Bring it all.”

Gabby follows me into the kitchen as I pull out a bottle of vodka and a bottle of tequila from the cabinet next to the fridge.

“It’s complicated with Kyson, my roommate, you know?” Gabby says, moving to grab the cranberry juice out of the fridge.

“You don’t have to explain it to me if you don’t want to, Gabs. I get complicated. As long as you’re happy, you could be fucking the mailman and I wouldn’t give a shit.” I smile at her.

Gabby is the quietest out of our group, and sometimes that means she fades into the shadows with our bigger personalities. I think she prefers it that way, but I still try to make sure that she knows she can talk to me or any of us if she ever wants to.

“Thanks, Dem. I know that.” She smiles at me shyly before continuing. “He just doesn’t like me very much.”

“Hey, I highly doubt that. You are the most loveable person I know, Gabs. If he hates you, then he just doesn’t know you.”

“I think he knows me too well, is the problem,” she mumbles. “But maybe. Thanks, Dem. You’re pretty loveable yourself. I’ll get the limes and salt.” She quickly changes the subject and I let her.

I follow her back into the living room, drinks and cups in my hands, shot glasses, limes, and salt in hers. We set everything down on the coffee table before sitting back down.

Theo leans over, grabs the tequila off the table and pours four separate shots of it, handing one to each of them.

“To the bride?” He looks at Lo questioningly and she scrunches up her face in disapproval.

“You realize I’m not actually getting married for another like two months, right?” she asks him.

“Well, to the mover just sounds stupid.” He huffs back at her.

“How about to new beginnings?” Gabby asks, and Lo smiles.

“I love that. To new beginnings.” She holds her glass in the air and the three of us clink our glass with hers.

“To new beginnings,” I say, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.

I’ve never been a big fan of change, but I push that aside, celebrating with them anyway. I cleanse the words with the sweet burn of the tequila.

CHAPTERSIX

Asher

“Mmm, coffee,” Demi mumbles. Her eyes are still closed and she’s still mostly asleep as I wave the fresh cup of coffee under her nose.

It looks like Girls Gone Wild in here, well, plus Theo.

There are cups littered all over the apartment, makeup and clothes that are definitely Demi’s strewn across the floor and loads of different snacks all over the coffee table.

Theo is still sleeping on the couch with a blanket over his head, Gabby woke up right after Kade and I got here and walked straight to the bathroom and hasn’t come out since, and Lo is wide awake already in the kitchen with Kade.

Then there’s Demi. Completely passed out on the floor, in a mess of blankets. There are probably about six blankets surrounding her, yet none of them cover her, as if she kicked them all away in her sleep. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Demi seems like a wild sleeper. She’s wild in every other aspect of her life, so it would make sense.

Kade and I got here around ten minutes ago at nine a.m. sharp. We both cleared our entire day today and rented a truck to help Lo move into Kade’s loft above the tattoo shop.

He says he wants to buy her a house, which means we’ll have to do all of this again as soon as he finds one anyway, but until that happens, he needs her with him at the loft, at the very least. The man is completely gone for her, and I don’t blame him. Lo’s a great girl. They’re good together.

“Asher?” Demi’s raspy voice questions as she slowly blinks her eyes open, looking up at me. “What time is it?”

“Around nine,” I say, handing her the paper coffee cup as she sits up.

I could’ve made her coffee here using her machine, but I know she’s obsessed with the coffee from Louisa’s, even if I don’t taste much of a difference, so I got that for her instead.

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