Page 48 of The Little Black Rose

Sorrows isn’t the right word. I’m not sorrowful. At all. But I am nervous about seeing Ava again. About how she’ll act. If she regrets last night, I can deal with it. If she doesn’t want to get naked with me again, I can deal with that, too. I think.

I honestly have no clue what I’m nervous about. I just am.

“Everything okay?” Jared asks as if he’s read my mind.

“What? Yeah. I’m okay. Everything is A-okay.”

Shut up, Zeke. You’re rambling.

Sam eyeballs me, suspicion brimming in his gaze. I wonder briefly if Zoey said something to him. Does it matter? Not really. If she hasn’t told him yet, I’m sure she will tonight. And Sophie will surely tell Jared, too.

“You sure?” Sam asks. “You’re acting all shifty and nervous.”

I sigh and slump back against the couch. “I slept with Ava last night.”

“Ha! I knew it,” Sam shouts, slapping his knee before holding out an expectant palm to Jared.

Jared groans and pulls his wallet from his back pocket. Slipping a crisp twenty-dollar bill from the folds, he hands it over to Sam with a dramatic eyeroll. Sam cackles with glee, gripping the edges and snapping the bill tight a few times before shoving it into his pocket.

I look between them, my mouth falling open.

“You guys were making bets?” I ask, and Sam shrugs.

“It is Vegas, after all.”

“Nice,” I mutter darkly.

“Don’t be mad,” Sam coos, then sobers. “Seriously, bro. All that sniping and bickering you two have always done? It’s the ultimate foreplay. If it wasn’t obvious before that you guys were attracted to each other, those babies make it painfully clear. And that kind of chemistry doesn’t die with one sexual encounter. It was bound to happen again. It was just a matter ofwhen.”

“But he said there was nothing there,” Jared complains. “That they were strictly platonic.”

“You’ve got to learn to read between the lines, brother,” Sam says, rubbing his palms together as he looks back at me. “Tell us everything.”

“Uh, no,” I say, enunciating the syllables.

“Fine,” he sighs. “I won’t push. But at least tell us what this means going forward. Are you together now? Like a real couple?”

“No, nothing like that,” I say. “Nothing has changed between us. We’re still just roommates and co-parents.”

“Who have sex,” Jared adds, arching one cynical eyebrow at me.

“It’s not unheard of,” I say, feeling defensive.

“You’re blurring the lines,” he counters.

“Jared.”

Sam’s voice is devoid of its usual joviality when he says the word. I watch them have a silent conversation with their eyes, and I can comprehend it completely.

Don’t go there. Zeke is broken. He refuses to be in another relationship, even when he feels something he knows he shouldn’t.

“It’s fine,” I say, bringing their attention back to me. “Ava and I discussed it before things went too far. We both agreed that it’s just sex and our relationship won’t change because of it.”

“Okay,” Jared says, but his tone is placating.

“Let’s change the subject,” Sam announces, much to my relief.

I love being friends with these guys, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone other than my sister all up in my business like this. I know they’re trying to talk this through with me with the best of intentions, but I don’t know how to be open like that. Not anymore.

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