Page 5 of Devour

“Why do you always apologize?” Rhory interrupted.

“Pardon?”

“Are you doing it again?” Rhory cackled. “What are you sorry about?”

“I… don’t know,” I confessed.

Apologizing seemed like the thing to do to ensure he wasn’t offended. Random hookups weren’t something I did, and I didn’t want him taking that personally. Nor was I the type to get blackout drunk and spend the night at a stranger’s place. I supposed apologizing made less sense when the other person didn’t give a damn.

“How did I get here?” I asked.

“Ember was your ride home.”

“Right and…”

“She left after she found us at the bar.” Rhory smiled and his sharp canines flashed behind his lips. “She wasn’t too happy with you.”

“Did I make out with someone? Because I sort of remember doing that.” An unfortunate memory, but one I retained nonetheless: the bar top digging into my back while I pulled the hard body grinding into me even closer.

Rhory’s smile grew even wider.

“You?” I guessed.

“Try again.”

“Someone random? Please, tell me it was some random person sitting at the bar with us last night.”

Rhory shook his head and cackled again.

A whisper of a thought that didn’t seem entirely mine suggested that I already knew who. And I sort of did. I just really, really wanted to be wrong.

“Why would I make out with Asher? I don’t even like Asher,” I blurted. Truly, I only saw Asher and Ember both as friends. And I wouldn’t be making out with Ember anytime soon. “Well, no, that’s not entirely true. I mean—we’re friends and he’s… I’m…”

Rhory raised a brow at me. “You’re…?”

“Never mind,” I conceded.

“You didn’t instigate, but you weren’t objecting, either.” Rhory leaned closer and his wicked smile grew. “Does that surprise you?”

“I… don’t know.”

Maybe it should but, despite my fierce denial that night, I always got this sense Asher could seem somewhat… jealous. Especially whenever his sister joined us. Whereas Ember remained… optimistic. She didn’t aggressively pursue a relationship with me, but had an obvious interest. Almost as if she wished I’d wake up one day and realize I felt the same. I didn’t. If Rhory was right about their feelings for me (and so far, he seemed to be), I could potentially lose my two closest friends over this.

“He might say I dared him, but that’s not exactly what happened. You were both impressionable.” Rhory shrugged and leaned back again. “Ember wasn’t too happy and left. Asher got embarrassed and followed her. And you could barely string a sentence together, so I stuck with you. Made sure nothing happened to you.”

“Why?”

“What kind of husband would I be if I didn’t?”

“We’re not getting married,” I laughed. That much I remembered and wished he forgot.

“Thirty-five,” Rhory said with another grin.

“I don’t care if I’m unwed at ninety-five. Never happening.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Rhory left the bed after, giving me a chance to crawl from beneath the tangled blankets. I still had my phone on me, thankfully. Once I ordered a rideshare to pick me up and take me back to campus, I swiped my messages open and saw a flurry of texts from Ember:

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