Page 17 of The Wildcat

“And I thought you were smart enough not to question a hormonal woman. Looks like we’re all wrong,” Brynlee, my other roommate snaps.

Grace sighs happily. “Yup. This is what I missed.”

Lindy lived with Grace, Kenzie, Brynlee, and me before she married Easton. Lucky for us, she only moved one floor down when she moved out.

“The fighting?” Kenzie questions, and Grace shakes her head.

“No. The family. Being here. Not having to hear about everything through a text.” She smiles. “I even missed you, Maddox.” She leans her head back on the couch and looks up at Madman, who’s staring down at her,smiling. Because that’sthe reaction Grace gets from everyone. “I want to hear about everything.” She sighs wistfully.

Callen groans, and Madman smacks the back of his head.

I laugh, and Grace carefully steals Griffin from me. “Callen’s just pissed he got caught banging that model the other night.” I love picking on Callen. He just makes himself such an easy target. “The Kroydon Kronicles want to know if you’re off the market.”

“Whatever.” He throws a piece of pepperoni at my face. “Did you tell Grace about getting caught banging the bar guy in West End, evil twin?”

“Hey.” Lindy snatches the pepperoni and points at Callen. “No throwing meat near the baby.”

“Pro athlete, Lindy. The pepperoni wasn’t going near Griffin,” Callen protests.

Embarrassment mixes with hot fucking memories as I picture my night with Cross at West End.

The man has starred in every daydream I’ve had since that night two months ago.

Grace nails me with excited eyes, a mirror image of my own. “Wait. Back up. She must have left that out.” She slides her legs underneath herself on the couch and perks up as the rest of the girls snicker. “Bar guy, huh? I thought this was the summer of the cleanse, sissy.”

I roll my eyes. “Stop... It was a lapse in judgment. I’d basically been off...sugar... for weeks. And he was like... Well, he was a big piece of triple chocolate fudge cake from Sweet Temptations bakery.”

“Ohhh, yes,” Lindy practically moans. “Easton,” she calls to her husband, who’s moved into the kitchen.

“Already stopped and got cupcakes, princess,” he calls back.

Lindy hums happily, then looks around at all of us. “Shut up.”

“I want to hear more about the sex at West End,” Grace pushes, and I sink further into the couch.

“What do you want to know, Grace? How Everly banged the dude against. My. Fucking. Door. While I pounded on it with my fist because she locked me out? Of. My. Fucking. Office.” Maddox groans. “Or what about how she walked out barefoot?”

“Not letting that go, huh?” I play it off, refusing to be embarrassed.

“Barefoot? What?” Grace giggles and bites down on her lip. “You’re so lucky he didn’t walk in.”

I can’t help my blush as I admit, “I locked the door.”

“I’m the one who’s lucky,” Maddox groans. “Fuck. I don’t need to see evil twin naked. I’d never be able to look at my office again. I’ve got to work in there.” Maddox takes the beer Easton hands him on his way over to his wife and shakes his head. “Not like I’ve seen you guys together since that night either.”

“Ohh... Why not?” Grace pushes, and I feel my blush deepen.

“Bad timing,” I tell them. “He was out of town for a few weeks, then I had the USO thing.”

“You’re home now . . .” Lindy pushes.

“I am.” I stand, wanting to get a slice of pizza… and maybe to get away from this conversation. “But I guess I was using the time away to reset my cleanse,” I admit sheepishly before making my way to the kitchen.

I’ve got a slice of roasted garlic white pizza on my plate when Grace walks in behind me. She grabs a bottle of water and pulls herself up onto the counter, looking like my mirror image. Twins run in my family. There’re a few sets. But Grace and I are the only identical twins. Mom always called us mirror twins because I have a tiny birthmark on my right cheek and Grace has one on her left. It’s the only way people that don’t know us can easily tell us apart. “So. Why haven’t you told me about him?”

“There’s nothing to tell.” I take a bite of the garlicky goodness and watch her watching me. “What?”

Her eyes crinkle like she’s sussing out a secret. “You like him.”

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