that we'll run into each other again," I said, sweeping my gaze over Collins. She wore an oversized sweatshirt and leggings, and damn if I wasn't still turned. "Are you going to run away from me every time?"

"We're not going to see each other again," she said flatly.

Ouch, baby girl.

"You work with my best friend."

"In a completely different city."

I dragged a hand over my face. All that eagerness she had displayed last night...completely gone. Not a trace of that was left. The only thing I saw in Collins' expression? Stubbornness.

"You just don't need to act like that around me," I finally said. "If you see me in the future."

"Like what?" There was a straightening of her shoulders. A defensiveness.

"Skittish."

"I—"

"Look, Collins." I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and took a step closer to her, lowering my voice to a husky murmur. "I don't want to forget last night. I don't want to forget how you looked tied up on that bed. How you begged, Collins. How I fit inside you and you took me like we were made for each other."

Her eyes widened. Expanded with the heat.

Yeah, that's what I thought. You don't really want to forget it either, Collins. Do you?

"But I will," I breathed, hating myself. "I'll forget it. It'll get tucked away, and you won't have to worry about what I'll do if you see me. Is that what you want?"

Collins blinked, but beyond that...she was motionless.

—

"Truth or dare."

The prompt sizzled as it hung in the air, somewhere over the beach fire.

"Nessa, not this again," I groaned. "If you dare Bren to kiss Madie, they're going to disappear for the rest of the night. It happens every time."

Next to me, Bren tightened his grip on Madie. She was slouched into him, her head leaning against his chest.

"We could just excuse ourselves right now," he said, his grin saying he wouldn't mind doing just that. "You know, skip a step."

I will never forget the day Nessa and I surprised Bren and Madie here. I walked into this house and met a completely different Bren Hadaway than the guy I'd lived with during my first semester of college. This Bren had confidence. Cheekiness. He knew what he wanted for the very first time in his life.

From the outside looking in, people would say that Bren saved Madie when he brought her here to escape Quinton. But for those of us on the inside...we knew how much life Madie breathed into Bren. They balanced each other's pain. Like a scale. And somehow, it equaled out, and now they couldn't stop smiling.

"You're not going anywhere," Nessa scolded.

Madie smiled knowingly. We had only been here for a couple hours, and she'd definitely already fucked Bren. It didn't take a lot of deductive reasoning skills to figure out what they were doing upstairs when we first arrived.

"I promise there will be no kissing dares." Nessa laughed into the whiskey coke that I made for her.

"I want to play," Collins said, dropping into the sand and scooting back between my legs. Her back hit my chest, her hair tickling beneath my chin. And when I didn't immediately wrap my arm around her waist, she grabbed it and did it for me.

To say that Collins acted like she was ridiculously touch-deprived whenever she had more than one drink was an understatement. And I was pretty sure the overflowing glass that she'd just grabbed was her third one. "I've never been here for any of the other times," she said.

The fire crackled in front of us as warmth licked across my skin. It didn't have anything to do with the fire, though. It had everything to do with how Collins kept backing her ass closer and closer to my crotch.

"Take it easy on me, baby girl," I whispered in her ear. "You've been prancing around on the beach in nothing but those goddamn shorts and that swimsuit top since we got here."

Collins looked over her shoulder with a smirk. "I know you like these shorts."

"Honestly depends on the situation," I muttered. "And since now is not a situation where I can do anything about how much I like these shorts...I actually really hate them."

"I'll be good," Collins promised before covering her hand with mine and running her fingers along the veins in my arm, tracing them.

If I'd learned anything about Collins when she drank, it was that no, she would not be good.

And she'd fucking pay for it later.

"Okay, Collins," Nessa said, clearing her throat. She'd turned her head toward the fire, but she sat back to back with Grayson, who strummed lightly on his guitar with an amused expression. The melody of Brown Eyed Girl wafted over us. "Truth or dare?"

"Don't pick dare," I hissed.

I didn't trust Wednesday Elez one bit. We might have each other's back when it really mattered—like when I needed to have the apartment so I could fuck our other roommate in the kitchen—but when it came to playing drinking games...I knew better than to assume she'd go easy on anyone.

"Truth," Collins said definitively, and I relaxed.

Until Nessa's grin broadened.

"Oh, I've been waiting for this opportunity," she said and spun away from Grayson, leaning forward on her elbows in the sand. Eagerness danced in her eyes, and I heard Collins' nervous giggle. Nessa lowered her voice. "What did Beau whisper in your ear after his run on the half-pipe?"

An abrupt sound burst through Collins' lips. It wasn't quite a laugh. It was throatier than that, more...seductive. At least to my ears. I doubted the others noticed. Shaking her head, Collins raised her glass. "I think I'll just drink."

I chuckled, brushing a kiss behind her ear. "You don't want to tell them?" I teased.

"No," she muttered, twisting so that only I could hear her. "That dirty mouth of yours is just for me."

"Damn right it is." I wiped a drop of Prosecco from the corner of her mouth. "That's my girl."

"Come on," Nessa groaned from across the fire.

Collins swiveled around again—but not before fluttering her lashes at me in a way that made my blood pump faster. "You'll have to get me drunker than this if you want to know, Nessa," she sang.

"Beau! You heard the girl." Nessa pointed to the bottle on the patio. "Get her a refill."

"She just got herself a refill, Wendy," I said with a laugh. "Give it up. Move onto me, will ya?"

"Okay," Grayson said, clearing his throat as he paused his strumming and took over the questioning. "Truth or dare, Beau?"

"Truth, music man."

I also, without a doubt, did not trust Grayson.

He would play for team Nessa Elez until the day he died.

Well, knowing Grayson, he probably had plans of becoming immortal because he was just that sort of motherfucking perfectionist that would live forever.

"What did—"

"Do not ask me what Nessa just asked Collins because I'm not going to answer it if Collins doesn't want me to." I wagged a finger. "No teaming up here, you two."

"Fine." Grayson rolled his eyes despite the big smile on his face. He leaned forward with interest like Nessa had done a minute ago. "Did you and Collins hook up at the gala or not?"

"Oh, yeah." I waved my hand. Old news, buckaroo. "We definitely hooked up."

I felt Collins' little wiggle—an excited wiggle, if I wasn't mistaken.

Yeah, baby girl? You want a repeat of that night later?

Her ass hit my crotch again, and I barely swallowed a groan. I was too many beers in for her teasing tonight. Did she think I wouldn't dare to drag her inside? Because I absolutely would. This wasn't like that night in the hot tub—when we were trying not to be obvious in front of our friends. When we weren't together and were both so unsure.

Sure didn't even begin to explain how I felt about Collins now.

I gripped her tighter around her waist, digging my fingers in, hoping that she would get the message to knock it off.

"I knew it."

Grayson leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest with a look of satisfaction. There was no doubt in my mind that he thought he was the first one to uncover the truth of that night. He looked pointedly over at Nessa, clearly hoping to get a reaction from her, but she just traced a finger in the sand absentmindedly.

Finally, she peeked up at Grayson apologetically.

"Yeah," she said. "We all knew that already."

"What? Are you kidding me?"

Grayson swiveled toward Bren and Madie, who both shrugged. As if to say yeah, man, where have you been?

"Well, that's just ridiculous," Grayson pouted.

"No, baby." Nessa shook her head with all the signs of a smile. "You're ridiculous."

Football boy narrowed his eyes in accusation, and I heard him mutter, "It's a good thing you like that about me then, huh?"

Giving in, Nessa awarded his cheek with an over-dramatic kiss, which seemed to appease him. "I suppose."

Grayson made a gruff noise that translated into something like that's what I thought, and then he pushed off the sand and walked toward the back patio, where his guitar case was open on the table.

"Okay, someone needs to pick a dare," Bren said, pulling our attention away from Grayson and Nessa. "Or I'm just going to kiss Madie anyway."

Again, he smiled like he would be happy to oblige.

"We've all seen you make out with Madie enough," Nessa scoffed. "I'll do it."

I was mid-sip when Nessa said that, and I sputtered on my beer. My eyes grew wide at the same time that Bren's did.

"Oh my God. Not make out with Madie," Nessa quickly added. "I'll do a dare."

Bren's eyes were still round and stunned when Madie laughed, sitting straight. Bren, the clingy fucker, refused to release his hold on her, but she somehow still seemed to manage.

"Okay, a dare," Madie said with a dart of her eyes toward the patio. She dropped her voice, and I assumed it was so the music man wouldn't hear. "I dare you to whisper something dirty in Grayson's ear and then walk away without looking back."

Nessa's grin grew, though it was almost shy-like. Secretive. Surprisingly, she shook her head. "He's already annoyed. I don't think that's going to help."

"No," Madie agreed with a shrug. "But I think it'd be fun to watch."

"I think so, too," Collins declared before slouching against my chest. Her head rested on my shoulder as she gazed up at me.

"Hey Collins, baby," I whispered as the others chatted softly about the dare.

She bit down on her lip and murmured a little hi.

The stars reflected in her eyes. They sparkled in the night, and I suddenly hated that I didn't have a poetic bone in my body. I didn't know any classics, unless Dante's Inferno was considered one, but either way, that wasn't particularly romantic. And Collins deserved something romantic. She deserved songs and flowery words and prose.

I wasn't very good at any of that. But still, I tried.

"I like this page," I said, my voice thick. "The one we're on. Both of us, together. It's a really, really good page."

"It's the best page," she agreed breathily.

I bent down to kiss her, but her eyes shifted at the last minute, distracted by Nessa stomping past us. She made a beeline for Grayson, who had just finished closing his guitar case when he glanced up to see Nessa a few steps away.

His eyes hooked on her.

Nessa hadn't even said anything yet, and he was hooked.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Nessa shot up on her tip-toes as she leaned into him, obviously intent on following through with the dare. I watched Grayson's expression shift, a muscle jumping in his jaw as Nessa whispered in his ear.

Christ, Nessie. Go easy on the man. Dude's got a heart condition.

"Do you think she's reciting an entire erotic novel?" I muttered, and I felt Collins' laughter in my chest.

"No, not the whole thing. Probably just up until the cliffhanger."

Whatever it was, Nessa's attempt to get away afterwards was over before it even began. Grayson immediately stepped after her, his giant football-catching arm grabbing Nessa by the waist. Within seconds, he'd thrown her over his shoulder.

"We'll be back," he said with a wolfish, unashamed grin that told its own story. Without another word, he toted a laughing, only half-protesting Nessa into the house.

Silence, disturbed only by the crackling fire and heaving waves, hovered over the rest of us for a few seconds while we exchanged amused glances.

"Truth," Bren said before I ever had a chance to ask.

A question popped to the tip of my tongue, ready to be unloaded. But I hesitated.

"I'm almost afraid to ask."

"Just do it." Bren tipped his beer bottle back casually, shrugging. "I don't have secrets anymore. Not from you guys. Collectively, you know everything."

I watched as his eyes dropped from me to Collins, and I stiffened.

But only for a second. Because I saw how he was looking at her. It wasn't with interest, of course. There were no hidden messages that I wasn't privy to. The message was plain, right there, out in the open: you saw me at my worst, so now I want you to be there for my best.

Collins and Bren...they existed at a time that neither of them wanted to return to.

Bren lifted his brown gaze to mine, and I held it.

"It's not that I'm afraid you won't tell me," I said finally, cracking a grin. "It's that I don't know if I want to know the answer."

Bren's lips twitched, waiting for me to go on.

"Just tell us, once and for all," I said, leaning forward into Collins. "In how many parts of this house did you two rabbits get it on?"

Bren chuckled, and I didn't miss how his hand trailed up Madie's arm, making her shiver.

"How many? Or where?"

Did I wanna know where? Yeah. I mean...curiosity might have killed the cat, but I was definitely a dog energy kind of dude. Curiosity ain't got shit on golden retrievers.

"Where."

"Not that many," Madie said, but her strained voice told a different tale.

Collins laughed in my lap, tipping back her drink and taking a long sip.

"Well, the bedroom," Bren started. "The inside shower—"

Madie cleared her voice. "The outside shower."

"And..." Bren trailed off, glancing down at Madie. He was either waiting to see if she would say it or drumming up memories that I didn't need to fucking watch. I mean, sure, this was my fault. But still.

"And?" I probed, forcing my way into the moment.

"And the kitchen table," Bren said before tossing his beer back.

"See, Collins?" I muttered. "Undomesticated, the lot of them."

"Kitchen counter, Beau," she reminded with a smile and then held up her empty cup, unphased by the conversation. She was just... happy, and I wanted to create a bubble around this moment and hope that nothing in the world would pop it.

"Another drink?" she asked. "Surprise me with one of your concoctions."

Damn, those words were like sweet music to my ears.

"Of course. But you're going to have to get off me."

She frowned, pouting. "But I like you here."

Collins twisted in my lap, wrapping her hand around the back of my neck and pulling me down for a kiss—one where she really decided to go in for the kill. My dick had been able to forget how close it was to her ass, but no more. Her lips pressed to mine, her tongue flicked into my mouth, and every bit of me became incredibly aware of the girl in my arms.

"Fuck, baby girl," I breathed as she pulled away.

Collins' flashed a teasing grin in response.

Yep, that was a look of a naughty girl who I planned to make into a good one later.

"I have the perfect drink in mind," I said. "But the tequila is still in the car. I'll be right back."

Collins regretfully let me leave, and I took off around the side of the house, not wanting to run into anything Grayson was doing to Nessa on the inside. When I turned the corner of the house to the driveway, I stopped still.

My mirror image sat on my car, and my stomach dropped.

His lips curved upward.

"Hey, bro."

✨

this chapter was brought to you by:

Amelie, Covid Edition

gosh I hope it all makes sense lmao

if it didn't...blame the fever

also I'm bored so here's another one of these: