Page 19 of Always Been You
“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
“ARIA! Don’t come out with us if you don’t want to know,” Lauren chides.
“Hey… Hey…” She raises her hands in surrender and then takes a sip of her drink. Relaxing on the leather couch, she crosses her legs, looking every bit the C.E.O she is.
“So I did go out,” I finally settle on.
“We know that. Skip to the good part,” Lauren chimes in.
“I don’t remember telling you.”
“Call it telepathy.” Of course, she knows everything. After a bad breakup with her ex-boyfriend. Lauren has been tracking us obsessively, thanks to the HW Security app we all have for security reasons. I shake my head.
“I had a one-night stand,” there I said it. Aria's drink sputters from her mouth while Lauren's mouth has a huge O shape. Elisa, on the other hand, exclaims, “OH MY GOD.”
“Will you keep it down?" I chastise. It feels risky yet safe to tell them about it. Risky because I barely know what it means to me and safe because I know they’ve got my back.
Honestly, the best thing I could have done was to dodge, smile, and wave it off. But sitting here with their wide eyes fixed on me makes me feel the need to let someone in, even if it’s just my sisters. If I don’t, I know I’ll keep second-guessing every moment, every choice.
“You did what?” Elisa, having ignored my comment, blurts out.
“Well, the idea just hit me like a light bulb when I was talking to this guy I met.” I pause, debating how much to share. In the end , I decide to reveal just enough but not everything.
“I didn’t know what to expect. Honestly, it’s safe to say he’s the best sex yet,” I hurried to add.
“He was that good?” Lauren crouches forward from across the table, whispering like she’s about to spill state secrets.
“Lauren, stop,” Aria huffs, shoving her back onto the couch.
“He was…” I trail off, only to freeze mid-sentence when a hand slips over Lauren’s eyes from behind.
“Dashiel, I could spot you a mile away by your perfume alone,” she says, smacking his hands off her face playfully. The rest of us chuckle, the tension of the conversation dissipating for a moment.
Dash—short for Dashiell, though we never call him by his full name—grins like a guilty kid caught sneaking cookies. He rounds the table and wedges himself between Elisa and me, ignoring her dramatic groan of protest.
“Are we plotting Derrick’s demise?” he asks casually, grabbing a chip from the tray by the drinks and popping it into his mouth.
I shake my head, a smile tugging at my lips despite myself. “We—”
“I—”
“What the hell are you doing here?”
The overlapping voices are interrupted by the loud, obnoxious blare of his ringtone. The melody feels like it was chosen specifically to annoy anyone in a five-foot radius.
“Hold that thought.” Dash waves a hand, standing to answer his phone. “A minute,” he says, already walking off.
As soon as he’s out of earshot, Lauren rolls her eyes and slumps back against the couch. “Of course. He vanishes just as dramatically as he arrives.” I laugh softly but don’t add anything. My thoughts are already elsewhere.
“You know his company got the contract?” Elisa says, her tone suddenly shifting to something more serious.
“Which one?” Lauren asks, her interest piqued.
“The one with M Industries.”
“You don’t say.” Lauren whistles low. “No wonder he’s extra busy these days.” We all fall silent at the mention of M Industries. The name alone feels like it carries weight, a whispered threat in polite company. I shift uncomfortably. My worry has always been the way they operate—everything about them is so damn opaque. No one knows who leads the company. Not the media, not the boardroom sharks, not even Dash, or maybe he does now.
“I heard the grandson’s supposed to make an appearance now that their headquarters have moved here,” Elisa says.
