Page 68 of Kings of Sherwood

Mackenzie and Grace devolve into giggles.

Maren blanks. “I don’t follow,” she says, but she’s smiling.

“Come on, don’t be cute,” says Mackenzie. “I mean, this guy here?” She gestures to me. “He’s a specimen. But—” she chews her lip, tips her head—“so is it, like...all y’allall together, or...?”

Oh.

Oh.

My face goes extremely hot. I look at my palms and wish I were anywhere else—anywhere where the beautiful girls I’ve somehow surrounded myself with at this table were not discussing my somewhat...singular style of sex life.

Relationship life? I don’t even know what to call it.

Maren, though—God bless her—does not seem nonplussed.

“Oh,” she says, giving a little laugh. “Yeah. Was it that obvious?”

Taylor snorts. “Like I said in the bathroom—the way they were looking at you, either they were gonna take you home or take you to an abandoned warehouse and whack you limb from limb.” She slurps the rest of her margarita. “I’m just glad it was the former.”

“Me too,” Maren agrees. “Yeah, it’s...well, you guessed it.” She gives a little smile. “Lucky me.”

“No kidding,” says Grace—the dumped one—in a bit of a watery voice.

I look up to shoot her a smile, which she returns... and then immediately crumples into a wail.

“Aw, girly.” Mackenzie pouts and pats the back of her hand. “Margarita’ll fix what ails you.”

She looks at me. “So it’s you and these other guys?”

“Yeah,” I stammer. “I mean—” I run my fingers through my hair. “It’s not, like, us together.” I am seriously underprepared to talk about this.

“So y’all don’tallhook up?” Taylor asks, narrowing her eyes, pointing two fingers at me, then Maren, then out at the hypothetical rest of the boys. “With each other.”

“No, no,” I confirm. “I mean, one time Will planted one on me on New Year’s Eve, but I think he was just plastered.”

Taylor chews the stir-straw in her glass, a wicked gleam in her eye. “That’s hot.”

Maren cackles. “I didnotknow that. But that tracks.”

I shrug. “Yeah. Not my thing. But not a bad kisser, you know.”

“Of course I do.” She smirks.

“Crazy shit,” Mackenzie says. “But hey—good for you.” She plants a hand on her chest. “I accept all lifestyles. That are legal, anyway.”

“Good distinction,” I say, nodding.

“So...nothing human/animal, then?” Maren says.

It’s a joke—but from the way she catches my eyes, I know she’s having fun, skirting close to the truth.

I press my lips together and widen my eyes.Don’t you dare.

She cocks her head.I won’t.

“Okay, for one, no, gross,” Mackenzie says. “And for two...I mean, everyone already thinks we’re a bunch of hillbillies down here. Last thing we need isactualpig-fuckers.”

“People think we suck,” Grace agrees.

---