Page 76 of After the Storm

“I love you guys. I’m sorry my shitty ex put all of us through the last few months.”

“I guess we can forgive you.” Ares shrugs me off, pretending to be nonchalant. I give him a playful shove, and he hugs me.

Chapter32

Roman

“Asshole!”Ravyn screams across the pool, pointing at Beck, who’s standing on the deck.

“Woah, what did I do?” he asks, frowning. She rolls her eyes, pointing a finger at the towel wrapped around his waist.

“That’s always my towel,” she says, folding her arms aggressively across her chest.

An entire week of everyone knowing about us. A full eight days of hanging out all together as one group. It’s been amazing. Better than I imagined it could be. In the evenings, when we’re all off work, we’ve been meeting at my house. Me, Audra, Beck, Ares, and Ravyn. We’ve never really hung out all as a group until this. Before now, it was always me and my friends and then Ares and his.

His friends have always been a lot more consistent than mine, except for Beck. He’s always been consistent and for that I’m beyond grateful.

“If I knew it was always your towel, I wouldn’t have taken it,” Beck says, unwrapping it from his waist and setting it on the lounge chair with her belongings on it.

“Be nice,” Audra says, nudging Ravyn’s arm. Ravyn huffs.

“I can’t believe we added two more men to the group. This is like a nightmare. I’ve genuinely had nightmares more pleasant than this.” Audra laughs.

“You’ll be okay. They don’t bite,” she says, rubbing a supportive hand on Ravyn’s arm. I sit at the edge of the pool, dropping my feet in the water.

“Auds,” I call out. A grin creeps up on her sun-kissed cheeks, and she wades through the water to come stand in front of me. She looks up at me, and her already green eyes shimmer with the water reflecting into them and my heart skips a beat.

“Are you getting in?” she asks, sliding her hands across the surface of the water as if to show me how lovely the water is.

“I can. I just wanted to see you,” I admit. She reaches for my hand and yanks me into the water with her. I pop my head back out of the water and shake my hair dry.

“Yeah, I want you to get in,” she says, wearing the cheekiest smile.

“Mmm,” I hum out, leaning in to kiss her. She wraps one lazy arm around the back of my neck and kisses me back.

“Woooo!” Beck cheers, standing above us on the deck. She laughs against my lips, and it might be my favorite feeling in the world. A mix of kissing her and hearing her laugh at the same time.

“Get a room!” Ares calls out from the opposite end of the pool, laughing.

“I’d love to,” I add, winking at Audra.

“Gross,” Ares and Ravyn say in unison. Audra and I just laugh again.

* * *

“Where are you taking me?”I ask, following behind her like a dog on a leash as she drags me by my hand down the street.

“Away from all of our nosey friends so I can talk to you,” she says, looking back at me with a cheek-splitting smile. Her hand is tightly knit with mine as she pulls me along. We pass people by as we make our way down the road. Teenagers on penny boards and parents lugging their kids down to the beach in wagons. Still, my attention is all on the pretty girl walking me down the road.

We’re a few doors down from my house, and she finally stops and turns to me, dropping my hand.

“You’re not breaking up with me, are you?” I ask, jokingly. Mostly anyways. I can’t lie, though, the serious talk always feels a little like you’re about to be broken up with.

“What?” She barks out a laugh, confusion plastered on her pretty face. “No. Why would I be breaking up with you?”

“I don’t know. Serious talks just always feel that way. I was mostly kidding.” She squints at me.

“Well, no, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” She pauses, taking a moment to pick her next words. “The opposite, really,” she adds. Now I’m fucking listening. Not that I wasn’t before. For most of my life, if Audra Hart was speaking, I was paying attention. My heart jogs to a new, faster pace.

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