Page 78 of After the Storm

“But you were—” I cut him off again, kicking him under the table.

“I was looking for me. Now we’re looking together, and it was important to Audra to tell you first,” I say, shooting him daggers. He nods and smiles like a fucking idiot. Way to make it obvious.

“Do you think you’ll stay in Doves Harbor?” he asks her, changing the subject. Pain in my ass, little brother.

“I hope so. That’s always been what I wanted, but I wouldn’t mind being just outside of Doves Harbor,” she says with a shrug.

“Are you going to tell Ravyn? What about Beck? Or mom?” he asks.

“Yeah. We’re not keeping it a secret. We just wanted you to know first. Kinda owed you one,” she says, reaching across the table and giving him a boop on the nose.

“Let’s go then. I can’t wait for Ravyn’s reaction to finding out you’ll be living with a man. She’s going to hate this,” Ares says, laughing. So we all stand up and make our way back to the pool deck. Ravyn is leaning over the wooden railing, looking out at the ocean, and Beck is sitting in a lounger right next to her, looking scared like she might bite his head off if he speaks. I can’t say I blame him.

“Hey, we wanted to talk to you guys about something,” Audra says, standing by Ravyn and Beck.

“Oh God. Are you pregnant?” Ravyn asks. Audra throws two hands up in the air.

“No. What the hell? Why do you all think this is a pregnancy announcement?” she huffs.

“It’s really the way you led the conversation,” Ares says.

“Yeah. That was what did it for me,” Ravyn agrees.

“Yeah, it’s really the delivery,” Beck chimes in. Audra shifts her weight to one leg, throwing her hands to her hips.

“Okay,” she snaps. “I amnotpregnant. We just have news… We’re going to start looking at places together,” she explains. Ravyn looks over to Ares, and he gives a discreet shake of the head. This asshole told Ravyn I’ve been looking. Can’t tell your own little brother anything.

At least she can read a room better than my brother because she doesn’t mention it at all.

“Are you thinking of a house or an apartment? Or even a condo?” Beck asks.

“We haven’t really had a chance to think about it yet,” she replies. It isn’t true, though, not for me. I’ve been thinking about this. I mean, on some level, this has always been the dream, so I’ve been thinking about it in that way for years. In a real way, though, I’ve been looking for a couple of months.

“I’d be open to a condo. I don’t know, though I love the idea of our own space.” She shrugs.

“Your own space? As if you’d be able to get rid of any of us. We’re worse than bedbugs,” Ares says with a laugh. Ravyn doubles over, laughing at the joke.

“We’re like bedbugs that eat all your food and talk really loud,” Ravyn adds. When she mentions talking really loud, she looks right at Ares.

“I think the bedbugs might smoke weed in your house,” Beck says, pointing to Ares and Ravyn.

“Well, at least these bed bugs won’t bring strange women to the house,” Ares says, pointing at Beck. He pulls a hand to his chest, doing a dramatic clutch of his heart.

“Speak for yourself,” Ravyn butts in.

“Can we stop talking about our house having bed bugs before we even have one?” Audra shivers as she says it.

Chapter33

Audra

The past monthhas been a dream.

So many times, I’ve daydreamed about what it could be like for everyone to know about us. Those daydreams felt a whole lot like life in the last months or so. It used to feel far off, like it was nothing but a fantasy. These days, real life is better than those fantasies.

We’ve spent so many evenings with all of our friends in one place. Bonfires, pool days, game nights, we’ve done it all. Ares was a little weird about things at first, making comments about being grossed out when we’d show any sign of being together. He’s gotten better now over the weeks. Although he still rolls his eyes about it from time to time.

“Audi, I love you, but for the love of God, turn it off,” Ares groans, looking over at me from the driver’s seat. So, he doesn’t have quite the same tolerance for Taylor Swift that his brother does.

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