Page 123 of You Were Never Not Mine

She catches me staring, doing a double take, that slow, delectable smile appearing on her face and I want to lean over the massive table and kiss it off her but that would cause a scene and we’re right in the middle of my post-graduation dinner with my family and Cyrus and hisfamily so there’s no point.

I’ll just kiss her later tonight. All night long if I’m so inclined. All over her body.

Sounds like the best plan I’ve had in a while.

Sin blows a kiss at me, making Elise laugh, and I can’t stand it any longer.

“What are you two talking about?”

Their laughter dies, matching mischievous smiles on their faces.

“You’ll never believe it,” Sinclair says.

“Try me.”

They share a look and Elise is the one who announces, “Rafe and Tim are together. Romantically. Like they’re a couple.”

I go silent, taking in what she said. Running it through my brain over and over again until all I can manage to say is, “What the actual fuck?”

They burst out laughing, in on the joke that I’m not privy to and while a part of me is aggravated, I’m also glad to see Sinclair having so much fun with her friend. These two are troublemakers together. Elise is what my mother would’ve called a bad influence when we were younger, but there’s something so damn likable about her, I don’t worry about it when they spend time together. Sin is the rational one and Elise needs to be reined in on occasion, which makes them a well-balanced pair.

“It’s true,” Sin says with a nod, her lips curled into the cutest smile. One I want to kiss off. I think I’m obsessed with her mouth. As a matter of fact, I’d like to stuff it full with my dick. A graduation present for myself, so to speak. “Elise has always suspected they had a thing for each other.”

I know all about the throuple situation Elise had with Rafe and Tim—I was shocked as shit when Sinclair told me—but I had no idea the guys were into each other.

“When we’d hook up, sometimes they forgot about me,” Elise says. “I knew then, but they were in total denial.”

“Interesting.” I stroke my chin, thinking of the many times I believed I had legitimate beef with Tim and it turns out he was into Rafe all along. Life is a wild ride. “I hope they’re happy together.”

Sin’s mouth drops open. “You don’t mean it.”

I shrug. “I do. Why would I wish them ill will?”

“Because you hate Tim,” Sinclair reminds me.

“Not if he isn’t a threat. And he hasn’t been for a while.” If ever. “What can I say? I’m a changed man.”

“Uh huh.” She slowly shakes her head, her eyes glowing and I have a feeling she’s dying to get her hands on me too. Stupid dinner party has to go and ruin everything.

We’re in the city, at a restaurant not too far from my apartment. My parents are in for the weekend, staying at their penthouse not too far from my building and of course, Iris and Brooks are with us, too. Their sweet little monster is spending the evening with Brooks’ mother so my sister is drinking copious amounts of alcohol and running her hands all over Brooks every chance she gets, which I’m trying to ignore. Vaughn is also with us tonight. He brought his little high school girlfriend and they’re wrapped up in their own conversation, ignoring all of us. She’s an adorable blonde whose name is…fuck.

I don’t know.

Cyrus’s parents are sitting close to mine and Cyrus is next to me, downing one scotch after another, getting shit-faced and feeling melancholy. Nostalgic.

“Remember the time we broke into the library our freshman year and wrapped the entire front desk in toilet paper?” Cyrus asks me, slurring his words.

“What? I’ve never heard this story.” Sinclair rests her chinon top of her curled fist, her elbow propped on the table. “Tell me more, Cyrus.”

They get along, my best friend and the woman I love, thank Christ. The problem though? He constantly fills her head with stories about our sordid pasts, always making me look like an epic tool. Sinclair eats these storiesup.Like she’s doing right now, listening to Cyrus go on, her gaze never straying from him while he regales her with exaggerated tales about our frat.

“We were getting hazed and the seniors in our frat were fucking bastards. I can’t believe all the shit they made us do.” Cyrus rests his fisted hand against his mouth, burping into it. “We were much easier on our pledges.”

“We were not,” I remind him, shaking my head. “I am a nightmare. So are you.”

We keep up the steady conversation, Cyrus and I sharing story after story while Sinclair and Elise seem to eat them up. Elise keeps sending sultry looks in Cyrus’s direction and his drunken ass keeps sending flirtatious winks and smirks back. By the time we’re leaving the restaurant and walking back to my apartment arm in arm, Sin and I discuss their potential.

“Do you think they’ll hook up tonight?”

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