Page 132 of Holly Jolly July

We both take a step back, giving him some space. He glances around at the cabin, totally dishevelled, a look of disbelief on his face. Then, he looks back at us. “This whole time. You knew?”

“Well,” Ellie admits, “not the whole time.”

“How?”

“We work together,” I state. “I’m her makeup artist on set.”

His face darkens. “So you lied to me too, then. You told me you didn’t want to go near the movie set downtown and you hate Christmas.”

“All true,” I say, then I look to Ellie with a soft smile. “Well. Used to be true.”

Ellie grins back, cheeks flushing.

“Wait a second...” Jax trails off, looking back and forth between us. “Are you two...?”

Ellie and I admit to nothing, but he can immediately tell his hunch is correct. A wolfish grin lights up his face. “Hot. Are you two together because of me?”

Again, we say nothing, but he can clearly read our expressions.

“Nice.” He bites his lip. “You know, since we’ve all already seen each other naked, and we’ve all sort of had sex together in a way, we could—”

“Nope.”

“Out of the question.” We cut him off at the same time.

Then, I add, “Have you learned nothing?”

He shrugs. “I told you I’d stop lying, not that I’d stop trying to have sex with you both. And threesomes happen rarely, even for a guy like myself.”

I roll my eyes. “It seems your ego has not been affected.”

“Okay, enough’s enough.” Ellie ushers him toward the door.

Jax steps over the slippery puddles of lube and sidesteps the dangling string of lotioned condoms. “Fine. And tomorrow this place better be spotless or my uncle’s gonna kill me.”

“It will be,” Ellie assures him.

He pauses at the door, looking at us one last time. “You sure I can’t stay?”

“Go!”We shout.

“Fine! Fine.” With that, he turns and closes the door behind him.

Ellie and I release a long, slow exhale.

“You think he learned his lesson?” I ask her.

She shakes her head. “Probably not. But we did our best.”

I nod, then look around at the disarrayed cabin. “We put in the effort, that’s for sure. And now to clean all this up.”

“But first...” She takes my hand in hers and pulls me close, locking her lips on mine.

Interstitial

Ext. Downtown Hemlock Grove Courtyard (Cont’d)

The businesspeople are bickering back and forth, arguing louder and louder, disturbing the party.

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