Page 80 of Bro Amazing

"To say I'm on edge these days is an understatement." I huff a laugh, but I'm nervous and distracted, still glancing around the room in case Sasha is approaching.

"And it never gets easier," says Maddie. "We just learn how to mitigate the anxiety."

"Thanks for ordering for me." Nodding at my usual glass of wine, then looking over to Sasha's empty chair. "No Sasha tonight?" I try to keep the sound of hope out of my voice.

"Your welcome. I figured we should since The Moat is so busy tonight, and no. She said something about going home to visit family." Angela shakes her head, and I feel the tension leave my body now that I know I won't have to see Sasha tonight. "I'm surprised she didn't tell you. I'd thought you two did a lot of things together."

"We mostly get together to write." I shrug.Or try to fuck each other's boyfriends, apparently.

"Well, your writing has certainly changed so if it's from working with Sasha keep it up," says Maddie.

"Thanks." I bite my lip. I'm not sure if I should ask, but it'd help my peace of mind, so I say, "Do you know when Sasha plans to be back?"

"She didn't say." Maddie glances over at Angela. "Did something happen between you two?"

"Kind of," I mumble. Then, without even consciously deciding to, I end up spilling the whole story about how Sasha had called me a bad writer and kissed my boyfriend.

"Oh no." Maddie reaches across the table to hold my hand. "I'm so sorry. You're not a bad writer, and I'm glad yourboyfriend made it clear that he's in a relationship. He sounds like a good man."

I nod, appreciating their words, but it's still hard to believe. My boyfriends are so famous in their own little circle, it almost feels like it's a matter of time before someone tries to take them from me again. And although they originally only hired me to be their girlfriend so they can use me whenever and wherever, I feel like we've moved past that emotionally and are in a real relationship.

"Soooo." Angela casts a glance at Maddie. "Which one of those two guys who came by last week to pick you up is your boyfriend?"

I cover my face for a moment in embarrassment. This is so awkward to talk about, but my boyfriends and I had talked about it over breakfast and we're going forward with telling people about our relationship. They don't need to know that I'm getting paid for it though.

I take a deep breath and spit it out. "Both of them are my boyfriends. Well … two of my boyfriends."

"Wait, you mean there's more?" asks Angela, her eyebrows raised. "How many boyfriends do you have?"

"Five," I mumble into my glass of wine.

"Are these all of your roommates? You'd said you have five roommates," says Maddie.

"Yeah, it kind of just happened after I moved in." This is technically true. First they hired me, then I moved in, and then we started sleeping together. I can't pinpoint exactly when I fell for them and this all became real, though.

"Whew!" Maddie fans herself. "No wonder you're writing such hot scenes now, with boyfriends like that!"

"Some people struggle seeing other people have success and happiness," says Angela, reaching out to pat my shoulder. "I hope you and Sasha can get past what happened to continuecritiquing together. But if you can't, we understand and we can have that difficult conversation with her."

"I'm not sure what's going to happen with her, to be honest. I'd thought we were friends, but then she did this so I'm not sure if that was ever true." I pause to sip more wine. Tough nights like this require more alcohol. It might be a three-glass evening. "But thank you. It means a lot to have you both in my corner. I'm just glad she's not here so we can both have some space away from each other."

"Well we're here for you," says Angela. "Just let us know what you need and we're ready to help."

"Thank you. I really appreciate that. I think for now I'm just going to throw myself into my work."And prove to both myself and Sasha that I'm a good writer.I pull out Angela and Maddie's chapters that I'd marked over the last couple of days, shuffle through them and put Sasha's back in my bag.

"Yes, let's get some work done. After all, that's why we're here." Maddie pulls out her marked pages too. "Then after, we can have another drink and you can tell us all the details about these five sexy gamer boyfriends of yours."

"Sure." I laugh, and we settle into our discussion. They have no idea they've already read the dirtiest details.

Without Sasha, we get through our comments surprisingly quickly, and while there is still a lot of constructive criticism, there's no pushback, and there are a lot of compliments too.

"Oh goody, the eye candy has arrived." Maddie blindly stuffs the copies of her chapter into her bag, her gaze focused on something behind me.

Turning in my seat, I spot all five of my boyfriends filtering through the tables as they approach. Even Ethan.

My boyfriends had promised—or threatened?—to come pick me up, and I'd told them repeatedly I could handle it.

Apparently, they didn't believe me.

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