Page 128 of Crushing Clover

“We met in high school,” Rush said. “We surfed, played video games, drank. Saint and I hooked up once when we were drunk, then we didn’t stop. We kept it a secret. The problem was, we both liked to be in charge, and we were both tops.”

“That’s how I got dragged into things,” Lucky said.

“Dragged? Rush hinted he might be interested, and you practically jumped in his lap.”

“Anyway, I was only supposed to be a piece of ass, but I was willing and convenient.”

“And the most adorable fucking twink.”

Saint rolled his eyes. “They went from making fuck-me eyes at each other, to big cow eyes. It was disturbing, to be honest.”

“You were jealous,” Rush shot back at him.

“Of you getting a piece of Slutty McSlutterson? Hardly.”

Rush flicked Saint’s ear, and Saint covered it with a protective hand. “And you didn’t complain about him being a slut when you started joining in sometimes.”

“Why would I?”

“Saint started seeing Arabella when we were in culinary school,” Lucky said, looking amused. “Then we were all hanging out every weekend. We... I don’t know. It just happened.”

“She wanted to watch,” Saint said, surprising me. I’d expected him to shut down the conversation entirely once Arabella came up. “She wanted to spy on you two, so I asked Rush, and he agreed.” He shrugged. “The next time she wanted to watch, we ended up fucking in the same bed. Things deteriorated after that.”

“Then we went to your father’s cottage that one week,” Rush added. “That sealed the deal.”

“Then, two years later, she ghosted us.”

“She had aspirations that didn’t include three boyfriends and a food truck.”

Rush snorted. “Look at her now. Husband, baby, successful restaurant. She didn’t need us.”

The discussion soured the mood, of course, and I wanted to kick myself for ruining things.

I’d suspected they were angry because they’d considered her a possession, and she’d left, but the quality of the silence made me realize it was a different feeling altogether. They’d all loved her.

And she’d chosen to leave them.

I couldn’t imagine being in such an interesting, dynamic relationship and choosing to leave. For what?

“Maybe she wanted a regular life, and that was never going to happen with three boyfriends.” The words were out before I could reconsider them. I hadn’t meant to share the thought.

“Maybe,” Saint conceded.

“Or maybe you were such an asshole to her that she ran away,” Lucky mumbled under his breath.

He glared at me, as though I’d been the one to say it. “I wasn’t always like this.”

“No offense,” I teased, “but I have a hard time believing that.”

“Believe what you want.”

Rush took a sip of his beer. “It’s true. He’s never been a ray of sunshine, but he didn’t used to be this bad.”

“That’s not something you can blame your ex for,” I said, wondering why I was playing devil’s advocate. Maybe it felt like I had to be the representative of my gender. “Or maybe she felt outnumbered.”

“She was cheating on us,” Saint grumbled.

“We don’t know that.”

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