Page 52 of Riot of Autumn

“Naw, not for this stuff,” Miri says as she pulls her shoulder length dark hair up into a ponytail.

Her store just closed for the night. We decided to meet her here, since she needed to restock her shelves, but still wanted to get the girls together. The boys had their impromptu fishing trip, so Miri decided we needed to get together too.

“So…what’s new?” Lena asks, grinning at me with a knowing glint in her eyes.

Miri is grinding seeds of some kind with a mortar and pestle, but stops to look between the two of us with her mouth pursed. Zara is busy mixing up a drink and isn’t catching on to the undercurrent of Lena’s statement.

“Fucking gossips,” I grumble, taking a long drink.

“What’s there to gossip about?” Miri starts grinding again, a hint of a smile on her face.

Zara looks up then, her eyes assessing me. She gives me a sweet, genuine smile but doesn’t seem all that interested in discovering secrets.

“What did Archer say?” I give my attention to Lena, cursing her nosy-ass boyfriend.

Lena’s plucking the petals from a tiny purple plant, gently setting them in a bowl as she extracts each one. Miri didn’t give me any tasks, because she knows better. I’m more likely to destroy the plants than I would be a help to prep her stuff.

Lena raises her eyebrows at me as if asking if I want her to spill my secrets to everyone. It’s a little late for that, though. She’s already blurted out enough to tempt the others, well at least Miri, into wanting to know the rest.

I heave out a sigh and shrug.

“Archer mentioned that Ezra was talking about you on their little fishing trip.”

“Oh my God, is Archer’s flare for dramatics rubbing off on you?” I roll my eyes. “I slept with Ezra,” I blurt out to stop the damn suspense.

Miri drops her mortar—or is that the pestle—and stares at me with her mouth hanging open. Lena huffs and crosses her arms like I stole her thunder.

Hello. I did the sexing. It’s my thunder to sprinkle wherever I want.

Zara’s expression hasn’t changed. She still has that gentle smile on her face, as if there’s nothing surprising about this at all.

“Fucking finally.” Miri manages to get herself in check long enough to start laughing. “I was partially convinced the two of you have been doing it secretly for years, kind of like her.” Miri points at Lena.

“We weren’t doing it for years in secret.” Lena rolls her eyes and picks up her drink to take a sip. There’s a lovesick look taking over her face as she, no doubt, thinks about Archer.

“I’m kind of pissed Davis didn’t say anything.” Miri pouts, pouring her ground-up seeds into a larger bowl. She tips in a batch of different seeds into her stone bowl and starts the process over. “But not at all surprised.”

“I can’t believe Ezra blabbed about it on their dude outing.”

“Are you kidding me? Ezra’s been dying to get into your pants since we were in middle school. He probably had to tell someone it actually happened to make it real.”

I turn to gape at Lena. “You knew he wanted me this whole time?”

It’s Lena’s turn to gape, Miri too. Zara’s still cool as a cucumber, watching this all unfold in front of her. “You didn’t?”

Ezra always pushes and pokes. I assumed it was his personality to want to get a rise out of people, and he liked targeting me because I pushed back. I always thought I was a challenge for him, because Archer or Rhys would simply tell him to get bent. Davis doesn’t even respond to any of Ezra’s ribbing. After our conversation the other night, I now know differently. But how was I that clueless to something everyone else saw?

Ezra told me he had feelings for me all these years, but the reality of that hasn’t sunk in yet. And Lena knew all this time?

“Why didn’t you ever say something?” I shake my head at Lena.

Her mouth opens and closes a few times before she responds. “I always thought your fights were the equivalent of pulling a girl’s hair because you want to get her attention. Isn’t that what you’ve been doing to him too? I thought it was an unspoken thing that we just never talked about.”

Everyone knew how we both felt. Everyone knew how Ezra felt, except for me. Did Ezra know too and was humoring me? Did I ignore the signs because I didn’t feel worthy? I still don’t, if I’m honest.

“I always have a crush on the least popular boy band member,” I spit out, instantly regretting my words. Oh, fuck. I guess I’m going to spill out some damage now.

“What? Why?” Lena laughs, not sure where the hell I’m going with this.

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