Page 26 of Until the End

Chapter 16

Ginny

“Did you do it?”

I freeze at my sister’s question. My pulse flutters in my throat as the fantasy of Carson’s body pressing me into my bed, his lips coasting down my neck, filters into my head.

I’ve never had a wet dream before, but since the text exchange with him, I’ve had two.

“D-do what?”

Gia walks across my kitchen with two drinks in hand. I have no idea what she’s concocted, but I’ll need to be careful if I want to keep my secrets. Normally, I’d have gone to Gia the second Carson responded with a flirty text back. But it’s Carson. He’s always been more to me than a best friend.

“Did you talk to Carson?”

Shit. So much for keeping it to myself. There’s no way I can get away with lying to her. She’ll see through me the second the words come out of my mouth.

I bite the inside of my cheek. What do I tell her? Howmuchdo I tell her?

Everything,the voice in my head, who sounds an awful lot like Gia, whispers. I hate that my first instinct is to hidefrom her. This is the chance I need to practice talking to her about my life again. I spent almost two years keeping my biggest secret from the one person I should’ve been able to share it with. If now isn’t the right time to start talking again, I don’t know when it will be.

Gia gasps. “Spill it. Right now.”

My glass clunks against the counter in her haste to settle on her bar stool. I give her a bemused expression. “How do you know anything happened?”

“Because your face is a tomato.”

I palm my warm cheeks. “Shut up.”

Gia waves her hand in the air as if to say,start talking.

“Right…so I might’ve sent him a bit of a risqué picture of me in my swimsuit by the pool.”

“Shut. Up.” Gia slams her hand on the countertop. “I am so fucking proud of you.”

I giggle. “I was kind of proud of myself.”

“You should be. What did he say back?”

I groan. “It took him forever to say anything back. I thought I’d ruined everything by sending it.”

“He probably had to go jerk off first.”

“Gia!” I smack her arm.

“What? You could probably send him a picture of you in a hazmat suit, and Carson would still need to take care of business.”

“You’re ridiculous. Anyway, when he finally responded, he told me I looked great. It took me a bit to decide what to say next. I thought about what you would say, and then I dialed it back about five.”

“Can I read the exchange?”

I narrow my eyes at her. “Why?”

“Because you’re holding back the details, and I want to know exactly what he said.”

After hesitating for half a second, I hand over my phone.Maybe Gia can give me some better insight into our conversation.

She raises an eyebrow at me when she sees the pictures I sent. My cheeks flame in response.

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