Page 90 of The Confidentiality Clause
I let out a relieved sigh. “That would help a lot. It’s been hard finding the right person to trust.”
“I can imagine. We’ll help you find them, though,” Jason says with a smile.
There’s a brief pause, as though no one knows what to say. The last thing I want right now is more emotional talk, but I don’t know how to transition to another topic when they came all this way for this very one.
“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I want to hear how you two ended up together,” Sutton says with a conspiratorial smile. “And don’t leave anything out. Except maybe the kissing. I don’t want to hear about that.” She scrunches her nose, and we all laugh.
I wrap an arm around Ariel and kiss her temple. “I’ll let Ariel tell that part of the story.”
Chapter forty-one
Ariel Cambridge
“And then Dominic threw him to the ground before stalking off with Bethanne,” I finish, wrapping up the story of Houston Vonclout’s downfall.
We’re all sitting around my new firepit. Right when I was about to tell our story to the group, the delivery guy showed up. All of the guys went outside to help Brock put it together. And by help, I mean watch and make fun of him when he did something wrong. Meanwhile, I told Sutton all of the details–minus the making out, of course–about how Brock and I came to be. It felt so good to finally be able to tell her everything.
Brock took a lot longer than necessary to assemble the firepit. I think he wanted to give us time to be alone, and also reconnect with the guys again. He continued that trend by leaving Sutton and I to go back to his place and play video games for a few hours with the guys. They came back smiling and laughing, andeven Emmett wore a small grin. It made me beyond happy to see Brock relaxed and having fun.
We ate pizza, then huddled around the firepit to make s’mores as the sun set. Sutton said the guys would like my story about Houston, so I’ve been regaling them with a dramatic rendition complete with a reenactment with the help of Brock that had us doubled over in laughter.
“That’s so romantic,” Sutton says with a dreamy sigh.
Shaw nudges her. “When I was fighting Mason on the ice for you, you didn’t see it that way.”
“That was because I didn’t knowwhyyou were doing it.”
“He was a jerk to you, that’s reason enough,” Brock says, earning a fist bump from Shaw.
“You know what I meant,” Sutton says and rolls her eyes.
“I agree with Brock,” I say, earning a glare from my best friend, but a grin from Brock.
“You’re not allowed to take his side! How are we going to win at anything?”
I laugh. “You take whatever side gets you the win. You’ve teamed up against me plenty of times.”
She wears a faux-innocent smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mhmm, sure.” I grab my cup to take a sip of water and notice it’s empty. “I need some more water. Anybody want anything?” I stand up from where I was sharing a blanket with Brock.
A chorus ofno thanksandI’m goodechoes out. Except for Brock, who says, “I’m running low. I’ll come with you.”
“Let me see your cup,” Miles says with a wicked grin and reaches over. Brock holds it away from him.
“What do you want with my cup?”
“I want to confirm that it’s full and you’re just going inside to make out with Ariel.”
Brock laughs and continues to fend him off. I see Jason looking like he’s about to join, so I reach down and snag the cup. It’s so full, it almost sloshes out onto my hand when I grab it.
I bite back a grin.
“That only makes you more suspicious,” Miles says as he pulls back from wrestling with Brock.
I shrug. “Think what you want. We’re going to get water.”
Brock hops up and takes his drink with a smirk. “Might take us a little bit though. Ariel’s ice maker is finicky.”
