Page 22 of Wish You Were Mine
“Ugh, you’re the worst, you know that?” Nora covered her eyes with her hands, smiling despite herself.
“The worst and the best.” Lucy chuckled, not looking sorry at all for revealing one of her friend’s secrets.
“Whatever.” Nora rolled her eyes. Then looking at everyone else in the hot tub, she held out a finger and said, “And none of you better tell her brother about this, okay? I just think he’s cute and a good guy. Not anything serious.”
“Who’s your brother?” I leaned closer to Lucy since apparently, I was the only person here who didn’t know. “Anyone I know?”
“Oh, it’s Th—” Lucy started to say before Nora clamped her hand over Lucy’s mouth, stopping her.
But before Lucy could break away from Nora’s grip, Bash interrupted the temporary chaos by loudly asking, “Do stepsiblings count?” while looking between Miles and Alessi.
“Of course.” Miles smirked, looking unfazed. “So you better drink up, buddy.”
“The crush was in the past…” Bash turned to Alessi, his expression suddenly more serious. But with a hopeful look, he quickly added, “Unless you want it to be in the present, too?”
Alessi chuckled, shaking her head. “I guess we’ll see where the night takes us, won’t we?”
“I guess we will.” Bash took a sip with a wink, clearly hoping his plans for a midnight kiss with his ex were still on track.
“Speaking of crushes,” Nora said, bringing everyone’s attention away from Bash and Alessi and the possibility of them reigniting their spark tonight. “Never have I ever had a crush on someone I know I shouldn’t.”
The group went immediately silent, only the steady hum of the hot tub’s bubbling jets filling the air. And as I scanned the faces of my friends, there was a sudden heaviness on many of them.
Everyone was single, as far as I knew—my question over Lucy’s status with the hockey player aside. But were there some forbidden crushes alive and well among us?
I remembered the short fling I’d had with Sloan, a colleague from when I’d been teaching at the boarding school before I got my job at the university. We’d done our best to keep it under wraps, sneaking around so the staff and students wouldn’t discover our relationship.
But while the sneaking around had made itfeelforbidden, looking back, it probably hadn’t been that forbidden at all, as there were no rules against teachers dating each other.
And since I couldn’t think of any other forbidden crushes, I just sat back, waiting to see if anyone else would fess up.
Did Lucy have any forbidden crushes?
But when I looked at her, she seemed to be watching everyone with the same curiosity I felt.
Then finally, after a long, heavy sigh, Ky took a sip.
“It’s that girl Rachel, right?” Nora asked, looking at him knowingly.
“Yep,” Ky said, emphasizing the “p” sound at the end like he wasn’t interested in discussing it further.
Then, at the edges of my vision, I noticed Alessi and Miles both take a sip, their expressions suddenly solemn.
What?
I glanced at Miles, expecting him to make a joke like the ones he’d been making all night. But there was no humor in his dark eyes now.
Who had been his forbidden crush? Was it the girl he’d mentioned kissing earlier? The one who had a boyfriend?
Because that would fit this question.
But that happened in college, and he graduated four years ago. So if he was acting like this right now, this forbidden crush of his had to be more recent than that, right?
“Well, that got heavy real quick…” Ky muttered, glancing at Nora. “So thanks for that, sis.”
“You’re welcome,” Nora said, seeming to feel a bit awkward for asking a question that probably turned out way more serious than she’d expected.
“Anyway,” Ky said, making a smile lift his lips after whatever memories he’d just been reliving. “Speaking of sisters, I think it’s about time I admitted thatnever have I everchewed all the fingers off my baby dolls when I was younger.”
