Page 52 of Petals of Blue: Part One
Felix smirks and nods. "'Course. She can't kiss us then say shit like that. As far as I'm concerned, she's ours."
"Yeah," Roman agrees softly looking toward where we last saw Blue.
I nod vehemently. "Fuck yeah. So how do we grovel hard enough not only to earn her forgiveness, but convince her to fall in love with us?"
Declan has the answer. "Don't give her space to think. We have to be there every damn moment we can, like we used to be. We can't let her demons get to her ever again."
Just as we used to do in high school.Only this time we won't fuck it up.
Thirty-Three
BLUE
“What's the verdict?" Janine eyes me over the rim of her mimosa. Her eyebrow is daring me to give her the wrong answer.
I don't know the answer. "I'm not sure. What do you guys want to do?"
"Blue, it'syourbirthday we're planning. Don't ask us what we want." Dakota looks appalled. "Violet, talk some sense into her."
Violet's head snaps up from her phone, and she immediately puts it face down on the table.Weird. "What did you say?"
I narrow my eyes. Does she have a boyfriend? Girlfriend maybe? She's been wrapped up in her phone a lot in the past few days. If she were younger, maybe I could get away with searching her phone for creeps, but we're past that point.Sadly.
"Blue asked us whatwewant to do to celebrate her birthday. I think that's crazy," Dakota explains not picking up on Violet's distractedness.
Rolling my eyes, I take a sip of my screwdriver and listen to them toss out ideas I might like. All the optionssound just fine, except there's something missing from the plans. Or a few someones are missing from the guest list.
"It's a few weeks away still. Let's wait to plan it." My suggestion falls on deaf ears. It's only been a week since I kissed Felix and Declan. Work has been busy, and with Violet being home more recently, I've been too distracted to shoo the four men away.
If I thought they were everywhere before, I was mistaken.
Felix takes his breaks with me, where we normally just sit in silence and sneak peeks at one another. He's asked me about my interest in the security team position, which I don't mind talking about.
Declan makes my coffee every morning with a soft smile and encouraging words for the day ahead. He's become a bright spot in my mornings that I didn't see coming.
Roman still brings me flowers and even brought takeout up to our apartment on Thursday. To say Violet was excited about her orange chicken was an understatement. I'm sure I'll be seeing him at the gym more now that he's almost done with training too.
Jared texts me fun facts about math, updates me on his family, and asks invasive questions about my day because—well—he's Jared. We haven't breached the subject of my not going to cycling class, which I hope means his sister isn't gossiping about my attendance.
"What if we just figure out where we're going for now, then we can decide on times?" Bethany's attempt to compromise on the planning is appreciated.
"Rooftop drinks then Serpent’s," I decide on a whim because A, they won't question it, and B, there's a high probability the guys will be at Serpent’s Kiss anyway.
Or I could just invite them. But what would that mean?
The girls start discussing rooftop bars that have fire pits because there's a high probability that mid-September inChicago will be cold. I start zoning out until Bethany stiffens and nudges me.
"Incoming," she whisper hisses.
I quickly take a big sip of my orange juice and vodka to prepare myself for whoever she sees. Janine glares over my head, and Dakota's frowning. Violet smiles and waves, confusing me.
"Where's my latte, barista boy?" my cousin pouts and crosses her arms.
Fucking hell.Declan.
"Sorry, squirt. Didn't think we'd be running into you ladies here."
I take another sip of my drink as the hairs on my arms tingle with awareness. I'll have to acknowledge them eventually, but if I could get a little buzz going that'd be great. Maybe I’ll feel much better about being caught off guard then.
