Page 93 of Triple Play
She’s looking at me with an expression I can’t read. Hurt and hope tangled together.
“I need time,” she says. “To process this. To figure out what I want.”
“I know.”
“But—” She squeezes my hand. “Thank you. For telling me. For being honest.”
It’s not forgiveness. It’s not acceptance. But it’s not a no either.
And right now, that’s enough.
I squeeze back once, then let go. Walk to my room on legs that barely hold me.
Close the door. Lean against it.
And finally let myself fall apart.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
TAKING CARE
Elise
I wake up to cramps that feel like someone’s twisting a knife in my lower abdomen and the sticky realization that my period arrived a day early.
Perfect timing. Absolutely perfect.
I’m in Wyatt’s bed again—third night in a row because he sleeps better when I’m there and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sleep better wrapped up in him. But right now I need to get to my room, find tampons, and maybe die quietly under my own blankets.
I try to extract myself without waking him but his arm tightens around my waist.
“Where you going?” His voice is rough with sleep, face buried in my hair.
“Bathroom. Go back to sleep.”
“You okay?” He’s more alert now, lifting his head. “You’re tense.”
“I’m fine. Just—girl stuff. Need my room.”
Understanding dawns in his eyes. “Your period.”
“Gold star for you. Now let me up before I bleed all over your sheets.”
He releases me immediately and I make a break for it, grabbing one of his hoodies on the way because it’s right there and I’m not thinking clearly through the cramps.
I make it to my bathroom, get situated, then curl up on my bed in the fetal position because that’s the only thing that helps. The cramps are bad this month—stress probably, between Grant’s confession three days ago and trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing with three guys who all want me.
A few hours later, there’s a soft knock on my door. “Elise?”
Jordie. Of course.
“Come in.”
He opens the door, takes one look at me curled up in a ball, and his expression shifts immediately. “Period?”
“Does everyone in this house have ESP now?”
“Wyatt texted the group chat.” He’s already moving to my bed, sitting beside me. “What do you need? Heating pad? Painkillers? Ice cream? All of the above?”
