Page 57 of These Wicked Hearts

“Are we still doing this? I thought you didn’t want to be strangers anymore.”

“I’d like to keep some mystery, you know.”

“I’m twenty-seven,” he offers. “See, painless.”

“Fine, but no more. I already know too much. I’ll be twenty-five in November and don’t ask me what day.”

“It’s the eighteenth,” Oli supplies.

“Goddammit, Oli!”

“Why can’t he know that?” Andre asks.

“Because, Andre, we’re strangers with benefits!”

“Uh-huh.” Andre leans into Oli. “And I thought we were a mess.” He kisses his shoulder.

“How did you two meet anyway?” Oli asks.

“On a roof.”

“On a roof.” Gage nods. “Then we slept together.”

“Really!” I close my eyes. “You are horrible at secrets!”

“What? They already know.”

“I didn’t tell them that!”

“When you said strangers with benefits, I assumed the benefit was dick.” Andre shakes his head. “What other benefit would there be?”

“Maybe he waters my plants while I’m on the road!”

Oli blinks at me. “You’re allergic to most plants. Oh, and peanuts. Do not let him have anything with peanuts.”

“Oli!”

He throws his hands up. “Hey, that’s just lifesaving information.”

“It’s not life—you know what, that’s it. You know too much.”

Gage smirks.

“Ew you like it. You’re a slut for knowledge, aren’t you?”

“It’s okay, hockey boy. I want to know as little as possible. Believe me.”

“So,” Andre says. “Have you talked to Grey at all?”

I turn to Gage in this booth. “Whatever you want to know, I’ll tell you. Literally anything. Just ask right now.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Oli says for me.

“Really? He misses you a lot.” I meet Andre’s eyes and something fills my gut, heavy and sour.

I lean into Gage. “Pterodactyl.”

His dark brows pull tight. “The safe word is for sex,” he whispers.