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“I’m plenty smart!”

“Tell that to my traumatized mayo!”

“It was my idea,” Gabriel immediately said. “Leave her out of it.”

My jaw dropped as I looked at him. It was very much not his idea.

“And you’re already covering for her,” Mark grumbled. “It’s like watching a second train wreck.”

“And so what?” I asked. “It’s not your train wreck.”

“We care about you. Both of you. This is a terrible idea.”

Mark wasn’t wrong, and we both knew it. Gabriel had even tried to warn me.

The sex was great, but I was looking for a distraction.

“It won’t happen again,” I said.

“Don’t lie⁠—”

“I’m serious. Tonight was an exception.”

Mark raised an eyebrow and looked at Gabriel, who sighed. “It was. We agreed before.”

“Did you?” He raised a bottle of mayo. “Did they?”

“The mayo will agree, okay?” I shook my head. “And please hide this.”

“Yet another hookup in my closet that I have to hide.” Mark sighed and shook his head. “Defile some other poor room next time.”

He walked away, leaving us alone in the hallway. I dragged my gaze over to Gabriel, who watched the direction that Mark went.

“Is he gonna keep it to himself?” Gabriel asked.

“Probably. He has before.”

He gave me a flat look, and I knew he was jealous again. I opened my mouth to make a joke, but he sighed.

“We should go,” he said. “Maybe take some time to think.”

Despite being caught, I was still in a post-orgasmic haze. But I wasn’t so lost that I couldn’t catch the tension in his voice.

I cursed and followed him. When we were on the square, I grabbed him.

Gabriel tugged himself out of my grip. He didn’t leave, but his fists were clenched and he couldn’t look me in the eye.

This was not what I wanted.

“Hang on,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“As good as I can be considering we were caught.”

“Right,” I said with a wince. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it?” I asked. “You seem subdued. We had a good conversation earlier that we could go back to.”