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“Also, don’t hate me for this, but they insisted.”

That got me out of my thoughts. “What?”

Marjorie pointed behind me.

I turned and my heart fell into my ass when I saw Mollie, Wren, Grace, and Piper staring at me.

“Fuck.” I turned back to Marjorie, only to find her running away.

How could such an old woman be so fast?

“Don’t you try to escape.” Wren crossed her arms.

“You have explaining to do,” Grace said.

I let out a sigh. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s get a room,” Piper said. “We can all talk there.”

“I’d love to, but the library is closed,” Grace said. “Plus, Marjorie just left. Should we find somewhere else?”

“No need. I bet she left it unlocked just like everyone else here.” I walked over to the door and pulled on the handle. It opened. I sighed. “Let’s go, ladies. Just remember as you yell at me that my genius got us into the room.”

I hadn’t even sat before they started in on me.

“So, you’re sleeping together.” Grace said it, and all the other women nodded.

“I mean . . . yeah,” I replied quietly.

“And you snuck into his place too.” Piper crossed her arms, her face set into an uncharacteristic frown. “You know, you could have just told us you were considering this.”

“To be fair, that was something different,” I said. “I didn’t sleep with him that time. Well, I did. But I didn’t know.”

All their eyes went wide, and I realized how it sounded.

“Wait, no! Just sleeping! Nothing like that! Consent is discussed all around!”

“I am . . . so lost,” Wren said. “Was this how they were the first time?”

“Kind of,” Grace answered. “This is worse than usual.”

None of them were happy with me, and I hated that my friends were so upset. This was the result of secrets. In trying to protect myself from being embarrassed, I was hurting them.

How long had I been doing that?

“I’m sorry, you guys. I know I tend to hide things, but I shouldn’t hide this.” I took a deep breath. “Gabriel and I are together, but we’re not telling anyone.”

All my friends let their shock show for a second.

Grace recovered first. “Is he wanting to hide it?”

“Kind of, but not because he’s ashamed.” I rubbed my hot cheeks. “We’re trying to play it cool because of the girls.”

“You might have to try a little harder.”

“This isn’t the first time they’ve done this.” Grace laughed and crossed her arms. “They tried to hide it when they were teenagers too. We all knew.”

“This is mortifying.”