AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We can share.”
Megan sighed. “That doesn’t explain what we do from here though. Austin…”
“Of all the guys, he’s not one I’m worried about. Mostly. I sort of have his permission.”
She twisted her head so she could meet my gaze. “What do you mean?”
“This spring, when I was looking at my house before I bought it, I kind of let it slip that I had a crush on you. He seemed cool with it.”
“And you didn’t make a move?”
It seemed stupid, now. “I should have. Definitely.”
“But you didn’t because?”
Her direct, steady gaze made me want to shrink into myself. “It boils down to being nervous. Maybe Austin was okay with the idea. But what’s he going to think about the reality? What about the rest of the guys? I can guarantee Wes and Noah are going to have problems with it. Tristan might not care either way. Scott—well, he seems on board.”
“You’ve talked about this with Scott?”
“Not on purpose.” I didn’t like the censure in her tone and scrambled to explain. “I was debating asking you to join me for the tasting at Season’s Bounty. Actually, I was sitting in my car at the curb talking myself out of asking you to come along. Scott, Whitney, and Beckett showed up to get ice cream. I joined them. Scott, it turns out, sees more than you think he does.”
Megan grunted. “Whitney, too. Well. That explains a few things she said the other day.”
“Do I need to apologize?”
“No. I get it. It’s not like I haven’t been trying to act like there’s no interest on my end, too.” She sighed. “Why do we have to have a group of friends who are all so…invested in everyone else’s life?”
I laughed. Invested was the perfect word. “In the long run, it’s probably a good thing.”
“Yeah, probably. But if we’re going to hide our relationship from them, it’s going to make things a lot trickier than it would be otherwise.”
I wanted to tell her we didn’t have to hide it. I certainly didn’twantto sneak around like we were doing something bad. Maybe—just maybe—there was a tiny thrill at the idea of keeping it to ourselves, but mostly it was a big complication. “What if we told everyone?”
“Ugh. Drama.” Megan shook her head. “You said Wes and Noah would have an issue. I can see where you’re coming from. Wes, especially, acts more like a big brother than my actual big brother ever has. I think he likes the idea of getting to beat someone up if they’re mean to me.”
“That sounds like Wes. Can I just say I was so mad when he horned in on our dinner from Mia’s the other day? I spent the whole walk over there thinking about how great it was going to be to have you all to myself. How maybe I could see if you felt anywhere close to the way I did. And then,wham!Enter Wes. Ruiner of all things.”
Megan patted my leg. “Aww. He doesn’t ruineverything. Just most things.”
I laughed, but it ended on a sigh. “He’s not going to take it well.”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know if the girls will care. On the flip side, they’re probably going to tease me mercilessly. I’ve kind of protested about not liking you. A lot.”
I clutched a hand over my heart dramatically. “Ouch. I’m wounded.” I grinned and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry. Is this a situation where we need to rip off the bandage and deal with the fallout?”
“No. I’m not ready for that. Can we keep it to ourselves? Enjoy being together without it being this big thing? For a little while at least?” Megan tipped her head back to meet my gaze. She was biting her lip.
I nodded slowly. It was what I wanted, deep down. Not only did I want to savor having something with just the two of us for a while, but there was an element of excitement that came from it only being between us. And there was the whole thing about not being sure how the guys would take it. Maybe they’d be cool, but…
“I don’t want us to lie. If someone asks, outright, we come clean.”
“Okay. I’m not good at lying, anyway.” She managed a small smile. “It makes it hard to sell someone a book I hated if they ask what I thought. Usually, I can come up with another recommendation, though, so it works out.”
I laughed. “At least you have alternatives. I bet you also can find things that did work about the book.”
“Most of the time. There are a couple though—” She wrinkled her nose. “—with no redeeming qualities. But other people love them, so I can just say something about them being super popular.”
“See? Not a lie. Just not a ringing endorsement.” There was a small part of me that wanted to ask Megan when we would be able to be out in the open. I understood—even embraced—the idea of keeping things quiet for a while. But not forever.
