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Our connection hadn’t made up for the things we never did.
Because he never told me he wanted to.
When he left he blamed me for so much.
That he never bothered to mention up to that point. I would’ve given it all to him. I knew now that his laundry list of things we did wrong wasn’t the root of the problem, but back then I would’ve given him all of it.
And if Onyx had said something now…
Except what I had with Onyx. His friendship meant more. He’d been a part of my life for so long. Even when he and I weren’t fucking…
He was supposed to be one of my best friends.
Sure, Maddox and I had moved, but we lived an hour away. We’d never lied about the fact that we were going, and we came back here to visit as often as we could.
I fiddled with the loose threads on the cushion next to me as my mind spiraled.
Onyx was selling his record shop. While his name was on the deed, that place wasn’t his alone. Maddox and I had helped him build it over the years. We’d contributed to the way it looked, the way it felt, and Onyx was going to dump it and walk away from us.
A year. He’d been planning this for a year. He never said a word. Did our friendship mean that little to him?
My phone buzzed again and again. I knew without looking that the messages would be from Onyx, but I didn’t dare look.
I couldn’t.
Aubrey joined us a few minutes later. She sat on the couch next to me and pulled me into a tight hug. “Did Onyx tell you?”
What?
“You knew.” The accusation in Maddox’s words was unlike him. He stared at her with a narrow-eyed gaze.
“I found out yesterday. We’re not children—we don’t tattle on each other—so I told him Alys should hear it from him, but I also told him to grow a pair and stop waiting, or I’d tell on him anyway.”
That should make me feel… better? It didn’t. “I don’t know if he planned on saying anything. I overheard him talking to someone else.”
“I’m sorry.” Aubrey gave me another squeeze.
I leaned into her with a heavy sigh. “Promise me you’ll never do that to me?” I hated myself for asking, but my heart needed to hear it.
“You know I wouldn’t.”
“I do know. Promise me anyway.”
“I swear it,” Aubrey said. “Speaking of, maybe we should swear off boys altogether, and go get married and be everyone’s favorite aunts, living in the country.”
Her teasing was thinning the sludge inside. Did I want that? “You’d hate being married to me.”
“Probably. But at least we trust each other.”
“Can I go with you both?” Maddox asked. “I’ll be your harem.”
The feeling that rushed inside was new and potent. Possessiveness? Aubrey couldn’t have Maddox.
Super weird thought that I didn’t need to have.
“That’s the opposite of how a harem works,” I said to Maddox. “Besides, Aubrey said she was swearing off boys.”
Aubrey huffed. “I only said I was thinking about it. Boys are dumb. Present company excluded.” She looked at Maddox.
