Who Breaks First (Clearwater University)

This has to be a mistake. That’s the only explanation. I’ve gotten A’s on almost every assignment except our group project, and I know we must’ve gotten an A or at least a high B on that. We all worked hard on it, and our project only got better toward the end of the semester when we were all getting along. When Trent turned it in, Professor Sykes must’ve—

I stop.

My feet freeze as my entire body flushes hot, then cold.

Realization blazes through me. I don’t know why he would do it, but I’m suddenly certain that Trent is behind all of this. He’s the last one who had the project in his hands. He’s the one who was supposed to hand it in.

He sabotaged me.

He ruined me.

How could I have been so blind?

23

Reese

I’m hanging in the living room with the guys, and I have to admit I feel kinda awesome.

Finals are done, our friendship is recovering from whatever weirdness sprang up between us when we realized we’d all slept with Emma, and the only thing that would make tonight better is if she were here.

Trent is smiling and laughing. He has a sort of manic energy about him, and I wonder if it’s because the insanity of the semester is finally over. I’m honestly looking forward to the break, to having more time to chill out. More time to spend with Emma. I want to take things further with her. We haven’t slept together again since that first time, and I want to do more of that—but I also want to go do fucking laundry with her, or just go see a movie and sit next to her, absorbing her sweet scent next to me.

Ah, shit. I’m falling hard.

Even West, the cranky bastard, has a small smile on his face. We’re going out for pizza later, and I’m considering texting Emma to ask if she wants to come. For a while there, it seemed like things were really fucked up and only going to get worse, and now, the future is looking bright.

I still want to be in a relationship with Emma. I’ve even been considering asking her about it the next time we’re alone. What we shared in my car that night was so incredible, it’s the only thing on my mind. Honestly, it made finals a little hard. It was hard to keep all the shit I studied for in my head when my thoughts kept going back to her.

“Hey, you know what? We should go on a road trip!” I sit up straighter on the couch as the idea pops into my head. “This summer. All of us and Emma. That would be fucking epic. It’d be just like old times, only better.”

The temperature in the room changes as my words hang in the air. I’ve come to the full realization now that all of us have slept with her, but for some reason, I’m still okay with all of us hanging out. It’s fucking weird, and I don’t quite get what it means. When I think about how Emma even considered sleeping with that Peter guy, it boils my blood.

But when I think about her with Trent or West… I dunno. It feels almost natural. Like it’s the way it’s supposed to be. They each have a claim on her too, and even though I’d kill any other fucker who tried to touch her, with my blood-brothers, I don’t feel that same kind of immediate rage.

I’m not sure if they feel the same way though. It’s why I haven’t even broached the idea of sharing Emma between us, although I’ve been thinking about it a lot.

“Where would we go?” Trent asks, rising from the couch again. He just sat down a minute ago, but he can’t seem to

sit still.

“Maybe the Grand Canyon or something.” I shrug. “I dunno. Somewhere cool.”

“We can rent an RV,” West says suddenly, and I turn to him as my eyebrows shoot up. He was the one I expected to be most opposed to the idea, but he’s actually nodding thoughtfully, looking almost excited about it.

Shit. Maybe this will really happen.

And who knows, the four of us on the road together… lots of things could happen. Maybe something like that is just what we need to work our stuff out.

“We should go up north,” Trent suggests. “Up the coast.”

I don’t know why, but Trent’s voice has a hard edge to it, and his smile looks almost grim, like he knows something I don’t. Maybe he had the same thought I did about the three of us sleeping in a cramped RV with Emma and doesn’t like that mental image at all.

“Where’s Emma?” West asks. I’d tease him for being pussy whipped, but it’s a question that’s been on my mind as well. I haven’t seen her much over the finals week, and I honestly miss her.

“Dunno. Maybe she has better things to do,” Trent says darkly.

Okay, what the fuck?