No. Many long lies. And it makes me wonder how we can even look at each other now. After the things we did that year.
But we can. And there’s friendship there. And maybe even love. Maybe I do love Connor? Maybe I’ve always loved Connor? I don’t know, but if we’ve made it this far and we don’t hate each other then… then… we won that game in the tower.
So I say that. “We won, you know.”
Connor is walking over to Sofia now. He sits on the bed next to her and takes her hand in his.
“What are you talking about?” Sofia sniffles.
I walk over to the other side of the bed and look at them. I love them both, in different ways. I guess that’s still the same. “Our… situation?” I say, for lack of a better word. “Up in that tower. It was a love triangle. They set us up to fight, ya know. To hate each other. But that’s not what happened. We didn’t fight. We had a good time. So we won.”
“I guess that’s what I love about you,” Sofia says.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Underneath all that I-hate-everyone bullshit, you really are an optimist. Because we’re not fine. We’re so far from fine, it’s sad. Someone wrote a book about us, you guys. We’re in those pages.”
“We haven’t even gotten to our part yet,” Connor says. “We don’t know—”
“We do,” Sofia snaps, pulling her hand out of Connor’s. “They had the part about Emily. It’s our initials. This is our book, just told a different way. It’s like… creative non-fiction or some shit. True, but some events and names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
“Innocent.” Connor actually laughs. “None of us are innocent. What we did at all the parties that year—”
“Just… no,” I interrupt. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
“It’s gonna be in the book.” Sofia sniffles. “Everyone’s gonna know. Hell”—she fakes a laugh—“everyone already knows. That stupid book has probably sold thirty or forty thousand copies already. What’s the point of even being here?” She looks at Connor, then at me. “There is no clever plan, no crazy scheme that will fix this, you guys. They’re gonna find out who we are and what we did, and all our lives will be ruined. Why did I even bother using a pen name for my erotica when my real name now has this story attached to it? Everything is fucked up and—”
Connor places two fingers on her lips to make her stop. “Shhh,” he says, putting his arm around her and pulling her into a sideways hug.
Sofia turns into him, kisses him on the lips. Connor just sits there, unsure, I think. But that hesitation only last a second or two. Because when the three of us are alone in a room… we know exactly what to do.
And that’s exactly what he does right now.
He kisses her back.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN – CONNOR
I don’t know why I do it.
That’s a lie. I do it because I like it. I like her. I don’t want to spend my life with her, but Kiera and I in a bedroom with Sofia only ends one way.
I pull back from Sofia, placing my hand on her cheek as I look over my shoulder at Kiera, who is standing on the other side of the bed.
She licks her lips, meeting my gaze. Then swallows.
“Come here,” I whisper, patting the bed. “Come sit next to me.”
She hesitates. Breathes in deep like she needs courage. And then, instead of walking around the bed, she climbs up on it, crawls on all fours across its width, and sits on her knees, wedged in between Sofia and I.
Sofia looks up at Kiera, reaching for her breast. Their eyes lock as Sofia makes contact. Her palm cupping first, then lifting her breast up as Sofia turns to get better access.
I should stop her. I should stop this. I know she’s only doing it to make me happy. To make me want her.
But the problem is, it’s working.
“Kiera,” I say. “You don’t—”
“Shhh,” she says, breaking eye contact with Sofia just long enough to hush me. Then she picks Sofia’s hand off her breast and places it over my cock, making her squeeze me through my pants.
Fuck. I am so fucked.
I close my eyes for a moment, and in that moment Sofia swings her leg over mine and sits in my lap.
“Kiera,” I say.
“Shut up,” she says. “Shut up and play along. What’s it gonna hurt now? Nothing. It’s not gonna hurt anyone.”
But us, I don’t add. We’re the ones who are gonna get hurt. We’re the ones hurting ourselves now. Playing this game is dangerous. In so many ways. Things are gonna come out tonight and…
“Just one more time,” Sofia says, placing both her hands flat on my face. And when I open my eyes again, she’s staring down at me. “One last time, Connor. And we can all move on, OK?” She hums out the words against my lips, kissing me at the same time.