“You could’ve tried not bullying me,” I offer up, and he affects this haughty look that has me wanting to kick him in his admittedly awesome (and very useful) junk. “I thought you were hot from moment one. All it would’ve taken was a genuine attempt at connection and we probably would’ve gotten together much sooner.”
Parrish moves away from the bed as I look up to see Maxx studying me carefully. Chasm, too.
“Yeah, Pear-Pear,” Chas teases, sitting up and curling his fingers around the edge of the mattress. I can tell that he’s tired, but I also know that he’s about to rally us and get us back to work. These exams are of paramount importance now that the possibility of seeing my sister has been dangled in front of me. I need that; I need to see that she’s okay with my own eyes. “That’s what you get for letting years of resentment toward Tess blind you to Mia’s hotness.”
I give him a look, but he just smirks at me and rises to his feet.
“I wasn’t blinded by anything,” Parrish says, turning back to look at Chasm. “I knew she was hot from moment one; I told her so. I just …” He lifts his gaze up toward his bedroom door and then sighs. “Tess isn’t going to like us being together.”
“She’s going to hate it,” Maxx agrees, and I notice that his fingers are pressed hard into the mattress on either side of him. “And if you tell her, both of your lives are going to change for the worse. I’m not saying that you should keep it a secret forever. Just … maybe until after you’ve both graduated.”
Parrish scowls at that.
“I won’t be able to keep my hands off of Dakota for that long.”
“Parrish,” I warn, but my entire body flushes hot at his words. Can’t deny that. Having Lumen kiss me today was sort of a … like a wake-up call? It was nice to see that I’m not just a bundle of hormones. She’s a gorgeous girl—one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen—but she isn’t Parrish. Or Chasm. Or Maxx. They’re different. “We should probably get back to studying.”
“Nice subject change,” Chasm says, reaching out to ruffle up my hair. But even as he’s being a dick, there’s a tenderness in his face that makes me squirm. “We should do it in the dining room. That way, we have a valid excuse for leaving the heart pin and all our phones downstairs.”
“Shall I cook again?” X queries, but Parrish just shakes his head and sighs.
“Tess insisted on ordering in Mexican food tonight, so that’s covered.” He glances my way with a sympathetic look on his face. “She also mentioned your prom dress. As in, you don’t have one. Fair warning: she may try to take you shopping on Friday when I’m doing my make-up exam.”
Oh. Shopping with Tess. For a prom dress that I’m wearing to a dance with her son as a date. Or, well, two guys as dates … My gaze finds Maxx’s again, and my only regret is that the three of us can’t go together.
“Get your studying done,” he tells me, offering up one of those genuine, golden boy Maxx smiles that I like so much. “When you’re finished, we’ll clean and redress your wounds.”
I nod, offering a smile of my own in return, and head downstairs with Chas and Parrish to get started.
It’s already Monday, and I’m ready to collapse. I can only imagine how the rest of the week will pan out.
As the days progress, I can see that Tess is getting more and more uncomfortable with me sleeping in Parrish’s bed. Like, she was cool with it on night one. Wary on night three. By Thursday of that week, she’s visibly disturbed by it.
It hits me like a punch to the gut that night when I realize I’m going to have to start sleeping in my own bed. Alone. Without Parrish. Without Maxx. Without Chasm.
“Let’s leave our doors open,” Parrish suggests, having already adapted back to his shirtless boy uniform. His allergy to clothes spreads to the others—not that they were ever really great at it to begin with—but tonight, after I climbed out of the shower and went into Parrish’s room, all three of them were shirtless.
It was … a lot to take in. Especially since Parrish and I haven’t had a moment alone all week. Not only has Tess maintained her vigilance over her son, but we’re all tired on a bone-deep level. Emotionally, as well as physically. Mentally. Whitehall is not an easy school. I remember when I first showed up here and attended my initial day of classes, how overwhelmed I was, how sure I would fail.
Chasm’s been helping me through that all along, but most especially this week.
