“Cass.” She’s smart, my best friend. Her eyes dart from me to the library and back again. “Oh, crap. Wait. Is Anthony… Was he one of the guys?” Nita lowers her voice to a whisper and I grimace. Nita scowls then. “Did he stop liking you when he found out you’re a virgin? Because I’ll go punch him right now—”
“No, that was a misunderstanding. He only wanted… He wanted my first time to be special, so he didn’t want to just hook up.”
Her eyes widen. “Did you guys already hook up?”
I can’t lie well enough to dodge this one. I stare at the floor, embarrassed as hell.
But Nita, for her part, is whooping and jumping, clapping my shoulder. “Finally! And damn, nice catch, he’s hot as hell too.” She nudges my elbow and winks.
I groan again. “It’s not that big a deal—”
“I’m just happy for you, Cass.” She wraps her arm around my shoulders and squeezes me in a hug. “No wonder you’re distracted, huh? Hooking up with the hottest guy in school and your roomie. It all makes sense now.” Her smirk widens. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit on your man. But he totally wasn’t into it anyway.”
I snort. “It’s fine. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“All good. I’ll just take your guys’ other roomie—he’s pretty hot too, in his own way,” she adds, already turning away from me toward the mirror, flipping her hair over one shoulder.
My emotions are already too all over the place. Plastered across my face. I can’t stop the fire that erupts at the thought of Nita turning her attention on Vin next. “No fucking way,” I snap before I can think better of it.
Nita’s eyes widen again in shock. “Cass?”
I can’t do this. I can’t deal with her finding out, not yet. Not when I still don’t even know what’s going on. I storm out of the bathroom, sp
eeding up when tears start to sting my eyes. I walk blind, stumbling through the library, the halls, not stopping until I’m outside in fresh air, and even then, the campus feels too big. Brightly lit and full of curious bystanders casting sideways glances at me, wondering why I’m tearing up in the middle of the quad.
I storm behind the nearest building and press my back to the stone. Take deep, slow breaths until my breathing steadies. Sink slowly down, sitting against the stone, letting my head drop to my lap.
I don’t know how long I sit like that before I feel a warm hand gently touch my shoulder. I glance up to find Anthony sitting beside me, and Vin on his other side. Both are watching me carefully like they’re afraid I’ll break.
“Are you okay?” Vin asks softly, and the way he says it makes my whole body flare with heat. He doesn’t just want me, he cares about me. They both do—it’s written all over their faces now.
When it’s just us, just Vin and Anthony and me, alone in our room, this thing between us feels so right. But how could anyone else understand? How could I admit these feelings in public if I can’t even handle explaining the situation to my best friend in the world?
“Not really,” I murmur in response. Anthony tightens his grip on my shoulder, and Vin slides around to my other side so I’m caught between their warm bodies, their arms holding me upright. I lean back and sink into their familiar embrace, letting myself forget for a moment everything else I’m worried about. Vin rests his forehead against mine, and Anthony tilts his head to rest on my shoulder.
“You can talk to us, you know,” Anthony says softly.
“I know.” I close my eyes. Swallow thickly. “It’s just… What are we doing? What is this between us? Will anyone else…”
“Who cares what anyone else thinks?” Vin interrupts, with such fire in his voice that I turn to look at him. His dark eyes sear into mine before he dips his head and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. “All that matters is how we feel.”
“How do we feel?” I ask, my voice soft. Weak.
“Speaking for myself?” Anthony cups my chin gently in his fingers. Tilts my face to his and brushes his lips against mine, a feather-light kiss. “I want to be with you.”
“But…”
Vin interrupts, running his fingers through my hair. “And so do I. This isn’t just sex, Cassidy. Not for us.”
“It isn’t for me, either,” I admit, biting my lip as I look back and forth between the guys. “But it’s… I’ve never felt like this for anyone, and now…”
“Does it matter that there’s two of us?” Anthony asks, lifting an eyebrow. “If we both love you?”
My breath catches in my throat. I can’t have heard that right.
But Vin is smiling now, twining his fingers through mine as Anthony takes my other hand. “We love you, Cassidy,” Vin says, and my heart feels like it could burst in my chest, this feels so right. So perfect.
“Cass?”