I adjust the seat straighter. The Jeep is hot, even though it’s a relatively chilly morning. Silence is cooking the three of us, and I know I have to break it first.
“So you two are together?” I ask, then turn slightly to lock eyes with Sulli in the backseat. She’s snapping her buckle and lifting her legs to her chest. I ask her, “That’s why you pulled away from me?”
Banks glances fast at the rearview mirror. “You pulled away from him?” he asks Sulli.
“Yeah, I did,” she admits, a hand to her temple like she’s witnessing a slow-moving car crash. And to me, she says, “It didn’t feel right to keep kissing after I’d kissed Banks.”
Conflicting emotions crawl all over me.
It feels like hundreds of ants scurrying across my skin. Sulli is a good person. With the knowledge she had, I’m glad she shortened our kiss. Because I wouldn’t want to hurt Banks either.
The actual kiss they shared…I swallow a rock. Shit, I hate that they kissed. Jealousy piles high, bitterness slipping in the back of my throat.
I only have myself to blame.
If I wasn’t in such denial about my feelings, I could’ve had all last year with Sulli.
I run a hand through my hair and mess with the broken air vents in agitation. “When did you two kiss?” Last night. Sulli already said last night. But I guess I just want extra confirmation.
“Last night,” Banks says, driving out of the parking lot. “When you were on the phone.” The Jeep rocks as we roll onto pavement.
Confirmed: this was recent.
Recent enough that they haven’t been secretly dating.
Sulli grips her knees. “We meant to tell you right after. But everyone showed up, then I fell asleep. It turned into a big mess, and I’m really sorry, Kits.”
I wince with the shake of my head. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Sul.”
“Friends don’t keep friends in the dark,” Sulli proclaims. “We kept you in the fucking dark.”
For less than 24-hours.
Real pricks would let this shit fester into something irreparable, but they came clean faster than most would or could. These two are too good to me. Better than I am to them at times, and I’m starting to rethink whether I even deserve their wholesome friendship.
I really am a dick because I want it anyway. And I’d end anyone who crosses them.
They’re my wholesome, good-hearted friends who curse like sailors.
I’ll always protect her and him.
Him.
Where is his head at? Because this isn’t anything we’ve been through. Not apart and definitely not together.
“Akara?” Sulli says, and I realize I haven’t responded to her statement.
I turn back to her. “I’ve kept you in the dark for way longer when your ex told me to stop flirting with you. So how about we just call each other even?”
She tries to smile, but some type of sadness washes over her face, downturns her lips and lowers her gaze.
I want to crawl back there and just hug Sulli. Kiss her again. But I glance at Banks. He’s eyeing me in his peripheral.
Lovely.
Just lovely.
I can’t help but glare. Frustrated at this love-triangle situation. Couldn’t I be here with anyone but Banks? I’d have no problem slashing through them to get to her.
Which probably says more about me, I know. I can be cutthroat.
Banks catches my hot gaze. “I am sorry, too, Akara.”
I clench my jaw, turning my glare to the road. “For which part?”
He laughs lowly. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But I’m not sorry that I kissed her.”
“Well, I’m not sorry I kissed her,” I snap back.
We side-eye each other for an entire minute.
Sulli scoots up to the edge of the seat. Closer to the middle console and us. Our eyes dart down to her, and the air tenses and heats all over again.
Fuck.
I turn A/C knobs.
She leans forward, even closer between our seats. “Please don’t ruin your friendship over a couple of kisses. It’s totally not fucking worth it.”
“You’re worth it,” Banks tells her, then to me, “No offense.”
“None taken. You just beat me to the phrase.” I lock eyes with Sulli. “I was going to say that first.”
“But he didn’t,” Banks adds.
I grind my back teeth, my jaw twitching. Fuck you, Banks. I want to flip him off. I want to fucking hate him, but there is no real hatred in my heart for Banks Moretti. Even taking shots at each other, they’re like water balloons, not bullets.
Sulli is having trouble containing a smile.
I give her a look.
She touches her heart. “My ego is sufficiently inflated, big thanks to you both.”
“But mainly big thanks to me,” I tease.
Sulli elbows my arm, but in seconds, her smile is gone. “I just want to be upfront. No secrets. No lies or untold shitty things. And you should know, Kits, that my kiss with Banks was longer and sort of an almost-naked kiss.”