I take a deep breath. It’s been such a big night that I welcome the fresh air. Tora comes to a startling stop and I give her a nudge, wondering what the hell is going on, but she shakes it off before continuing out the door with me.
We walk down the street and I take it all in. It’s been a great night, only when Jackson comes hurrying down the street and unlocks his car, I realize they’re getting ready to leave. “I’m not ready to go,” I tell them, sounding way whinier than intended.
Tora gives me an excited grin. “I want to get ice cream.”
Well, damn. How can I say no to that?
We dive into Jackson’s Charger and after he climbs in the driver’s seat like our chauffeur, we let him know the plan. Though apparently, we have to fight him on it, but it’s nothing to stress about. Tora and I can be very persuasive when we need to be.
Jackson reluctantly gives in and ten minutes later, Tora and I are happy as clams as we sit in the backseat with our ice cream. “What are we doing?” I ask when I realize Jackson is driving back to our place. “I want to go back. Lukas was going to take me back to his place tonight.”
“You don’t want to do that,” Tora groans.
My brows furrow as I look across at her. “And why the hell not?”
“Because he’s a douche. Just come home with me and we can talk about it tomorrow.”
Talk about it? Talk about what? There’s nothing to talk about. I want to spend the night at my boyfriend’s place just as she likes to do the same with hers. “No,” I tell her, wanting answers. “I want to talk about it now.”
“Come on, Brooke,” she says sounding frustrated, trying to put this thing to bed, but all that does is put me on edge.
“What’s your problem?” I ask. “Are you threatened by me having someone else in my life? Are you jealous?”
Tora rears back in shock. “What? No.”
“Then what is it? Why are you trying to keep me away from him? Don’t act like I don’t know what you were doing tonight. Every time he came close you pulled me away. I had to sneak off to see him most of the night.”
“Brooke, please. Let’s just talk about it tomorrow.”
I shake my head. “Fuck, Tora. Grow some balls and just say it.”
“Fine,” she snaps, lowering her hand with her ice cream to her lap as I notice Jackson watching us through the rear-view mirror “He hit on me in the kitchen last night right after he finished with you.”
I bark out a sharp laugh, knowing exactly what went down last night. We screwed, it was great, and then he went to pee and came straight back to bed. He was gone for all of two seconds. I seriously doubt that’s true. He wouldn’t have had time to hit on her. “Bullshit, he went to pee and came straight back to bed,” I explain, calling her out on her shit and struggling to understand why the hell she’d say something like that. Maybe she is threatened by our relationship and just doesn’t want to admit it. After all, for so long, it was just the two of us.
“Are you kidding me right now?” Tora demands. “He peed, came out and got a bottle of water, asked me to screw him, and then went to bed.”
“You’re lying,” I tell her, shaking my head with a deep betrayal settling into my gut. I mean, she knows this is important to me, why is she trying to ruin this? “What we have is real. I feel it, Tora. Why can’t you let me be happy?”
“I do want you to be happy, just not with him. He’s a player, just like Max and you’re setting yourself up to get hurt,” she yells at me. “He said he wanted a threesome with us. Roommates and best friends. The ultimate fantasy.”
I scoff. Now, this is just getting ridiculous. Tora’s never lied to me before, so why the hell would she start now? Besides, Lukas has been disgustingly honest about the things he wants in the bedroom, if he was interested in adding someone for a little fun, he would have told me. He knows I’m down for a little fun every now and then. “Jackson, let me out,” I say, feeling as though I’m about to burst into tears.
It’s not true. It couldn’t be true.
Jackson scoffs. “Hell, no. It’s the middle of the fucking night. Just keep scowling at each other for two more minutes.”
“Jackson,” I demand.
“NO,” he yells back. “I’m not letting you get gang-raped or jumped in the middle of the fucking street because you have the shits with your best friend. That won’t be on my conscience. Let me take you home and you two can have it out once I’m gone.”