She gasped in shock, but then was shaking in silent laughter. Blaise had his head buried in her neck, whispering things to her that no one wanted to know.

Tabatha was eyeing them, a keen look of her own regret tightening her face. Her mouth pressed in and she seemed to suck in some air and held onto it. As she expelled it, her gaze went to Jordan before flicking away, her head folding down.

“Okay.” Cross took charge, sitting on the recliner beside the coffee table. He gave his brother a dark look. “Can you stop?”

Blaise grinned over the top of Aspen’s head. “Feeling sick, brother? Too much drinking last night?”

“If I’m sick, it’s because—” He rolled his eyes, turning to me. “You ready?”

I nodded, my eyes moving to Tabatha one more time. She’d been told Jordan’s reaction and had agreed to come, but when she didn’t move forward from her corner, I took in how her hands were trembling. She stuffed them farther around herself, her own arms now covering them.

Hiding.

Pain sliced through me because there’d been a time when I had done the same. The problem was that what you were hiding from never went away. It just grew in size and power. I said to Cross, my eyes on her, “It’s time.”

My own stomach was tied in a knot as I took the seat beside Blaise.

Aspen was still on his lap, but she had shifted so it seemed she was more just lounging, and he happened to be the chair she picked. Both were waiting, watching me.

Reaching forward, I took my phone and dialed Channing’s number.

I put him on speaker when he answered. “Yo! What’s up, little B?”

There was a loud whooshing sound on his end, but he sounded happy. Cheerful. Some of the tension in the room lifted just hearing his voice.

I leaned forward. “Where are you?”

“Why are you echoing?”

“You’re on speaker.”

“Okay. Why?” We could hear his confusion. “What’s going on? You sound like trouble.”

More of my tension lifted. There was only the small knot in my stomach. I flattened my hands over my legs. “I’m not in trouble.”

He grumbled, “Yeah. Let me be the judge. What’s going on? Who else is there?”

Cross spoke up, “Cross and our whole group, plus a few others.”

We heard the whooshing sound before Channing’s voice came back, “Who are ‘a few others’?”

We were all expecting a sarcastic response from Blaise, but when Cross sent him a warning look, he only held his hands up. Aspen leaned forward, saying, “Hi, Bren’s brother. This is Aspen. You remember me?”

“Oh yeah. You’re jackass’ girlfriend. Hi.”