Me: I never said I was talking about my boyfriend.

Easton: But weren’t you?

Me: Not exactly.

Easton: What does that even mean?

Me: It means I was asking in general terms, but I’m not saying he’s going to break up with me if we don’t have sex.

Easton: You wouldn’t be asking if you didn’t think it was a possibility.

I throw myself back on my pillows and whimper. I’m making a mess of this. I don’t want to throw Steve under the bus, but I truly do want advice. I could talk to my brothers, but they’re irrational when it comes to me. They’d freak out if they knew I’d let a boy up my shirt, let alone if they knew I was thinking about having sex. I could talk to my girlfriends, but I want a guy’s perspective on it.

Me: I’m afraid he’s going to get sick of waiting.

Easton: Nah. If he loves you, he’ll wait forever.

Me: And if he doesn’t love me?

Easton: Then you shouldn’t have sex with him anyway.

Me: Hypocrite.

Easton: How do you figure?

Me: You’ve NEVER had sex with someone you didn’t love?

Easton: Let me get back to you.

Me: Need time to get the list together?

Easton: Need time to put together my defense.

I’m still laughing when his next text comes through.

Easton: This isn’t about me. It’s about you, and YOU deserve the love, the roses, the fucking fairytale. Don’t settle for less.

I turn off my screen and close my eyes. I clutch the phone to my chest, and I’m smiling as I fall asleep.

Part IV.

Shay

Teagan pulls her door open before I have a chance to knock. “I thought you might come over. Do you want to talk?”

“No. I want to go to the bar and drink until I forget that Easton Connor just walked back into my life and set off a bomb in the middle of it.”

“Okay.” Because she’s the best fucking friend ever, she grabs her purse. “Let’s go.”

I shake my head. “Tried that already, but he was there.”

“So you don’t want to go to the bar?”

“I want to go and him not be there.” I growl. I sound mental. “He had the nerve to kiss me.”

Teagan’s eyes go wide and she does that fish-mouthed trying-to-speak thing for a few beats before shaking off her shock. “Easton Connor kissed you?”