The biscuit felt like glue in my mouth. I swallowed slowly. “Yeah, uh…” Paused again. Took a sip of orange juice. “They’re friends with Manson.” Useless information. She already knew that.

“Riiiiiight.” Her eyes were locked on me. Syrup dripped from her pancake onto the cheap diner tabletop. “Close friends, I’ve heard.”

“Really close,” I muttered and instantly regretted it, as she sucked in her breath. “Look, let’s drop the subject, okay?”

“Ugh, Jess, come on! I wanna know! It was only a one-night stand, right? It’s not, like…” She snickered, as if what she was about to say was completely ludicrous. “It’s not like you’re going to date him, right? Can you imagine? I think your mom would literally have a heart attack.” She laughed, and I tried to join her.

My phone buzzed, and my heart rocket-launched toward my shoes when I saw his name pop up. Manson Reed.

Ashley tapped her fork repeatedly on her plate as I snatched up my phone.

What do you say to breakfast next Saturday? the text read. It can be just us, but I think the boys would like a chance to get to know you in a better setting. We can debrief on all the craziness.

I swallowed hard. My head throbbed and not from any hangover. Ashley was watching me like a hawk.

“Soooo,” she said slowly as I clicked my screen off and set the phone aside. “Is that him? Did he text you that quickly? It’s been, what, an hour since we left the house?” She giggled. “Knife boy seems a little obsessed.”

“It wasn’t him,” I said quickly. “It was my mom. I doubt I’ll hear from him again.” I cut another piece off my biscuit, then kept cutting. Piece after piece, decimating the biscuit as it drowned in gravy. “It was a one-night thing. Just a little fun. It’s not like we’d ever work together.”

She nodded, my dismissive words finally calming her interest. The status quo remained. Manson, Lucas, Vincent, and Jason existed in their world, and I stayed in mine.

It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work. My mom would freak out. My dad would never understand. My friends would think I’d lost my mind.

There was nothing there but lust, and what had happened at the party was a result of that.

Never mind that I’d never felt so free, so wildly alive as I had last night. Entrusting myself to those boys in the pursuit of pleasure had awakened a part of me I never knew existed.

God, I’d even let the word “Master” roll off my tongue as I’d said my goodbyes to Manson.

It made my heart beat fast and my palms sweat thinking of them as if every inch of me ached for their presence, for the slightest touch, for the breathtaking experience of being surrounded by the four of them in the dark, all of their attention on me and me alone.

I’d been dared to do a lot of things last night, but this morning, my bravery was gone. I had years of college ahead of me and a reputation to uphold.