Cherisse sighed. She’d been trying to formulate her story. Once she dropped the truth, she’d be bombarded by questions she just wasn’t sure how to answer. She and Keiran kept falling into whatever this was, and she didn’t know how to justify the why of it.

She took a deep breath and just said it. “Keiran and I had sex.” She paused. “Twice.”

Reba spewed her drink all over the coffee table. “What the hell!” she choked out, coughing wildly as she wiped at her mouth. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with the paper towel roll. “In case you decide to drop some more surprises,” Reba said as she wiped up the spewed drink.

“How did this happen? When did this happen?” Remi asked.

“I’m not sure how it happened.”

“Don’t even try telling me you tripped and fell on this dick because I swear to God!”

“Okay, relax.” She cut Remi off. “I just meant it wasn’t planned, obviously. Just sort of happened. It was the night of Sierra’s wedding, after the fight.”

Remi pursed her lips. “Of course, it was that night. I leave you alone for one night and this. But wait.” She narrowed her eyes. “You said twice.”

“Um, well, today may have been another lapse-in-judgment day.”

Reba choked on her pizza this time. “Dammit! Eff this! I’m not eating or drinking a damn thing ‘til you’re done with this. You tryna kill me for sure.”

Cherisse laughed. “Sorry.”

Remi slowly chewed her pizza, listening. “So, what are you doing exactly?”

She shrugged. “The Lord alone knows. This wasn’t supposed to happen once, let alone twice or in a supply closet.”

Reba’s brow popped up. “Damn, girl. At the venue walkthrough? I knew something was up.”

Cherisse picked at the pineapple on her pizza, popping the pieces in her mouth as she avoided looking at her friends.

“You don’t do casual hookups, so...”

“I know. It’s not happening again.”

“Right.” Remi didn’t sound convinced.

Cherisse wasn’t entirely convinced, either. They’d be seeing each other at the party, and there was still the wedding to go, not to mention all the little Maid of Honor/Best Man shit Ava and Eric were sure to need them both for, in between all that. She could be adamant about not having sex with him anymore, but dammit, she hadn’t planned the quickie in the closet either. Self-control. She needed to get some of that from somewhere.

“I just don’t want him thinking this could be more than a one-time thing.” Remi shot her a look. “Fine, a two-time thing. Whatever. Rolling into FWBs with Keiran isn’t something I want, or anything serious either.”

“This’ll get messy as hell.” Remi sipped her drink, pointing the bottle at Cherisse. “You get to choose how you handle this, but maybe try to minimize the fallout. And what about these guys your mom keeps throwing at you? Are you gonna keep that up now that you’re getting some regular D?”

“It’s not regular D. I just told you.” She exhaled exasperatedly.