Page 180 of Pucking Around

“What? Compton, what’s happening?”

Slowly, he turns the phone, showing me the screen. My gaze darts right as I look at it, then back to the road. My heart drops from my chest and I have to look again. Rachel is stretched out naked in the middle of his bed, blindfolded, her arms and legs tied down to the four corners.

“Voi helvetti,” I mutter, breathing hard through my nose as I navigate traffic.

“Listen to me, asshole,” Compton barks into the phone. “We’re almost home, and when we get there, you better fuckin’ hide. Either that or be waiting on your knees to choke on my dick, because I amdonegetting teased tonight.Fucking done.” He doesn’t let Caleb respond before he hangs up.

“Are you alright?” I say after a moment.

“Just drive.”

I focus on the road, both of us seething. As I make the turn onto the A1A, I glance over at him. “You love them both.”

He looks at me like I’ve grown two heads. “Of course, I do. What kind of fucking question is that?”

I rephrase. “You love him like you love her.”

His looks back out the windshield, dark brows lowered. “Yes.”

“You want them both.”

“Yes.”

“You want them to want you.”

“Yes,” he breathes, his voice deep with barely checked emotion.

“And me?”

He glances my way again. “What about you, Mars?”

“What do you want from me? Where do I fit in to this love triangle?”

He scoffs, shaking his head. “Seriously? Is that why you’ve been such a dick this week? You’re over there thinking this is a love triangle and you just, what? Visit sometimes? Occasionally we all form a square?”

“Compton—”

“You’ve been calling the shots here, Mars. Not us,” he shouts. “I’m the one being a team fucking player.Iwanted you to move in. I said it day fucking one. If you’re in this, you gotta be all the way in. There’s no other way I see this working.”

“You want me in?”

He huffs, arms crossed. “Rachel wants you in, Mars. And I will do fucking anything for that girl. She’s mine. She’sours. I invited you to move in. And Caleb was wearing your jersey tonight if you didn’t notice. We’re all over here tryna build a pyramid, and you’re still stuck with pencil and paper asking where you fit in the triangle!”

I look sharply over at him. “You never invited me to move in—”

“Yes, Idid!” he cries. “Day one I said, and I quote, ‘Mars, are you moving in here?’ And you said no.”

I blink at him, slowing the truck to a stop at a red light. “That’s not an invitation to move in.”

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t have flowers and a box of chocolates, Mars,” he says, rolling his eyes. “I thought on beach day it was all settled with your big, fancy speech about building foundations on shifting sands,” he adds. “That’s why we need the pyramid. A triangle on sand falls right over. A pyramid doesn’t. Ask Egypt.Youpushed us to make a pyramid, and now you’re playing dumb, and I’m fucking sick of it.”

I’m reeling, heart racing. He wants me in. Compton wants me all the way in. I glance over at him again. “I don’t want to fuck you, Compton. If that’s what you mean by ‘all in’ then…”

He stares at me, his face utterly unreadable. “You’re shitting me right now. This is a joke.”

“No,” I reply. “I don’t want to upset you or—”

“I don’t wanna fuck you, Mars!” he shouts. “God, you are so one hundred percent shitting me right now. This is a prank. You’re all in on it, and I’m being pranked.” He groans, dragging both hands through his hair, as he drops his elbows to his knees, holding his head in his hands.