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twenty-two

Cole

We arrived at the cabin yesterday for Josh’s bachelor party. My head is still a mess, but I think I’ve done a decent job of not letting it affect my time here.

Josh wanted a low-key weekend, so we’re keeping it simple. And by simple, I mean we’re essentially drinking our weight in beer and playing video games all weekend.

Just as God intended.

I did lose every round of NHL last night, though—yes, even baseball players enjoy hockey—so I know I’m clearly not completely put together.

I figured some hot coffee on the covered back porch this morning would help clear my head.

And for a few minutes, I’m able to shut everything out, just taking in the snow falling down around us. The acres of land surrounding the cabin are covered in white, glistening as the sun beats down.

I hear the door open and look over to see Lane coming out to join me. “Great minds think alike,” he laughs, raising his coffee mug to me.

“But fools rarely differ,” I chuckle, watching as he takes the chair next to me.

“Is that how that saying goes?” he asks, and I nod, taking a sip from my mug. “Damn, that’s not as optimistic as I thought.”

“Morning, man. What are you doing up so early?”

“Dude, I have a kid. Sleeping until six is sleeping in for me anymore.” Lane laughs before taking a sip of his own coffee. “Figured I’d get some coffee in before I call Rory to see how Sage is doing.”

“Ah,” I nod, looking straight ahead. “That… makes sense.”

“Why are you being weird?” he asks, cocking his eyebrow at me questioningly.

“I’m not being weird,” I scoff unconvincingly.

“Uh, yeah, you are. You haven’t made eye contact since I mentioned Rory.” As the realization hits him, his grin widens. “So it’s not just her acting weird about you. What happened?” He looks at me eagerly.

“Nothing happened,” I lie, voice hoarse.

A whole fucking lot happened.

The best sex of my life happened.

“I don’t know if I believe that,” Lane says. “You two seem to be a lot closer lately.”

“We’re… friends. Really good… friends.”

“I’ve never seen someone so bitter over the word friends,” he laughs.

I sigh. “Doesn’t matter. Friends are all we’ll ever be.”

“So nothing has actually happened between you two? Not since your ‘almost’ moment?”

“Nope,” I choke out, lying as convincingly as possible.

I’ve been told to forget about having Rory naked in my bed.

To forget about how she sounds when she moans my name as she comes.

To forget about the way she feels when her pussy clenches around my cock.

I’ll pretend for the sake of keeping her around, but I will forever remember those moments.

“That’s kind of surprising, but I guess good for you. I’m sure it can’t be easy to want the Field Manager’s daughter.

“It’s just a crush,” I say. “It’ll go away.”

Greatest lie I ever told.

“Two weeks, man,” Knox says, taking a swig of his beer. “Two weeks until you get to marry Ella. How you feeling?”

At this point in the evening, we’ve been drinking for several hours. We’re all drunk enough to have already given up on video games, so we’re just plastered on the living room floor.

“I can’t fucking wait,” Josh says, smiling wide. “I love her so fucking much. Can’t wait to spend my life with her.”

“Here’s to the happy couple,” I shout, lifting up my bottle in a toast. “To the Garros!”

The four of us clink our bottles together in the air, not actually touching since we’re spread too far apart.

“Who wants to take a bet?” Josh slurs. “Fort’s gonna be the next one married.”

Knox can’t hide his grin as Josh says it.

“Holy shit,” Lane exclaims. “He’s fucking smiling as he thinks about it.”

“Because that man is obsessed with a capital O. He’s disgustingly in love with my sister.”

Knox smiles even wider. “I know. Can’t wait to go back home to her after this weekend.”

Lane groans. “God, I fucking envy the two of you.”

“What?” I ask. “You’ve always told us you don’t want to settle down.”

“I haven’t said that in years. I stopped sleeping around when I found out about Sage; the older she gets, the more I want her to have a family. The only women in her life are our friends. Rory does so fucking much for her, but she’s not her mom, you know? I want her to have a mom.”

“She technically does have a mom,” Josh says.

Lane rolls his eyes. “A mom who wants to fucking be a mom. I’m not shaming her; I obviously liked her enough to fuck her in the first place. And I don’t think someone who doesn’t want a kid should be forced to be a parent. I just want Sage to have it all.”

“She deserves that,” I say, turning to look at him. “You’ll find that someday.”

I really fucking hope I do, too.

And it’s pretty obvious who I want to be with.

Unable to stop myself, I pull out my phone to text Rory.

We talked a bit yesterday, but not much.

And she’s so fun.

And so pretty.

I miss talking to her.

Cole

Roryyyy

Rory

Are you drunk?

Cole

Absolutely shitfaced

Rory

Your texting is surprisingly coherent

Cole

I have to think hard

Makes my head hurt

Rory

That’s probably the alcohol

Cole

Maybe

I miss you, Starlight

I can’t stop thinking about you

Rory

You were supposed to forget

Cole

You really think I can forget that?

Rory

I figured you’d at least try

Cole

Didn’t bother

Won’t work

I made a big fucking mistake that night

Rory

Are you saying you regret it?

Cole

Oh fuck no

Never gonna regret that

My mistake was agreeing to get it out of our systems

It’s not possible

I still fucking want you

Once will never be enough

I know it isn’t enough for you either

Rory

Cole…

Cole

Good night, Starlight

The letters on my phone are moving around

It’s too hard to follow them

Rory

Drink some water, Sparrow

Good night

I set my phone on the floor, coming back into the middle of a conversation.

“A supply closet at the stadium,” Josh laughs.

“Wait, what are we talking about?” I ask, confused.

“Craziest place you’ve had sex,” Knox chimes.

I laugh. “You had sex with Ella at the stadium?”

“I’m a needy motherfucker,” he smiles. “She loves it.”

“I bet she does,” Knox says, slapping a hand on Josh’s shoulder.

“Come on, Fort. I know there’s no way you haven’t fucked Harlow around the stadium.”

“Fucking hell,” I grumble.

“I haven’t,” Knox replies, sparing me thankfully. “I’m not trying to get caught at work.” Eh, maybe he didn’t spare me completely.

“No, but you’ve gotten down and dirty in some interesting places,” Lane adds. “What about that time at the club over the summer?”

Knox’s face goes red as I say, “When Rory and I were with you? What the fuck?”

His hands cover his face. “Fuck you very much, Lane.” He lets out a breath. “We didn’t have sex at the club.”

“No, you just fin-”

“Lane!” I shout. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear about where Knox fucks my sister.”

“Fine by me,” Knox mutters, pinching his brow.

“Since Lane’s stirring shit,” Josh says, “why doesn’t he answer the question?”

“Because I probably have too many,” he shrugs. “I was quite the exhibitionist before I had a kid.”

“Ew,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “No one wants to see your dick.”

“I have a nice dick, thank you. Never had any complaints.”

“Well, that’s enough dick talk for me,” I grumble, starting to stand up.

“Sit your ass down,” Josh says, and I listen. “This is my bachelor party, and now I demand to know the craziest place you’ve had sex.”

“Does a cornfield count as crazy? I haven’t slept around much since I got back to NY, and Kansas was filled with cornfields.”

“Cornfields aren’t crazy,” Josh chides. “That’s like a rite of fucking passage in the midwest. You really don’t have any crazy sex stories?”

“Not about location,” I shrug. “I’m more of a bed kinda guy.”

“Oh, come on,” Knox says, egging me on. “You’ve got to have some crazy experience.”

“I… kind of do,” I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Ooh, this is going to be juicy, isn’t it?” Lane asks, looking as excited as a kid in a damn candy store.

“Probably,” I reply. “It can’t leave this room.”

“What the hell are you about to tell us?” Josh asks, actually looking nervous.

“I had sex with Rory!” I blurt out, the words escaping me before I can compose them in a more refined fashion.

Knox, Lane, and Josh all stare at me, mouths agape. Safe to say they weren’t expecting that.

“Skip’s daughter?!” Josh says. “What the fuck?”

“Yeah, what the fuck?” Lane yells. “You told me this morning that nothing happened between you two.”

“I fucking lied,” I sigh. “To fill you in, Josh, I’ve liked Rory for a long ass time. Knox and Lane figured it out. It apparently wasn’t one-sided. I took Knox’s advice on Monday and had her come over that evening, after the girls got back from Vegas. Didn’t expect it to happen, but we fucked.”

“My advice was to talk to her, not stick your dick in her!”

“Skip is going to murder you,” Josh says, eyes wide.

“That’s why I said it doesn’t leave this room. According to Rory, we were just ‘getting it out of our systems.’” I say the last part in air quotes. “Well, she ain’t outta my fucking system.”

“How the fuck am I always the last to find something out?” Josh asks.

“I didn’t tell either of these two dickheads,” I chide. “They figured it out on their own.”

“What the fuck are you going to do, Cole?” Knox asks, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Nothing,” I sigh. “Can’t do a goddamn thing anymore. It was one night. On a totally unrelated note, anyone know where the nearest monastery is? I think I have a new calling as a priest.”

“Bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?” Lane chuckles.

“Nah, she fucking ruined me, man. I’m as celibate as you are now.”

Lane rolls his eyes and scoffs at me. “I’m not going to be celibate forever, dick. I’m just not sleeping around like I used to.”

“This is too much to process,” Josh says, rubbing his head. “I’m going to turn in. Let’s just hope we don’t lose our shortstop over this.”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “That’s what I’m hoping, too.”