Page 89 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

Chapter Forty-Four

I’m lying in front of the fireplace with my head in Hayes’s lap and him propped up by some pillows piled behind us.

Ollie is stretched out on his side a few feet from me, and the honey cake I ordered for myself is between us now.

Sharing in the name of the holiday and all that as we both dig into the cake with only forks.

A bottle of champagne set by its side that I convinced my mom to look the other way on as she was heading off to bed, and I’m all comfy in my pajamas with a blanket thrown over my lower half.

Hayes’s gaze moves back and forth between us in amusement as we tease each other mercilessly.

Pretty much having devolved back into toddlers since around the first eggnog this evening.

“No,” Ollie mumbles around the fork. “Not even a little bit of a hero complex.”

“It’s not a hero complex if the action is justified.” I roll my eyes, reaching for my glass and lifting up just enough to take a sip before adding, “Which it definitely was.”

“Flynn.” Ollie swallows the bite just as I set my glass down and reach for my fork. “Back me up here, you know I’m right.”

I shoot Hayes a warning glare while stabbing the cake a little harder than necessary, earning a lifted brow. “I think.” His eyes move between me and Ollie a couple of times with a lift of his lips. “That you’re both animals.”

Ollie makes an irritated noise, and I pop the bite into my mouth victoriously as he grumbles. “Dude, you are so whipped.”

That earns a glare from me aimed his way this time, not liking the sudden note of something deeper to the words.

I run my eyes over him carefully and see the same tension riding him as that day he snapped at me in the library.

It has my brows falling and me not knowing whether to push it or not.

The distance we’ve regrown since the kidnapping this year has left us both sorting out a few new boundaries and I don’t want to ruin Christmas but…

I don’t want to leave him unhappy either.

Hayes steals the fork from my fingers, bringing me back as he tosses out with a short laugh, “Like I care.”

Ollie rolls his eyes at that, both of them going for a bite as I broach cautiously. “Ollie.” I wait until his eyes land on me to continue softly. “Did something happen between you and Marley?”

Because between him and the same distant vibe she’s been throwing me since around Halloween despite me asking her why…

Well, it doesn’t take a genius to put it together.

His face falls at the question before he stops it, gaze dropping back down to the cake as he clears his throat. “O—”

“I’ll leave it alone if you want,” I offer quickly, feeling Hayes tense beneath me and knowing he’s just a bit sensitive to anything that might upset me right now. Or really anytime. “But just know I can see something’s bugging you, and I wish you would let me help.”

He snorts, eyes coming back to mine with dark humor. “Because you’re so good at that?”

“Hey.” A giggle bubbles past my lip as I steal my fork back from Hayes and wave it at Ollie. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

His lips lift with the start of a smile before they drop, brows quickly following as he goes silent for a long moment. “I messed up, O.”

Guilt flashes across his face with the quiet admission that has me feeling five years old for the second time today. A memory of that same expression flashes through my mind from when we were around that age. Him begging me to fix something he had broken before Mom found out…a music box, maybe.

His eyes drop back to the cake with a little flash of shame, and my own brows fall to match his because Ollie hasn’t ever done anything truly bad in his whole life.

In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s incapable of it, but the fact he thinks so has me softening my voice.

“Hey, big brother.” I choose my words with care as his eyes rise back to mine.

“There’s nothing we ever haven’t been able to fix together, right? ”

He holds my gaze for a beat before giving me a tight nod. “Right.”

“And I mean, it can’t be that bad,” I snort, trying to ease some of the trepidation I can see on his face. “Unless you’re about to tell me that you too pretended to be Mom’s PA in order to steal from your trust.”

Hayes coughs up a short laugh behind me as Ollie curses, “Fuck,” shaking his head with a quick grin. “Still can’t believe you did that.”

“So come on.” I wave my fork at him, digging it into the cake for a bite before scooting up higher until my head is on Hayes’s stomach.

“Out with it.” Ollie’s lips lift again as I plop the bite into my mouth and Hayes exhales another short laugh underneath me.

Something about it apparently funny enough to them both to have me snapping, “Now.”

Hayes’s almost laugh turns into a low chuckle at that, and he steals the fork back. “Give him a second, Freckles.”

“Fuck,” Ollie curses, taking a deep breath. “Fine.” His face tenses as he starts slowly. “So you know how I stayed to check on Bethany after everything happened on Halloween?”

“Yeah,” I mumble while chewing, already not liking where this is going but trying my best to remain neutral considering what he’s put up with from me.

“Well, I wrapped that up pretty quickly—”

“Oh, shit.” The curse leaves Hayes on a sharp scoff that’s somewhere between amused and terrified and has me quickly looking between them. Something about the instant understanding in Hayes’s eyes along with the dread in Ollie’s giving me everything I need to put two and two together.

But that would mean—

“ Ollie. ”

“Hold on.” He holds up a hand while pushing himself up quickly. “Just let me explain how it happen—”

“ C’est le bordel! ” I steal my mother’s curse from this morning, hissing it with narrowed eyes because it’s the only thing that seems appropriate. “Tell me you didn’t—”

“I didn’t do anything bad!” he shouts suddenly, hands going to the sides of his head and face falling to pieces. “I mean, not really, I don’t know—” A sharp breath leaves him. “Marley thinks I did.”

“Then chances are you did,” I snap quickly, the instant remorse that fills his face making me take a long breath before sighing. “Tell me what happened.”

“You going to let him this time, Freckles?”

I turn my head to meet the dimples flashing behind me long enough to send a scowl his way before looking back as Ollie starts again.

“I wanted to check on you, so I went to look at your dorm and ran into Marley there.” He darts his eyes down quickly with guilt starting to take over his face again.

“She had snagged a bottle of rum from the party on her way back to the dorm and asked if I wanted a drink.” I purse my lips, barely resisting the urge to snap at him while he continues quietly.

“I was still pretty worked up from everything that had happened, so I said yes and—” He takes a quick breath.

“It was amazing, honestly.” The lost look in his eyes when he brings them back to mine takes the edge off some of my frustration.

“We drank and talked for a couple of hours, and it was like I finally had her full attention. Like she was finally right there with me and everything was falling into place.”

His words have my heart clenching tight, a frown immediately taking over my face because I understand what he means about it all seeming to fit perfectly.

“That’s why you were so late.” Hayes’s quiet observation comes as he wraps an arm around my middle, fingers tapping against my waist absentmindedly. “Coming back later.”

“Yeah.” Ollie darts his eyes to him, brows crashing down before looking back at the cake and quickly muttering. “One thing led to another, and we ended up hooking up.”

“Fuck,” I curse. “Is Bethany actually pissed too because—”

“No.” He shakes his head quickly, fresh panic in his eyes as they lift back to mine. “No, really, Bethany and I were very clear from the start that we were casual. Nothing exclusive.”

I frown. “So then why—”

“He didn’t tell Marley,” Hayes guesses quietly, fingers tightening around me.

Ollie rolls his eyes with another long sigh. “Not exactly, but after we were, uh, done.” He shifts a little, dropping his hands. “I asked if she thought we were exclusive or not.”

“Gosh.” A scowl pops up before I can stop it, but seriously. “Poor wording, big brother.” Something that’s not usually an issue for him but has always seemed to be with her. “What’d she say?”

He pauses, face starting to fall back to pieces while clearing his throat. “She asked why I was asking, and I was honest, which was apparently not the right thing to do.”

I squint at him thoughtfully. “Yeah, but like, how honest?” Knowing our definitions of the term can vary depending on the situation.

“Like Marley, I’ve been pining after you for over a year, and I want to lock this down, or I’ve suddenly felt the need to become a manwhore this year, and now I’ve gotten myself into a mess? ”

“More along the lines of the second, unfortunately,” he mumbles, making me lift a brow at him in true judgment this time, and he tosses his hands into the air. “I just wanted to know what it meant!”

“Man.” Hayes laughs fully with the word. “Can I just say I’m so happy I’m not you right now?”

“Thanks,” Ollie immediately snaps.

I shoot a glare over my shoulder. “Only helpful commentary.”

“Sorry.” Hayes gives me a grin that I think is supposed to be repentant, and I roll my eyes back to Ollie.

“So what happened?”

“It just all started to come out wrong, honestly.” He shakes his head. “The stuff about messing around with Bethany, and I think she kind of checked out after that.”

“Well.” I cringe. “That’s understand—”

“She told me to get out.” His face falls right past pieces with the statement, and he takes a deep breath. “That she wasn’t about to be some trashy little side slut to me and to forget it ever happened.”