Slowly We Trust (Fall and Rise #3)(74)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

“Well, it’s not like you killed someone and then didn’t tell us. You didn’t kill someone, did you?” Lottie said with mock seriousness.

“No, I didn’t kill anyone. That I know of,” Aud said, going for humor.

“Well, I know some people. If you need to hide a body,” Stryker said. I wasn’t sure if that was a lie or not. Stryker definitely knew some strange people.

The picture made its way back around the table and Audrey carefully put it back in her wallet.

“So there. That’s my big secret.”

“Well, we knew you had one,” Trish said. “You had it written all over you. But not anymore.”

“What? Do I look different?” Now that I thought about it, she did look different. Lighter. Happier. Her smile was more easy. How had I not noticed it yet?

“Yeah, you do. Lighter. Happier,” Lottie said, as if she’d been reading my mind. That happened a lot with us.

“Oh. Do I?” she said to me.

“Yeah. You do.”

“So who else has skeletons in their closet?” Lottie said as we all consumed our pieces of pie, trading and stealing bites from each other.

“Um, well my skeleton is that I’m g*y,” Simon said.

“Me too,” Brady said.

We all mock-gasped.

“NO! How could you not have told me?!” I yelled at Simon. It was just us in the place now, so we could go back to our normal volume. Loud.

Bea kept poking her head out from the kitchen and shaking her head at us.

“Stryker isn’t really my name,” Stryker said.

“That’s bullshit, I’ve seen your birth certificate,” Trish said.

“Okay, that’s true. But it sounds like my name is fake.” When I’d first met him I’d thought that either it was a fake name, or there was something wrong with his parents. I didn’t know how right I’d be.

“I kissed a girl once,” Katie said. “I was drunk.”

“I thought that evening meant more to you,” Lottie said, pretending to be hurt. “We shared a beautiful moment together and this is how you treat me?”

“I’m sorry, my love,” Katie said, reaching across the table to grasp Lottie’s hand.

“Yeah, I could be okay with this situation,” Stryker said, nodding. I shot him a glare.

“Yeah, I’d like to keep my girl to myself. If you don’t mind,” Zan said, taking Lottie’s other hand and kissing her knuckles. I should freaking hope so.

“Seriously, though, does anyone have any other secrets they want to get off their chest?” I said. “No one will judge you. The pie doesn’t judge.”

“I see how it is. I tell you my secret, but no one else wants to tell theirs,” Aud said, crossing her arms and glaring at everyone. I could see her looking at her daughter like that someday when she did something wrong.

“Well, you stole the secret-telling thunder,” Stryker said. “Anything else we might say, your secret trumps that.”

“Okay, fine. You have a point,” Audrey said. “So what now?”

“Picnic game!” Simon said. We hadn’t played in a long time. We seemed to reserve it for times when we needed something to distract us, like when we’d all showed up at Katie’s house for her Dad’s funeral.

“I’ll start then,” Aud said. “I’m bringing anchovies.” She turned to me.

“I’m bringing anchovies, ew, and boobs.” I purposefully looked down at hers.

“I’m bringing anchovies and boobs and cupcakes,” Lottie said and then it moved to Zan. We played until we were ready for more pie, which Bea brought us, on the house. I had the feeling that even though we’d all given her our debit cards for the rest of the pie that she would never run them through. She was that kind of woman.

“What a perfect Valentine’s Hangover Day,” Stryker said. “I had a really good idea on that one.”

“Don’t get too big of a head now, genius,” Katie said. “I don’t want to have sex with someone with a giant head.”

“So I should probably do something stupid now to even things out?” She just glared at him from behind the rims of her glasses.

“By the way, nice job on the present, Aud. I highly approve,” Lottie said.

“What did she get him?” Brady said.

Lottie stared at me as if she was trying to see into my mind. She rubbed her temples for dramatic effect. She already knew what I’d gotten. The same way I knew Zan had played her a song he’d written with Stryker along with a circle scarf with pages from Pride and Prejudice printed on it.

“She took him to the batting cages and bought him a lightsaber and . . . ooohhh a cake shaped like Darth Vader’s helmet. Very nice.” She gave Aud a slow clap of applause. We all joined in and Aud blushed and begged them to stop.

“It was pretty much perfect,” I said. “You’re pretty much perfect.” I turned to her and kissed her on the nose and everyone made “aw-ing” noises. Being around them was like always having a live audience around.

“No, you are.”

We somehow recovered from the insanity of Sex Partner Appreciation Day and Will and I moved to a new level of our relationship. That secret had been a barrier between us, impeding us being close.

Even the sex was better, if that was possible.

“Holy shit. That was amazing. I don’t think I can move,” Will said on Monday night after a particularly intense session. I’d suggested we try something I’d been hesitant about and it had turned out . . . pretty well.

“I don’t think I’ll ever move,” I said. He rolled toward me and put his hand on my stomach. My skin still tingled in the aftermath, and soon the haze of sleep would settle over me, but I loved talking to him in these vulnerable moments.

“Are you happy?” I said, also rolling onto my side after a few tries. My body was heavy and doped up.

“Is that a rhetorical question? Because you have to know the answer. I’m dating a girl who does . . . that and who also bought me a lightsaber and who told me her deepest, darkest secret. I’m the happiest guy in the f**king world right now.” He smiled so big and so bright, I was afraid of being blinded.

“You’re my light in the darkness. I didn’t know how bright things could be before I met you.” I stroked his hair and watched as the waves sprung back when I tugged on them and then let go.