Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
That same jealousy washes away like an ocean lapping the sand. Because in that reality, my sister and Phoebe’s brother would have to deal with their love lives being pressured and controlled. We wouldn’t want that for either of them.
We would choose to be on the operating table. Under the spotlight. Fighting the knife.
“What about Jake? Carter?”
“Friends with benefits,” Oliver says with a nonchalant slouch against the sink.
My brows shoot up. “She’s sleeping with Jake?” What the…fuck? I thought he had a schoolyard crush on my sister. Pining. Unrequited. Definitely not fulfilled.
Oliver hops over that to explain, “Carter is on the back burner, which is sad for Hails because I know she liked him, but I’m not complaining since it means I get to spend more time with her.” He slips a fallen Q-tip back into a cup on the sink. “It’s not that complicated.”
“You’re a friend with benefits, too?”
“Yeah. Only…” He shifts slightly, his gaze dragging across the bathroom rug before lifting to me. “I’m not really sleeping around—not while she’s…well, you’ve seen her, Rock. She’s been under a lot of stress, and we agreed to keep the pool small.”
“How small?”
“She’s hooking up with just me.”
“Oh, just you?”
He exhales, “And Jake.”
Jesus. How is that not complicated? “Does Jake know about this arrangement?” Is he getting the short end of the stick here? And why do I care about his feelings in all of this?
“I don’t know. I’m not the one sleeping with him,” Oliver says. “But based on our run-ins, I’m fairly certain Hailey has clued him in.”
“And there are no feelings between you and her?”
“I never said that.”
Yet, he appears to be completely fine with this situation, and I get why. Oliver’s ego is as indestructible as his heart is big. He’d do just about anything for my little sister, including becoming less of a playboy and staying exclusive to her. All while she’s also sleeping with another guy.
“This seems like a recipe to get hurt, man,” I warn him.
“So what if we all do?” Oliver says. “The way I see it, we could be caught tomorrow. We’re living on a countdown clock, Rocky, and before it hits zero, I want to know that I didn’t hold back.”
I spent years resisting Phoebe, and he gave in to Hailey—because time has never been our friend. It never will be, and now that I’m with Phebs, I understand it more.
To lose a single moment with her that I could’ve captured—it enrages me as much as it scares me.
As if Oliver knows I’m thinking of her, he says, “I’m happy you both stopped holding back.” He smiles one of his dazzling, hypnotizing grins. “Oude liefde roest niet.”
I’m not fluent in Dutch, but the phrase is familiar. I realize it’s what he said to Jake in the grocery store. But I never looked it up. Head. Sand. Buried.
He shovels me out now.
And he translates, “Old love does not rust.”
THIRTY-ONE
Phoebe
Hailey is speed talking over the phone, and I’m doing my best not to cut her off with shocked WTFs and oh my Gods.
“We were always careful—I guess today, it just slipped through. Everything is slipping. It was easier not telling everyone we were hooking up. It was just something between me and Olly, and it’s sex. It’s only sex, okay? It’s casual and…and I care about him, and I know I’m also with your fake boyfriend and now you know I’m sleeping with your brother and it’s so fucked-up.” Her voice cracks. “I’m a terrible friend.”
“That’s the last thing you are, Hailey,” I finally interject, the shock slowly subsiding.
In hindsight, the signs of her and Oliver were everywhere.
I’ve seen Oliver scoop her up and jump in a pool with her in his arms. Always making sure to toss her book or e-reader in a safe place beforehand. I’ve seen him bear-hug her from behind at fifteen, seventeen, twenty, twenty-four. I’ve seen how Hailey smiles when Oliver flirts with her—but that’s what he is. A certified flirt. I thought he was being playful with a friend.
They were friends. They are friends. Friends who took each other’s virginities.
Add in the fact that Oliver has been the one to pull Hailey out of her fixations—to help her fall asleep lately—I should’ve known their relationship was much closer.
I guess I thought she would’ve told me if she had feelings for my brother, but then I think, I never told her I had feelings for hers.
I adjust the phone against my ear, careful not to drop it in the tub. I took the call in a bubble bath at the boathouse. “I get why you didn’t tell me,” I say. “I didn’t share with you how much I liked Rocky. I let you believe I couldn’t stand him.”
Now it makes sense why she wasn’t angry or upset when she found out about me and her brother—she was just stunned. Basically, what I am now.