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)
“I knew you were better than me that way,” Hailey says quietly. “That you’d come clean with your feelings, even if it’s hard. You’re good at sharing what’s in your heart.”
I release a wheezy laugh. “Me? Rocky and I had feelings for each other for eons, and it took us forever to verbalize them.”
Hailey and Oliver succumbed to their attraction. Whereas Rocky and I tortured ourselves with ours. If we’d had sex when we were teenagers, if he’d been my first, would we have a similar friends-with-benefits thing going on? Or would that have been agonizing just in a different way? It’s difficult to play the what if game.
All I know is that I like what I have now, and I love even more where Rocky and I are heading together.
“You’re at least better than me at it, Phebs. Your love is really big, you know? It’s the sort of ride-or-die love that makes it impossible to feel alone. It’s why no one wants to leave you. It’s why I never would.”
My throat swells up, but I express the same sentiments back. I’d never leave her. I slosh my foot in the water, lifting my toes into the foamy bubbles. We’re quiet for a second, but the silence isn’t tense between us.
She goes on. “I’m not as good with emotions.”
“You don’t have to be,” I tell her. “I’m not angry that you kept this a secret. I’m just really, really shocked.” And I’m not sure she would have come clean had Rocky not walked in on them. It’s possible her friends-with-benefits thing could’ve been kept secret for a lifetime, and I still wouldn’t hold it against her.
We’re not made for grudges. Not with each other at least.
“And I kinda want details,” I say with a smile. “But not like graphic things with you and my brother, just like…the good stuff, you know?”
She laughs. “If anyone understands that, it would be me.” Right, she’s prodded for info about me and her brother together, too. The bright sound fades fast, and I hear her deep breath. “If there’s an inverse of a vampire, something that doesn’t drain blood but supplies it, then that’s Oliver. Because at times I feel leeched of all that I have to give, at empty, and he makes sure I’m still pumping.” Her voice shakes with emotion.
My eyes try to well up. “Do you love him?”
“I can’t remember a moment where I didn’t,” she cries, “but it’s just sex. It’s just sex.” She’s panicked.
“Okay, okay,” I say fast. “And Jake? You slept together?” This confession still has my jaw dropped. I never thought Jake would do something even marginally scandalous. Secretly hooking up with your fake girlfriend’s best friend? That is illicit.
I almost want to give him a high five.
But then I wonder if he took the risk because it was Hailey. Because he has stronger feelings for her than I even know.
My smile softens.
“Yeah, we had sex…and I think I’m falling for him, Phebs,” Hailey says in a quiet breath. “What he’s done for his sister, the lengths he goes for people—I know why half the servers and guests at VCC are in love with him. But I have a feeling most of us haven’t even seen how deep his heart really goes, and I can’t stop uncovering him…it’s…”
“Hypnotizing? All-consuming?”
“All-consuming,” she says. “In the moment, at least. He’s not one novel. He’s the whole library.”
I remember her talking about Jake in the grocery store. “But you said you’ve always liked ‘their hearts. How deep they are.’ Plural.”
“I must’ve been thinking about Oliver, too.”
Wow. She almost slipped three days ago. If I prodded a little harder, maybe she would’ve told me, but I’m glad I didn’t. She was sick that night.
I want to pick my brother’s brain so badly about his feelings, too. But knowing who he is, I can already hear what Oliver would tell me.
He’d say, “What’s not to love about Hailey?”
I smile at the bubbles. But what if she picks Jake in the end and not Oliver? What happens then? I don’t ask, because it’s another pointless what if meant to terrify.
Hailey fills the silence. “Like I mentioned, I’m not in a place for a relationship. They both know that.”
“And Jake is okay with it?” I squint trying to picture his take on the situation. I have nothing. When I moved to Victoria, he was single, so it’s not like I’ve seen him arm in arm with a girl. And our phony relationship is very, very chaste.
“Yeah, he said he was. I was up-front from the start. Our first time was after a book club at the beginning of February. He walked me to the loft. You were already sleeping, and he came in to collect some of the books he loaned me. We were in my room, and there was a moment…I don’t know how to describe it. But I ended up asking if he wanted to fuck me.”