I promised my afternoon to Gisselle and Alina, and I regretted it before we even left school. I hadn't been seeing as much of Gisselle or Callum as I did before I started working at the bakery, as she kept reminding me, and I couldn't argue with the point, as much as I wanted to. Spending time with Gisselle and Callum was fine, but somehow Gisselle and Alina managed to make me feel like a third wheel, though I know they didn't mean to. I sat in the upstairs sitting room in the mansion, watching the two of them play some overly complicated board game I never had the patience for.
"So, what are you holding out on us this time?" Gisselle asked, looking up from the game board.
"What?" I snapped. Alina glanced at me, pressing her lips together to hide a smile.
"Well, the last time I could get anything out of you about you and Albion, you'd been stripping for him," Gisselle said, grinning at the quiet giggle the statement drew out of Alina. I frowned at both of them.
"I was not stripping for him," I said.
"Whatever," Gisselle smirked. "Have you had sex with him yet?"
"No!" I shot her an indignant look. "What is wrong with you?"
"What do you mean 'what's wrong with me'? What's wrong with you?" she laughed.
"We're seventeen," I pointed out, knowing that wasn't much of an argument.
Gisselle had only turned seventeen a few months before, and she and Callum had been having sex longer than that. I could easily point out that the comparison wasn't fair, that she and Callum had very obviously been on track for marriage from the start. Not to mention she was far from his first, and neither of them had ever exactly been modest or shy. Those two things couldn't be applied to me or Albion, but saying so out loud would just earn me an eyeroll.
"So? Alina is too and she's been nailing Ryan for two years," Gisselle gestured toward Alina before turning back to the game board between them to take her turn.
"I have not!" Alina cried. Madge just raised an eyebrow. "We've been dating for two years. Believe it or not, there was a time when Ryan had some self-control."
"Yeah, I don't believe that for a second," Gisselle laughed. Alina laughed, covering her face and letting out a pained little groan as Gisselle turned back toward me. "Tell me you've at least given that poor guy a handy?" I clenched my jaw. There's no way I was going to confirm that, though I had no desire to lie to her about it either. Gisselle's smile grew wider and she turned back to Alina. "No denial. That means she did."
"You're awful," Alina laughed quietly. She studied the game board for a moment, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "I wonder if they look alike."
"Are you seriously thinking about your boyfriend's brother's...?" Gisselle asked, barely holding back her laughter. Alina straightened up, her eyes wide, as if she hadn't realized she was speaking out loud.
"Well, um," she stammered, her face flushing red. "I mean. They're built the same. Ryan's taller but they still share clothes all the time. From a distance you can barely tell them apart. I just, um--shut up!" Alina cut herself off as Gisselle started to laugh.
"Well, don't expect Dawn to compare notes," Gisselle smirked. "You'd have an easier time talking Ryan and Albion into a threesome."
"I don't understand why you're so amused by this," I snapped, folding my arms across my chest. "None of it is anything you two haven't done."
"Yeah, but it's all stuff you haven't done," Gisselle said. "And you're, well." She exchanged a meaningful look with Alina.
"I'm what?" I asked, looking from one of them to the other. Neither of them offered me an answer. "Tell me!"
YOU ARE READING
Despite the Pain
Romance[Warning: Sexual Content] "I wondered if there would ever be a point when we didn't hesitate, or when my heart didn't pound so hard against my ribs when he undressed me. As much as I wanted it to feel more natural, I didn't want to lose how lighthea...
