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Ch. 27: Investment

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Of course, my private life being my private life, what they got from me was a more censored version of what had happened. I toned down the more salacious details of what we'd done and left out the parts where I had a complete mental breakdown. Still, whether they knew they were getting the lite version or not, they seemed more than satisfied with what they were given.

For once in his life, Eli sat in total silence. He didn't even dare to ask a question while I was speaking. Although, I could definitely see a sea of them storming behind his eyes. A tidal wave I was not looking forward to dealing with later.

However, something told me that Ronnie wouldn't be much better. He rested his elbow on the edge of the bed, head in his hands, staring at me with the same absorption as a child listening to their grandparents tell a story.

"Then I went home and... well, you guys already know about that whole mess," I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

Silence filled the room, but it was miles away from being calm. Eli's and Ronnie's eyes darted back and forth between each other nervously as if they were both trying to anxiously decide who would be the first to speak up.

"Alright," I sighed, gesturing towards them vaguely. "We will now begin the Q&A portion of our event. Eli, you're up first."

"Hey, no fair. I call nepotism," Ronnie said.

"Oh, zip it," Eli muttered, rolling his eyes. "You know we both have the same first question anyway: are you going to see him again?"

Leave it to Eli to pick the one question I was barely sure of myself. I sighed again, leaning my head back against the chair and covering my face with my hands.

"God, I don't know," I groaned. "I mean... he suggested the idea. Hell, he practically begged me even, but... I don't know... I thought I might be willing to try but after the whole Phil incident, I just can't help thinking that it might be more trouble than it's worth."

"How? If anything, shouldn't the Phil incident be making you even more determined to keep it up?" Eli pressed. "After all, if things end up working out with this Mason guy then you could finally get away from that scumbag."

"Cute theory, but there are several gaping holes in that plan of yours," I explained, rolling my eyes. "The biggest one being that, despite what you somehow seem to think, Mason and I are not actually in a relationship.

"We hooked up once, Eli. That's it. Yes, we did talk about seeing each other again, but strictly in a 'bedroom' setting.

"We aren't planning to go out on dates. He is not my boyfriend. This is not a 'two star-crossed lovers kept apart by cruel fate' scenario. He's just a guy who moved in across the street. I fuck him and I go back home again. That's it. Don't get your hopes up about me leaving Phil for a relationship that doesn't even exist."

I felt a little bad about shutting him down like that. After all, I knew his enthusiasm came from a place of genuine love and concern. An innocent hope that I could still somehow find a warm and loving relationship.

However, his outlook on the matter was short-sighted, even bordering on naive. It would be better to set the record straight now and crush his hopes early before he built it up into something bigger than it was and really got disappointed.

Naturally, Eli's expression soured at that comment. Thankfully, there was a buffer between us to cut him off before he could come up with some snarky retort.

"Okay, fine, fine. It's not a relationship," Ronnie emphasized, trying to play peacekeeper. "Still, it's not like you two have to put a label on it. You could just keep fooling around without making it into a 'relationship' per se."

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