"We're watching the game."

"We?"

"You, me, and Easton. We," he explains and then climbs on the bed. I move over so he doesn't sit on top of me.

I look around dubiously. The bed is big enough to hold Reed and me, but Reed, Easton and me? "I don't think we'll fit."

"Sure we will." Smirking, Reed lifts me up and drops me between his legs, pulling me snug against his chest.

Easton arrives moments later, taking my abandoned spot. He doesn't even blink at the cozy position he finds us in. Reed places the popcorn bowl between us and flicks on the television.

"Where are the twins?" I ask. My bed feels crowded with two giant Royals on it, but add the twins and it would be like stuffing double D's into an A-cup bra.

"They're going over to Lauren's house," Easton answers before shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"Both of them?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to," Reed hints and I promptly shut up.

Even if I had more questions, I don't think I'd be able to get any answers. Once the game is on, it's like I'm not even there. Reed and Easton cheer, groan and high-five each other. I spend my time admiring all the tight asses on the screen and smirking at all the innuendo-laden commentary, like how the one guy with the ball really needs to jam the hole and how the other team isn't getting enough penetration in the backfield.

Neither of the guys appreciate my observations. I settle in between Reed's legs and just enjoy the company. Occasionally, Reed reaches over and rubs my back or runs his hands through my hair. They're careless, offhand gestures as if we've been a couple for years, and I drink it up like a thirsty kitten. There are way worse ways to spend my night, I muse.

The score is pretty lopsided and somewhere along the line I doze off, full of popcorn and bored by the game. I wake up to the sound of Easton's phone blowing up. He leaves to answer it and Reed stretches out beside me like my own personal heater.

"Who was that?" I mumble, feeling groggy.

"Who knows. Were you sleeping?"

"No, just resting my eyes. What's going on with the game?"

"The Lions are killing the Titans."

"Are those real team names or are you just making stuff up?"

"Those are real team names." He sounds amused. A warm finger skims across the waistband of my shorts. I stretch, feeling a newly familiar heat seep into my bones.

"Are we done watching football?" It's more of a suggestion than a question.

Reed's blue eyes get stormy. He climbs over me, caging me between his arms and legs. "Yeah, I think we're done with that."

His head descends slowly and I lick my lips in anticipation- "-what the hell, did the Lions just score?" Easton bursts in.

Reed sighs and heaves himself off me.

"See how nice it would be if people started knocking," I whisper as Easton grabs the remote from the bed and turns up the volume on the game.

Reed just folds his arms and grunts. We both watch as Easton begins to pace.

The team wearing blue and silver and sporting lions on their helmets is marching down the field. The opposing team with a flaming T on their helmets isn't doing a very good job protecting its scoring area. For the next twenty minutes, the blue and navy team scores one touchdown after another until the score is tied.

Easton is beside himself. By the time the whistle blows, he's as white as the sheer curtains hanging on the windows.

"What's going on?" Reed demands. "How much did you put on this game?"

I inherited addiction issues from my mommy. Oh, Easton.

Easton shrugs, trying to act like it's no big deal. "I got this, big bro."

Reed's jaw works as if he's fighting not to yell at Easton. Finally, he says, "If you need anything, hit me up."

Easton gives us a weary smile. "Yeah, of course. Gotta make a phone call now. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he says with forced cheeriness.

"Does Easton have a gambling problem?" I ask once Easton's door closes down the hall.

Reed exhales in frustration. "Maybe? I don't know. I think he gambles and drinks because he's bored, not because he's addicted. But then I'm not a psychiatrist, am I?"

I flounder for something to say, but can only come up with, "I'm sorry."

He shrugs. "Nothing you or I can do about it."

By the fierce set of Reed's jaw, I can tell he doesn't believe that for a minute.

"I'm going to bed." Reed pushes away from the mattress.

I curl my legs underneath me, fighting the urge to beg him to stay. "Okay," I say in a small voice.

His brows scrunch together. "I don't think I'd be good company tonight."

"That's fine." I rise from the bed and head toward the bathroom. Am I hurt that he doesn't want to stay with me tonight? A little.

He grabs my wrist as I walk by. "I'm just worked up and...I don't want to pressure you into anything."

"Is this an it's not you, it's me speech? Because that's the absolute worst. No one wants to hear that."

A reluctant smile tugs at his mouth. "No. It's a you're too hot for your own damn good speech and I'm having a hard time, literally, keeping my hands off you."

I round on him and poke a finger into his rock-solid chest. "Who says I want you to keep your hands to yourself?"

He grabs my finger and hauls me up against him. "You really ready, Ella? Ready for it all?"

I hesitate and that's all the answer he needs. Dipping his head close to mine, he runs his nose along my cheek. "You aren't and that's okay because I can wait, but sleeping next to you is torture for me. Your body pressed up against me...and I wake up-" He breaks off but I know what he's saying because it's true for me, too.

I'm suddenly aching in spots I didn't realize could ache. "We could do other stuff." I lick my lips, thinking of the pool house.

He groans and buries his face in my neck. "There's no rush. Seriously. We're going to take our time and do this right." With another deep breath, he sets me away from him and strokes a strand of hair out of my eyes. "We okay?"

There's no point in disagreeing. I know Reed well enough that once he's made up his mind about something, it takes a long time to change it, which means I'm spending the night alone.

"We're okay." I rise on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek but Reed turns his face so our lips meet.

The long, tender kiss he gives me goes a long way toward easing any hurt feelings. The feel of his hard frame against my body doesn't hurt either.

And the last hints of rejection are brushed away when Reed slips into my bed later that night. Silently, I pull his arm around me and fall into a deep and welcome sleep.

32.

On Thursday, Valerie accosts me at lunch. "What is going on with you and Reed?"

I try to look as innocent as possible when I answer, "What do you mean?"

"Apparently yesterday he walked by you on the way to Bio and flicked your hair," she announces.

I stare at her and then burst out laughing. "And that's some sort of big declaration by Reed Royal?" I ask incredulously.

She nods. "Reed does not do PDA. Even when he was supposedly dating Abby-"

I crinkle my nose at this. I don't like hearing those two names in the same sentence.

Valerie ignores me and continues, "-he avoided her. There was no kissing her up against the locker. No holding her hand. Sure, she went to his football games, but he's on the field so it's not like they were making out during the games or anything." She looks thoughtfully into the distance as if envisioning them. I hold back a gag. "I think the only time people ever saw them together was at a party. So yeah, the fact that he intentionally reached out to touch you is huge."

I stare at my tray of locally-sourced organic chicken breast and farm-fresh vegetables so that Valerie doesn't see that it's huge to me, too. The graze of his fingers against the base of my neck on Tuesday morning stayed with me for hours.

When I get myself under control, I glance back at Valerie. "We're enjoying a truce," is all I admit to.

She shoots me a worried look but doesn't press because she's a friend.

Impishly, I reach across the table and grab her hand, pressing it to my chest. "You're first in my heart, Val."

"I better be, bitch." She honks my boob and I slap her hand away.

Giggling, she sticks a carrot in her mouth. After we're done with lunch, she tells me that the Moonglow club is having another eighteen-and-over night. "You in?"

I hesitate, because my first instinct is to text Reed and find out what he's doing, but then I realize that not only would I give myself away to Valerie but that no matter what is going on between Reed and me, I need a life separate from his. So I nod firmly. "I'm in."

She bumps my shoulder companionably as we walk back toward our lockers.

"Are we dancing in the cage?" I ask with a grin.

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"Am I going to need another outfit?"

She shakes her head in mock dismay. "It's like it's your first day of school all over again. Have you learned nothing since you've been here? Of course you need a new outfit."

Valerie and I make plans to go shopping later.

"I'll pick you up after work," I tell her, remembering my brand new set of wheels cooling at home.

She stops abruptly and grabs my arm. "What do you mean you'll pick me up? Did you get a car?"

I nod. "A convertible. Callum gave it to me."

She whistles long and low but loud enough that it turns the heads of everyone within about ten feet from us.

"Did you bring it to school?" She claps her hands together. "I want to see it!"

"Ah, no." I stall, trying to think of a plausible excuse for why I rode with Reed this morning. "I caught a ride with Reed. He's got football practice in the mornings so it makes more sense for us to carpool."

Valerie rolls her eyes. "How long are you two going to pretend that you're not going out?"

I suppress a smile. "For as long as anyone will buy it." And that is as close as I'll come to admitting she's right.

Valerie predictably loves the little car. And I use some of my stash to buy an outfit for tonight. She takes me to an ordinary mall where the prices are high but not so high that I feel like I'm wearing an entire paycheck to the club. At the Royal mansion, I do her hair and makeup and my own, creating dramatic nightclub looks.

"I look hot," Valerie declares as she examines herself in the mirror. "Let me take a selfie for Tam."

"I can take it for you."

She hands me the phone and I snap a couple of photos, which she sends off immediately to her boyfriend. Those two seem to have such a great relationship, even though he didn't show up a week ago like he'd promised. Val didn't seem too upset about it.

"How do you do it?" I think of Reed in college and wonder if I'd be able to handle him being around so many pretty older girls.

Valerie takes a shot of me before answering. "I have to trust him. I send him lots of pictures."

"Nudes?"

"Yep. Naughty photos, too, mostly of my chin down...just in case." She makes a face. "Not that I don't trust him, but if someone steals his phone or something."

"Right." I hesitate. "Was Tam your first?"