Chapter eighty one

Dallas

“I knew you two were exclusive now, but I had no idea it was that serious. I felt like I walked into a porn studio with how hungrily you were devouring each other. No offense.” Lisa said and took a sip from her wine before setting it back on the kitchen island.

“Offense totally taken.” I arched an eyebrow but she merely smirked. I shook my head and chuckled.

“I did warn you not to go in that direction. You didn't listen.” Heather said and shook her head.

The three of us were in the kitchen, making breakfast. Well, Heather is doing the cooking while Lisa and I are keeping her company.

I wasn't able to talk to Lisa last night because of how long I stayed at Oliver's. It was past midnight when I finally managed to slip out but she was already asleep by then.

I turned down Oliver's request to stay overnight because I hoped I'd catch Lisa awake. I almost went back to his room when I found out that she was asleep, but I forced myself to sleep in mine. After spending two weeks under the same roof as him and not touching him, a night without him seem like centuries.

Heather helped her settle in and gave her a tour of the entire house, careful not to wander close to Oliver's bedroom this time. Though Lisa was still going on about hearing ‘screams’.

“You can't blame me for this one,” Lisa said and raised both her hands. “I had no idea that's how you do things around here. And the door was wide opened. Anyone could have walked in on them.”

“That wouldn't have happened if you had just followed instructions. You have questionable hearing skills, Lis.” I shook my head.

“Oh, my hearing skills are perfectly good. They heard a lottt last night.” she said, emphasizing each word.

She shot me a long stare, a corner of her lips tilting up. I tried to keep my face neutral but there was no stopping the smile that broke out at the corner of my lips.

“The door… well, we got…carried away.”

More than carried away. If Lisa hadn't interrupted, we would have probably had sex right there, not caring about who saw us. It's always like that when I'm with him. His presence is so intoxicating that I unconsciously tune out the rest of the world.

A smile tilted on my lips as the memory of his face flashed into my mind. I had seen him briefly this morning when he was heading out. He kissed me hard and shoved two fingers inside me, giving me a sweet but brief orgasm before he left while depriving himself of a release.

Wherever he's going must be really important for him to do that.

“And the screams?” Lisa asked, breaking my trail of thoughts, a smirk dancing on her lips. I'm so going to kill my best friend later.

“Well, that was just…unfortunate.” a blush crept on my cheeks. I sunk my teeth into my lower lip and fought hard to keep my expression neutral.

My eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for something to focus on. I drummed my fingers on the island. I chanced a look at Lisa to see her staring at me with a big smile. Not a teasing one, a genuine smile and…is that longing in her eyes?

I blinked but the emotion was gone as fast as it came. She broke into a laugh while Heather simply shook her head.

“That's enough, Lisa. Stop teasing her before she turns into a tomato. A face is already very red as it is.” Heather said. She pushed two plates of scrambled eggs to us. She began making the toast.

“And how is that helping?” I shot a look at her.

“What? I just told her to stop teasing you. How is that not helping?” she batted her eyelashes, her face was the picture of innocence.

“Yeah yeah, you sure did help a lot.” My tone dripped of sarcasm.

Heather and Lisa exchanged looks and they both burst into laughter. I narrowed my gaze on them, trying to look angry, but I was fighting the smile that tugged at the corner of my lips. I grabbed the glass of juice on the island and focused on sipping the content slowly.

I was happy that the two of them were getting along. They'd chatted a great deal ever since the first time Lisa helped Heather with a recipe. At first, I thought Lisa was going to feel weird that I brought someone else into our friend group. It's been just the two of us since high school. But looking at them now, that doesn't seem to be the case. She seem more than happy that Heather was an addition.

“You're not exactly innocent in this. I could swear there was some chemistry between you and the other cousin.” Lisa said.

I choked on the juice and started coughing. I finally got a grip on myself enough to finally understand the question.

“Oh no, no chemistry. They barely knew each other.” I answered for her.

“You weren't in the car with them yesterday. They basically eye fucked each other in my presence.” she muttered and stuffed her mouth with scrambled egg.

“Dallas is right. No chemistry. I'd sooner sleep with a pig than him,” she cringed her nose in disgust. “But I do know him. For a long while now.”

“Hey, Ethan is a very sweet guy.” I said defensively and folded my arms, eyebrow raised.

I barely knew the younger cousin too, but after the way he helped me these past few weeks, I felt the need to defend him.

Heather pushed the toasts towards us before settling in the stool by Lisa's right.

“If I didn't know you were already involved with the second cousin, I'd think you're in love with Ethan. Wouldn't blame you though, the man is charming.” Lisa muttered before taking a bite from the toast.

“And for how long is this ‘a while now’?” I directed my question to Heather, ignoring Lisa's comment.

Heather played with her eggs.
“Say about…” she paused and pressed her lips together “...seven years.”

“Seven years?” I half screamed.

My jaws literally hit the fucking floor. Seven years? I didn't even know they knew each other at all. I've never seen them talk to each other. But then, I didn't really know much about Heather. She has an excellent way of keeping the conversation without revealing much about herself.

Now that I think about it, I've never seen the both of them in the same room together except today. It was almost as if they were avoiding being in the same space together.

I quickly did the maths.
“You're twenty seven, and if what I read about Ethan on the internet is accurate, he's thirty two. That means you've known each other since–”

“Since college. Yeah.” Heather finishes, taking a bite of her toast.

Lisa chose that moment to make a screeching sound on the plate with her fork. Nice way to interrupt the awkward silence. I know my best friend very well. She's probably blaming herself for bringing up the ‘Ethan’ discussion, but also eager to know more about it.

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her why she didn't say anything about it all these time, but the look on her face is enough evidence that she doesn't want to talk about it. But she must have picked up on my silence,

“I was an undergraduate and he was a graduate student. Our history isn't exactly a good one. And no, Lisa, before you ask, he's not an ex boyfriend so there's no drama,” She said, her gaze fixed on Lisa. I let out a chuckle.

“I've always known him to be an infuriating son of a bitch.” she added.

“How would you just assume that I'd jump into that conclusion?” Lisa said, her lips pouted as if she was offended.

Heather and I raised our eyebrows at her simultaneously.

“Alright, yeah. I was thinking that.” She sighed.

We all broke into laughter.

“So when are we going for the birthday shopping? I really can't wait to explore New York.” Lisa asked after the laughter died down.

“Birthday? What birthday?” I asked, my tone laced with confusion.

Heather shot a look at Lisa and shook her head.
“You really suck at keeping secrets, don't you?” She muttered.

Lisa's eyes widened as if realizing what she just did. My confusion deepened. I didn't know anyone whose birthday is toda–

My eyes widened as I remembered today's date.

Today is my twenty fifth birthday.