ELLIE
After hiding Ethan’s laptop, I went downstairs to join my friends. Will decided to make dinner. I wondered if I should be worried since everyone seemed a bit tipsy.
I sat on one of the chairs at the end of the kitchen counter. Everyone appeared engrossed in some conversation while sipping wine. Rosie came over a minute later, sitting next to me.
“Hey!” she said, smiling at me, her big green eyes sparkling.
“Hey! Do you think it’s safe to let Will cook?”
She laughed beside me, tucking a strand of dark blonde hair behind her ear.
“I can hear you, El,” Will said, turning to us.
“Try not to hurt yourself, don’t forget I still need your DNA.”
“Right. Should I even understand that?” Rosie asked, confused.
“No. It’s our thing. I’m trying to convince Will and Anna to donate some of his DNA so I can clone him in a lab.”
“Oh, of course, because you’re a scientist,” she laughed.
“And also because Will is the best catch I know, nerdy, handsome, and he cooks.”
Will smiled and gave a little bow.
“Can you believe it? Isn’t it unfair that he doesn’t have any brothers? Jack has Neil, Bennett has… well, he’s irrelevant.”
“I don’t recall you thinking I was irrelevant a week ago, Miss Brown,” Mr. Morgan’s voice sounded behind me, making me turn to face him.
He certainly meant minutes ago. He stood next to Neil, right behind us, looking at me with a slight smile.
Teasing should be a safe area; after all, our friends were used to it.
“So would it make a difference for you if I were Will’s brother?” He raised an eyebrow.
“With you, Mr. Morgan, it doesn’t matter whose brother you are, because the problem is you.”
I heard Jack’s laugh from somewhere in the living room, where Zara, Anna, Jason, and Phillipa were also seated.
“Enough, you two,” Will said.
We tried to contain our smiles as we looked at each other. Why was this so exciting?
The two of them passed by us, and I turned back around. Neil sat next to Rosie, and Ethan took a seat after him.
“You guys should really work on pretending better,” Rosie whispered, leaning closer to me, making my eyes widen.
What? She knew?
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell,” she winked.
I couldn’t help but glare at Mr. Morgan, who was distracted talking to Neil. He’d be dead now if I could kill with a look.
If Rosie knew, that meant Neil probably did too. Ethan must have told him. Bastard.
“How about a game?” Zoe walked over, leaving the corner where she was with Bennett, and leaned over the counter.
I was still mad at her, so I ignored her.
“What game?” Rosie asked.
“One minute,” Zoe held up a finger. “You guys over there, bring your asses over here.”
A minute later, everyone gathered in the kitchen, positioned around the central island or leaning against the counters. “We’re playing ‘Never Have I Ever.’ It works like this: you ask a question, and whoever has done the thing has to drink,” she explained.
“Aren’t we a bit too old for this?” Neil asked, looking uninterested.
He had a reputation for being the straight-laced type. The guy had gone nearly seven years without sex after separating before he met Rosie.
Well, at least that’s what Phillipa had told me. Looking at him, it was almost impossible to believe. At nearly six and a half feet, with dark hair and seductive brown eyes, he could have any woman he wanted.
How could he be friends with Mr. Morgan? Ethan didn’t seem like the straight-laced type at all—he was more like, ‘If I want it, I’ll take it because I’ve got a big dick.’ Arrogant bastard. I laughed to myself.
“Did you just call me old?” Zoe raised an eyebrow, feigning offense.
“That’s not what I meant,” Neil tried to explain, causing a few of us to chuckle.
“Let’s just start already,” Anna said, leaning against a counter to my left, holding a glass of wine. “Fill your glasses. I’ll go first.”
Jason opened a bottle of wine and began serving those who weren’t already drinking. I grabbed a glass, glad Anna was going first, giving me some advantage.
“Ready? Here it goes... Never have I ever hooked up with someone from work.”
I saw Zoe roll her eyes before taking a drink, as did Jack, Zara, Neil, Rosie, and Bennett. It wasn’t a surprise that the three couples had met through work.
What did surprise me was seeing Ethan not drinking. Was he being honest? Not even a single intern?
“My turn!” Zoe said, eyeing Anna, and I almost felt sorry for my best friend. “Never have I ever... slept with my brother’s best friend.”
Anna raised her glass with a smile, toasting Will before taking a drink, reminding me of their story.
Will had known Anna’s family for a long time since he was a teenager. He practically grew up with Jason. And despite the age difference, Anna had always had a platonic crush on him.
I considered it normal to have a crush on your older brother’s friend, though I didn’t have any brothers myself. Now they were married. Life could be surprising and weird.
I was so focused on Anna that I only noticed Jason was drinking when everyone turned to look at him.
Shit. Was he drinking for what we’d done? After placing the glass on the table, he shrugged and ran a hand through his blond hair. I was grateful he didn’t look at me. There was no way anyone could know.
“Wait...” Zoe said, looking between me and Jason as if connecting the dots, then back to me. “Anna is your only sister, right?” She looked at me again, bringing everyone’s attention to me.
I tried not to react. God! This was so uncomfortable, especially since Phillipa was here, and I didn’t know if she knew about me and Jason.
“The game doesn’t require explanations, does it?” Jason replied, deflecting attention away from me.
Almost all the attention, because I could still feel Mr. Morgan’s gaze, but I avoided looking at him.
“I’ll go!” I announced, shifting in my seat. “Never have I ever arranged for Ethan and Ellie to share the same room.” I stared at my glass before finally looking up at Zoe.
She rolled her eyes and sighed before taking a drink.
“Liar,” I muttered.
“You’ll thank me later,” she said, and it was my turn to roll my eyes.
The next few “Never have I evers” got progressively weirder and more awkward. I didn’t drink for “Never have I ever had a threesome,” but I saw Ethan drink. I didn’t drink for “Never have I ever been cheated on,” but I saw Ethan drink. By then, I didn’t even care how much I was drinking or not, only focused on seeing whether Ethan would drink for each “Never have I ever.”
In the end, I learned some dirty and even important things about Mr. Morgan.
I found out that, besides having had a threesome and been cheated on, he’d also had phone sex, sent intimate pictures, and been to a BDSM club. And he had never cheated or had sex in public.
I admit, the BDSM club part kind of freaked me out. But what surprised me the most was learning he’d never cheated. It made me feel a little guilty for thinking so poorly of him.
We were about to start a second round when Will announced that dinner was ready.
“I’ve got one last one,” Zoe said, stopping everyone from leaving the kitchen.
When she looked at me with a smile, I felt a chill. Shit. I tried to brace myself.
“Never have I ever... slept with my best friend’s brother.”
Hell! Zoe was like the devil herself.
Will drank, though the question was aimed at me. I considered not being honest, but screw it, it had been so long ago. I brought my glass to my lips, taking a long sip.
“I knew it! Oh my God! You two slept together?” She was smiling as if this wasn’t completely awkward.
“That was a long time ago,” Jason finally said, his deep green eyes meeting mine.
“I’m sorry, Phillipa. Zoe never tires of being the queen of awkwardness,” I said, wishing a hole would open in the floor and swallow me up.
“It’s fine. I already knew. It doesn’t matter, I didn’t even know you back then.” Phillipa smiled at me from across the counter, putting me at ease.
I considered telling Zoe to forget I existed. She was my friend, and I loved her, but she could be truly unbearable at times.
After dinner, I went upstairs to get ready. We planned to visit the nearest town and explore a bit. Anna told me that at night, the town had light projections at certain spots.
After choosing something to wear, I caught myself staring at the single bed now sitting a small distance from mine.
Mr. Beauchamp had brought it up right before breakfast. It meant Ethan would be sleeping in the room tonight. I wasn’t sure why, but that made me a little nervous.
The door opened behind me. Mr. Morgan walked in. Without looking at me, he went over to his suitcase and started rummaging through it.
“Are you going to take a shower?” I asked, trying to figure out why he seemed off.
“Yes,” he said curtly.
“Me too.”
“Do you want to go first?”
“That’s not exactly what I was expecting to hear.”
“What were you expecting?” he asked, finally turning to face me, his expression unreadable.
“Maybe something like, ‘Do you want to join me?’” I teased, but he kept his face cold.
“You should ask Jason and Phillipa. I’m sure they’d be up for it.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
Grabbing his things, he walked past me toward the bathroom.