Make Me (Broke and Beautiful #3)(16)

“Don’t cave,” Ben warned Louis. “Think about it. If he’s swearing us to secrecy, it has to do with one of the girls. He doesn’t want us passing on this apparently monumental revelation to Honey and Roxy. And they’ll find out. Girls always find out.”

“Yeah,” Louis murmured, clearly still on the fence. “But it doesn’t have anything to do with Roxy because I’ve been keeping her well and truly occupied for the last forty-eight hours. And Honey has been in school, right? That leaves Abby.”

That’s when Ben joined Louis on the fence. Russell could tell from the way he adjusted his glasses and scrutinized him like he would one of his students. “Whatever it is, he’s not happy about it.”

“Exactly.” Louis tapped a coaster on the table. “Knowledge is power, man. If he did something stupid that will piss off the girls, we need to know—”

“—so we can circumvent the fallout,” Ben finished.

“Are you guys done?” Russell asked. “You’re giving me a rash over here.”

Louis snatched the dollar off the table. “Fine. It stays between us.”

Ben groaned. “You’re his attorney. What’s going to be my reason for staying silent when this inevitably bites us in the ass?”

“The bro code,” Louis and Russell answered at the same time.

“That’s not a real thing.” Ben split a look between them. “Stop pretending that’s a real thing.”

“I friend-zoned Abby,” Russell forced past dry lips. “She almost got blown up today, for f*ck sake. Her ankle was hurt, so I stayed and . . . things took place. Things of an adult nature. Tequila was involved.”

“Finally.”

“Took you long enough.”

Russell glowered at his friends. “You know how I feel about this. Nothing was ever supposed to happen with her. That’s why I took care of it.”

“Oh yeah?” Dread was written all over Louis’s face. “How’d you do that?”

“Doesn’t matter how.” Pain sprung up at the back of Russell’s skull, and he welcomed it. Hoped it spread and grew worse. “The result is Abby in the friend zone.”

Ben leaned back in his chair, looking thoughtful. “Nope. I’m calling a foul. You’re already in the friend zone. A friend zonee can’t friend-zone the friend zoner.”

Louis was nodding before Ben even finished. “He’s right. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been attempted, nor accomplished.”

“I concur. But I wouldn’t mind consulting the rulebook to be safe.”

Before Louis could respond to Ben, Russell held up a hand. “You two are a rare breed of shithead. You know that?”

“Why are you telling us this?” Ben leaned forward to ask. “This isn’t merely to unburden yourself, is it?”

Russell wished that were all. If he were capable of keeping Abby at arm’s length without their help, he would do it. But it wasn’t a viable option now. He could still see her bare ass, feel it writhing against his groin. He knew she came with her whole body, shaking, sobbing, and twisting. For the love of God, he needed help staying away now. Serious help.

“Look, she’s going to tell her roommates. They’re probably having a three-way text party right now to plot my early demise.” It hurt just thinking about it. She’d laid her head on his shoulder so trustingly and fallen asleep today, but tonight? She probably wouldn’t go near him if he begged, but he wasn’t taking any chances. “When Honey and Roxy tell you guys what went down, just . . . assure them it was for the best. Tell them I’m an *, a liar . . . a cheater. Whatever you have to say. I just need it to get back to Abby so she stays away.”

“Nope. Not lying to my girlfriend. That’s where I draw the line.” Louis slid the dollar back across the table. “You don’t need a lawyer; you need a therapist.”

“Again, I concur,” Ben said, shifting in his seat. “Russell, we all know how you feel about Abby. You might as well have skywritten it the day you two met. Why are you trying to sabotage yourself?”

Russell arched an eyebrow. “Oh, hello, pot. Meet kettle.”

“Yeah, I screwed up with Honey. Louis did the same with Roxy. Are you seeing a f*cking pattern, here?” Ben actually looked angry with him. Get in line. “How about learning from our mistakes?”

“This isn’t the same thing.” God, he hated talking about his insecurities. Knowing they were there was hard enough without dragging them out into the open. “You two have educations, long-term jobs, even the way you speak sounds different than me. I’d be a novelty to her, and eventually, the shine would wear off.”

Louis let out a low whistle. “Way to give her credit, man.”

Russell was done trying to explain his position. The definition of useless was trying to convince two *s in love with their girlfriends that shit didn’t always work out perfectly. Not every situation had a happy ending. “Right. I’ll let you two get back to planning your double wedding. I’m calling it a night.”

When he pushed back from the table and stood, Louis gripped his forearm. “Listen up. Whatever damage you’ve done is probably fixable at this stage. Don’t heap so much shit on top of the situation that an apology won’t be enough.”