Chapter 11
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Bow
My phone pinged, and I opened the message.
I wanted to be sick.
It was a video of me on a balcony at that party, but it wasn’t the video itself that made me sick to my stomach. It was the message underneath, and I knew who it was from, even though, I once again didn’t recognize the number.
Unknown: I’m assuming he caused you to do this. You see how toxic he and your other friends are? If they cared about you, they’d protect you from him. Come back to me, Bow. It’ll be different this time.
Shaking, I deleted the message. I immediately pulled up Sloane.
Me: Hey, can I stay at your place again tonight?
I never thought I’d be asking her that so soon after staying there. I spent exactly one night at my brother’s place and left the next morning before anyone woke up.
I couldn’t face anyone.
Feeling sick again, I waited for Sloane’s text. I really didn’t want to text her, but I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t feel safe at my dorm by myself. I mean, he knew where that was so…
Sloane: Sure!
Relief swept me, but then, Sloane texted me again.
Sloane: Dorian and I aren’t home though. We’re back in The Heights visiting my parents. Ares and Fawn came too.
Crap. Maywood Heights was my hometown.
Sloane: You’re welcome to stay back at the house though. Bru, Thatcher, and Wells should be there.
I never ever thought I’d intentionally put myself in a position to run into my brother. He hadn’t been happy after what I did at that party but even dealing with him was better than accidentally running into Bru.
Or Wells.
I liked to say I didn’t know why I’d decided to go to some random party and get drunk, but that’d be a lie.
You see how toxic he is…
Ignoring the voice in my head, I texted Sloane back.
Me: Thanks.
Sloane: No problem. I’ll text Bru and let him know you’re coming. You got your key, right?
I did have a key to their house and slid a hoodie on before venturing out of my dorm and into the darkness of Pembroke University’s campus. I knew how to travel in a way that kept me from attracting attention. I stayed off the main paths.
I kept my head down.
I knew how to blend in, which was the exact opposite of what I’d been intending to do through my study sessions with Wells. For those, I needed to be in high traffic areas. We needed to be seen by everyone.
I supposed that was all over now.
I screwed up that plan too, and I thought I’d be sick by the time I got to Sloane’s house.
I’d be as sick as I was the night I decided to get drunk because of the way Wells looked at me.
I thought I could use his hate for me to my advantage, but all my plan did was make me feel like crap.
It made me feel guilty, and that message on my phone was wrong.
Wells wasn’t the toxic one.
I was.
I was, because I was the reason Wells got distracted that day at the pool one summer. I was the reason a girl died, and it was also me who used Wells after the fact for our tutoring sessions because I didn’t know what to do. I was scared and desperate.
“I need you to come down from there.”
Wells saved me again when he didn’t have to. He once again thought I was drowning. He was Archer again, my Archer, and I spent so much time that night throwing up. I’d been drinking, yeah, but it honestly wasn’t that much. I was just a lightweight, so any alcohol made me not act like myself.
But it was seeing Wells as my friend again as he tried to save me on the balcony that made me sick.
I was the reason I lost his friendship, me.
Bru also being there the night I screwed up only made things worse.
He had rejected me, and he shouldn’t have been there.
I used him, too, in a way. I used his comfort on the regular.
My best friend’s brother was always nice to me.
He was such a genuine person, and I’d mistaken that kindness for something else.
The first thing I did after sleeping off my drunken state was leave before anyone could see me in the morning. The moment I got back to my dorm, I locked myself inside it.
Not nearly enough time had passed before coming back to my brother’s house tonight.
The multilevel home known as Legacy House sat up on a hill in a wooded area of campus.
It overlooked pretty much everything; my brother and his friends like gods among men.
They had parties here all the time, but, thankfully, things were quiet tonight.
Using my key, I snuck inside. I didn’t have to worry about security alarms since others were probably home, but I checked them anyway. I checked the security alarm panel and saw it wasn’t armed, so that meant someone was here.
I made myself be brave. The house was big and I could easily sneak into a guest room without being detected.
“Seriously, man. What the fuck?”
I froze. I gripped my bag at the front door. It’d been Bru who’d spoken.
Taking a few steps from the entryway, I eased a look into the living room. That was the direction his voice had come from, and it was dim in there, the TV on.
I froze again once I saw Bru. He was sitting on one of the couches with his denimed legs crossed, but he wasn’t alone. Wells was in there with him. Wells had his leather jacket on like he’d just gotten home and the television remote was in his hand.
“Dude, what the fuck? I’m watching TV,” Bru ground out.
He was usually so calm, so seeing him grit his teeth at someone was different.
His strong jaw clenched as he reached for the remote in Wells’s hand, but Wells was standing.
Wells also had an extended reach, so he easily got it away since Bru was sitting.
“Not anymore,” Wells said. He threw his long body on the opposite end of the couch Bru was on.
Wells worked his jacket off, his t-shirt intentionally ripped across the front and exposing his chest. He’d call that fashion, but my brother would probably call him a show-off.
He liked to expose his body a lot. Especially on his YouTube channel.
I watched Wells’s cooking channel more than I liked sometimes. I couldn’t help it. I watched one video and, ever since, others came up in my feed.
Wrestling with my hands, I ducked my head. The boys sounded like they were about to squabble, which was good. That meant they were both distracted, and I could sneak into a room undetected.
“Watch in your room or something,” I heard Wells say.
It was silent after that, but I looked over when I heard movement.
I panned just in time to see Bru rip the remote out of Wells’s hand, and, when Wells went to grab it, Bru switched the remote to his opposite hand.
Bru had a broad frame, so Wells wasn’t getting the remote unless he got up or tackled Bru.
Wells bared his teeth. “I said watch in your fucking room.”
“Nah. Not happening.” Bru proceeded to lounge back on the couch. He switched the channel back to whatever he was watching. “I was here first.”
“You were here first,” Wells singsonged before his eyes narrowed into slits. “What are you, five?”
“You’re one to talk about acting like a five-year-old. Coming in here and throwing your weight around.” Bru continued to change channels. His lips went tight. “Asshole.”
The word had been light, but Wells obviously heard it. Wells shoved Bru, and when Bru shoved him back, my stomach dropped into my butt.
Fists started flying.
It didn’t take much to set Wells off. He got in physical fights all the time with my brother and their other friends.
That was just their dynamic, but Bru tended not to lift his fists as much as the rest of them.
I knew this probably was because of a history he had with fighting.
He didn’t like to do that if he could help it, but something about this argument caused Bru to engage the moment Wells swung at him.
Wells missed, but Bru didn’t, and he clocked Wells in his jaw. Wells’s eyes went wide, and he didn’t miss this time, when he socked Bru in the stomach.
Bru reared back, his own eyes wild before he shot a fist directly at Wells’s face.
Wells dodged and a scream bubbled in my throat when Wells drew back his own fist. I was going to do anything I could to stop this, but my shout silenced when Wells released his fist. He folded a hand behind Bru’s neck and kissed him with so much force that Bru fell back into the couch.
Oh. My. God…
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think, because soon the guys’ tongues were dancing outside of their mouths. Wells was biting Bru’s lips, and Bru was biting Wells’s right back.
My hand wrapped around my throat. I didn’t know if I was trying to squeeze out the breaths or what, but if I had a necklace around my neck, I knew I’d be clutching it. The guys proceeded to make out, but then Wells started messing with Bru’s pants.
“What are you doing?” Bru panted. He was still tasting Wells’s tongue, and this time, Bru was forcing the kiss.
He had his hand shoved into Wells’s dyed locks to keep him there, but Wells forced Bru away.
Bru lifted off the couch a little, and, after Wells worked Bru’s pants down, Wells started messing with his own pants.
I backed up, but stopped when Wells forced Bru to turn over on the couch. He spit into his hand, then took Bru’s ass in a hard grunt. He fucked him so hard the couch moved.
It creaked.
Both guys grunted, Bru’s hands gripping the couch while Wells’s hands braced Bru’s hips. Bru was grabbing the couch so hard his biceps flexed, and Wells wasn’t looking at him. Wells had his eyes closed, and when they opened, they were rolled to the back of his head.
“Fucking yes,” Wells called out, and Bru reached back and grabbed Wells’s hand. Bru put Wells’s hand on his own chest. He placed it right over his heart, and my own heart raced. It beat with the fury of a thousand drums, and my legs quivered.
They weakened.
I thought I’d fall, my legs were so weak and my heart beat so hard.
I put a hand over my stomach, where Wells’s hand moved on Bruno.
Wells forced his hand under Bru’s shirt and exposed his abs.
The shadows of whatever was playing on the television screen danced across both guys’ mighty forms as they grunted, labored.
Bru called out, and I reached beneath my skirt.
I squeezed my sex.
I came as Bru did, his eyes shut tight, and Wells was both literally and figuratively right behind him. A couple hard thrusts, and Wells was filling Bru’s ass. He did it with so much force and vigor that he ended up collapsing on top of Bru.
Bru held Wells’s hand while his own body sagged on the couch. His fingers laced with Wells, and Bru attempted to put Wells’s hand over his own heart again.
Wells didn’t let him this time. This time, Wells let go.
Wells pulled up his pants, and Bru closed his eyes before glancing back at Wells. Bru’s mouth turned down. “That’s it?”
Wells didn’t grace Bru with a response. He simply reached over and grabbed a box of tissues off the coffee table. He then handed it to Bru, but Bru shook his head.
Bru shoved the box of tissues away before working up his pants and leaving the room. I backed into the shadows, but it turned out I didn’t need to. Bru left the room in the opposite direction of where I hid.
A door slammed somewhere in the house. Wells ripped the box of tissues in half.
He threw both halves across the room before plopping on the couch, and I left after that.
I faded back into the shadows, my essence sticky between my legs as I quietly padded to a guest room.
I immediately went to the bathroom, feeling guilty again.
I wasn’t supposed to see what I just saw, and, as I cleaned myself up, I was confused why it affected me the way it had. I liked Bru. I more than liked him and should be devastated that he said there was someone else, not turned on.
I guess Wells was that someone else.