Jolene
Within two minutes, I heard him snoring.
And that’s on a job well done.
I licked my lips proudly, savoring the taste he left behind.
After checking to see if I needed to add wood to the fire, I pulled the sheet up to my chin.
I can’t believe I just had Dakota in my mouth.
I wouldn’t say that I’ve always looked at him as a brother, but I’ve certainly never looked at him like this, either. We have all been friends for so many years that he was just a piece of the puzzle that outlined the last two decades of my life.
I was so in love with Jace that I couldn’t see anyone else.
The wind screamed at me from outside the bedroom window.
Leave it to the universe to send me a fuckin’ winter storm right when I feel like I’m on the brink of hell.
Tears burned in my eyes, and I did my best to blink them back. Failing miserably, the sniffles started, my body trembling slightly as drops of betrayal slid down my cheeks.
“I know it’s little to no consolation seeing as how your mind had taken you somewhere dark, but just so you know, I’m writing to the National Weather Service in Columbia to request that they name a tornado after you.”
Bro. What?
Confused, I turned to face him.
“The gawk gawk 8000 you just gave me. That’s the kinda shit that will have a man payin’ alimony.”
I cackled.
“I’m completely serious. I can just see the tornadic resemblance now. First, you suck and blow and then I lose my damn house.”
“Oh, my lawd!” I laughed so hard the sound reverberated off the walls. “I guess one of us should send Jace a thank you card – either me for the experience or you for the result.”
He giggled.
The room fell abruptly silent, and I could feel the tears start to threaten once again.
“Come here, Loo.” He pulled me into his arms, cradling me like the little spoon. “It’s gonna get worse before it gets easier, Sugar, but at least we can ping pong between emotionally fucked and emotionally numb together.”
I let my neck relax, my tear-stained cheek resting comfortably on his bicep. “Are you going to forgive her?”
I felt him tense behind me.
“Yes. Not because she deserves forgiveness but because I deserve peace.”
I nodded against his arm.
“I’m not stayin’ with her, though.”
I looked back at him over the top of my shoulder.
“If it had just been a one-time thing and she had only hurt me, I might have been able to…,” he trailed off. “This wasn’t a slip, though. They knowingly and willingly hurt both of us.”
A fresh round of tears cascaded down my cheeks.
“That took it from a slip to a character issue.” He spoke firmly.
A character issue…
After what seemed like forever, I gathered the courage to say what I had been thinking all day, but unable to admit out loud.
“She asked me this morning if I was sure.”
Using his free arm, he rolled me onto my back.
“Sure about what?” He asked, his eyes burning into mine.
“About marrying him. I told her I was and then asked why she would ask me that.”
“What was her response?”
“She said she was curious because she knows that the idea of never being with anyone else can be scary. I told her one of the perks of being high school sweethearts was that we would never have to worry about first time jitters again.”
He ran his fingers through his short curls before letting his hand come to rest on my stomach.
I continued. “She asked if I felt like I had missed out on anything by never being with anyone else,” I recalled. “I asked if she felt that way about you.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“She said she was completely satisfied and that she wouldn’t change a thing.”
He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “The moment when you realize that she wasn’t asking because she was being a good friend that wanted to be positive you were sure about marrying him; she was asking because she was hoping you would say you weren’t.”
Thanks for that incredibly obvious insight, pal.
“And if that moment of realization wasn’t enough to gut you, throw in the full-fledged fuckin’ clarity that she didn’t mean she was completely satisfied with me. She meant she was completely satisfied with fuckin’ him.”
And said she wouldn’t change a thing.
Dakota
This new information had my head spinning.
The depth of deceit is bad enough but the audacity to know you’re boning your childhood best friend’s man and say you wouldn’t change a thing…
Lena burrowed a little deeper against my chest, the small movement sending a whiff of shampoo and vanilla out into the atmosphere.
“Your hair smells good.”
Reflexively, she reached out and touched her scalp.
“Ain’t no way. Blaine wouldn’t let me wash it this morning,” she complained.
She sounded so annoyed that I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, he is the expert.”
She agreed with a nod. “He said the hair would hold better if it had some natural oil in it. I guess he was right because all hell may have broken loose, but them curls are still intact.”
I studied her using the light from the fireplace. She was right and so was Blaine. Her blonde, perfectly round curls covered my arm and a part of both of our pillows.
“For what it’s worth, you looked beautiful today,” I heard myself say.
Well, she did…
She didn’t respond but I could feel her smile against my chest. I pulled her closer.
This is quite literally the last thing we should be doing.
Even with the mental acknowledgement that I shouldn’t be holding her this close, or even holding her at all, every part of me wanted to hold her even closer.
Not sure she could get any closer, bud, without you being inside her.
My dick lurched at the mere thought, the subtle twitch pushing against her thigh.
“Felt that,” she called out.
Well, you could have acted like you didn’t because now it knows you know.
“I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about,” I lied.
“Uh huh.” She pressed her thigh against my groin.
Immediately, I tensed, which only made me harder.
“Aight, now,” I warned.
She giggled. “Hey Dak?”
Hey?
“Ma’am?”
“What are we gonna do tomorrow?”
Do you want specifics or…?
“Same thing we did today. Deal with it as best we can. Oh, and drink. Definitely drink.”
She sighed. “I just feel like once the sun comes up, we will be forced to accept that this is our reality,” she admitted.
“Honey, we probably won’t see the sun for a few days because of the storm but this is our reality whether it comes up or not.”
“Can’t we just…reject it?”
Reality?
“Nah, but we can learn from it.”