Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“ Have you ever hooked up with someone, and then he ran away? ” Thea texted her friend Fifi after Thea had gone to her bedroom for the night.
She did not know whether her blushing cheeks were from the most powerful orgasm of her life or the humiliation of being abandoned immediately afterward.
Out on the couch, Draven had blown her mind. Wait, more than that. He had annihilated—straight up nuclear mushroom cloud-ed—her previous notions of lust. Was that normal? Alec had never instilled in her such animalistic urges.
She had screamed .
Palming her face, she waited for Fifi’s reply.
“ OMG, you had sex with Draven, didn’t you? ” Fifi texted. “ He ran away afterward?!?!?? ”
Thea scowled. “ I didn’t say it was Draven! I am just asking if things like that happen .”
Fifi messaged, “ What the hell was he running away from? The chance of a real relationship? LOL! ”
Thea bit her lip. Could he have run because he did not want a relationship with her? Did he see what they did as just a casual hookup? If so, why did he only pleasure her? Why run away to take a shower?
She had even tried to follow him in, maybe join him under the streams of water, but he locked the door.
Why did men become more confusing once women liked them?
I also need to find a new makeup artist gig to make some money for next month’s rent payment .
It was a sleepless night.
* * *
The next morning, she chewed on her cereal, sitting on one of the barstools at the kitchen island. Swinging her legs back and forth underneath her, she stared over to the hallway, where Draven would emerge soon.
She would see him for the first time since the “incident.” The incident being: him having eaten the hell out of her pussy.
She shivered on the barstool and crossed her legs just thinking about it. Her body remained awake all night, whispering for her to join him in his bedroom. She awoke in the morning with a hand between her legs and some naughty memories from wet dreams.
Her phone buzzed, and she read a new, unwanted message from Alec. “ I’m serious, Thea. We need to talk .”
Really not the man I’m looking to talk to this morning .
After finishing her cereal, she impatiently paced around the kitchen. She grabbed the caffeinated coffee beans and brewed a fresh pot for him. She tapped her fingers against the granite countertops. She opened and closed cabinets, not looking for anything specific.
Finally, Draven emerged for breakfast. Dark, spiky hair. Pouty lips. Morning stubble dusted his chin. He yawned, raising his arms out to stretch. Her gaze locked onto the straining of his muscular biceps and the prominent vein there she wanted to lick.
No. No licking until she understood what they were to each other now.
Did he plan to ignore last night? Erase it from his memory?
She stood there, waiting for him to do or say something to suggest how they were supposed to interact with each other now. Did he regret it? Did he worry she was another groupie obsessed with him now?
He trudged over to the coffee maker, grabbed a mug, and paused when he noticed the pitcher of his coffee beans already being brewed. Turning to her, he caught her gaze and signed, “ Thank you .”
“ You’re welcome ,” she signed back. Every time he used sign language, she grew slick between her legs. Was there anything sexier than a man putting effort into communication?
Again, she tried to read him, but his calm and collected exterior had advanced to university-level poetry that never made sense to her—an enigma of advanced metaphors lost on her. He poured a large amount of cereal into his bowl as she wondered to herself, “ What does that MEAN? ”
“ Hungry? ” she wrote on a Post-it note and passed it to him.
He glanced up at her after reading it and nodded.
Again, his reaction told her nothing. Were they truly going to pretend it didn’t happen? That she didn’t come all over his face and fingers while he brazenly smirked?
“ Did you eat dinner last night? ” she wrote to him.
His lips pursed, and he twirled a pen in his fingers before responding, “ I ate on the couch. Remember? ”
Okay, so they were acknowledging it now? Her phone buzzed, but she ignored it. She wrote to him, “ I remember it quite well, especially the part when you ran away .”
He blew out a sharp breath and wrote, “ People don’t want us together, Thea .”
“ What are you talking about? Who? ” Other than Mallory’s warnings, Thea had no idea what he talked about.
“ It doesn’t matter. I’m not your type, and I’m not a rebound .”
Thea scoffed. “ I don’t have a type .” Her phone vibrated once more. Who was contacting her so insistently this morning?
“ You go for straight-laced, tie-wearing hedge fund types .”
She gaped at his note. “ Excuse me? ” Her phone buzzed again.
Draven frowned and nodded for her to answer it. He jerked a thumb toward the bathroom and began his journey over to it. Was that his official new hiding place for when things got too real between them?
Left alone, Thea read the new messages on her phone. All from Alec.
“ Your parents gave me your new address and asked me to check in on you. They said they’re worried about you. I’m on my way .”
“ Just parked. Will find your door soon .”
“ I’m here, Thea. Let me in. ”
“ Thea, I’m here. Check your phone, beautiful. ”
Here? Alec? Was here? Right now? She stopped breathing. Quietly sprinting to the front door, she looked through the peephole and saw a blurry man standing there who resembled Alec.
Oh no .
Living with Draven and pursuing her dream career felt like a brand-new life. Was this when reality crashed the party?
Taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door and opened it.
Alec’s short, blond hair was professionally slicked to the side, with no strand out of place. He wore a light blue button-down shirt, a dark blue tie, and black slacks. His shoes and gold watch cost an ungodly amount of money.
She used to see him as an all-powerful man. Deaf and dominating and inspiring and full of promise. Then, years passed of off and on, of suspicious behavior. And, of course, there was the cheating Thea had just recently learned about.
Alec’s eyes scanned her, examining her lilac lace dress and pearl necklace. He always did like her “look.” “ You wouldn’t answer my texts ,” he signed. No hello or how are you or I’m sorry . “ I had to see you .”
Ignoring her accelerating heart, she signed calmly, “ Why? ”
“ Why? ” Alec gawked. “ Because you are throwing away your whole life over one mistake .”
Throwing away her life? Throwing away a man was not throwing away her life. “ I’m not ,” she replied.
“ It just happened once, baby. It won’t happen again, I promise .”
“ I don’t trust you, ” she signed. “ And even if I did, I don’t want to go back to the way things were .”
He scoffed and looked around the apartment. “ You think any of this is real? Your mom told me about your trouble finding a new finance job. And the whole makeup thing? Come on, Thea. That’s not real life. You are living a temporary vacation. I don’t even know how you are paying half for a place like this .”
She bit her lip. She paid less than a third, actually. It helped that she was roommates with a drummer who no one else wanted to live with.
“ Come back home. We will figure this out. I’ll go to therapy .”
“ Alec, I like my life right now. It’s mine. I am not going back to you ,” she signed, adamant.
“ You are acting crazy ,” he signed.
“ Crazy? ”
“ You made your point, okay? I messed up. Now come back home. ”
She crossed her arms and shook her head.
Instead of appearing frustratingly amused, Alec began to glare. Refuse to give a powerful man what he wants, and he tends to scowl. “ Thea, your parents expect us both to attend Thanksgiving dinner—together .”
“ They shouldn’t have invited you. It’s completely inappropriate for them to meddle with my life like this ,” she signed. “ Alec, we were over a long time ago. I just needed the push .”
He frowned. “ What are you talking about? We are perfect together .”
“ Everyone thinks we are perfect together. But the last year or so, I mean, when was the last time we were really happy? Do you remember? ”
He signed slowly, as if she were a child first learning, “ Babe, we match .”
“ Just because we speak the same language? Because we have similar upbringings and families? Alec, do you love me, or do you love how other people see us together? Are we settling for each other, for a certain life, because we are too afraid—because we have been taught not to ask for more? ”
He began to sign back a heated response, but something behind Thea caught his attention. She glanced over her shoulder to see Draven, shirtless, re-entering the living room. Abs and bedhead on full display.
Draven caught sight of the two of them and froze.
Thea tried to get Alec’s attention back, but her ex’s lips thinned into an angry line. A vein in Alec’s forehead pulsed and became prominent as his cheeks reddened.
“ This is who you’re living with? ” Alec signed, “ The manwhore of that rock group? ”
Thea gasped at the hateful, horrible words. “ He is not a manwhore .”
“ Don’t tell me you fell for his act .” Alec shook his head, disappointment and anger warring for front and center time on his face. “ Do we need to get you checked for STDs? ”
Air sawed through her lungs. “ How dare you? ”
“ I made a mistake, and you ran off to screw the most available man in L.A.? ”
She signed, “ Get out .”
“ You know what, I’m not interested in getting you back anymore. I’m looking for a wife, not a slut .”
A slut. Thea’s heart clamored in her chest. A slut? A ringing sound speared through her ears.
Before she had time to react, Draven appeared beside her. A soft gust of wind blew pieces of her hair at how fast he moved to her.
She blinked.
And Draven’s fist collided with Alec’s jaw.