17. June
June
“What do you mean, you fucking shot someone at the bar?” Dominic clenches his fist so hard I worry it will break his entire hand if he applies any more pressure.
I stand in between the sitting room and the kitchen. My best friend is being comforted by Alec in one room, and Dom’s considering murdering Simon in the other. Both are equally important.
“You would have done the same thing,” Simon tells Dom, but with much less anger in his voice than Dom. “He ruined June’s night out.”
Wait a minute, Simon killed the guy because of that?
"Plus," he adds. "He was about to shoot some lady and her dude. I think it was a lovers’ quarrel or something."
“A lovers’…quarrel?” Dominic pinches the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “You opened fire in a public place because of a little relationship drama?”
I step forward. “He had a gun, Dom. Simon did what he had to do to eliminate the threat.” I sigh. “Isn’t that what you hired him for?”
He ignores me and focuses on Simon. “And you didn’t think you should stay? Deal with the cops yourself? Do you know how big of a headache this is going to be to clean up?”
“My priority was getting June out of there safely.” Simon glances down at me. “That’s always going to be my priority.”
Dom’s phone buzzes on the counter. He glares at it. “And so it begins.” He grabs it and points at Simon. “I have to take this. Don’t fucking go anywhere.”
Simon leans against the counter and folds his arms over his broad chest.
“You did the right thing,” I try to reassure him.
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
I stalk toward him, my hand resting on his shoulder. “You did.”
Simon flits his attention to my best friend in the other room. “How’s she doing?”
If I'm being honest, I've been partially unsure of how to handle the situation.
Cora has been on a need-to-know basis with pretty much everything that's happened since the guys have come into my life.
But with that, it makes stuff like this difficult.
I don't know what to say, what to do, how to comfort her when it's laced with secrecy and lies.
She's one of the most important people in my life, and the truth will only put her more at risk.
But if I’m okay with keeping her in the dark, should I be allowed to be mad at the guys for doing the same fucking thing? Is what I’m doing really any different?
I don’t have a romantic relationship with Cora, though. I don’t live with her, share space with her, and avoid her at all costs. I don’t sneak out before she wakes up and come home when she’s asleep, and I don’t lie when she point blankly asks me a question.
Okay, maybe about Miller—but that’s for her own good. Miller is deep in the criminal underworld, and if she got involved, it would pull her into it, too.
There’s a large portion of me that welcomes it. To have a best friend I could confide in, to actually have proper girl talk and explain everything. It would be amazing. But that would be selfish of me, and Cora staying in the dark is for her best interest.
“I don’t know what to say to her,” I whisper to Simon while looking over at her.
“You’ll figure it out.” He nudges me in the direction of where she and Alec are sitting on the couch together. They’re close, too close, and in my focus on Dom and Simon, I may have missed another potential relationship I need to steer her away from.
Alec isn't nearly in the life as much as the rest of the guys are, but he still has his foot in the door and knows way more than I'm comfortable with her finding out. He's a good guy, but good isn’t the only standard that my best friend deserves. I guess he scores a few points in the looks department too, with his dark eyes and matching hair. That isn’t enough to get a chance with my best friend, though.
I walk over and lower myself onto the couch next to Cora. “Hey, you.”
She tugs the blanket over her shoulders tighter and turns toward me. “Hey.”
“Crazy night, huh?”
Cora nods. “Yeah.”
“You doing okay?”
"Yeah. Alec and I were just talking about this course at the university we both took."
“Oh, you went to college?” I ask Alec.
“I’m getting my graduate degree now.”
“Cool,” I say with a bit of surprise showing through. “What in?”
“Architecture.”
“That’s dope, dude.” Simon comes over and sits on the edge of the couch behind me.
Something so fucking comforting about his nearness.
“Thanks.” Alec smiles while averting his gaze, his cheeks reddening.
“But yeah, we had a lot of similar undergrad classes. And I think we were in the same econ my last semester.” Cora turns to me. “Remember that stupid bitch who kept rounding my grade down even when it was like a tenth of a point from going up?”
“I wanted to stab her for you.”
Cora grins. “He dealt with the same shit. Almost cost him a point on his grade point average.”
Alec clears his throat. “I contacted the Dean about it and a week later, she fixed everyone’s scores.”
“I thought I was going to fail that class.” Cora chuckles. “Thanks to you, I didn’t.”
A man was just shot and killed, and Cora is in our house chatting about college with a boy she barely knows.
I don't know if I should be relieved or concerned, but either way, I don't want to bring it up unless she does.
I wanted to come over here and diffuse their conversation but if it distracts her from the ugly parts of this evening, what kind of friend would I be to put a stop to that?
I reposition myself on the couch and twist my neck to the side in an attempt to get it to crack.
I must have crouched in a weird position too long and cramped something in my back, the tightness and pain spanning my entire spine and up into my neck.
My head aches, and I’d do anything for a hot shower and about twelve hours of sleep.
“You okay?” Simon asks me without hesitation.
I swear, I could breathe weirdly and he'd notice.
“Yeah.” I wiggle my back a little. “I think something needs to crack but it won’t.”
Cora and Alec waste no time picking their conversation up and chattering about professors at the university they both attended.
If it were any other night, I’d plop my ass between them and break it apart, but I welcome the temporary distraction he brings.
“Stand up.” Simon nudges me and rises to his feet. “Come here.”
I comply even though I have no idea what the fucking standing up is going to do for me.
“Turn around.” He spins me so I’m facing away from him.
“First, take this off…” Simon drags my leather jacket over my shoulders and tosses it onto the couch.
“Cross your arms.” He leans in close, his breath on the back of my neck sending a chill down my spine.
"Like this." He grips my forearms and directs me exactly how he wants me.
Simon wraps his own arms around me and presses himself into me from behind.
"Relax, love." Those two words are a whisper that only I can hear.
I close my eyes and exhale, fully melting into his embrace.
He squeezes me tight and lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing at all. He applies a bit more pressure and leans back.
A million pops and cracks sound and it forces a moan out of my chest. “Oh my God, Simon. That was fucking amazing.”
He chuckles and sets me on the floor. "I'm not done, yet." Simon turns me toward him and tosses my arms over his shoulders. He weaves his under mine, and he picks me up in a giant hug. Simon intensifies his hold on me, and my back pops in ways I don’t think it ever has.
“Fuck,” I mumble. “I think I just died and went to heaven.”
The door to the garage slams shut.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Coen calls out, clearly fucking pissed off.
Simon releases me, and I move my shoulders and revel in the relief of tension already there.
Cora and Alec both look in Coen’s direction but don’t say anything.
“Chill, Co,” I tell him, still rolling my arms.
“Chill?” Coen slams his keys on the counter by the door. “I could hear you fucking moaning from in there.” He points to the garage.
“Moaning?” I laugh. “Are you serious?” I point to where my best friend is sitting. “You think I’m in the middle of the house fucking Simon out in the open?”
“So, you’re saying you do it behind closed doors?” Coen’s entire body tenses and part of me wonders whether he’s going to self-implode. The veins on his forehead bulge.
“What has gotten into you?” I move around Simon and toward my angry boyfriend.
“More like who’s gotten into you.” Coen steps back when I approach.
“Don’t make accusations you know nothing about.”
His anger seeps into me with each word he fucking speaks.
"You think I'm stupid, don't you? You think I don't know what's going on here?" Coen glances over at Simon and then back at me.
“Tell me, genius, what is it you claim you know? Because I’d love to fucking hear it,” I snap at him.
Dominic stomps into the room. “What the fuck is going on in here? I can hear you from my office.”
I jut out my hip and cross my arms. “Coen here was about to enlighten us.”
“You’re allowing this type of behavior?” Coen says to Dom.
“Excuse me?” Dominic stiffens in place, assuming his defensive stance.
“You think I don’t know, but I do.” Coen stares right at Simon. “I know exactly what you’re trying to do.”
“Dude, I think you’re overreacting,” Simon finally tells him.
“Whatever you think is going on, you’re wrong.” Dominic steps closer to Coen. “I could hear the whole thing. He was cracking her fucking back. You’re going to lose your shit over that, of all things? If anything, you should thank him, it sounded like she needed it.”
“You’re standing up for him now? Is that what this is? You’ve joined Bryant in…”
Dom cuts him off. “Do not put words in my mouth. If you know what’s best for you, you’ll shut yours and take a fucking chill pill.”
Coen's chest rises and falls so dramatically that I can see it from my spot six feet away from him. His whole body is tense, and I haven't seen him this fucking mad since…ever, really.