Chapter 26 #5
“If you get me banned from the best cheesy hash browns to exist, that is an unforgivable offense. Drop it.” She grinds her molars, the metal knife clattering against the wooden table.
I don’t release her immediately, instead sliding a look to Rogue, my warning to shut the fuck up no murkier than a bright red neon sign. “For someone who’s so scared, you really like to run your mouth.”
There’s an odd glimmer in his eyes as he turns his focus to Sable, an edge to his dry tone when he says, “What can I say—she brings out the worst in me.”
The air thickens before plummeting to tundra temperatures. She narrows her eyes, something unspoken passing between them.
There’s definitely more to that comment, but I let that stay between them.
Something happened after they fucked, and it’s clearly something they’re both very sensitive about. Lord knows I don’t tell Sable everything that happens between Dread and me, so unless she wants to volunteer that information, I keep my curiosity to myself.
“So, anyway,” I say awkwardly. “Congrats on your dick size, Rogue.”
He’s slow to drag his stare away from her, the tension crackling. By the time they make their way to me, I notice Sable’s chest heaving a little too quickly to be natural.
I bare my teeth in a purposely awkward smile, and he snorts, the tension cracking enough to allow me to breathe.
Rogue settles back in his chair, the wood creaking as he crosses his heavily tattooed arms. The arrogant grin slides across his face again as he says, “Tell her your favorite part about it.”
Sable’s glare is spitting as she snarls, “I don’t have a favorite part about your dick.”
Rogue cocks a brow, his smirk widening, though his body language is positively wary of her, too. He’s fully prepared to dodge a knife, should one fly at his face.
“Your reaction to it said otherwise.”
Sable rolls her eyes before turning her head to glare out the window. She’s done sharing the gory details, so I wave at Rogue in an impatient ‘spit it out’ motion.
His stare is slow to meet mine, as if his eyes are glued to her and he has to physically rip them away. “The piercings don’t end at my face.”
My mouth drops, and I instantly swing widened eyes to Sable, my expression slackened with betrayal. She spares me a glance before pointedly looking away, stubbornness pursing her lips.
“You bitch. That is not the type of information best friends hide from each other.”
Her shoulders deflate as she turns her stare up to the ceiling with an exasperated sigh.
“Can we change the subject now?” she snaps. “I don’t care about your dick, Rogue. I won’t ever see it again, anyway.”
The laugh that bursts from his throat is almost patronizing. “Did you forget I won our first bet?” he asks.
This is only the second time I’ve seen Sable turn so pale so quickly. The first was right after I told her Dread and I had sex.
She glances at me nervously, and my curiosity piques once again.
“That’s not happening.”
He cocks his pierced brow, and the mirth drains from his eyes, replaced with something dark and threatening. Instantly, the tension in the air thickens, and I’m pretty sure I see lightning strike off in the distance.
Sable stiffens, and I can tell she’s fighting not to shift beneath his sinister stare. Even my stomach drops a little.
“A bet is a bet, Sabela.”
My brows jump up on my forehead while her eyes narrow into thin slits. If I didn’t know her so well, I’d think she was unaffected, but her chest moves too quickly, and her throat works to swallow.
“No,” she bites out.
He cocks his head to the side, studying her carefully, not a trace of a smile remaining, nor any fear for her. It’s intimidating even from the sidelines.
“I wasn’t asking.”
Her cheeks brighten again, and that’s my cue. I wave my arm between them like I’m a referee.
“Let’s take a break before you two are either arrested for public indecency or homicide,” I suggest.
Rogue doesn’t remove his stare from her as he slaps the table with both hands. “I have to take a piss, anyway. Don’t miss me too much.”
He winks at Sable before getting up and heading to the restroom, and I just know she felt that in her vagina with the way she seethes at him.
However, the second he disappears, she whips around back to me, devastation twisting her features.
“Perdóname. You have every right to hate me, and I’m so sorry I betrayed you.
I kept it from you because I was ashamed and didn’t know how to tell my best friend in the entire world that I did the worst possible thing I could’ve ever done.
I’ve been sick over it, not that it makes it any better. I’m so fucking sorry, Rev.”
I bite my bottom lip, hating how badly it’s been eating her up inside.
“You’ve been an incredible friend every single second of the past four years.
There hasn’t been a single instance you didn’t put me above all else.
For the first time, you did something without consideration for me, and not only would I be entitled and selfish to condemn you for that, but it would be incredibly fucking hypocritical of me, too. ”
She’s shaking her head, attempting to disagree with me, but I don’t let her get a word in.
“I know Rogue has caused me a lot of hurt, but I also understand it came from a place of loyalty to his friend, whom I’ve hurt. The circumstances don’t matter. In his mind, he was doing something for Dread I would’ve happily done for you without a second thought.”
A distressed crease forms between her sculpted brows. “That doesn’t make it okay.”
I shrug. “Maybe, but you’re allowed to be a human, Sable. And believe me when I say, I get it. I get the weird pull. Severen is the same way. I don’t know what those three men put in their fucking Cheerios growing up, but it’s sorcery.”
She lets out a soft laugh, though she doesn’t appear to want to forgive herself yet. I wish I knew how much it was weighing on her, but Sable’s always been the type to keep shit close to her chest. I’ve learned over the years that the harder I pry, the tighter she holds it in.
“I still don’t understand how it happened,” she admits softly.
“He made a stupid bet, and I just… I don’t know.
He got under my skin, and I was dumb and wanted to prove him wrong, I guess.
And then it just kept escalating, and it got away from me.
I regretted it immediately, and that obviously hurt his fragile little man feelings, but I don’t care. I hate myself for it.”
Tightening my lips, I envelop her hand with both of mine and hold it to my chest.
“Don’t,” I tell her sincerely. “If there’s something between you two—”
“There’s not and never will be,” she denies vehemently.
But it's not sincerity that fills her rounded eyes, but desperation. It’s a lie, though not one she’s aware she’s telling, so I don’t hold it against her.
Because it’s the same lie I keep telling myself with Dread. Yet, somehow, I still end up naked with him between my legs while I scream his name. Even worse, I’ve begun to crave an intimacy with him beyond sex, and that part fucks me up most of all.
“But if there is, you can explore that with him,” I insist, needing her to know that. “You deserve happiness, too, and if Rogue’s big, pierced dick brings you that, then—”
Her face falls with mortification, which makes it incredibly hard not to laugh at her.
“Shut the fuck up, you cabrona,” she mutters, tearing her hand from my grip, albeit playfully.
I laugh. “So let me guess. Whatever Rogue bet you, you failed miserably.”
Her expression darkens before twisting into a sour look, like there’s a bad taste in her mouth. “He cheated,” she mumbles petulantly, looking away.
My inner brows curl upward, feigning a sympathetic look. “I remember my first lie to myself, too.”
She points the butter knife at me. “Vete pal carajo.”
I cackle, but before she can threaten me any further, Rogue reappears.
“Good to know it’s not just me she threatens,” he drawls, sitting across from her again.
This time, when she glances at him, there’s a certain wariness in her gaze, as if she’s afraid she might actually get sucked into his orbit.
She may never allow herself to, purely out of a sense of loyalty to me, but she’s only deluding herself if she thinks what’s between them isn’t on a molecular level.
It can’t be explained, and eventually, she’ll learn it can’t be ignored forever, either.
She sets down the butter knife—for now—and turns to him with a narrowed stare. Propping her elbows on the table, she lays her fingers over each other and rests her chin on them, adopting a prim interrogating stance.
“So, what’s going on with your bestie? Does he often fuck girls in crematory ovens, or is Reverie special?”
Panic widens my eyes. I do not want to talk about this.
“Oh no,” Rogue mutters, looking between the two of us with alarm. He holds up his hands in surrender yet again. “I cannot gossip with you two. Leave me out of this shit, I beg of you.”
“Yeah, I agree,” I pipe up, shooting Sable a ‘shut the fuck up’ look.
She doesn’t even look at me. Instead, she narrows her eyes again, a clear threat. “Dread has muscles, but I have science, and I’m very well equipped at using it.”
Rogue’s expression falls, and he turns a look to me, something akin to a pleading puppy dog.
I throw out my hands incredulously, emoting my exasperated state.
“I’m struggling here, too, my guy,” I say.
He throws his head back with a groan before dropping his chin in defeat. “I’m an empty well of knowledge, okay? I don’t know all the places Dread has fucked a chick before. All I can tell you is that he hasn’t fucked very many.”
Now it’s my turn to narrow my eyes, not believing that claim for a second.
“You know what?” I say, putting my hands on the table. “It doesn’t even matter.”
“Yeah, okay, Linkin Park. It does matter,” Sable interjects, sass dripping from her tone.
“Look,” Rogue sighs, settling a tired stare on Sable, “I’ve already told you how I think Dread feels, and you didn’t believe me.”
I frown.
“It’s long been established that Reverie is special,” he finishes.
“Then why has he ghosted her since he’s been gone? Usually, you can’t pry him out of her asshole.”
So eloquent.
“I wouldn’t say he ghosted me,” I mutter. “I haven’t texted him, either.”
Sable doesn’t even look at me when she waves a dismissive hand, indicating that doesn’t count, and I roll my eyes at her. She should’ve been an investigative journalist.
“Is he still mad because the same man who victimized him also victimized her?”
Rogue tips his head back, closes his eyes, and inhales deeply, seeming to gather patience. I almost tell him not to bother. Sable is like a dog with a chew toy when she wants answers.
He drops his chin again. “I don’t know,” he says as he exhales. “The only thing I know is he wants to kill Lionel even more. We all do. But he’s been asking Severen and me for updates all week. I think half of him was anxious Lionel was going to show up while he’s gone.”
“And if my dad did show up?” I cut in. “Is that something either of you are actually prepared to deal with?”
Rogue’s eyes darken as he meets my stare, something insidious and primal passing over them. “We’ve been waiting a decade to meet that man.”
Noted.
“Okay, so, what? He just needs to think?” Sable pushes, flicking her palm out in a ‘that’s it?’ gesture. “He left her sitting there fucking naked and doesn’t even have the decency to say good morning in the week he’s gone?”
“Oh, my God,” I whisper, slapping a hand over my eyes as mortification burns my face. If I can’t see them, they can’t see me, right?
“I don’t know,” Rogue whines while I part my fingers and peek through them.
“I guess so. Rev kinda dropped a bomb on him, so he’s probably just processing or some shit.
Men don’t talk about our feelings with one another, you know that, right?
And Dread is like a goddamn vault with emotions, anyway.
I’m sure he’s just brooding.” He waves a flippant hand, waving off his friend and his very volatile emotions.
Sable’s not convinced.
I’m not convinced, either.
I’m so used to his hatred, anything other than that is jarring and, admittedly, something I don’t entirely trust.
Dread always has a motive.
Always.
I drop my hand, ready to change the subject, but Rogue goes on, the two of them practically acting as if I don’t exist.
Which I kind of wanted, but not when I’m the topic of conversation and still present.
“When she ran off to a hotel and disappeared on him for a week, he looked like he was going through heroin withdrawals. I’m pretty damn sure he’s going to come home and be right back up her asshole.”
Sable quirks a brow, glancing at me with a loaded look, which I promptly ignore. Instead, I allow my bangs to conceal my eyes as I stare at my empty plate.
I refuse to analyze anything he’s saying, refuse to even consider it could mean anything other than he misses making me miserable.
It doesn’t matter that we’ve had extremely intimate moments with one another’s genitalia or that he’s kissed me several times now and none of them felt like anything less than worship.
Whatever those moments mean… they don’t matter.
He’s Dreadful Sharpe, destined to hate my fucking guts. There will never be anything pure or loving between us. We will never have a happy ending.
Our agony is carved too deeply into the crevices between our bodies, and it will always keep us apart.
“Tell him to take his time coming home,” I say, keeping my tone casual. “I’m enjoying my peace.”