17
ERICA
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I immediately call Tyler. My hand is shaking so hard I almost drop the phone.
"Where are you?" I demand the second he picks up.
"Where are you?" Tyler shoots back, his voice sounding amused, like this is all some big, funny game to him.
I'm standing there waiting for my ride, freaking out because that picture he sent... that is King. There isn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind. He looks messier, more fucked up, but it’s him.
"What am I going to get for it if I give you the information?" Tyler asks.
"I'll pay you, I don't know! I need to get there. Please, just give me the address."
"I don't know, Erica... what if he doesn't want to see you? What if he was trying to get away from you?"
"Tyler, please, you don't understand," I say, my voice breaking. "He’s my friend and he fell off the wagon. I need to help him. Please."
"I don't know, Erica. Doesn't look like the man wants any help," Tyler says. His voice drifts slightly away from the phone, like he’s looking at someone nearby.
"Tyler!" I scream, losing my patience.
"I'll be happy to give you the information, but... like I said, what am I going to get for it?"
"What do you want?"
"What do you think I want, Erica?"
My mind flashes through the possibilities. He either wants a pathetic apology or he wants me to suck his dick.
"Can you stop playing games with me and just tell me? I'm not going to sit here and guess."
"Something that will make me happy," Tyler says.
"What, are you trying to get me to sleep with you?"
"I didn't say that, but I mean, if you're offering..."
"You really think I'm that fucking pathetic?" I ask with a snide bite.
"Depends on how much you love your friend," Tyler says.
"Fuck you."
Click. The line goes dead. "Hello? Hello!" I yell into the phone, but he’s already hung up. I call him back and he doesn't answer. I’m spiraling. This can't be happening; he's my only lifeline to finding King. I call back one more time and leave a message: "I'll do what you want. Please."
Tyler calls back a few seconds later. I pick up on the first ring.
"I want you to spend the night with me," Tyler says.
"I need to take care of K—" I cut myself off before I say his name. If King is in New York and his old life is here, and knowing Tyler likes King's band... the fact that he doesn't recognize him right now is a godsend. I need to protect his identity.
"You have to take care of what?"
"I need to make sure my friend is okay first."
"Your friend looks very familiar," Tyler says thoughtfully. "He’s a bit of an asshole, too. You're still a bitch for the shallow ones, aren't you?"
"Please. I’ll do what you say. Give me the fucking address, please!"
"Why the rush? He’s not going anywhere. I don't even think he knows where he is, except between that woman's legs. He clearly doesn't give a fuck about you, so why are you chasing him?"
"Tyler..."
Finally, Tyler rattles off the address. I immediately pump it into my app and order a ride.
Time moves like sludge, too slow to stomach. When I finally get to the building, the music is already thumping through the walls. I run up the stairs to the sixth floor. I go to knock, but the door isn't even latched; it opens right away.
The space is huge. People are making out everywhere, some are dancing. Smoke is everywhere.
My eyes catch Stevie on a couch, making out with two girls at once. One is straddling him with her tits out, and he’s sucking on one while kissing the other woman next to him.
Then, I see the big sectional. There are a few guys on it, and girls sitting on other girls.
And there he is.
That white head of hair. He’s smiling and laughing with the girl on top of him. He’s smoking something and exhaling it right into her mouth. The two of them are lost in each other, like the rest of the world doesn't exist.
"King," I whisper.
Before I can move toward him, a hand clamps onto my arm and drags me back.
"You're welcome," Tyler says. He nods his head toward one of the back rooms.
"Wait!" I say, my face frantic as I look back at the couch.
"I told my boy to keep an eye on him, don't worry. He's not going to leave," Tyler says, pulling me into the bedroom.
I wonder if Tyler knows who he is.
He shuts the door behind us.
"So, what's going on, Erica? Is that your boyfriend? He left you all the way in wherever-the-bubba-fuck you are, and now he’s here with someone else?"
I say nothing. The room is dark, and my back is pressed against the door. I can barely make out Ty’s features, just the faint sliver of light bleeding through the gap at the floor.
"You don't even miss me a little bit?" he asks. There's a hunger in his voice that makes my skin crawl.
"There was a part of me that missed you, but I don't miss you anymore."
"Right. Because you have your pretty boyfriend out there with some woman on top of him."
"Stop acting like you care, Tyler."
Tyler reaches out and grabs my chin, forcing me to look up. "You're so sweet. I didn't realize how much until you left. But you're also very naive."
He lets go and walks toward the bed, dropping down and lying on his back. I stand there, my body antsy, itching to go talk to King. Tears are stinging my eyes because I just want to reach him. I keep glancing back at the bedroom door.
Tyler pats the mattress beside him, his legs dangling over the foot of the bed.
"Come pop a squat."
I sit down on the edge of the bed, and Tyler immediately lies me back to his left, his body heat radiating off him.
"You fucked him, didn't you?" Tyler asks, his voice cutting through the dark.
"None of your business."
"That means you did," he says, a prickly edge to his tone. "And you're dick-whipped. But he doesn't want you, Erica. So why the fuck are you here? You didn't learn your lesson from me?"
"Why is it your concern?"
Tyler sits up, then leans his upper body over mine, bracketing me with his arms. "Because I actually do care about you."
I scoff and roll my eyes. He has to be joking. It only seems like he's interested because I’m finally looking at someone else.
"I do," he insists. "I know I have a weird way of showing it but… I did feel at home with you."
"Yeah, you do have a weird way of showing it."
"I really was serious about why I left but… I never got to tell you the other reason."
"You had a million different ways till Sunday to tell me how you felt," I snap. "I asked you to talk to me and you chose not to. And that’s okay, you—"
"Because I didn't know how to deal with it," he interrupts.
"I don't do feelings very well. I'm not good at…
relationships and all of that. But I know I did care about you.
I just thought that… I was bad for you. I was going somewhere in my career and I couldn't be there for you the way you wanted me to, so... "
"So you up and packed for New York and left me high and dry, then told me we had never been in a relationship," I say with pure derision.
"Well, to be fair, I didn't lie about that."
"Yeah, of course. You just reap the benefits of me acting like your girlfriend without actually having to commit."
"Well, if you think about it that way, I never actually cheated on you."
"Right. I don't care. Get off me."
But before I can push him off, Ty fully mounts me. He hops so that both of his legs bracket mine, hovering over me on all fours, supporting himself on his hands and knees. I’m trapped between his body and the mattress, his face hovering just inches above mine.
"I don't believe you don't care," he whispers. "Just like I know there was a part of you that didn't believe I didn't care. Because you and I… we had something. I denied it, but… we both know it's true."
"And you blew it."
"And then you fucked Stevie."
"But you were fucking a bunch of other people, and like you said, we weren't together. So why does it matter?"
"We're both getting older, Erica."
I laugh in his face. "And then you're telling me I'm getting older? Bro, you're almost forty."
"Wow. You remembered," he whispers sarcastically.
"Yeah, well I'm 22. We're not the same. I'm literally almost half your age. I got my whole life ahead of me. I'm sorry that you're closer to the grave and that’s making you panic… but I'm not that savior."
"Yeah, and how old is that guy out there?"
"None of your business."
"Doesn't look like it's any of your business either, since he doesn't want anything to do with you," Tyler says, his voice dropping an octave. "He probably fucked a bunch of women and that’s his latest one, and yet here you are chasing him."
"So let me chase him then."
"But I'm right here. You're going to chase him and think he’s going to get up and go with you while he’s making out with a hot piece of ass? All I'm saying is that he's having fun… you can have fun. Plus, you owe me, remember?"
"So what, you just want to have sex with me for what reason? So we can get back together or just so you can get off?"
"All of those things. Because I miss your pussy. And I know you miss my cock."
I blush despite myself. My vagina throbs, and the truth is that I am horny. All this stress and worrying about King has made me miss the feeling of being filled. Tyler stays mounted above me, watching my reaction.
"I just want you to ask me to be inside you," he says.
I smile, even as I snuffle back a stray tear. "I'm not going to do that. If you want it, you have to ask."
"That’s how we're playing this?"
"You're the one who likes games, Ty."
"I'm so hard right now. Making me leak, calling me that," he says.
I feel naughty, and I reach my hand between his legs, feeling his engorged dick hanging down. Tyler shivers, his eyes fluttering closed for a minute. All I can hear in the dark is his breathing, a rapid, heavy rhythm of lost time.
"If we fuck each other, will you leave me alone forever?"
"I can't promise that. But I'll let you go out there and talk to your friend."
"And if I don't? You're going to keep me in here against my will?" I challenge him.
"You act like you wouldn't like that. I remember how rough you like it."
"Do you? I find it so miraculous that you can even remember anything about me with all the pussy you're swimming in."
"Then let me remind you," he says, kissing me hard, his tongue sliding into my mouth.
I keep rubbing his dick through his pants.
The fabric is soft, thin enough for me to feel every ridge of his hardness, every bounce, and the tightening of his balls.
Tyler moans into my mouth, hungry. I feel a sense of pride knowing how much he still wants me, but I still want King.
There’s power in this, though. It made me so mad seeing King with that other woman, even if he is out of it.
"Let's see if you can fuck me as good as he does," I breathe into Tyler's mouth. "I doubt it, but let's see you pathetically try."
That makes him mad. He yanks off my leggings, and I grunt erotically.
"You better have a condom or you're not touching me."
"Yeah?" he challenges, his hair falling over his face and tickling mine. "You let him fuck you with one?"
"Never. My pussy likes him raw."
"Yeah, your pussy was always a carnivore," Tyler says, and he starts to guide himself in.
"Tyler, condom!!!" I yell, knowing full well how irresponsible he is with his repertoire of women.
But he doesn't listen. He shoves himself inside me, and I try to push him off, but it’s too late. He’s fucking me hard, his belly lowered to be flush with mine as he peels my shirt and bra up. He kisses my neck, and it feels so good to be fucked like this that my protests die in my throat.
Suddenly, the door opens and then closes. Two people stumble into the dark room, landing on the bed right next to us, ripping off their clothes.
It scares the ever-loving shit out of me.
And oh my fucking days... when I look to my right at the couple that just landed on the mattress, the person lying on their back right next to us… is King.
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