Chapter One #2
“Watch me. I lost sleep again because of you,” I say. I keep my head in my arms because I have tears in my eyes. I’ll never get him to go away if he knows I’m crying. Mason and Dean will end up coming in here, and then they will gang up on me until I admit what’s wrong.
“Look at me, Sadie,” he says softly. He puts his hand on my back to try and comfort me. He knows that I’m upset, but his touch has the exact opposite effect. It is just another reminder that I’m hung up on men who will never see me the same way.
I hear Mason and Dean in the room, and I am suddenly overwhelmed.
As I lie here, my chest tightens with an invisible weight, and a lump forms in my throat.
I squeeze my eyes closed tighter, hoping to contain the storm brewing within.
Yet, despite my efforts, a nearly silent sob racks from my body.
I bury my face deeper in my arms when my body trembles from the cries slipping out, hoping the others won’t notice the cracks forming in the wall I built to hide my feelings from them.
“Sadie, please look at me,” Lance says, still rubbing my back. He doesn’t know that touching me is just making it worse, but I don’t want him to stop. That’s the fucked up part.
“Come on, Demon. Talk to us,” Dean says.
“Just go away. Please,” I whimper. I’m trying to keep my voice even, but it still cracks.
“Nope. I’m not doing this,” Mason says as he flips me so that he can look at me.
I sit up and move away from them, only for Mason to grab me and sit me on my dresser.
He puts his hands on either side of me and is too close for me to get down.
I give up and drop my gaze to my hands on my lap as I pick at my nails.
I still have tears streaking my cheeks when Lance and Dean stand on either side of Mason. “Talk to us.”
“I’m fine,” I say.
“Liar,” Mason says as he tilts my chin to make me look at him.
“Fine. Hormones,” I say, giving him a deadpan expression.
“That’s a load of bullshit also, because you haven’t had a period in five years from birth control. Try again,” he says.
“That’s creepy that you know that,” I frown.
“Little Demon, we’ve known each other since kindergarten. We know everything about each other. So, why don’t you fill in the gaps for us and tell us why you’re crying?” he asks.
“I told you, I got mad. I just overwhelmed myself, is all,” I lie.
“I don’t believe you,” Lance says.
“I don’t care what you believe,” I snap. Lance raises an eyebrow at me, and I sigh. “I’m sorry. Can we just go? I don’t wanna talk about this.”
“Fine. We can talk tonight,” Lance says. “Okay?”
“Not tonight. I have a date,” I say. It’s not entirely a lie. Alex asked last night if I wanted to hang out.
Alex is a guy I’ve been talking to for a few weeks now.
We hang out when we have time. I’m not sure if I like him because I actually like him or because he gets my mind off of the guys.
We haven’t had sex yet, but after this morning, I think I want to try to give it a shot.
I need to make myself get the fuck over my best friends.
I need to find someone else to feel this way about.
“A date? With who?” Mason asks.
“It’s not that douchebag, Alex, is it?” Dean asks.
“He’s not a douche,” I say. “And yes.”
“You’re bringing him here, aren’t you?” Lance asks.
“I sure am,” I confirm. “He’ll be here at seven.”
“Spectacular,” he says, rolling his eyes.
“Can we go, please?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Mason says as he steps back. When I hop down, he grabs my face and makes me look at him.
“We are talking about this when he leaves,” Mason declares.
“We can talk after breakfast tomorrow,” I say. “That’s fine.”
“He is not spending the night here,” Lance says firmly.
“Why? Angela did,” I say. “For all you know, he’s spent the night here before.”
“We would know if he had spent the night here before,” Lance replies with a smirk.
“You know nothing,” I respond dismissively. I turn to leave the room, but Lance grabs my waist and stops me.
“You’re not exactly quiet when you make yourself come, Little Demon,” Lance says in a tone I’ve never heard from him before. It sends a shiver up my spine, and for a moment, I am frozen. “Unless he’s just not doing a very good job.”
I turn and smile sweetly at him. “You know what they say, Lance. Practice makes perfect,” I say. “I’ll meet y’all at the truck.”
I turn and get away from them before anyone else can stop me. I slow down to grab my phone and bag from the counter before walking out onto the porch.
My mind is racing, so I sit on the swing and close my eyes for a second.
When I hear them coming toward the door, I get up and walk off the porch as I unlock my truck.
I climb in and get it started before the guys get in.
Lance is sitting up front with me. I expect him to say something, but he simply connects his phone to the radio and scrolls through his music.
We are meeting everyone at the park like we do every Saturday. I usually drive because we get food after, and the guys end up having beer. Everyone always seems to think it’s hilarious when I drive my truck because it’s big and I’m short.
Lance chuckles and selects a song. Mason and Dean laugh when Our Song by Taylor Swift starts to play.
All three of them start singing along. They are loud and dramatic, but it brings a smile to my face.
This is their obnoxious way of reminding me that we have been a team for our entire lives and nothing will break that apart.
Not even some bimbo who wants to push me out.
When we get to the park, everyone turns when they hear my truck pull up.
This is the same group we have met up with since early high school.
Sometimes, certain people were caught up with life and couldn’t make it.
College made it difficult because some people went away.
Ultimately, our friend group has held pretty strong.
“Hey,” Todd says with a smile.
“You’re late,” Leo laughs. “Y’all are never late.”
“You can blame Lance,” I say with a smile before walking over to the picnic table and setting my bag down.
“Trouble in paradise?” Todd asks as he grabs his water from the table.
“You could say that,” I reply dryly.
“What did they do?”
“He had Angela over last night,” I roll my eyes.
“And… We still don’t like Angela?” he asks.
“No, and I don’t like being kept awake because he wants to rail the bitch against a wall he shares with me.”
“Ah. You’d think as many times as you’ve gotten mad about them doing that, they’d stop bringing girls over,” he says.
“I don’t care if they bring people over. I’m not their mother. I would just appreciate it if they would do it quietly,” I say.
“Is that what made you late?” Todd asks.
“No. I got overwhelmed and made myself cry. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I told them what was wrong.”
“Did you?”
“No,” I laugh. “Lance did get pissy when I told him I’m having Alex over tonight.”
“That’s because they’re possessive over you,” he laughs. “It’s one thing to know you see other guys, but to see you with other guys makes them feral or something.”
“Feral?” I laugh. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Don’t believe me?” he asks as he sets his water down, and I shake my head. “What are they doing right now?”
“Talking to Billy and Leo,” I say.
“Right,” he says. “Follow my lead on this and just watch what they do.”
“Oh, God. You’re going to get yourself hurt,” I giggle when he picks me up and sits me on the end of the picnic table. I smile and shake my head at him when he puts his hands on the table beside my thighs and steps close to me.
“Probably,” he laughs. “They threatened basically everyone on the team in high school and college if they touched you. I am simply letting you in on a two-decade-old secret.”
“Mason is looking at us,” I say when I glance up to see him staring daggers at Todd.
“You realize those boys are in love with you, right?” Todd says.
“Oh? Who knew Lance would show that through fucking Angela three times, literally feet away from me,” I say. “I shouldn’t know what my best friend sounds like when he comes.”
“They’re men. I never said they were smart, Sadie,” he says with a grin, and I giggle.
Todd is a handsome man. He is a clean-cut six-foot man who is the biggest goofball, but when he is working, he is a ruthless lawyer who has built a name for himself as being bloodthirsty when it comes to getting justice for his clients.
“Ah. They’re walking over here,” I laugh.
“I think my life is in danger,” Todd chuckles.
“Hey, guys. What’s happening over here?” Lance says with a phony smile as he aggressively claps his hand on Todd’s shoulder and gives him a rough shake before pulling him back from me.
“Sorry, Todd, ya missed your chance. Sadie here has a date with Alex tonight,” Mason says, making mock kissing noises.
“Yeah! I’m excited to see how the night goes,” I say.
“I don’t know, man. They aren’t exclusive, so I think I may have a few more chances,” Todd says, winking at me.
“Let’s see how this goes with Alex, and I’ll take you up on that offer,” I tell him, ignoring the glares from the guys.
“I’m sure I can show you a better time anyhow,” Todd says in a flirty tone as he winks at me. Dean turns to Todd and growls as Lance squeezes his shoulders. Todd and I burst out laughing as I get off the table.
“God, you three are too fucking easy to mess with,” I say, and Lance narrows his eyes at me. “Calm down, Hulk boy. He wanted to prove that you three are possessive over me.” I pat his chest, and Lance lets go of Todd.
“See what I mean?” Todd asks with a grin.
“Consider me convinced,” I laugh and grab his arm. “They can go play with Billy and Leo. I’ll be with you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Todd says as he lets me pull him away from the guys.
“Okay, so you were right,” I laugh and let go of his arm.
“Lance is usually levelheaded, so the fact he reacted has me tickled pink,” Todd says. “Although I basically just said I could fuck you better than Alex.”
“When you put it that way, you narrowly avoided dying,” I say as we get to the others.