AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her hand wraps around mine, and I look up to find her leaning slightly toward me, her brown eyes wet, one streak of a tear on her cheek, but a kind smile on her face, and it rips at me. “Don’t,” I whisper.
“I can’t help it. Love doesn’t just stop.”
That’s when I break down. I’m surprised I’ve held it together this long after everything that’s happened tonight. But the next thing I know, I’m in her arms, those ugly sobs I usually save for the shower tearing from my chest.
She shhhs me, soothing me with tender strokes over my hair and down my back. She sways us gently from side to side and she tells me it’s okay. Let it out. I’ve got you.
38
DREW
Istopped crying about twenty minutes ago. I’ve spent some time in Jericho’s bathroom, splashing cold water on my face. I’ve had a few sips of water, and I’ve checked my phone to see…
I think it’s pretty obvious what I was wanting to see.
I didn’t find it.
Jericho made it clear she wants to hear about my relationship with Olivier, and that she’d rather I didn’t leave without talking to her about it. I figure it’s part curiosity and partly because she can tell I’m not exactly walking around on Cloud Nine. Like I said, she’s way too goddamn good for me, and I’m the asshole who’ll use her as long as she’ll allow it.
But I owe her an explanation, if that’s what she wants, and maybe the last several months of her life back, so even if it’s just curiosity she wants to satisfy, I’ll give her that. It’s the literal least I can do.
She brings out the Hennessy for this conversation, and I take a long drink of it to prime myself for discussing yet another painful topic.
“I want to start by saying, we had a pretty significant fight tonight, and I’m not sure it’s gonna go any further from here, but it’s only been going on a few weeks. Since after my birthday. It started kind of—I don’t really know how to describe this.”
“You want me to throw some words out there?” she asks.
“No, please—just know I really fucking hated him at first, too. Like I wasn’t even mad at you about it at dinner—he can come off as a real prick. I’ve been watching him come and go for a long time now, so trust me—I got it. Anyway, it was kind of a fucked-up situation that went too far to a place I hadn’t expected it to go.”
“Objection, your honor, vague.”
“I’m not gonna say more than that,” I say. “Just that it wasn’t okay. There were a lot of consent issues, and it was…rough…if I’m honest. Violent.”
She looks genuinely surprised. “That doesn’t sound like you.”
I sigh heavily. “It was. It was maybe the worst part of me. I guess I tend to keep a lot in, and it all just…came out.”
“He’s engaged, isn’t he? Am I wrong about that?”
“His engagement is a whole thing to do with his family and hers, and I really shouldn’t talk about that.”
“Who do you think I’m gonna tell?”
“I don’t know, Jericho. It’s just—these people—the old money people—they’re a whole breed I can’t even wrap my head around, and I’ve been up there watching them for years. They live by a different set of rules and priorities, and the engagement is more like a business arrangement. Which they’re both fine with,” I add, and yes, I do sound bitter about it.
“No shit,” she says, her eyes sparkling with interest.
I guess it is pretty interesting when you don’t have an emotional investment in either of them.
“So, he’s actually gay?” she asks.
“Uh…no. I know this sounds terrible and cliché, but it just sort of happened. And I can’t really explain it, but it went from unhinged to addicting really quick, and I don’t know what that makes me or him because I’m still trying to figure it out.”
“I can barely picture it.”
“Jesus, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“But it fascinates me,” she says.
