“I’m so fucking sorry, Imani, but–”
“You’re just using me to forget about Qiang?” she interrupts mesadly, her head nodding more to herself than to me as she steps farther away.
“I’m so sorry,” I practically whisper, completely at a loss as to how to salvage this kind of situation.
She lets out an airy bark of a chuckle, a simple sound that carries her disappointment, understanding, and acceptance.
“I hoped, when I saw Qiang and Cade kissing, that maybe the attraction between you two wasn’t as reciprocated as it always seemed. Kind of hoped that since you two weren’t actually together that I might still have a chance, but evidently I was mistaken.” She shrugs lightly, trying to hide the weight of her disappointment behind a feigned nonchalance.
I shake my head, feeling like a toolbag asshole. “I don’t have words beyond you deserve better than what was gonna happen, and better than the intentions I had behind it.”
A genuine smile spreads across her face, and she nods. “Yeah, I know. I just hoped, you know. But for what it’s worth, thanks for stopping. I think I knew it wasn’t gonna be that simple, but sometimes hope obliterates reality.”
I grimace at that. “I shouldn’t have let it get this far.”
She shrugs. “I probably shouldn’t have tried to take advantage of the situation either. So, maybe, just friends then?”
I close my eyes with relief, still feeling like a dick, but at least the damage isn’t irreparable. “I would be extremely honored to be just your friend.”
“Yeah, then as just your friend, do you wanna talk about what happened tonight?” she asks, her face curling into a new kind of smile that I’ve never seen before, one that’s genuine and full of camaraderie, instead of the flirty smirks I’m used to.
“There’s only so much I can say,” I point out, knowing there are massive gaps in Qiang’s and my story that I can’t reveal without their permission.
She shrugs again. “Then say what you can, if you want to. It just looks like you could use a friend, too, you know.”
I nod, excessively grateful because I fucking hated tonight, and getting some of that off of my chest could definitely help.
“Are you sure you don’t want to head back out there?”
She shakes her head. “Naw, I think if you don’t want to talk, I’ll probably call it a night anyway, so…” she trails off, letting me know she’d rather talk as just a friend than go back to the party, and I take a deep breath of relief as I slide down the wall.
For the next hour or so, I just talk, letting out all the parts I have the liberty to share, while taking comfort in her friendship, which is honestly much more fulfilling than the night would have been if I’d shut my brain off and selfishly taken what she was offering earlier.
MUTILATED PIE CRUSTS
Marcus’s POV
The first thing I hear when I get home is a loud thwack in the kitchen, followed by another, and yet another after that. In addition to Qiang texting Qi to let him know they’d gone home early, Cade had also let us know he’d taken Qiang home. He also made it very clear that the kiss meant nothing, and they only talked upstairs.
To be honest, I’d gotten the impression that Cade initially flirting with Qiang had been his way of fucking with me, testing the waters, so to speak. But I guess evenhehas limits on how far he wants to take it. Or maybe what he said at that dinner was on his mind too. He’d rather make friends with me than enemies.
Evidently, that doesn’t mean he’s not going to fuck with me given the chance, but there’s also a boundary between annoying and way too far, and he wanted to make sure I knew he didn’t cross that line.
Throughout the horrible night, and after venting everything to Imani, I thought I’d reached a point where I understood that Qiang isn’t mine, despite every cell in my body saying otherwise.
However, deep down, I know if Cadehadcrossed that boundary, I would have been incapable of letting that go. So while I know I’ll haveto try and behave around Qiang, the reality is, I’m gonna have a really hard time keeping the jealousy to myself.
Considering the ridiculously late hour, we all assumed Qiang was long in bed by now, so Qi and Tristan went downstairs as soon as we got home. However, the ceaseless thwacks in the kitchen are heavily contradicting that assumption.
I follow the sound to find Qiang in the kitchen, aggressively beating what looks to be a pie crust. I’ve never made a homemade pie, and definitely not a homemade crust, but I always thought you were supposed to roll it, not beat it. Although I don’t think either method requires as much violence as Qiang is exerting.
Qiang’s look from earlier is completely gone, replaced with comfortable silk pajamas, clear skin, and soft hair that’s loosely tied back to keep it out of the food.
This is the Qiang I like most. Their looks are absolutely jaw-dropping, but the soft Qiang that exists only at home is easily the most stunning. Even if their brow is currently furrowed in anger, and they are mercilessly beating the helpless dough into submission.
Cade had said it’d been a couple of hours, and they’d been pensive, but altogether seemed alright. However, the frenzied violence they are committing against some harmless dough, and the rolling storms in their eyes, say they are no longer alright, and their earlier pensiveness has turned into something much more tumultuous.
“Are you making a pie or murdering it?” I ask lightly, hoping there’s some glimmer of humor in them to spare.
