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“Be a good dog, Kevin, and obey your master,” Theo snarks, never tearing his eyes away from Troy.
“Fuck you, Bugle Boy,” Kevin says snidely before turning to the gathering crowd. “Party’s over. See yourselves out. Now.”
There are only a few groans before those on the lawn start to disperse. The tension is unbearable, palpable as the two stand off.
Theo is the first to speak. “You’re pathetic, you know that? The worst kind of fucking man.”
Troy goes rigid, his eyes icing over. “I’m the man you wish you were.”
“You’re a sack of shit hiding behind a pretty face, and you know it.”
“Like I said, I don’t know her.”
Unable to handle the tension, I step between them facing Theo. “I didn’t even know his name before tonight.”
“You don’t know her?” Theo ignores me altogether, his eyes fixed behind me as he snaps over my shoulder at Troy. He’s shaking with anger.
“Theo,” I say, placing a hand on his chest. He jerks his body away, glaring at me before attacking Troy again. “You don’t know her, huh?”
Troy wipes a hand down his face. “No.”
“Yeah, you don’t,” Theo says, swallowing. “But I know you. I’ve known every version of you since middle school, and I’m not impressed with the 2.0. Get your shit and get the hell out of my house, and don’t fucking come back.”
“Whatever, man, gladly,” Troy says, stalking up toward the house.
I look back to Theo just as his turbulent eyes sweep me. “And now I know you, too,” he says with revulsion just before he turns to stalk away.
“Don’t you dare,” I follow him across the yard back to his car. “I was about to turn him down. I had no idea he was your roommate. None.”
He opens his driver door, and I kick it shut. Furious eyes meet mine.
“Don’t go off half-cocked. This is a huge misunderstanding. I didn’t know who he was until tonight.”
“Move, Laney.”
“This is ridiculous and uncalled for. I’ve never entertained him!”
“Get out of my way,” Theo says, his voice so cold my eyes fill.
“You are making a mistake,” I whisper hoarsely.
“The only fucking mistake I made is wasting more of my time and attention on another woman who didn’t deserve it!”
“Don’t…don’t say anything else I can’t forgive you for.”
“Then get the hell out of my way, Laney!”
Mortified, I cover my mouth, and stumble a step back from his door just before he jerks it open, starts his car, and drives away.
Laney
Hours later, I’m freezing on his porch. Troy left just after Theo with a few of his friends. He tried to approach me, but I’d snubbed him with the wave of my hand. He had to know how much damage he’d done with a few mere sentences. He played on Theo’s insecurities while making me look guilty and all because of his arrogance.
This was a fight between two completely different with one common denominator, pride. Combine that five-letter word with two sets of balls and you get a mushroom cloud the size of Texas.
Gran used to tell me pride is a man’s fuel source and when threatened, even the humblest of men can become a raging bull.
I’d just watched it happen. But the truth also came out as well. To Troy, I would’ve been another conquest. To the man I loved, I was a reason to declare war.
