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Chapter 9
"I have to see who it is," Gracie says with a shudder, as she struggles to make it to the door. She grasps the door handle and barely pulls it open an inch. “Adam! Thank God! Where's my brother?”
I’ve never been happier to see Adam than I am right now. Relief floods through me and I relax a bit.
"He's too preoccupied with his new fiance to be paying attention to your little disappearing act," Adam gripes, disappointment radiating from every inch of him. His tone rubs me the wrong way as he rips into Gracie. My feet finally move, and it's only a couple of seconds until I'm right behind her, pulling the door wide open to narrow my eyes at Adam. "Oh, you don't even have a shirt on. Even better. What a fantastic time to get laid." He's scolding me as if I’m a child. "Did you forget your brain in Europe or something? I thought you were smarter than this."
My face flames as my dormant anger makes an ugly return. Tearing my eyes away from him before I blow a gasket, I turn in search of my shirt once again.
"You both need to get your shit together before Oakley finds out about this. We're all fucked if he does, and nobody told him. You know that, right?"
Sitting down on the bed, I watch Gracie drop her head, her shoulders sagging with shame. My hands wind themselves in my now very messy hair, and I can't help but let the guilt devour me whole.
Oakley has been nothing but a great friend to me, even when we both knew I didn't deserve it. Bringing me to family dinners, always calling to check in on me regardless of his crazy schedule, and what do I do in return? Fuck his sister. In a giant fucked up way of saying thank you.
"Oakley won't find out. Not until we tell him," I mutter. I want nothing more than for this conversation to be done with. I need to get out of here and have a smoke.
"What even is this anyway? Is this a fuck-buddy situation, or is this actually something worth him knowing about? Because if I'm about to get dragged into this shit storm, I need to know what I'm going to be dealing with." Adam crosses his arms against his chest, letting out an exasperated sigh.
"Who has a fuck buddy?"
My head snaps up, and my blood runs cold as I stare wide-eyed at the other two. Gracie's mouth falls open, and her hands shake at her sides. Our worst nightmare is about to become an even nastier reality.
Gracie turns to me, motioning towards the walk-in closet beside the bed as Adam tries to cover for us. "Oh, uh, just some buddy of mine."
"Fuck no!" I whisper, shaking my head fervently.
"Please, Tyler,” she pleads “He's getting closer. Go!" She grabs my arms and shoves me in the direction of the closet door.
Holding back a growl, I angrily pull open the door and walk inside. Empty clothes hangers stab me in the back as Gracie pushes me even further into the closet, not stopping until I hit the wall. She smiles apologetically before shutting the door, locking me in the dark space.
Laughter carries in through the closet soon after, and for a second, I think we might just get away with this. That is, until Oakley's booming voice shakes the room. "Is that Tyler's shirt?"
"How would I know?" Gracie asks, her voice is so steady and unshaking. I envy her.
"That's definitely his shirt. What is it doing here? Where is he?" Oakley demands.
"Man, just take a step back for a min-" Adam tries to reason with Oakley. I take the nerves in his voice as my cue and walk out of the closet. I throw my hands up in surrender when Oakley spins around to face me. Oakley throws my shirt at Adam the second his eyes narrow in on me. And if looks could kill, I would be ten feet under already.
"You better start talking before I throw my fist clean through your skull," Oakley hisses through clenched teeth. He clenches his fists tight at his sides, and I notice the vein in his forehead throbbing painfully. I would be lying if I said that fighting a guy Oakley's size doesn't scare me.
"Oakley, let's not do this today. Come on." Adam tries once again to reason with Oakley as he takes a cautious step towards him. But, it's a move he quickly learns was a mistake because Oakley turns to him, a face full of rage-driven disappointment.
"You knew about this, didn't you? You're just as much a shitty friend as this fucker." His hand flies in my direction, stopping just a few inches from my chest.
"At least let me explain," I plead as I try to bring his attention back to me and not to Adam. "Adam has nothing to do with this."
"I don't want you to explain anything to me. I want my sister to do the honours." Oakley snaps at me, bringing his narrowed gaze to rest on his guilt-stricken sister.
Gracie snorts. "This isn't any of your business to begin with. I'm not a little girl anymore."
"Are you sure? Because you're sure as hell acting like one." Oakley stiffens. "You're not sixteen anymore. This obsession has to end before you get hurt."
"Obsession? Nice." She shakes her head furiously. "You always know just what to say."
"Don't flip this on me. I've spent years trying to ignore the way you look at him but I'm done. You two would only end badly," Oakley states smugly.
"And that's your decision to make?" she questions.
