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And it hits me now.
A tear falls behind my sunglasses at what it felt like to be so in love… and how I feel now… so abandoned.
“Your hot body with that tattoo is gonna get some fucked up tan lines with an ankle wrap on.”
That voice slithers into my ear. I recognize its hiss before I even open my eyes.
It’s Sunday, after all.
And if the weather allows, I’m always by this pool, knowing this man always comes after me.
And the tattoo on my hip bone? He’s been obsessed with it since he first saw it on my eighteen-year-old body at the beach.
Because he’s target number one.
I open my eyes, and his shadow hovers like a tombstone. But I can’t let on.
Harnessing all my hate, I smile. “Funny. My ankle doesn’t hurt when you’re around.”
He likes that, when I flatter him.
“Did you get my gift this week?” He makes me sick. How he knows where I live, leaving things at my door.
“Yes. I love your cologne.”
It makes me sick how he sprayed it on me at school. “So you’ll smell me all day,” he used to say.
“Good,” he says with a sneer while I gag. “I smell better than him, don’t I?” He’s delighted Redix is across the pool. Like I finally belong to him, and Redix has to watch just how much. “Better than that perfume ad y’all did together.”
God, he’s been obsessed with that too. The ad Redix and I shot ten years ago. The one of us for BOUND perfume that made Redix famous and me a target.
I flick my guilty eyes towards Redix across the pool deck, dread surging through my heart.
Because Redix is sitting straight up, hatred twisting his beautiful face.
This is killing him.
Me too… but it’s part of my deal.
“TJ, why do you give a shit about Redix Dean?” I sit up strong, trying to stay in control of my target. “I don’t.”
It’s taken me years to get TJ to trust me and believe that I want him, not Redix. Not anymore.
“That pretty boy doesn’t belong back here.” The sweat stains on TJ’s white visor disgust me. “He never fucking did.”
The air hangs heavy with more than humidity.
This game I’m playing with TJ usually has no witnesses. I make sure of it.
My biggest nightmare is having Redix across the pool, watching my betrayal.
It’s the worst kind.
“Just ignore him.” Chess pieces move in my mind. “That’s what I do.”
Redix, please don’t do it. I send up a desperate prayer. Don’t start another fight over me. The last one destroyed us.
“I saw you the other day.” TJ won’t look at Redix. His mirrored shades are focused on my generous cleavage as usual. “I liked the yellow one.”
