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“Regan,” I whisper, trying to see how deeply she’s sleeping so that I can potentially figure out what happened last night.
She rolls onto her other side, groaning a little, but she doesn’t wake up. I walk over to her and tap her shoulder. “Regan, can you get up for a second?” I ask, speaking just above a whisper.
Groaning again, she opens her eyes halfway. “Damn, I didn’t even know where you went last night. Why wasn’t your phone on? You had me terrified,” she croaks as she sits up.
“It died. I promise I didn’t turn it off on purpose,” I reply, realizing how scary that must have been for her.
“You were dragged away by this giant man last I saw you. I thought for sure he stole you to sell you on the street or something,” she says.
“No, I mean... I did speak with him a bit, but he let me go pretty quickly,” I reply, feeling my face flush as I contemplate telling her the details.
She sits up, her eyes widening as she searches my face for the whole story. “What happened? I didn’t see Elliot or Arielle for the rest of the night.”
“The club owner probably had the cops take them away. At least that’s what he told me he was going to do,” I say, and Regan’s expression changes from sleepy and agitated to confused.
“Wait, I never saw them leave or get picked up by the police. I stood outside the club waiting for you after they kickedmeout, but I never saw Elliot or your sister,” she says, her eyes narrowing.
Why would Akim have lied to me about something like that? Was he just trying to play like he had so much power so that I’d fall head over heels for him?
Well… it worked.
“Where did you go after that?” Regan asks, trying to put together the missing pieces of the night. It’s clear both of us had too much to drink, and it could have easily cost us our safety.
I cross my arms, letting out a deep sigh. “I don’t remember, I think I went downtown to that bourbon place, but I hardly remember the details. All I know is that I desperately wanted to get away from Elliot. That was the driving factor. My phone must have died while I was there.”
“Let’s agree not to do this shit again. I need you by my side twenty-four-seven whenever we go out from now on,” she insists, glancing in the mirror across from her bed and making a face at how haggard she looks. She tries to rub the lipstick from her cheek with little success.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I’m up for another night out for a while. Last night was supposed to be about forgetting Elliot, and he became the center of the universeagain,” I say, hearing the resentment in my own voice.
“I guess I understand, but you can’t let him control how you feel forever. Sooner or later, he’s going to see you get into a relationship with someone really hot and rich who loves you, and he’ll be kicking himself for the rest of his life. How soon that is will depend on you.”
I laugh. “Could be sooner than you think.”
She raises an eyebrow but doesn’t probe further. “For now, I need you to let me sleep. I didn’t get home until two hours ago,” she says, peeling off her dress and tossing it onto the floor to join the sprawl of dirty clothes.
“Sure thing,” I say, giving her an apologetic smile.
Leaving her room, I feel strangely compelled to see Akim again. I thought that after last night, I’d be too embarrassed to ever see him again, but something about him has made an impression on me, one that’s far stronger than any man has been able to stamp in my brain before.
I take an aspirin and gulp down a glass of cold water, which only succeeds in making me feel nauseous.
An hour passes, and then another, and I make myself some food and scroll through my phone.
Throughout the day, I try to distract myself from thinking about Akim. I feel weird about how much real estate he’s purchased in my brain with his actions last night. I hate to seem obsessive about any man, and something tells me that Akim would get off on knowing how much he intrigues me.
I can’t let another man fool me into thinking he’s something special, not after Elliot.
Regan eventually gets up and stumbles around the apartment for a few hours before leaving. She says she has a dick appointment. I wish I had one too.
Part of me wants to go back to Agave to catch a glimpse of Akim again. I didn’t get a good look at him. He was either too close or too far from me. I wish I could’ve taken more time to study him, familiarizing myself with the foreign landscape of his body.
But I know that would be a fool’s errand. What good would come of it? What do I have to gain from seeing a man who only wanted to use me?
Or was I the one using him?
Confusing.
Periodically, out of boredom more than anything, I glance at my phone to check for a text message from Elliot. I know it’s crazy to think he’d want to talk after I punched him in the face, but I at least expected an angry message. As it stands, I’ve got nothing from him.
