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Glitter shot me a look of pity that made me bristle. But Morgan placed hand over my chest, the warmth instantly grounding me once more.
Morgan said, “You do not have to drink that or feel pressured to keep any kind of score.”
“You do,” Layana said, assailing me with her cold blue stare.
I chuckled and accepted the drink, first downing the shot that Glitter had given me. After the shot, and a large swig of beer, Layana nodded her approval. “You’re passing so far. Keep it up and don’t be a Brent.”
Appeased, Layana turned her attention to Glitter and her back to me.
“What’s a Brent?” I asked Morgan. Certainly it was a man’s name. Someone from their past?
Morgan’s eyes bulged and she downed another drink.
“Thirty-two flecks of jalapeño,” Chester mumbled to himself. “There should be at least thirty-seven.”
Morgan slammed down her glass, crooked a finger to me, and headed back toward the dance floor.
I gladly followed, but Layana’s words still lingered in the back of my head. What was a Brent, and why didn’t Morgan want to tell me?
In the midst of swinging bodies and far from her friends, Morgan put her arms around my middle and leaned her head on my shoulder. The feel of her was heaven. I closed my eyes and committed every sensation to memory.
She tipped her chin so I could feel her hot breath on my ear. “I have a confession to make.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m so far from knowing how to handle this pull between us, that it scares me.”
Me, too.I tried to swallow the tightness forming in my throat.
“I told you I don’t date. But I didn’t tell you why,” she said.
She dug her fingers into my shoulder blades.
I rubbed a circle on her back with my thumb, a gentle, reassuring caress that I hoped conveyed that I was here, that I was listening.
“My ex really did a number on me. I trusted him, and he took advantage of that. He took advantage of me.”
I gritted my teeth and felt my muscles tense. I tried to relax my shoulders as I kept touching her gently.
“It wasn’t physical,” she quickly amended. “Brent was a terribly selfish lover.”
“That in itself is unforgivable,” I said.
She chuckled, but I meant it.
“He only cared about what he got out of it—the sex, the relationship, and me. I didn’t see it at the time. I’d dated before him, but nothing serious. And I met him in college, this flashy guy with a rich family who had everything and could have anyone he wanted. And he wanted me. He was charming and fun at first, and so out of my league that I felt lucky. He was the first person I really fell for, so I just kind of assumed that always giving was what relationships were supposed to be like, like I had to be better and give more to deserve him.”
I kept moving my thumb, kept holding her and swaying.
“And I thought he was taking care of me in other ways, you know? Like the sex wasn’t really important because his attention felt like a shiny special thing. That made me feel special too.”
I understood that feeling, like there was no way I could deserve this special attention from the most wonderful woman in the world. I felt it when Morgan looked at me.
“He bought me nice gifts and took me to nice restaurants, and I didn’t know he was cheating. I didn’t learn the truth until I discovered that he took out loans in my name.”
He’d taken advantage of her giving nature and taken her money?Brentdeserved to be utterly decimated in every possible way.
“That’s terrible,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth as I did it. She didn’t need my anger. She needed me to listen, to support her. “I’m so sorry he did that to you. Why would he need money if he was well off?”
