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“So why was it so hard for you to find me? Why did it take so long for us to run into each other?”
He pauses.
Now, I’m the one who shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe it was fate. Or maybe… maybe I’m telling the truth. Sure seems like a good reason to keep us apart, doesn’t it? Divide and conquer, as they say.”
I leave him to chew on that. I need a fucking shower.
7
CLARA
Part of my campaign to erase the recent past now officially involves wearing Demyen’s clothes until I permanently smell like him.
Also, men’s boxers and boxer briefs are all sorts of insanely comfortable. It should be illegal. It’s definitely sexist, giving half the human species shorts made out of clouds while the other half has to wear itchy lace and walk with elastic bands digging into our skin.
I’m lying on top of his bed, wearing the shirt he gave me and a pair of gray boxer briefs, when someone knocks at the door.
Someone who knows I’m in here. Demyen left over a couple of hours ago.
“Who is it?” I call out from the bed.
“It’s Bambi.”
I frown. “Go away!”
The door opens anyway. Bambi walks in, shuts it behind her, and quickly throws her hands up in surrender. “I know, I know. I get it. I’m the last person you want to see right now.”
To her credit, she does actually seem contrite. Guilty, even, and filled with regret.
It would be great if I could believe any of that.
“I said, go away.” Now that she’s inside the room, I feel zero obligation to shout across it. “I’m busy.”
Bambi resists raising a brow at the not-a-damn-thing I’m currently busy with. But instead of leaving, she slowly walks toward the bed. “Clara, can we talk? Please. Just hear me out.”
I don’t respond.
She sits on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh. “You were right: I had a choice. And, well… I chose my own survival.”
I try very hard not to scoff. “What was gonna happen if you actually stood up for me?”
“I’vebeenstanding up for you. That’s why I was so afraid of calling him out on his bullshit. I’ve been on his ass so much about how he treats you. When it came time, I just…” Bambi sighs. “I didn’t trust him to trust me. Or you. And that was my biggest mistake.”
I really wish I knew what she was talking about. Still, I can’t ignore the sounds of genuine regret in her voice. So I scootch over and give her more room to sit next to me, which she accepts with a hopeful little smile.
It fades with yet another heavy sigh. “I don’t know how much Dem’s told you about me.”
“Not much.”
She nods. “I figured. He respects me enough to not blast my backstory all over kingdom come, you know?”
“Decent of him.” I do remember some things he shared when things were good between us. I just don’t want to take away from anything valuable Bambi might end up sharing.
“Yeah. Well… I was a hooker when he found me.”
I pretend like this is new information, and that Demyen did not tell me any of this over drinks at his casino. “Pardon?”
Bambi leans back on her arms and stares off into nothingness. “My parents were pieces of shit, if I’m going to be perfectly honest. My dad ran out on us before I was even born, and my momma thought that having broad shoulders and a big dick qualified a man as a replacement baby daddy. She was so desperate for love, for attention and acceptance, that she never saw the way her boyfriends looked at me. Or…” She shudders. “She knew exactly what they wanted and actively chose to turn a blind eye.”
