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We both had haunts. They were different, but at times, they weren’t that different. What affected him, affected me and vice versa, and in the end, we were in it together.
As if sensing where my thoughts had gone, his eyes softened, and he stepped close, kissing my forehead before his hands fell from my hips. “I just need to know you’re okay. Okay? I can’t function if you’re not. I go crazy.”
A warmth tunneled in my chest, taking root in there. “I’m okay, except now—” My stomach growled. “—I’m hungry.”
The corner of his mouth curved up. He moved to my side, his arm coming down around my shoulder, and he tucked me into his side. “What do you think I’m doing here? I’m trying to feed my woman. Let me take care of you.”
I let him take care of me.
Then I told him everything because I was taking care of him too.
8
MAREN
Troy’s house was a shitshow. His roommates were in another band, which was how he met Luis, Hell Skate’s drummer, and the two started hooking up. That lasted two years and now they’re boyfriends, so Troy’s was a party house. It was the general go-to place before heading out to whatever gig was happening that night. When we showed up, it was still early in the day. I hoped there wouldn’t be a lot of people around, and we got lucky.
I let myself in through the back door, which was the common way to get into the house. And you didn’t wait. You knocked once, let yourself in, and called out as you did, “Anyone here?” If anyone tried going to the front door, they were ignored.
Cris snorted, following me inside.
Lauren stayed outside because her phone began ringing when we were walking in.
No one was in the kitchen, but I heard people talking in the living room, and Troy’s room was on the other side of the living room. There was only one way to get to it.
“Hey…” I trailed off, not seeing who I’d expected. Some of Troy’s roommates. Some random other stranger, or two. Maybe Luis and Troy themselves. I’d not expected to see Jude on top of Toya, and two guys standing in the corner, their dicks hanging out of their pants, and filming the entire thing.
They saw me with different reactions. One got excited, his dick noticeably rising, while the other’s eyes got big and fearful. He put his phone away and began doing up his pants. “Oh. Hey, Maren—”
Jude’s head ripped away from Toya, looking my way. “Oh—shit. Maren.” He paused, his dick inside of her, but he didn’t pull out. “Hey…”
I stood there, not sure how to react to any of this.
Toya was in another world, and she blindly reached for Jude, trying to tug him to keep moving inside of her. She had no idea I was even here.
But then again, would it have mattered?
Jude and I weren’t exclusive. We hooked up, and we did it often, but there had been an unspoken agreement to keep it just the two of us. Or so I thought because with how Toya was clambering for him, I wasn’t thinking this was the first time they got together. And what were the chances too? On the very day I got with Cris, he also got with Toya? I didn’t believe in coincidences.
I shook my head, scoffing. “Thank God I made sure you kept it wrapped with me.” But a flat feeling fell in my stomach. I forced myself to start through the living room.
“Hey. Mare—” Jude jackknifed up, his dick now coming out of her, but I wasn’t watching him. I shook my head, going past them to Troy’s closed door. I knocked as I heard Jude scrambling behind me. The sounds of clothes rustling, a zipper being done up.
“Troy?” I said. “You in there?” I tried the handle. Amber said to go in, and it was unlocked so I began turning the knob.
“Maren. Hey. Can we talk about this?”
I opened the door, stepping in when I didn’t see anyone.
Amber said he’d put my purse in the closet, so I crossed the room to that door.
“Maren, seriously.” Jude had followed me inside, his jeans undone, but pulled up and hanging low on his lean hips. He had no shirt on, showing off his slightly ripped chest with his tattoos.
I glanced at him, thinking how I used to think he was so hot. The barbell through his eyebrow. How his hair was messily rumpled. But, no. That wasn’t totally true. I needed someone to take my mind off of Cris, and Jude had been attractive. He appeased me. It took two months of us hooking up before I started thinking he was hot. I’d spent the summer at his house, sleeping at his side, going to his practices with him, his gigs, generally being his girl in so many ways. Everyone thought we were exclusive.
But after feeling Cris again, after just being around Cris, after waking up in his arms again, there was no appeal for Jude anymore. He’d killed it. And this, him with Toya, it would’ve been over anyways.
“Can we talk about this?” His voice rose, getting mad. He stood in the doorway, and I felt his gaze on me, his eyes scorching me and not in a good way.
