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“We do,” I agreed. “But I’m sweaty and gross, so I need a shower.”
“It can wait,” she said firmly.
“It really can’t.”
“Then it’s gonna have to because I’ll be damned if I let you leave this room then disappear after you have a shower,” she said with her hands on her hips. “If you want to scrap over it, we can. I’m ready to go.”
I didn’t hide my irritation. “What is so damn important that it can’t wait fifteen fucking minutes for me to wash the sweat off?”
“Because I’m fucking on to you,” she snapped back at me. “Because you came to my workplace and accused me of betraying our friendship. Then you damn near vanished on me. We went from being friends to being people that just exist in a shared space.” She pointed a finger at me. “You got a second job. I’ve noticed you putting more money in your savings.” She stomped her foot. “You don’t get to cut me out of your life just because you got uncomfortable with how this big revenge scheme turned out.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I retorted. “If I were going to ghost you, I would have done it by now.” I huffed out a breath. “Why are you stalking my bank accounts?”
She raised her chin. “Because I expected you to go to the extreme because you didn’t get what you wanted.”
“That’s a really suspicious thing for you to say if you didn’t ruin all of this for me,” I said, trying to keep my cool. “You told me you said nothing to Kyle.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Did you?”
“We already had this conversation,” she said heatedly. “I’ve already shown you I would not do that. What I want to talk about is what’s going on here.” She kept talking as she gestured between us. “What the hell are you doing now? Why are you dodging me?”
“Even if you didn’t tell Kyle, I know you didn’t approve of what I was doing,” I pointed out. “Then I have no other idea how he found out. And it feels like you’d get some satisfaction from being right.”
“I am not happy,” she yelled suddenly. “I am upset that you are pulling away from me. I get no satisfaction from your failed relationships.” She made an irritated noise. “Goddamn, Grace. If you really believe all that, then I will not make any effort to make you think different. Especially when I warned you how this would go.” She turned and kept talking as she walked back into the living room. “If you try to cut out of here before the lease is up, I will take you to court because both of our names are on it.” Her voice cracked with emotion, and it felt like a slap in the face.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, following her. “You’ve got to get where I’m coming from.” I dropped my change of clothes by the bathroom door. “I didn’t expect to fall in so deep. I didn’t expect to get relief from them on the level I did. I’m not ready for all of it to be over, and it’s like Kyle ripped the rug right from under me.” I cupped my face in my hands, trying to pull myself together so I didn’t ruin this friendship in a fit of childish rage. “I’m not going anywhere. I can’t right now. I thought that if I started working at the dealership, I could go over his head and get Adam his job back.” I dropped my hands and met her gaze. “Now I realize that there’s no way I can fix that.”
Shay just shook her head. “I don’t know how to help you fix that. I think I’ve gotten more out of this shit than I should have.” She held up her hands. “But you do you. I think if they are ready to write it off, you need to accept that.”
“Cam isn’t,” I protested. “And he thinks he can get Adam to understand that it wasn’t me that got Kyle to come to the apartment.”
Shay’s lips thinned as she eyed me. “I know,” she said, her hands twisting up in the tails of her blouse. “I talked to him. I didn’t think he would try to get the group of you back together. But when he knocked on the door looking for you, I knew he’d be able to talk some sense into you about staying here.”
“To keep me from leaving completely?” I asked. “You thought he would keep me here?”
“If you’re willing to risk friendships over an abnormal relationship you’ve started, then it’s easy to assume that one of those people would get you to keep from imploding everything just because you trip up,” she explained evenly. She took a breath. “If Cam hadn’t knocked on the door, I would’ve called Dee.”
I let that sink in. There was this temptation to get her to call Darius, but I didn’t want to hear what she might tell him. “I didn’t think it would risk our friendship,” I admitted. “I don’t want it to.”
“Then you need to stop blaming me because things didn’t work out,” she said irritably. “I can’t make you make the choices that I think are right,” she said. “I will not be the person who ruins everything for you. We’re supposed to have each other’s back.” She gestured between us. “I don’t want you to tell Dee what I did with your brother. If I did this, there’d be no reason for you to have my back.”
I nodded, took a deep breath. “I’ve got your back. I can’t get Adam his job back, but I can make sure that Kyle doesn’t fuck this up more than it already is. I’m not ready to quit at the dealership yet. I think the least I can get out of it is a car.” I paused and eyed her. “Unless you want to get back with him?” I don’t know why I said it. It seemed like a horrible prospect, butI couldn’t shake the idea that it would fix things between us. “I could talk to him.”
“I want nothing else to do with your brother,” she said stubbornly. She edged forward. “You are what I’m worried about. I’m worried about how we can move forward as friends if you keep blaming me for this.” She tapped her finger against my upper chest. “This was all your idea. I’m just the dumbass that went with it. I don’t want this to break this,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t want to be on my own, but I will not let you twist this around on me. Do you understand me?”
I nodded, biting my lip. “How do I fix this mess?”
“I don’t know how you can clean up you and the boys you gathered up,” she huffed out, brushing off my question. “I’ve done as much as I’m willing to do.” She took a moment to reconsider. “You wouldn’t be doing bad with just Cameron. He seems like he’s interested in not being a ho anymore.”
“I meant the dumpster fire between us,” I said.
“Get your shit together,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Don’t just up and vanish when it doesn’t work out.” She shrugged and turned to go flop on the couch. “Remember I’m here. Working all the time and putting effort in with three men will make you forget.”
“I wouldn’t,” I argued. She pinned me with a dark look, and I relented immediately. “I live here. I’ll have to come home eventually.”
“Mmhm,” she hummed, and looked away. “I’ll believe that when we get to have lunch or dinner again.”
“Is this something you want to seal with a hug?”
“No, girl,” she made an irritated noise, “you stink. Go shower now. Then I’ll think about it.”
