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I began pacing because standing still suddenly felt impossible. I was restless. “Something could have happened to her. Maybe I should drive up there and check on her.”
“Where are you going?” Gage asked as he walked over to us.
“He’s going to check on Genesis. She went on a date,” Levi replied in an amused tone.
Gage smirked. “You need to make sure he fucked her properly?”
I glared at him, and my stomach knotted up at the image in my head. Genesis didn’t fuck around. She would have to be serious with someone to sleep with them. Her text sound went off in my pocket, and I jerked it out so fast that I almost dropped it.
Fucking finally.
Sorry! I was out late, and then we went to breakfast this morning, then decided to have a beach day. Just getting back to the apartment. Haven’t had time to respond.
I reread that three times, trying to make sense of it. Who was we? A guy? Quinn? And why couldn’t she have taken a minute to let me know she was alive?
“What’s it say? She’s exhausted from a night of wild fucking?” Gage asked.
I ignored him and walked away from them. I pressed Call while inhaling deeply. Texting wasn’t going to do it for me. Not now.
“Hey.” Genesis’s voice came over the line, and the war going on in my chest eased from the sound of it.
“Hey, you scared the shit out of me. Since when can you not text me when you’re on a date or out with Quinn?” I was throwing that in there because I needed her to confirm the “we” had included Quinn.
She was silent a moment too long, and my chest was back to feeling like it might explode from the shit it was doing. Getting all tight and painful.
“Uh, well, it wasn’t any date. I’ve been seeing this guy for a while now, and we’re dating.”
Those words caused me to need to sit down. I walked over to the stairs leading up to the front of the house and sank down.
“How long? You’ve not mentioned anyone.” I tried to sound casual.
“We went out for the first time on June 18. But we made it exclusive about a week ago.”
Exclusive.
Serious.
Fuck.
She didn’t do serious. She had left me to go back to Savannah, and now, she was serious with some guy a little over a month later.
“That was fast. You must really like him,” I managed to get out without choking on the words.
She laughed softly, and I winced. God, I missed her.
“I do. It’s … I think it’s fate. You know, just meant to be.”
I dropped my head into my hand and closed my eyes while the cigarette stayed clamped between my teeth. This was not happening to me. Genesis was mine. I’d not had to share her with anyone since fucking Bowie.
“That’s, uh, good,” I lied. What else was I supposed to say?
“Yeah, it is. I’m sorry I made you worry though. I won’t do that again. I’ll get back to you when you text. Promise.”
“You’d better. Next time, I’m not waiting; I’m coming to Savannah.” And to see what this fucker looked like.
“That would be drastic,” she said in a teasing tone. “Okay, I hate to cut this short, but, well, he’s here, and I am supposed to be getting in the shower. I hate to leave him alone with Quinn too long because she talks too much.”
He was there. He had been the “we” today. They had gone to the beach.
I felt sick.
“Yeah, okay. Well, text me later.” I sounded pathetic.
“I will,” she replied. “Bye.”
“Bye, Baby Doll,” I said just as the line went dead.
I stared down at the phone in my hand and wondered how the hell this had happened. She was supposed to be here with me this summer. We should have been at the beach together. I’d had my chance to keep her here and fucked it up. My life wasn’t something she fit into. She was my best friend, but it wasn’t like it used to be. We’d gotten older. There had been lines drawn that kept parts of our lives—mostly mine—separate.
“I take it, she’s alive?” Levi said, and I looked up at him before standing.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look happy about it.”
“I need to see tits, drink, and fuck. In that order,” I told him.
He nodded. “Devil’s it is. Kitty said Chyna quit last week, but that new girl—Echo, I think is her name—she’s got some triple D’s on her.”
Triple D’s sounded perfect.
“That’ll work.”
“I’ll drive, and you can start drinking,” he said, slapping me on the chest with a flask.
I took it, opened it, and drank one long, hard swig.
Deep down, I had known that this was eventually going to happen. Hell, Genesis was gorgeous, sexy, smart, and funny. Fuck. I took another drink. Why had Baby Doll had to grow up to be blazing hot? It made life complicated.
