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“Why, Gen?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
I wasn’t sure exactly.
“I need to tell Kye first.” Which was true.
“Then, tell him. Hell, I’ll drive us to Ocala this weekend. You can tell him in person. Then, we can go to your parents’ house together. Tell them. Visit my mom while we’re there.”
The idea of telling Kye made my stomach clench up. I couldn’t do it yet. I didn’t know why, and that was definitely something I needed to work through.
“Not yet. Just … we can wait until Thanksgiving.”
Bowie stared at me. “Thanksgiving?” he asked incredulously. “Are you fucking serious? Gen, my mom knows. She lives on the same street as your parents. I had to make her promise not to say anything to anyone. You want me to tell her to wait until Thanksgiving?”
Yes. Ugh. I hated this.
“I didn’t think about that,” I admitted.
Bowie threw up his hands in frustration. “No, you didn’t! Because you’re too worried about Kye’s feelings! When the hell has he worried about anyone’s feelings? Sure as shit not mine. Not yours. The world revolves around Kye. He thinks of no one but himself. Yet you are all worried about upsetting him, which makes no sense. He didn’t get hurt four years ago. I DID!”
Bowie had never shouted before. At least not at me.
“Kye doesn’t think the world revolves around him. He thinks of others. You don’t know—”
“NO!” Bowie shouted, pointing a finger at me. “YOU don’t know. You never have. You choose to turn a blind eye to all his faults. Why is that, Gen? Why? He doesn’t deserve your loyalty. Is it because you want him? Is that it? He kissed you, and when that sent me away, he never once stepped in and made you his. He didn’t want you then. He doesn’t want you now. You will never have his love, and I am fucking over it. This is just the same as it was before, except this time, I SEE it. I’m not an idiot.”
“Bowie, no,” I argued, starting to panic.
He was misunderstanding all of this.
He held up his hand to stop me from getting any closer to him. “Don’t. Not again. Just don’t,” he said in a calmer tone before turning and stalking off.
I stood there, staring. His words replaying in my head. He was right. About all of it.
The door to the apartment slammed closed, and I winced.
I had done this to myself, and I had no explanation or excuse.
I picked my phone back up and started to hit Kye’s number, then stopped myself. What would I tell him? Why was he the one I always went to? I had Quinn. She’d listen. She would eat Oreo ice cream with me and let me cry. But it was Kye’s arms I needed. Not ice cream.
Giving in because I was weak and I needed to hear his voice, I pressed his number. It rang twice.
“Baby Doll?”
The sound of his voice set me off, and I let out a small sob.
“Hey,” I managed to say.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” he demanded.
“It’s okay. I just needed to hear your voice.”
“You’re crying. It sure as fuck isn’t okay. No one makes you cry.”
The fierce edge in his voice only made me cry harder.
“Where are you?” he asked again.
“Savannah.”
“Did that bastard you’re dating make you cry?”
I sniffled and closed my eyes tightly. “It was my fault. Not his.”
“Fuck that,” Kye growled over the phone. “Where’s Quinn?”
I wiped at my face while more tears ran down my cheeks. “In class.”
“You got Oreo ice cream?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, this is what you’re going to do. Go get the ice cream. Get you a spoon. Take it to the sofa and curl up under that ridiculous, fluffy pink throw. Turn on Schitt’s Creek and watch it until I get there. Should take me a little under three hours.”
I sniffled and wiped at my face. “No, you don’t need to come. I’m okay. Really. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m already in the car, Baby Doll. Have been since you let out that first sob.”
I covered my face with my hand. “Kye, go back. I am okay.”
“No.”
“Kye!”
“Baby Doll,” he replied, mimicking my tone.
I sighed and stared at the wall. Deep down, hadn’t I known that he would come? He always came.
That’s why you called him, Genesis. You can lie to yourself all you want, but when life blows up, you want Kye.
“You can’t get here in three hours. That’s reckless.”
“I was north of Gainesville.”
At the strip club. I hated that I felt joy in the fact that I had the power to pull him away from a strip club so easily. I should never have called him.
“Drive carefully.”
“Always,” he assured me.
I turned and headed for the kitchen with the phone pressed to my ear. “I’m getting the ice cream now.”
