Isat in silence for a moment, the pain keeping my head clear, taking away any lingering worry from last night. It was the only thing I could do to help myself right now.
Chapter thirty-three
The Phoenix
October 14th 2023
Soft instrumental music from my Bluetooth speakers floated through the space. A playlist I had created to help fill the void of silence that sometimes overtook the rooms of my house. Duomo was one of my favorites, creating beautiful classical cover versions of some of my favorite songs.
The music added a lightness to the dingy room where Kendi and I were currently sitting. After her release yesterday, I asked her if she wanted to come over and help me find something I thought might help me in my venture to get revenge on Craig.
Over the course of our relationship, he had left stuff at my house that he had no need for, or junk he didn’t want anymore, but didn’t want to be bothered trying to throw it away. I packed it up, not wanting to risk throwing it into the trash in case, somewhere down the line, he ever came looking for it. I didn’t want to face his temper over something so stupid.
Now I was glad I had stored all his shit in my basement since one of those belongings was an old phone. Craig always had to have the latest release for his cellular device, even if his currentone was still functioning fine, and one of those devices was hidden amongst all the useless shit he left behind.
My legs stretched out before me, and the cold concrete of my basement floor made a shiver run down my spine despite the jeans I wore.
“Remind me what we’re looking for again?” Asked Kendi from her seat on the floor across from me, surrounded by her own mountain of boxes.
My best friend hadn’t hesitated when I asked her if she wanted to spend the day with me, though maybe I should have told her we would be in a dusty basement so she wouldn’t have worn something as nice as the sweater dress she had on.
“An old cell phone. He switched to a new one while he was here once, and I’m like ninety-nine percent sure he left it here.”
“And this is all his stuff?” She asked, wrinkling her nose as she opened the box closest to her, and was met with a plume of dust from the closed lid.
“Mostly, he crashed here sometimes, though with Riley it didn’t happen often.” My fingers brushed over stacks of car and gun magazines in the box I was currently digging through, he had hoarded the material, insisting he knew everything about both subjects.
“Well, Riley had good taste, not liking that douche now, didn’t he?” She said, giving the lazy dog that was lying in the middle of everything, some attention. Kendi had won him over straight awayby bringing him a deer antler to chew on, and he’d been following us around ever since with it hanging out of his mouth.
“I’ll never doubt my dog's instincts again,” shutting the box full of nothing but magazines, I pushed it into the pile of ones we had already gone through.
The next box held a bunch of old car parts he had ordered and had delivered to my house, but never bothered taking them with him for projects that remained uncompleted. Craig always got annoyed if I reminded him of stuff too often;I was always ‘nagging’ him. So I stopped, letting them sit in my kitchen for weeks before putting them into what had slowly become his storage facility.
“Has he met Daxton yet?” She asked, sliding her own box into the pile and grabbing another one.
“He did a few days ago and wasn't phased by him at all. Usually, he takes a lot longer to get used to men.”
“Of course he wasn’t, he knows what’s good for you.” I laughed, shoving the next box aside. “How are things going with him anyway? You haven’t talked about him much, and I’m dying to know.” She stretched out one of her booted feet, tapping mine teasingly.
“Daxton is intense,” I said without elaborating.
“Intense good? Intense sex? Intense how?”
I sighed; it was so hard to put into words what had happened between us in such a short amount of time.
“Definitely intense sex, everything else, it’s hard to explain. It’s like finding a missing piece of yourself. From the first timewe met, I’ve been drawn to him.” Finding him had completed a part of me that I was unaware had never been filled. His burning passion for me was a drug, and I’d rather face death than suffer the withdrawals if he were ever to be taken from me.
“He looks like he’d be good at sex,” I snorted. She wasn’t wrong. My legs were still sore from last night when he stayed the night with me while Michelle was at a friend's house. The way he had bent me over the kitchen counter and fucked me until I came not just once but twice would be the perfect example of just how intense he could be.
“Looks aren’t deceiving when it comes to that. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much sex in my entire life.”
“Details, I need to live vicariously through you until I get back in the dating game.”
“Intense is the best way I can describe it. He’s dominant and a fucking animal when he wants to be.” I sighed, longing to feel him again. Not just his dick either; his entire body felt like home when he held me in his arms.
“I’m so glad you have him. I’m glad you have someone to take care of you like that.”
“It’s weird, I’ve never felt like this before in any of my past relationships. It feels like they were all silly little flings compared to what I have with him.”
