I slam the door shut behind me, throwing the dead bolt, my hands shaking on the chain lock. Leaning with my back against the door, my heart beats in my ears louder than any sound coming from off the street below.
“Goddamnit,” I grit out, kicking the door with the bottom of my foot, banging my head against the wood. Stumbling toward the kitchen, I reach for my phone on the island. The marble feels cool and calming beneath my hands. I drop my face to the countertop while I scroll through my contacts.
Emily picks up on the fifth ring. “Hullo?” Her voice, heavy with sleep, fills my apartment through the speaker. It makes it feel like there’s someone here with me right now. That I’m not so very alone.
“If Richard asks, tell him you were here tonight. Late.”
“Corrine?”
“Yes. Can you do that, Emily? Please?” I tack on.
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, rustling, and when she speaks again she sounds more awake. “Okay. I can do that. What were we doing?”
“Watching TV, chatting, mindless stuff. You...you can’t even remember what we watched. We ordered Chinese and drank wine.”
The lie rolls off my tongue easier than I expected.
“Okay. Is everything all right?”
Deep breath.Everything will be okay.“It will be.”
“Okay,” she says again. “But, Corrine? Why do you need me to lie for you?”
Shit.Telling Emily about Richard’s unexpected visit would be easy, but telling her why he thought someone else was here fills my tongue with lead. How could I possibly explain this wanting that’s come over me when I don’t really understand it myself. I look back to the spot on the carpet, where we sat, where I climbed on top of him. Where he made me come. Even now, a shudder goes down my spine, straight to my core, and I have to turn away from the living room to be able to carry on this conversation. I can’t tell Emily what’s going on but I don’t want that to be the last time Wesley touches me.
What the hell am I doing?
“If I say I don’t want to tell you, will you still do this favor for me?”
Emily laughs. “You bitch. Of course I will.” She hangs up and I’m left staring down at my phone, the screen going black, the silence of my apartment incredibly loud.
Chapter 29: Wesley
I push down on the door handle, lifting at the same time so that it won’t make that ungodly creaking it tends to make when it’s cool at night. The house is dark and quiet as I toe my shoes off, but my body is amped. I’m excited, like I’ve just come home from a winning game and I want to wake up the whole house and tell them about it.
“Where have you been?” Amy yells from an armchair as she flicks on a lamp in the living room. I jump so high I almost hit my head on the ceiling.
“Holy balls, Amy.” I hold my hand over my pounding heart. “You scared the crap out of me.”
She rises from the chair, an old quilt wrapped around her shoulders and her polka-dot fleece pajamas peeking out underneath. “I asked you a question.”
She sounds so much like Mom it sends a shiver down my spine.
“Have you been waiting up for me?”
She comes to a stop in the entranceway. “Yes.I got home from work and you weren’t here. I was worried!”
“Okay. Well...sorry. I was at Corrine’s.” I scratch the back of my head and look toward the stairs, anywhere that’s not at her.
“It’s almost one o’clock in the morning,” Amy hisses. “What were you doing there for so long? Did you fall asleep? Were you going to sleep over?” Her voice rises an octave with each question.
“No, we just lost track of time.” I jog up the stairs. Amy thumps up the hardwood behind me.
“Are you, like, in an affair now?”
“I think you’re sensationalizing things a little.”
I shoulder open our shared bathroom door and pull my toothbrush out of the holder. After unscrewing the cap on the tube of toothpaste with my teeth, I spit it back onto the counter, squeezing the tube and getting toothpaste all over my hands.
