24
Kayden
Misunderstandings
Someone was shaking me. “Dude, get the fuck up.”
My stomach turned with the motion and the liquor sloshing around in my stomach. “Leave me the fuck alone. Go away.”
“Fucker, Sophia was just here. She ran out.”
Sophia.My heart pounded in my chest, increasing the feeling of nausea that overcame my body. Someone’s body was wrapped around mine, and it wasn’t Sophia.
“What the fuck?” I sat up quickly, throwing her legs off of mine.
“What the fuck are you doing here and in my bed?” I asked her.
“Tom called me. He thought you needed to talk to someone. You were passed out when I got here, and I thought I would sleep until you woke up,” she said.
I felt like my world was ending. Everything unraveled while I lay here passed out. “Are you fucking crazy? That’s not okay. You can’t just crawl in my bed…ever. Fuck.” I shook my head painfully.
“Where’s Sophia?” I asked, panic lacing my voice.
I called her phone, but there was no answer. She wouldn’t pick up the phone. I learned that once about Sophia. I needed to find her. New Orleans was the type of city that could swallow a girl like her.
“I don’t know. I saw her jump in a cab,” Tom said.
“Which cab? Maybe I can find out where they took her.”
* * *
Icouldn’t believemy eyes. A man had his lips on Sophia, my Sophia. My body moved on its own, and I was unable to stop myself. I grabbed the man and threw him to the floor. My fist connected with his face, crunching the bones. Blood splattered on my hand and arms as I wailed on him, unable to stop.
I didn’t look at Sophia as I beat this asshole to a pulp. I needed to destroy him as he had destroyed me, taking what was mine. Hands wrapped around me, pulling me off of him, but my arms continued to swing.
The man wiped the blood away from his face as he began to stand. “Dude, what the fuck?”
“What the fuck, asshole? You’re kissing my girlfriend with your hands all over her, and you’re asking me what the fuck,” I said, ready to beat him again.
“She asked me to,” he said with a smirk on his face, wiping the last bit of blood with the back of his hand.
“Just leave, take the girl, and get out of here,” the bar employee said.
I walked over to Sophia, her head resting on the bar. I scooped her into my arms as her head fell back, mouth falling open. She looked a wreck, and I’d been the sole cause. I carried her to the car and brought her home to my bed.
I couldn’t crawl into bed with her. Anger filled me, anger with myself and directed at her too. The good-girl quality of Sophia had drawn me to her. What she did tonight didn’t fit with her nature. I sat in a chair in the corner of the room and watched her as she slept. I prayed she would understand and forgive me. I had driven her into the stranger’s arms. I sat there all night, watching, waiting.
Morning light streamed through the window as I rested my elbows on my legs and placed my head in my palms. I sensed movement from the bed.
Looking up, I saw Sophia blinking, trying to clear her eyes. She stared at me but didn’t say a word. I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. I needed to know and needed to move on. I needed us.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I asked, my voice seething in anger.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she spat back.
“I find you in a bar, drunk, kissing a stranger, and his hands are all over you! You weren’t struggling to get away but seemed to be enjoying yourself.”
“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you, Kayden? I fucking don’t. I walked in yesterday to find you not alone. So don’t give me some bullshit about kissing a stranger,” she said, sitting up straighter.
