Joey and I… we ain’t anything serious.A couple of long nights.A dozen hours.A warm body when the world felt colder than usual.She liked the way I touched her.I liked not having to think.
It was supposed to stay simple.
“How would it be more?You have the best girlfriend.”She bats her purple lashes.
Fuck.“You done?”I ask.
She laughs softly, pushes a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.“You’re tense, baby.More than usual.”
“Long night.”
“Long month.”She steps closer again, purple fingernails trailing up my forearm.“Do you know what today is?”
Shaking my head, I dread the answer.
“The anniversary of our first kiss.”
“Joey, I don’t have time…”
“Well, baby.If you need stress relief… you know where my bed is.Hell, you know how to find my shower, too.”
I should smirk.Make some filthy comment back.Play the game we’ve always played.Instead, all I see in my head is Becki’s face when the knife kissed her throat.
The way she refused to flinch.The way her breath hitched, anyway.
Joey notices something shift in me because her teasing falters.“Royal?”
My eyes move aside.“It’s nothing.”
“It’s her, isn’t it?”she asks quietly.
“No,” I snap, too fast, too sharp.
Her smile comes back, slow and wicked.“Funny.You haven’t even texted.”
“Drop it.”
She laughs, and it’s soft, easy, nothing like Becki’s biting little smirk.Joey rises onto her toes, presses her lips to mine.Light.Testing.Familiar.
I let her.Just for a second.Because it proves something.I can.I can kiss someone who isn’t chained to my bed with fire in her eyes.I can want something uncomplicated.I can choose easy.Joey is beautiful, sweet, loyal.She wants me.
When she leans back, breath warm, she murmurs, “I’ll come by later.You shouldn’t be alone on guard duty with… crazy Becki.”
“Don’t call her that,” I growl.
Joey gives me a look that says I’m a liar.“Whatever.”
She walks away, boots clicking down the hallway, hips shifting in a way that used to make me follow without thinking.This time, I stay where I am.My gaze drifts to the door behind me.Becki’s door.The muffled sound of her breathing seeps under the frame like smoke.
Just a prisoner.Just leverage.Just trouble.I clean my mouth using the back of my hand.But the truth won’t shut up.All I can think about was the problem I left shackled to my bed.
Chapter 7
Becki
The hallway outside my room has been quiet for a long time.
Too long.
