“I’m not going to hear this,” Steele said. “Brock, fuck you. Tara…”
He didn’t say a word as he left. He slammed the door of my apartment shut so loudly, I thought it would knock off some framed photos. At the very least, I figured there was some damage.
“I’m sorry,” I said, walking over to Tara. “I—”
“Don’t touch me.”
I bit my lip and stopped about a foot away from her.
“You’ve got to resolve that with him,” she said. “OK, yeah, I kind of get why you wouldn’t have said anything to him before. But this is not how you resolve fights, Brock. You can’t let bullshit like this split you apart.”
“I—”
“My sister and I fight all the time. Doesn’t mean we fucking claw each other’s faces or punch each other.”
She sobbed.
“Just take me home. I need to get away from all of this.”
I’d already agreed to take her home. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was fearing that I’d take her home and never see her again.
But what could I do?
Tara and I walked out of the apartment. I found Steele standing, arms folded, by his bike, parked about ten feet away from mine.
“Steele—”
“Shut the fuck up, Brock. Fuck you if you think I will cover your shift so you can bang my ex. And fuck off if you think I will join your little club.”
“Oh, grow the fuck up, Steele,” I said, even as he was already getting on his bike. “Tara was never into you! She was always into me!”
Steele paused when he heard me say that. And as soon as I saw his expression, I regretted saying it. It wasn’t because Steele was angry.
It was because Steele seemed to recognize the truth.
“I fucking knew it,” he said. “I knew there was a reason she never fucking rode my bike, but the second you showed an interest, she rode your bike like she rode…”
He turned on the bike, paused, and looked my way. The anger was still there, but it was no longer emotionally charged. It was so cold and so calculated.
“Don’t come by the house anymore.”
“They’re my friends too,” I said. “You can’t make me not come.”
“You know what,” Steele said. “Do whatever the fuck you want. You fuck my woman, you go behind my back, what else can you do that’ll hurt me? So yeah, go ahead, do whatever you want.”
With that, he peeled out of the parking lot. I looked at Tara. She refused to look me in the eye.
“Just take me home.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Just take me home.”
I guessed that was all I would get out of her for now.
There was no telling what I would get out of her in the days and weeks ahead.
* * *
