I wait for her to speak, but she’s silent. And stiff. As a board. So, I do something I probably shouldn’t. “I’m with Tayler.”
The silence is deafening. It’s douchebag who breaks the quiet, though. Dylan glares at her and laughs. “What?”
Tayler’s still silent, so I keep going. “For a while, man.” I nod. “We wanted to keep it on the down-low ’til we knew for sure.”
“Knew what?” Dylan’s still glaring at Tayler, and it’s pissing me the fuck off.
I’ve had it with his bullshit. Cutting to the chase, I just say, “She’s mine.” It comes out as more of a growl, but it’s effective.
“Tayler.” Dylan sounds a little snippy. Again, I don’t like it. “Can we please speak inprivate?”
“No,” I answer for her. Might as well keep going. “If you’ve got something to say in front of my woman, you say it to both of us.”
“Dude. She was my girlfriend for four years. I should be able to—”
“You cheated on her. You lost any rights to do anything.”
“Jesus.” The fucker runs his fingers through his hair. “I love her.”
“Ha!” Tayler finally speaks. “That’s a joke.”
“The fuck! I did—I do love you.” Dylan is pacing back and forth in front of the door now.
I take one step closer to him, moving Tayler to the side. “Time to go home, man.”
He stops pacing suddenly. His demean0r turns from agitated to cool and calm again. He chuckles, but it sounds high-pitched and creepy clown-like. Raising one hand, he shakes his head. “Sorry, man. You’re right. I overstepped. I’ll just take off.”
“Good idea,” I mutter.
The two of us watch him turn, walk quickly down the short hallway, and descend the stairs. As soon as he’s out of sight, I shut the door, lock it, and turn to face her. “That shit is no joke.”
Waving my words away like they mean nothing, she says, “He’s harmless.”
I step closer and place my hands on her upper arms. “Bullshit, babe. Quinn told me—”
“Shit.”
The sound surprises us. We both turn to see Quinn walking into the kitchen. “I specifically told you not to tell her, asswipe.”
I scoff. “After what I just saw at the door, you should have told me sooner.”
Quinn shakes her head. “Tay wouldn’t let me.”
“I still didn’t want you to say anything,” Tayler snaps. “Jesus, what happened to best friends keeping a frigging secret? Huh?”
“Babe.” I lean down so she’s looking into my eyes. “When the situation turns dangerous, you do what you need to do to make sure your friends are safe.”
“Dylan is not dangerous.”
“What about the letters?” Quinn butts in.
“Quinn!” Tayler shouts. “Shut the hell up!”
I narrow my eyes. “What letters?”
Tayler ignores my question and stomps over to the table. Picking up the donuts, she rolls the bag shut and marches back to me. “Thanks for the donuts. You can go now.”
I don’t take the bag. Instead, I look over at Quinn, “Quinn, you need to call that cop friend of yours.”
