Jealousy.
Anger.
Sadness.
And the one I don’t want to admit? Curiosity.
They all stumble into the living room about thirty minutes later, freshly showered. I just sit and glare at the tv.
“Your face is going to get stuck like that,” Les quips, jerking the remote from my hand and flopping on the chaise, stealing Gage’s spot. He squeezes himself beside her and the arm of the couch, making himself comfortable. Leo sits on her other side, just as fucking close. I grind my teeth so hard I can hear it.
“He’s not going to have any teeth either,” Gage says, taking the remote from her and flipping to Netflix. “He’s going to be an ugly motherfucker.” Leo covers a laugh with a cough when I turn my glare on him. Smart guy.
“Ryder could never be ugly,” Les throws in. “Now give me that back.” She reaches for the remote, and Gage moves it out of her reach. She reaches further, placing her face right in front of his. As if in slow motion, he kisses her, not wasting time sinking his tongue into her mouth. She moans, kissing him back, and it’s like theyrealize at the same time that they have an audience. They jerk apart and look over at me.
I storm out of the room without a word. Fuck this. I don’t need them to tell me what happened because they just told me without words. I don’t need it shoved in my face, though. I jerk the door to the garage open, heading straight toward my vintage black Ford Mustang Shelby in the back that I’m rebuilding. I work on it when I need to think or am pissed off. Right now, it’s both.
I jerk my shirt off, toss it onto the workbench, and then start getting the tools I need. I lay them on the table I have beside the car before getting to work. I work for about fifteen minutes before I hear the garage door open and then shut. Les’ vanilla scent hits me before I see her, and I steel myself.
“Ryder,” she says softly. I can’t even look at her. Them fucking her keeps plaguing my mind, and Gage kissing her inside burnt into my brain. “Ryder,” she says louder, “Talk to me.”
I jerk upright, slamming my wrench down. “Sure, Les. Let’s fucking talk.”
To her credit, she doesn’t even flinch. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Doesn’t it?” I say, throwing my hands in the air. “How else is it supposed to be?”
“You’re my best friend, Ryder,” she says softly, looking more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen her.
“Yeah. I am. That’s all I’ll ever fucking be, right?” I scoff at the look on her face. It says everything I need to know. “Right,” I answer myself before grabbing my wrench and bending back under the hood.
“Please don’t do this.”
I come back up so fast that I almost crack my head on the hood. “Don’t do what?!” I yell. “Be fucking hurt?! Fine, Les. I don’t fucking care.”
This time she does flinch, but not out of fear. I hurt the one person with my own fucking feelings that I swore I never would. Her face falls, and she storms back into the house.
“Les!” I call out after her, and she slams the door in myface.Fuck!I take several calming breaths before I follow her, knowing where she’s going since I pissed her off.
When I walk into the gym, she’s taping up her hands, shoving them into boxing gloves. She starts pounding into the punching bag. “Les.” No answer; she just starts hitting harder. “Alessa.” No response. I walk up to her and touch her shoulder, then have to jump back, narrowly missing one of her mean right hooks. “Fuck, Les.”
“No fuck you, Ryder Jett Venchelli.” She socks me right in the chest hard, knocking the wind out of me. “Fuck you.” Each sentence is ended with a sharp punch to the chest, pushing me toward the grappling mat. She starts advancing on me, fire burning in her blue eyes. “Fuck you for making me feel like shit for liking Leo.” Left punch to the chest. “Fuck you for spilling how you feel right after shit blows up in my face.” Right punch to the chest. “Fuck you for treating me like shit because I told you how I felt.” Both fists punch me in the chest. “And fuck you for taking what was the best night of my life and turning it to shit with your fucking attitude.” She jerks the ties on her gloves loose before slinging them to the ground. I don’t have time to react before she jumps up, grabbing me around the neck in a rear naked chokehold and slamming both of us to the mat, letting go before we hit so she doesn’t break my damn neck. She doesn’t want me dead, at least.
We grapple for control for a good five minutes, something we have done a thousand times, and I can never pin her. So, when I straddle her hips, squeezing them together with my thighs, grabbing her wrists, and pin them above her head, I know she let me. We stare at each other, both breathing hard, then in a flash, meet in the middle with a crash of lips. It’s all tongue, teeth, sloppy, and fucking desperate, both of us trying to get closer. I take one leg and push her legs apart, sliding my body down hers. When my hard cock grinds against her, she moans into my mouth, responding exactly how she did upstairs and outside on the patio. Her hands are sliding all over my sweaty, naked back. Everything about why we shouldn’t do this leaves my head as I push her harder into the mat, grinding my dick against her pussy. Tucking my hands under the hem of her shirt, I jerk it off before our lips crash together again. Les wraps her legsaround my waist, pushing her hips up, seeking friction from my hard cock through her thin cotton shorts. I kiss down her neck, and she turns her head to the side, giving me better access. I kiss the top of her breast, where it’s about to spill out of her red bra. I bet twenty bucks that her panties match. I couldn’t wait to find out.
She sinks her hand into my hair and tugs, trying to get me back up to her lips. I growl, latch my mouth back on her breast, and suck hard. She moans, grinding her hips up again, loving the feeling of my mouth on her, so I suck and bite, marking her. I look at my handiwork and groan, licking over the spot. I kiss between her breasts, down her sternum, and run my tongue around her belly button. I kiss above her shorts, hooking my hands in the top of them.
“Wait,” she says breathlessly, sitting up on her elbows. “Not like this,” she says when I look up at her.
“What?” I ask lamely. All the blood has rushed from my brain straight to my cock so I can’t think straight.
“Not while we’re pissed and not until you understand what this is,” she explains. I sit up on my knees, separating our bodies.
“What is this, then?”
She swallows and flops back on the mat. “I fucked Leo and Gage last night.” Even though I already know what happened, it’s like a punch to the gut hearing the words straight from her mouth. “I won’t stop just because you and I sleep together.”
“You still want that fucking dick?” I ask, and I already know the answer. I was seconds away from blowing his brains out last night when he told me he loved her.
