Callous?
Sure. I’d own that.
Except that’s not at all what happened with Terran.
In the entire thirty-four years I’d been alive on this planet, not once had Ieverfelt comfortable enough sharing a bed with someone to the point of actually falling asleep next to them.
Sleepovers when I was younger were torture, sleep deprivation a very real thing I experienced when at boarding school with Marlow’s insistence on not leaving me alone for the first month of us living there.
A breakdown later had revealed a certain penchant, or ratherdistaste, for sharing such a personal and intimate space with someone while in the most vulnerable state possible.
After that, Marlow had happily moved along to his own bed and space, no longer feeling the need to crawl into mine in the middle of the night when he’d convinced himself our dorm was haunted.
But it had given me an interesting insight into my own psyche. One I tended to chalk up to being an only child and raised by parents who were on the older side and favored teaching staunch independence rather than nurturing the opposite.
So, why was Terran different?
He wasn’t. That was the bottom line. That night had been a fluke, never able to be recreated again. My body wouldn’t allow for it to happen twice in a row. Eventually, my instincts were going to kick in and spiral into some massive freak out Terran didn’t need to be a part of. Kicking him out before that would save us both the embarrassment and the trouble.
Once Rebecca made her way back to us, she had a tablet in her hand and a large grin on her face. Her eyes sparkled while I signed all of the paperwork and handed over the information for the delivery address—sending it to the artisan directly rather than middle-manning it myself and risk losing gemstones along the way.
While I had disposable income that would make Terran shit himself if he saw it, I wasn’t frivolous with my spending habits. Having to buy things twice because someone at the distribution center got a little too curious about the origin of my package was absolutely not something I had the patience to deal with.
“Thank you so much for your business, Mr. Montgomery.” She grabbed my hand as I stood, squeezing it in hers.
I snatched it back from her, a shudder rolling up my spine.
Avery slung an arm over my shoulder, successfully redirecting the snide comment poised on the tip of my tongue. “Thank you for all your help.”
“Any time! You gentlemen come back soon.”
Avery gave my shoulder a firm pat before spinning us both around and marching us out of the jewelers. Once out in the fresh air, he dropped his arm from around me, taking in a deep lungful of air while tilting his head up toward the sun.
“Nice day out.”
Glancing up at the blue sky, I had to agree. “You have any plans other than going home to your man?”
He threw me a wry smile. “What is with you?”
“What...”
What did I say this time?
He shook his head. “You’re going to have to get used to them, eventually. Neither of them are going anywhere.”
I had half a mind to play dumb and ask him what the fuck he was talking about, but we both knew I was smarter than that. Lying about caring whether or not my friends stayed coupled up was only going to result in some lecture Avery seemed geared up to give me.
Whatever conversations he and Marlow were having privately without me around clearly went in the direction of being annoyed I didn’t like their significant others.
Which wasn’t that case. I was simply indifferent.
Wasn’t that better than hating them?
Avery watched me while I remained silent, choosing to exercise the 5th instead of egging him on.
What was the point in arguing when the disagreement was never going to resolve itself?
If one could even call it that.
