It’s been six weeks since the housewarming, which means forty-two days since I’ve seen Charlie. I’ve been giving her the space she asked for, especially while I’m still figuring out why I treated her the way I did and making sure it never happens again.
Charlie deserves better.She deserves more than a broken man, and I don’t expect her forgiveness for what I’ve done. I just wish she would cut her family off as thoroughly as she did me.
I might be giving Charlie space, but she’s still in my blood, and there’s no getting her out.
I don’twantto get her out.
Taking the seat across from Jack, I thank him when he slides a beer across the table to me, the brown bottle already sweating with condensation.
“Hey, man.”
“Hey,” he returns, his expression solemn. “Been a while. How are you?”
No one knows I’ve been in therapy, and I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever share—especially with Jack. Our friendship has never had that kind of depth. It’s always been more about competition, outdoing each other in college, at work,and with women. Looking back at it all now, it just makes me feel tired.
“Same as last time we talked,” I say. “You?” I sip my beer, gaze shifting around the bar, slipping over people and faces without ever really settling anywhere. An attractive woman seated in a booth to the left catches my eye, shooting me acome hithersmile. I turn away, not the least bit interested.
Across from me, Jack sighs. “Missing our normal,” he confesses, almost reluctantly. “It also feels like a weight has been lifted at the same time.”
“You heard from Corey and Amber?”
“Nah. They’re still firmly stuck up Bliss’s ass.” After they heard what happened at the party, Amber’s first response was to ask why Marisa was overreacting.
“What about Marisa?”
Jack shakes his head, and I’m not overly surprised. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen her in the last couple of months. She has slowly been pulling away from all of us, cutting the rot from her life.
Jack’s frown deepens. “Marisa came by last week to tell me she was going to stay with her parents for a while, out in Florida. Not sure when she’s coming back.” He pauses, expression grim. “She handed in her notice at the hospital. Feels like a pretty permanent move.”
“Fuck,” I curse. “Over Callum?”
Jack scowls at the name. “No. I’m sure that fucking hurt, but I’m pretty sure it’s all Bliss. What she did was fucked up.” His eyes are dark, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “I know we have some responsibility for how it all went down, for what Bliss has become. Charlie was right that night, you know?”
I can’t stop the flinch at her name, but Jack doesn’t seem to notice.
“We did think we were safe from Bliss, like never calling her out on her crap gave us some shitty form of protection.” He pauses, cogs whirring and clicking away behind his stare. “So many people have been hurt, and now Ris…” His throat works on a hard swallow. “She didn’t deserve what happened. Out of all of us, Marisa was the only one who ever really tried to stop Bliss. Now, she’s been hurt worse than anyone else.”
My mind flicks to Charlie, my disagreement sitting on the tip of my tongue, but I hold it back. Staying quiet got me into this mess, but that doesn’t mean that holding silence doesn’t have its place. Arguing with Jack isn’t going to get me anywhere tonight. He might not ever see the significance of what happened to Charlie, or the part we both played. His lack of understanding doesn’t lessen the damage we did.
The damageIdid, but that’s my cross to bear.
“What’re you getting at?” I ask tiredly. I didn’t meet Jack to talk all this through again. “I thought you wanted to get a beer together, not bitch about Bliss some more.”
He watches me. “I’ve been sitting on something, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I don’t even know why I did it…” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, setting it on the table, dark screen facing up. My eyes bounce from it to him, a questioning frown tugging at my mouth. “That night, Marisa was…She was inconsolable, man. I wanted to know what the fuck happened, so I went to find Bliss.” He grimaces, his voice horrified as he tells me, “They left the bedroom door open. Bliss was still…And Callum—” Jack goes green around the gills. “So I…”
Impatience flares. “So youwhat?” Idemand.
“I took a video,” he blurts, too fast. Too loud. We both freeze as the words land like weights between us before I glance around warily, hoping no one is listening in.
“You took a video of Callum and Blissfucking?” I demand in a low hiss. “What the hell, man? You looking to get done for revenge porn or some shit?Why?”
His expression turns disgruntled. “I didn’t think it through at the time, okay? I’d had a few beers, and I was just the right amount of pissed off. So, I just…I stuck my hand around the door and recorded them for a minute or two.”
“And what’re you planning to do with this footage?” I ask stiffly.
Something malicious flashes through Jack’s eyes, but he doesn’t look away, doesn’t hide it, a smirk curling his lips. “Not revenge porn,” he says quietly. “Revenge of a sort. Bliss has mentioned that her firm has a no-fraternization policy, so I was thinking of taking the video to her boss.”
I sit back, mouth parting in shock. “You wanna go after her career?”
