I look to Reece. “Okay, where do you want to start?”
He points toward the bedroom and we walk in that direction without another word. The room is almost completely empty except her headboard, empty dresser, bed frame, and mattresses. It’s very different from all the times I spent in here. Those thoughts compound with flashes of us fucking in this room. I shake my head to clear it and grab one side of the dresser. “Ready?”
The four of us don’t speak to one another, allowing the music Embyr turned back on to play while we work. Reece and I bring down the heavy furniture while the girls carry the boxes down to the moving truck. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore Embyr. She’s glistening with sweat and every time she wipes her brow her shirt rides up. I’m thinking with my dick, and it’s killing me. I’m not able to concentrate. We are taking down the last few boxes and somehow Embyr and I end up in the elevator together – alone.
I keep my eyes cast downward.
“Thank you.” Her soft voice fills the small space. I look up. “For your help. I’m sure Reece appreciated it.”
I nod. “He’s welcome.”
She sighs with frustration. “Casen, can we please talk?”
Before I can answer the elevator dings and I’m saved. “Not now. I want to get this over with so I can go home.”
She says she wants to talk, but in reality, she’s just trying to find a way to explain everything and ask for forgiveness. I know why she did it. I want to absolve her as much as I want her to forgive me. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m so freaked out that she won’t forgive me and that’s why she didn’t come clean. Reece had said she was going to tell me the night Ian died. How do I even know that’s true?
I stop just outside the door, and she almost runs into me. I turn, careful not to hit her with the desk lamp sticking out of my box. “The night you came to my house and I found out about Ian…” I trail off, waiting to make sure I have her full attention. “Were you going to tell me?”
“Yes,” she answers without hesitation, a tiny tear falling down her cheek.
“Was it because Ian was going to tell me? I mean, would you have told me if he hadn’t found out?”
She sniffles. “If I’m being honest, which is something I’ve worked really hard on being these past few months, then I’m going to say that I would have only told you that night because I didn’t want you to find out from him. I wanted to be the one to tell you.”
My jaw ticked. “And if Ian would have never found out? I want the truth.”
“The truth?” She sniffles but stands resolute. “I would have told you within the week.”
I turned, not being able to handle the conversation anymore. She said she was being honest, and I really want to believe her. “You had plenty of other opportunities.” I commented, placing the last of her stuff in the truck.
***
“Another beer?” Trinity asks both Reece and me as we eat pizza on the patio of their new condo. It’s about a mile away from her old one and a bit bigger. This one has three bedrooms and two bathrooms with a beautiful view. I somehow got roped into staying after we were finished bringing everything up.
“Thanks.” I hand Trin my empty can and look out toward the city. We’re up on the tenth floor, and I’ve never been as appreciative for service elevators as I am today. Reece and I would have never made it up all these flights of stairs with her furniture. I am also very thankful for the four beers I’ve consumed. Between those and being tired I feel immune to Embyr’s presence or lack of since she turned down sitting outside with us. I shift in my seat, finding I need to use the restroom and excuse myself from Reece and Trinity.
He hasn’t talked that much about his and Trinity’s relationship, and they seem terse with one another. Not a lot of touching and it brings back my guilt of not being a good friend to him. I’ll need to ask him about it later.
I bump into the doorway coming out of the bathroom.
I really need to stop drinking. I’ll make this the last one. I ignore Embyr sitting on the floor of the living room sifting through some pictures. Sliding the patio door open, I’m faced with Trinity straddling Reece and looking as though they are in a fierce game of tonsil hockey. So much for being terse with one another. I grab what I think is my beer and shut the door.
I crack open the can and turn to Embyr, who seems overly interested in the picture in her hand. Her legs are folded and her shorts ride up all the way to the apex of her thighs. I will my dick to stay down and speak to her for the first time in hours. “What’s that?”
She startles, apparently not noticing I was standing there and lifts her arm to hand it to me. I swallow the lump in my throat as I look at a photo from what seems to be freshman year in high school. Sitting down next to her, I focus on what’s going on in the picture. A few of the students I don’t recognize, but Annie is the main focus of the picture. She’s got her arms around her old best friend posing and in the background Reece and me. While everyone else is playing volleyball, I am staring right at her. We both are.
“I wish I would have known you liked me back then,” she says, scooting closer to me. My body involuntarily gravitates toward her.
I snicker. “And here I thought I was being obvious.”
She gently plucks it from my hand and laughs quietly. “I guess if I wasn’t too busy being invisible I might have been able to tell.”
I look at her, our eyes meeting. “You weren’t invisible to me.”
She glances down at my lips, the temptation of kissing her hanging heavily in the air. I want to reach out, pull her into my lap and forget all the wrongs that have been made. I long to lift my hand and caress her jaw, then grip it tight and pull her mouth to me, but it won’t move. My brain is still in charge here, and it won’t let me free.
Embyr notices my hesitation. “Casen, I am so sorry. I want to fix this. Fix us.”
