“Oh, really? And to think I thought that was your specialty.”
“Shut your mouth,” he snarled, looking at his phone.
“Now he’s calmed down, June.”
“Come on, Becky’s here. She’s waiting for you downstairs.”
Tiffany slapped a kiss on the side of my mouth then stood up. I followed her movements as she stumbled to the door. She went up to James and unabashedly called him out.
“You want her all to yourself, don’t you?” I heard her say faintly.
“Good night, Tiff.”
“Since when are you so selfish, Jamie?”
“Get out of here,” he finished, literally throwing her out of the room, followed by silence, except for the thud of the door closing. And then his blue eyes lingered on me. For a moment I didn’t know what to think.
“Get out of my bed.”
“Okay.”
I said that without moving an inch.
“My legs feel like jelly,” I added, as he stared at me, exasperated.
“Can I borrow a T-shirt, James?”
“Why should I?”
“Because I’d sleep uncomfortably like this, and I don’t know where Tiffany put my clothes.”
“Come on, are you just taking it for granted that you’re sleeping here?”
“I told you, I can’t go home like this,” I explained, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
James blew the air out of his lungs, then rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, I got up from the bed with uncertain movements. My head was spinning, but I went to his closet and opened a drawer without asking him.
“You shouldn’t touch my stuff. What are you doing?”
I recoiled, frightened by his reaction, and banged my knee against the corner of the door.
I whimpered until I looked down, then noticed a little wound on my skin. The cut was bleeding a little.
“For Christ’s sake, you’re worse than a little kid, White,” yelled James, while I limped to the bathroom.
I sat down on the edge of the tub while James opened a little cabinet hanging on the wall.
“Let me see.”
“What are you doing?”
My words cracked when he kneeled on the floor and grabbed my ankle.
“Shut up for once.”
He applied a cotton ball drenched in hydrogen peroxide to the wound, making me groan.
“Ow!”
