Her mouth dropped open at that.“Are you...are you serious?Is that...is that what you really think of me?Do you honestly think that I...that I shake my ass for attention?That I only use Rya for company until someone shows me some interest, and then I just ditch her?”
“I just know that there’s always some guy whenever we go out together, and more often than not, I’ve shown up to find Rya sitting alone,” I told her honestly.
Fire replaced the hurt look in her eyes as she said, “But then that’s all you would see.From the moment that Rya introduced us, you’ve never given me a fair chance.”
“That’s not true,” I denied, even though there was a little truth to what she was saying.
“Itistrue,” she insisted.“From day one, you identified Rya as some sort of...of emotional victim, and you’ve always judged me for not treating her the same way.Your hero complex is all about coming in to save her, and instead of giving me credit for acknowledging that she’s strong enough to have a beer on her own, you keep accusing me of being a shit friend to her, and I’m not a shit friend to her.”
“Look-”
“No, you look,” she practically yelled.“If you don’t like me, I’m fine with that, Dalton.But what I’m not going to let you do is sabotage my friendship with Rya.I love her just as much as you do, and I’m not going to let you keep punishing me for not seeing her as some fragile damsel in distress when she isn’t one.”
Just then, the door to the bar opened, and we both turned to see Rya and Koen walking our way, and the worried look on Rya’s face was killing me.Now, while Rya wasn’t necessarily a victim, it was obvious that she’d never had any raw, honest, painful conversations with Leandra about her past experiences, and why would she?No matter how much Leandra may love her, how would someone who looked like Leandra ever understand Rya’s self-esteem issues?
“You guys okay out here?”Rya asked when they finally approached the car.
“We’re good,” I lied.“Just clearing some things up.”
“Are you sure?”she asked.“Don’t lie.”
“We’re good,” Leandra echoed, falling in line with my lie.“Just clearing up that it’s none of Dalton’s business who I go home with, and it’s none of my business who he goes home with.”
I wanted to fucking strangle her.
“Oh, okay...so, then...you guys coming back inside?”Rya asked.
“I’m not,” Leandra quickly rushed out.“I forgot that I’m supposed to meet my mother tomorrow for breakfast, and if I show up hungover for that, she’ll kill me.”
Rya automatically winced, and I knew enough to know that Leandra’s relationship with her mother was a complicated one.“Yeah, no...I understand.”
Leandra walked over to Rya, then gave her a hug and a kiss on her cheek.“I’ll make it up to you later.I promise.”
Rya hugged her back.“No problem.”
When Leandra stepped back from Rya, I said, “I’ll be back inside in a minute.”
“Yeah, can’t forget that you have that pretty blonde waiting for you,” Leandra drawled out, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say that she sounded jealous.
“Okay, well...we’ll see you inside,” Koen said, reading the situation correctly, though that was probably because he was the new kid on the block and not emotionally invested in our past the way that we all were.
As soon as Koen took Rya back inside the bar, I turned back towards Leandra.“Are we good, or do we need to continue this conversation at a later date?”
I watched as she let out a heavy sigh before saying, “We’re fine.In fact, we’re more than fine.”
I stepped to her until her back was pressed up against her car.“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Leandra’s blue eyes were clear as day as she looked up at me.“It means that I’m tired of your opinion mattering to me, and I’m exhausted, Dalton.So, if you want to think that I’m some...some attention-seeking whore who doesn’t understand the concept of loyalty, then have at it.As long as Rya knows the truth, then that’s all that matters.”
Yeah, that bothered me.
That bothered me a lot, even when it probably shouldn’t.
“Sounds like we need to finish this conversation at another time,” I said, rejecting everything that she’d just said.
She let out another sigh before saying, “Suit yourself, but I’ve got to go.”
Reluctantly, I stepped back to give her some space, but it was clear that this thing between us was becoming toxic, and so something had to be done about it.
