“I hope you’re right,” she said with a sigh. “Do you think Cutler will go home with Sydney?”
Her words were slurring a bit as we walked toward the door. “Probably.”
“I heard her call him out, and she was irritated, but I guess she got over it.” She followed me inside the house, and I filled a large glass with water and grabbed her some Tylenol.
“Called him out for what?” I asked.
“Let’s have leftover pizza. I’m hungry, and I’ll fill you in,” Melody said as she hopped up on the stool at the island.
I pulled out the leftover pizza and put a slice on a paper plate and popped it in the microwave for her. “She can’t be too bothered, because she was all over him.”
“Well, I think that’s the problem.” She leaned forward with this goofy smirk on her face. “She’s. All. Over. Him.”
I chuckled at her theatrics as I gave her a hot slice of pizza, popped one in the microwave for me, and dropped to sit on the stool beside her. “That’s not unusual for Cutler.”
“Well, she noticed thathe’snot all overher.” She groaned after taking a bite. “This is what I needed.”
“This will help your hangover too. It’s good to get food in your stomach.”
“Good point. Anyhoo,” she said as she reached for her water bottle, and her gaze locked with mine, “remember when I went back to the table to ask Cutler to order me and Jovi another shot?”
“Yes. The one that probably put the final nail in your coffin,” I said with a laugh. I grabbed my slice from the microwave when it dinged.
“True. But my point is…she was giving him a hard time that he kept watching you on the dance floor, and his eyes should’ve been on her.” Melody tossed her hands in the air, all fiery and bothered. “If I’m with a man and he’s watching another woman, I’m not demanding his eyes be on me. I’m walking the hell away because his eyes aren’t on me.”
My chest pounded a little faster at the thought of him watching me, but I played it off. “She’s being ridiculous. He was not watching me. And we were all out on the dance floor, so how does she know who he was watching?”
“Well, from what I heard before I walked away, she felt like he’d been watching you all night, and she made it sound like it wasn’t the first time.” She shrugged as she pushed off her barstool. “He always has been slightly obsessed with you. He was such a sad sack when you moved to Paris.”
We finished eating our slices, and I stood and carried our plates to the trash.
“He’s my best friend. I missed him too. I can’t believe that I actually thought Gabriel was going to be my person, you know?” I shook my head, still stunned by how badly everything had gone.
“Maybe your actual person has been right under your nose all along,” Melody said, the booze still making her words slur slightly.
I didn’t comment.
Most people didn’t understand my relationship with Cutler.
I didn’t care, because it worked for us.
“Let’s get you to bed, Drunkody,” I chuckled, and her head fell back with loud laughter as I walked her down to the opposite side of the house to the guest room. After we got her changed and her teeth brushed, I set a glass of water beside her bed, and I swear she was already snoring when I turned the light off and pulled the door closed.
I made my way to my room and took a quick bath, then tied my hair on top of my head before slipping into my pajamas. I glanced at my phone to see it was after midnight and Cutler wasn’t home. He might not be coming home at all.
I cringed at the thought as I slipped beneath the covers.
What if he brought Sydney home with him?
What if I heard them having sex?
Now my stomach wrenched.
I didn’t close my door, because we never slept with our doors closed and I wanted to hear him come in.
I blocked out all those thoughts of Cutler and Sydney together and squeezed my eyes closed.
But I was wide awake, my mind reeling from what Melody had shared with me.
