“Get out of my way.”
“Give me a minute to explain.”
“Explain what?” he fumed. “He always manages to fucking step on my toes; now he’s done it with you? And you—”
“He didn’t do anything I didn’t want, Devil.”
That made him stop, his eyes searching mine. “What?” He breathed out the question.
“Let’s talk in my room, okay?”
“Z—”
“I promise I’ll explain everything.”
When he didn’t respond, I cautiously took his wrist and led him toward my bedroom, shooting the rest of Street an apologetic tight smile before we disappeared behind the door.
I would deal with Dog and Upper later; Devil was the priority right now.
He removed his wrist from my hold, watching me with apprehension.
“I didn’t know it would get serious between Elio and me… it was just supposed to be a onetime thing—”
“You promised you would stay away from him. You fucking promised me.”
“I know.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t,” he said. “You don’t fucking know. He could hurt you, Z.”
“I know… but I also know he wouldn’t… you know that, too, but for some reason, you’re choosing to hate him and blame him for something he’s not completely at fault for. I started it. He was very reluctant because of you—”
“Apparently, that didn’t last.”
I sighed. “Where exactly is your anger coming from? Is this because you don’t like him or because you love me—which can’t be the case since Upper?”
“Leave Upper out of this.”
“I need to understand you, Devil.”
He went silent, confusion in his eyes as he heaved a breath and looked up like he was trying to find the answer to my question.
After a while, he walked past me to sit on the edge of the bed, his hands brushing down his face.
I took the space beside him, angling my body toward his. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I wanted to stay away; I did. I just couldn’t,” I told him. “You and I are not together like that anymore, and fuck it, if I were a bitch, I would point out the fact that you fucked around with Upper when we were together.”
He looked at me with a confused frown. “Youliterallyjust pointed it out.”
“Yeah, well… maybe Iama bitch.”
He scoffed, looking away from me while shaking his head. “I don’t know, Zahra, this is just so fucking weird. I mean, Elio?” He looked at me again. “How did it start?”
“Do you really wanna know?”
He blinked. “No. No, please don’t tell me. I just—What did you mean byserious? What exactly is going on?”
I shrugged. “Half the time, I don’t know what’s going on. It just happened, and I was too deep before I could back away. But I promise he didn’t hold a gun to my head and force me to like him or something. It’s mutual, actually.”
“You like him?”
