I give him a disbelieving look, but take a bite anyway, letting the chocolate melt on my tongue. I chew and swallow before taking another bite, and the next thing I know, the Snickers is gone and I’m moving onto the Peanut Butter Cups.
Three candy bars in and I feel more like myself. I’ve wiped the tears from my face, and Deacon catches me up on some of what I’ve missed in our English class. Twenty minutes goes by, and for the first time in nearly a week I feel like I can breathe. This distraction, it’s exactly what I need.
I look down at the last candy bar in my lap and know I’ll regret it later, but I peel back the wrapper and take a bite anyway. I moan. Fast Breaks are my favorite, so I saved the best for last.
“You cannot make sounds like that,” Deacon says, a small smile on his face.
I roll my eyes. “You’d moan if you had this in your mouth.”
He chokes, but covers it with a cough. “You can’t say things like that to me either.”
I grin. “Want a bite?” I ask him, but a commotion down the hallway catches my attention and I turn. “Shit,” I whisper. Dominique is storming toward us, shirt drenched in sweat and a pissed-off expression on his face.
He’s already yelling before he’s even next to me. “What the hell were you thinking?” he shouts, coming to a stop beside us. “Do you have any idea how worried I was when I opened the door and you weren’t there?Fuck.” He turns around, hands on his waist and takes a few steps away before turning back to me. “You said you’d stay put. Why did you—” It’s then that he notices Deacon. His eyes darken and I jump to my feet.
“Look, I’m sorry. I should have left a note or something.”
He scoffs. “Right. A note would have helped.”
My anger spikes. I’m not a child. I don’t need to be coddled and looked after. “You know what, fine. I’m not sorry.” I turn to Deacon. “Thanks for the chocolate and for helping with,” I wave to my face, “all of this. It was nice to feel like me for a little bit.”
He stands. “Anytime you need a good laugh and some chocolate, give me a call. You don’t have to tell me your personal shit, but if you wanna hang, I’m around.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
He pulls me in for a hug, releasing me just as quickly when Dominique makes a sound in the back of his throat, low and threatening. “I’ll catch you later, beautiful,” Deacon calls over his shoulder, and then it’s just Dom and I.
I sigh and pick up the candy wrappers that fell when I stood up. I shove them in the trash bin and wait for Dominique to yell at me some more, but he doesn’t. Instead, he has this pensive look on his face and he refuses to look at me. Somehow, it’s worse than the yelling.
When we get outside he opens the door for me, closing it once I’m safe inside the Escalade. I put on my seat belt as he gets inside and I fiddle with the music knob as he pulls out of the parking lot. Five minutes into the drive and he still hasn’t said anything.
I hate it.
“Look, I’m sorry. Okay? Can you stop giving me the silent treatment already?”
“I’m not giving you the silent treatment.”
I huff. “Then why are you so silent?”
He glares at me. “Do you all of a sudden want to talk? You’ve barely said a word in five fucking days, but I leave you alone for an hour and suddenly you’re chatting with Deacon. My bad. Figured I must be the one guy you refuse to talk to.”
I lean my head against the window, the cool glass chilling my skin. “I’m not refusing to talk to you,” I tell him.
He grunts. “But you’d rather talk to Deacon?”
“No. I…” I try to put my thoughts into words, but it all sounds so stupid. “Deacon isn’t treating me differently.”
Dominique scowls. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You’re being nice. Like really nice. You check on me all the time. You made me pancakes. You open my door for me.”
“So what, I’m supposed to be a dick even though your mom just died?”
My breath hitches and Dominique mutters a curse. “I didn’t mean—”
“That,” I yell at him. “That, right there. You keep doing things like that. You’re apologizing to me when before, you never would have said ‘I’m sorry.’ That isn’t you. That’s not us. Not how we communicate.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
