It still wasn’t their business.
You know something else?
I was so over the pact Knox and I made that I was right then thinking it was utter horseshit.
I looked at Jess. “Around the time you and Eric got together, Knox and I got together.”
There was a collective gasp so huge, I was pretty certain my hair swayed forward with the breath they all sucked in.
I kept going, staring right at Raye, who was staring back with shock and betrayal in her eyes. “It started on Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad’s. That first one we had with the guys. It was big. It was intense. So much, we were both flipped out about it at the same time acutely aware that if it went south, it would affect not only us, but our whole tribe. So we kept it under wraps.”
“You were together?” Harlow whispered, also sounding wounded.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“Together-together?” she pushed.
“Cooking together. Sleeping together. Waking up together. Copious amounts of sex intermingled with all of that together. Together,” I stated.
“And you said nothing…for over a year?” Jessie demanded.
“It lasted two weeks,” I shared. “And then it was over. And yes, before you ask, it was hard not saying anything. I wanted to tell you.” I looked at Raye again. “It felt weird, but not wrong, that I didn’t tell you. It was precious. It was ours. It was that starting time, the beginning of it all, where it was all new and exciting and beautiful and precious, and we didn’t want everyone up in our faces about it. We wanted it for ourselves. And if it worked out, we figured you’d all understand.”
“We would,” Shanti said. “Then it didn’t work out, and more than a year has gone by.”
“I promised Knox I wouldn’t say anything. You were all already trying to push us together, getting in our business, if you knew…” I trailed off.
“Knew what?” Joey asked.
I took a deep breath and said, “I think the cat’s out of the bag that his sister is a complete mess.”
“Oh yeah, that cat is totally out of the bag,” Raye drawled.
“Well, his sister is a mess, and my sister is a mess, and he wasn’t all fired up to add my family dysfunction to his life,” I stated.
This was true.
However, this hadn’t really been an issue. Knox, like me, didn’t understand what Dream’s problem was, and it upset him she was a problem for me, so it was kinda an issue, just not a big one, nor one that came between us.
I did not share this with Dream yesterday, though.
“That’s why you broke up?” Gemma sounded disbelieving.
“Part of it,” I answered (that was a total lie).
“What’s the other part?” Raye pushed.
“The other part I’m not going to share.” (And this was why I uttered that total lie.)
“So you promised Knox, who you were with for two weeks, you wouldn’t impart this information to your best bitches, who you’ve known for years, and then you didn’t do that,” Raye said in a dull voice that stung because I hated that I made her sound that way.
Still, I couldn’t back down.
“And what would happen if I did?” I challenged.
But I didn’t allow them to answer.
I kept at them.
