I’d do anything to go back to that fucking night.
I hated crying in front of anyone, but the more I watched, the more emotional I became as I remembered every touch and every beautiful word Slash had given me.
Skeeter left the room without speaking, probably to give me some privacy, but Hunter kept me on his lap and gave my neck a soft kiss as he spoke in a gentle voice.
“I could never picture you and Slash being affectionate with each other, and I called bullshit on it every time someone brought it up about you turning him into a teddy bear. I fucking see it now.”
That did it.
I choked on a sob and moved to stand, but he put his arms around me to cradle me against him.
It hurt like hell, but I leaned into the comfort he was offering.
“I’ve got you, babe. Do you want to keep watching these, or have you had enough today?” He murmured, his lips brushing against my neck, just below my ear.
“I can’t,” I managed to force out, grateful when he helped me to my feet and kissed my forehead.
My heart hurt more than my body did.
“I’ll keep looking to see if I can fix what was edited over the last week, okay? You head out and have a beer with Skeet. You need to relax, so put your feet up,” he said kindly, giving me an encouraging smile.
I nodded, leaving the room quietly and sneaking up to my room, not at all surprised to find Skeeter sitting on the edge of my bed, staring at the photos I’d placed all over the wall.
He didn’t look over at me as he kept inspecting the photos, a small smile on his face as he spoke.
“I’ve never seen him like that with anyone before. I knew he loved you, but it settles me to know you gave him a piece of something he pretended he wasn’t looking for. I didn’t know he was so gentle and affectionate with you behind closed doors. I’m so glad he had the chance to show someone that side of him.”
My heart broke even more.
Slash was always an arrogant asshole, but the fact he’d been lonely for so long made me realize he’d just put a wall up to protect himself.
Just like I’d done.
I sat beside Skeeter, finally drawing his attention.
“Skeet…”
“Let me talk, okay? I know you won’t admit it, but you felt that same spark with him that he felt for you. You just didn’t want to acknowledge it because you thought it was wrong. The way you two were when no one else was around? It’s what he always wanted, despite his protests and bullshit. You need to stop feeling guilty for not loving him in the same way that he loved you, because I could see it in that footage. You did love him, deep down. I should have let him get closer to you, because it’s what he fucking deserved. I know the others didn’t like it either, but you changed him into a better person. You were the last thing on his mind before he died, and he died happy, Rory. My best friend died fucking happy, because of you.”
Tears burned against my cheeks, and a sour taste hit my mouth as I scowled.
“Don’t say shit like that.”
“Why not? It’s true. You guys had this slow burn relationship that went from enemies to best friends, to severe sexual tension, real fucking quick. I wish you’d had more time with him to explore that, baby,” he said quietly, and I could feel the regret and honesty seeping out of him.
I didn’t bother answering.
I just let him shuffle back until he was lying in bed more, then I curled up against him and just held him to anchor myself again.
Skeeter
Rory passed out pretty quickly, and I didn’t fucking blame her.
Between the car accident and all the shit with Slash that had been brought out into the open that afternoon, she was fucking exhausted.
I lay with her for a while before slipping out from under her and quietly heading down to the security room to find Hunter still going through the tapes.
He didn’t even glance up as he pointed to the screen.
He was still watching the same fucking video on repeat.
“Look at his face. Have you ever seen him smile like that?”
I had, actually.
I snorted. “Yeah. He was smiling like that a lot before he died. How did we not notice? She’d walk into the room and he’d light up like a fucking Christmas tree. I just thought he loved taunting her, but after a while his words stopped being so harsh, and he had to touch her all the time. Drove us all bat-shit fucking crazy. We knew he wanted to fuck her, but we didn’t realize the extent of his feelings until it was basically too late. He always seemed so much older and grumpier than us as kids, didn’t he?” I said softly, little snippets of the past coming back to me.
It seemed like so long ago.
Hunter chuckled, leaning back in the chair and finally looking up at me.
“He was an old grumpy-ass mother fucker. I thought he was going to actually fucking shoot me when I first rolled back into town.”
I gave him a flat look, my eyes narrowing a fraction.
“He was going to put a bullet in your stupid ass. One, you barged in and argued with Rory, and two, last time you were here, I was the one who got fucking shot.”
Asshole.
I was over it, but it still ached sometimes.
Not the scar, but the fact that he’d been my best friend, and he’d left me there to fucking die.
His eyes lost all playfulness as regret filled them.
“I’m sorry. I made a fucking mistake, but I couldn’t lose my brother’s crew. I swore I’d lead them, you know that.”
I understood, but still.
I shrugged. “It’s done and buried, bro, but that’s why Slash wanted to put a bullet in you. We’re cool.”
We hung out and flicked through more videos as he tried to fix the tampered one, but it was no use.
Whoever had hacked the system was fucking good.
“You coming to bed? I’ve had enough for today,” I groaned, the day finally taking its toll on me.
He gave me a look of surprise but nodded and switched the monitors off, muttering about teaching Rory how to use them as he followed me up to the bedroom.
It was weird being in Slash’s house without him.
Hunter seemed bothered as we stripped down to our boxers, and once I’d carefully climbed over Rory and curled up beside her, he finally sighed.
“You sure this is cool? I mean, I can sleep in the spare room,” he offered quietly, eyeing me as if I was going to randomly snap.
I rolled my eyes.
I knew he was full of fucking shit about her just being a friend that he fucked.
He felt more for her than he let on, and he was always so worried about pissing me off when it came to her.
Truth was, I wouldn’t object to him fucking her now that we’d patched up our bullshit.
Hell, I used to love watching him fuck the chicks we’d shared back when we were inseparable.
He was an animal in bed, and the way he’d made women come so hard and loudly, always got me fucking hot.
I wasn’t into my best friend, don’t get me wrong, but I was into what he did to women.
He was ruthless like me, and women knew what they were getting into with us.
We’d both have Rory one day.
“Get in bed, brother. You belong here just as much as I fucking do,” I finally answered, earning a curious glance before he did as he was told.