“Nah, he won’t care. And he knows you’re always first, Ry, no matter what. Do you get that?”
Her bedroom door opens, and Noah rushes out dressed in only boxers, rubbing his eyes when he sees us.
After looking straight at Rhianna, he says, “I’ll take the couch.” We watch as he goes back in, grabs a pillow, then lies down on the couch with no hesitation.
“Told you,” she says as she pulls me to her bedroom. It’s where I sleep when I stay. We shared a bed through most of our childhood. Even though we had our own, one way or another, we would always end up in bed together. It wasn’t until I started seeing Anderson that it changed, and Rhianna moved out. Then I started to come to her house when everything was too much.
I pull my cardigan off my body and kick my shoes away before I climb into bed with her.
“You’re bruising,” Rhianna says, gently touching my arm. When I check, it’s red, and a light purple is starting to come through. “So, it didn’t go well?”
“Better than I thought.”
If I’m honest with myself, I expected to walk out with worse than a sore, bruised arm. But she doesn’t need to know that.
“I hate him,” she says and rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. “If I could get away with it, I would put rat poison in that bastard’s coffee and kill him.” She works at a coffee shop and dreams about all the ways to kill Anderson, and she’s come up with some doozies over the years.
I laugh at her.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Noah calls from the living room.
We both crack up laughing, knowing full well he’s a lawyer, and if she was put on trial for murder, he would get her off. He’s simply that good.
“You hush, or I’ll put it in your morning coffee,” she says back to Noah, making him groan. He knows she would never do that. I have never seen my sister so smitten in my life.
And she picked a great one to be smitten with, that’s for sure.
“I heard something…” Rhi says, turning so we are both lying on our sides facing each other. “Well, Vicki did.” Vicki is Rhianna’s roommate and best friend.
“Yeah?”
“That Anderson knocked up a girl,” she whispers.
My mouth opens, and my eyebrows rise at her words.
“He’ll do anything to get rid of it,” I say. “His family believes marriage before kids, and he does whatever they say like a good little boy.”
“Yeah, supposedly she went to his parents first, and she’s past her first trimester.”
I go to speak, but words fail me.
Why would he not have told me?
How come no one told me?
“I don’t understand.” A tear slips down my cheek.
She wipes it away fast as if it wasn’t even there.
“Did he expect to keep me as well as her?” I ask, confused.
“I would make a solid bet on that. Absolutely he would think that way.”
“He was with a girl tonight, actually…” I try to remember her appearance. “She had her hand on her belly when she came outside. I just assumed she was cold.”
“Yeah, well, his mommy and daddy are not happy, so we hear.”
“When did you find out?”
“Tonight. Vicky told me, and when I managed to wrap my head around it, I figured you would be asleep, but then he called. I didn’t answer.”
“How long has he known?”
“For a few weeks,” she says.
That would explain why he’s eased off on the pressure of a ring after that night he came to my room.
How dumb can I be?
Really.
“I need to move.”
“Yeah, you kind of do,” she says, sliding her hand into mine next to me. “Vicki might be moving in with her boyfriend, so you want to live with me?”
My first thought is to say no, but then…
“Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Good. It’s a done deal. I’ll tell her tomorrow.”
I lay my head on her shoulder, and she runs her fingers through my hair as I fall asleep.
I wake to Rhianna curled on her side, still asleep. I manage to get out of the bed without waking her and quietly make my way out of the room. When I get to the kitchen, Noah is at the counter, a coffee in his hand as he reads something on his phone. When he turns, he smiles. “Coffee?” he asks.
“I’ll get it.” He nods and checks his phone again. I fix a cup and give him a sideways glance. “You love her, right?” I know it’s a silly question, but I need to hear it.
He places his phone down and gives me his full attention. “With every breath I take. She’s it. The crazy and all.”
“She’s pretty special.”
“And so are you. You both are extraordinary…” He pauses as I pour my milk. “I can file restraining orders if need be. Just let me know.” He nods to my arm.
I flinch when I see the black and purple ringing my forearm. Guess I’ll be wearing cardigans until the bruising is gone.
“August mentioned you helped him,” he says when I bring my drink to my lips. “Thanks for that. He wouldn’t have liked it, but I’m sure he’s appreciative.”
“He wasn’t,” I reply, remembering how mad it made him that I bought his groceries.
Noah chuckles. “Give him time. He isn’t the monster people paint him to be.”
Rhianna comes out of the bedroom, then steps up behind Noah and wraps her arms around his neck.
“No rat poison in that coffee now, is there?” she says with a wink at me.
I can’t help the laughter that leaves my mouth, and it’s genuine. More so than I have felt for a long time. My happiness has been something no one cared about, even me.
“Woman, you aren’t making my coffee anymore,” he says, pulling her around so she is practically in his lap.
“Oh, hush, you. I don’t want you dead… yet. I need you for the orgasms.”
“Priorities.” He chuckles at her words. I look away because, no matter how much I love them, I’m also jealous of what they have.
Chapter 10
August
I never really had any true friends before I was locked away. People only hung around me for popularity or drugs. I had both, and they all wanted it. So it was no surprise when I got locked up that I never heard from any of them. But as I stand in front of Sully with my hands full of food, I can’t help when my face turns into a scowl.
He was the only one I assumed would be there, who would at least write. I had known him the longest. We’d been friends all through school.
“August,” he says and gives me a once-over with his eyes. I’m dirty from finishing up the backyard this week. I had to fucking do something after rich girl left because no matter how many times I stroked my fucking cock, it didn’t do me any good.
Her pink lips wrapped around it is what it wanted.
“Sully.” I nod and step around him to begin my walk home, not giving him the time he clearly didn’t want to give me. I hear his footsteps and then see him next to me. He hasn’t changed much since I last saw him, still tanned with blond hair. I had originally put him in that pretty-boy category, but he fell out of it when I realized I liked who he was as a person.