Thankfully, the girls were eager to box up his food for him and he took the moment to read the text.
Well, no surprise today and tonight are out. I’ll be with my family all day and night. =( But tomorrow I can squeeze in some time with you in the day or the evening if the afternoon is too early for you.
As if he wasn’t already feeling completely disgusted with her, this was even more infuriating. Squeeze in some time for him? She may’ve pulled the rug out from under his dumb ass, but he’d die before he’d let on just how fast this little girl had nearly brought him to his knees. Without further thought, he hit reply and started tapping at his screen.
Nah, I’m good. I made plans with another friend. In fact, any plans with her always turn into an over-night thing. So, I’m covered for the rest of the weekend. Enjoy your family time.
He read it back once and sent it before he added any obscenities like the ones he was so tempted to. It was immature and he knew it but hey, if she had those kinds of friends, so could he, right?
Squeezing his phone a little tighter as the visuals of her with that dude continued to assault him, he was once again, grateful for his two nieces. If it weren’t for them, he would’ve already hit the call button and called Vannah out on her blatant bullshit. But he knew he’d get loud and ugly and he wasn’t about to do that in front of his sweet Littles.
He needed to hold it together. In all reality, even though Vannah was a girl whose connection he’d too suddenly felt so much more profound than with anyone else he’d ever met, she was still just another chick he’d only known for a week. So, what if his delusional ass had sorely misconstrued every one of their conversations this week, day and night being deeper than they’d really been? So, what if he’d never texted a girl and hung on her every response all fucking day and night, like a twelve-year-old for a straight week? He knew better now. He was just another one of her friends, like the ones she’d had no qualms about admitting she had and sashayed around with so openly. Only question now was why the fuck would she lie about it? If she really felt like she owed him nothing, why not just admit she’d so easily found a replacement for their cancelled lunch date?
Managing to get through his time with his nieces he got them home to their mother Ali who was now peering at him strangely as she lay on the sofa across from him. “Everything okay with you?”
It was the second time she’d asked something similar because like with the girls earlier, he’d lost focus of what they were talking about—more than once—in the short time he’d been there.
He kept fidgeting with his phone looking down at it often. Curiously, it’d remained silent since he’d sent that last text to Vannah.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said nodding and trying to play it off sticking his phone back in his pocket. “I just have a couple of big projects going on at work that my mind keeps wandering too.”
There was no way he was sharing about the girl he’d been obsessing over for weeks. A girl he’d kissed then made out with one time, kept him glued to his phone all week and now he was on the verge of a raging jealous fit. He was almost afraid of what he’d do once he was free to roar in the privacy of his own car or apartment.
“You can go if you want, Byron. The girls are fed, thanks to you and they can sit and watch TV until their dad gets home. You don’t need to stick around until he gets here, if you got stuff you need to get back to.”
“He didn’t eat any of his food,” Elsa announced before he could respond, and Lucy nodded adamantly.
Ali’s brows furrowed. “You’re not coming down with something are you?
“No. I’m fine.” He stood up feigning a genuine smirk as he glanced at Elsa. “Don’t be ratting me out, Elsi.” She giggled when he winked at her then he turned back to Ali. “I’d just eaten before I picked them up. Only ordered myself something out of habit but I was stuffed. In fact—” He pointed at her as he started toward the door. “—have you eaten?”
Ali started to shake her head, but her eyes went wide in protest. So, before she could, he rushed to the door pissed that he hadn’t thought of calling ahead and asking her if she wanted him to bring something. He’d just been so riled he wasn’t thinking straight. Still wasn’t. But this worked out. “Girls packed up my sopes real nice. I’m not gonna eat them. You can have them. If not, givem’ to Beast when he gets home. I’m sure he’ll wolf them down as an appetizer.”
Hurrying down the pathway outside to his car, he held in the impending roar he knew he’d be letting out sooner or later. Normally he wouldn’t take Ali up on her offer to let him go before Beast got there. But today he was going to. As pissed as it made him that Vannah, a girl he knew for just a week and hadn’t even slept with yet could do all this to him, he needed to get out of there. He felt ready to blow, and they’d all picked up on it. Even little Lucy.
Grabbing the to-go bag with the tray of sopes, Byron closed the car door and headed back. His phoned buzzed in his pocket more than once but he hesitated to pull it out. If Vannah had the nerve to respond with something snarky about his weekend plans or worse, assure him she too would find another friend to spend hers with, he’d be too tempted to hit the call button. Ali and the girls were already onto his broody ass mood. His cussing loudly on the phone just outside the house would only confirm what they already suspected. That something was, not just going on with him, but tearing him up.
Once in the house, he gave into the temptation to check the texts. He knew no matter what, he wouldn’t consider calling her in the presence of his Littles. Even Beast who was notorious for his short temper rarely even raised his voice in front of his girls. Byron would be beyond needing to raise his voice if Vannah decided to go toe to toe with him about what they’d each be up to this weekend. As riled up as he was feeling, he started reading the first text and it confused him.
You know me, I would’ve called but I’m at work. Don’t be a party poop again. We’ll be down at The Chuperia again tonight.
Stopping before he was done reading, to look at who it was actually from, Byron frowned when he saw it was from Irma. A girl he got together with from time to time. Even this was an infuriating reminder of what Vannah had done to him all week. Irma had reached out more than once in the past week and it only irritated him when his phone screen confirmed it wasn’t a call or text from Vannah. He didn’t bother reading the rest before clicking on the next text.
Tell Gus Christine will be here.
Again, he didn’t bother reading the rest—something about why her friend Christine wasn’t texting Gus herself. Like Byron gave a shit. But this only pissed him off even further. Normally he would’ve taken her up on her invite to Taco Tuesdays at The Chuperia this past week. Instead, it’d been an easy pass. Even though he hadn’t been able to see Vannah that night, he’d been quick to choose video chatting with her in between her classes instead.
It burned him now when he remembered how quick and okay, Vannah had been today about not being able to see him for lunch after all. She probably had the other guy on standby. Getting past Ali’s protest about his leaving her his food, he said his goodbyes to the girls quickly and got out of there before he started roaring about all the infuriating thoughts still bombarding him.