I stood up, my latte long forgotten. “I have no idea who are right now, Chase, because my friend would never make me sound or feel like a whore, and if that was your objective, you should congratulate yourself for achieving it.”
His face fell, and I turned around to walk away. I heard his chair scrape the floor again, and almost punched him when he grabbed my arm.
“Kennedy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean - ”
I put my hand up, and his mouth snapped shut. “I don’t care, Chase. I have nothing to say to you, and until you accept that we’re just friends, and apologize for being so hurtful, I’m not sure I ever will.”
I tugged my arm from his grasp, and walked away feeling completely shredded, and humiliated. How much more was I going to have to deal with before I’d decided it was enough?
WHEN JADE AND I left the hospital and headed into Brighton, we were both in pensive moods. We distracted ourselves with shopping (a lot) and by the time it was time to go home, we were hesitant.
“I think we should book a hotel room,” said Jade. “I know we have classes tomorrow, but I’m all for blowing them off for a day at the fucking spa.”
I wasn’t one to easily skip class, not unless I was on my deathbed or something equally life threatening, but a day at the spa was pretty damn tempting, albeit a poor way of dealing with our feelings. I would do anything to keep from facing the storm of colliding emotions destroying my insides. I wanted one more day, just one more, before I came to terms with how my life had changed because of Dane Winters, and how my heart would never belong to anyone else.
Jade pulled out her phone, and reserved a suite at the Ritz-Carlton before I could protest.
What the hell, we could both use some girl time, and would worry about what awaited us at school when we got back. For one night we could pretend everything was peachy.
“Done,” she said, sounding resolute.
“Fine by me. Bring on the copious amounts of alcohol, and fine dining.”
“A girl after my own heart,” laughed Jade.
We loaded her car with all our shopping bags, and checked into the hotel. Our suite was pretty swank, with a private living room, and master bedroom that was to die for. We both showered, and changed into the complimentary terrycloth robes. After our third bottle of white wine, we were past tipsy, and had taken to sitting on the floor in the bedroom, rather than on the bed. Jade sniffled next to me, and when I looked at her I saw her eyes were red, and puffy.
“Are you okay?” I asked gently, trying not to slur my words. Maybe all the wine was a bad idea.
“No,” replied Jade, shaking her head.
“You want to talk about it?”
She hesitated, mulling it over, and the promptly blurted out, “I had sex with Reid.”
My eyes bugged out, well at least I think they did. They felt heavier, so I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t sure what to say to that so I ended up spilling my own dirty secret.
“How convenient because I had sex with Dane. Several times.”
Jade stared at me like I’d grown another head, and then fell over in a fit of drunken giggles. “We make quite a pair, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” I sighed, downing the remainder of my wine. “We’re both a complete fucking mess because of a boy. We’re officially those girls.”
Jade righted herself, and rested her head on my shoulder. “Guys suck.”
“That they do, and they’re pretty damn good at it, if you catch my drift.” I tried to wink, but soon gave up when I only ended up doing a weird twitchy thing.
“I knew there was a freak inside you,” snickered Jade.
“Oh Dane’s a freak alright.”
“Oh my God, you’re worse than I am.”
I shrugged. Despite my slight intoxication, it felt good to be able to talk to Jade so openly, especially if we weren’t going to remember it in the morning.
“I think I’m going to become a lesbian.” Jade yawned.
“Me too. Maybe Grady can give us tips on how to flirt with people of the same sex.”
“I won’t need to. You can just be my bitch.”
“As long as I’m on top, I don’t care.”
Jade lifted her head, and after a brief moment of looking at each other, we burst out laughing until our faces were damp with tears.
I knew neither of us was crying out of joy, but it still helped knowing I wasn’t going through this completely alone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kennedy
One Week Later
AFTER THAT ONE night at the hotel, Jade and I both decided that it was better to drown our sorrows in school work than it was to sit around and wallow. So that’s exactly what we did. Finals were only days away, and I worked my fingers to the bone every day so that come nightfall, I was too exhausted to do anything else. I’d made arrangements with my grandmother to spend the holidays in Georgia, and everything I did seemed to revolve around my leaving for an entire month. My departure couldn’t come fast enough.
Ashley arrived two days after classes started, and between the three of us she was the only one who wasn’t nursing a broken heart. Luckily we didn’t see much of her – she pretty much moved into the labs - or her constant state of happiness would have rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn’t her fault I was feeling out of sorts, but life was already making fun of me by shoving other couples in my face, I didn’t need it at home as well.
Grady wasn’t coming back to school again until the spring semester started, but I promised him I’d call him every week while I was away visiting my grandparents. Chase had texted me a few times but he was the last person I wanted to have a conversation with, and I hoped that my silence told him to give me time. Somewhere along the way he’d started to want more from me, and I couldn’t explain to him why it would never happen without going into detail about Dane and me. I just wasn’t ready for any of that yet, so I did what I knew best, and stuck my head in the sand so that I could focus on getting through the next few days with as little bruising as I could.
I was half way across the student parking lot when a familiar voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Well ain’t you a sight for sore eyes.”
That drawl.
I knew that drawl.
The last time I heard it, I was saying goodbye to the man who helped me piece myself together after Charlie’s death.
I spun around so fast my bag fell onto the asphalt, and found him leaning against his old red Chevy pick-up truck.
“Beau?”
“Hey darlin’.”
His face broke out into that panty-melting smile, and my body responded the only way it knew how with Beau.
I ran.
His arms opened for me, and I flung myself at him knowing he’d catch me.
“Nice to see you too,” he said, crushing me to his chest with a deep chuckle. He was more muscular than I remembered, a little taller too, and his brown hair was lighter due to hours working in the sun.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. My arms stayed locked behind his neck, just so that I knew he was really here.
“Grams sent me,” he replied.
He placed me on my feet, and I craned my neck to get a good look at him. He still had those boyish lines on his face, but he looked older, and maybe even a little sexier, more rugged.